New Ideas for Lunch

Pasta with whole grain noodles(I use elbow or penne pasta) and pureed carrots in the pasta sauce! You can add ground turkey and corn!A favorite of ALL kids I have served it to!

Turkey dogs sliced very thin and small. I know your daughter is young, but if you cut them small enough you shouldn't have a problem. I used to feed the turkey dogs to my daycare with a little bbq sauce sauteed in a pan with the hot dogs.

Canned chicken-I make chicken salad with a little italian dressing in it or a small amt. of mayo. Since she is young I would just leave it at that, but as she gets older you can add celery, raisins or craisins. I serve chicken salad with whole wheat crackers and sliced cheese.

Pitas stuffed with lunch meat and cheese. I sometimes heat them up to melt the cheese.

Refried beans topped with shredded cheese and served with cut up whole wheat tortillas.

Chicken noodle soup minus the broth. You can either make a bunch of soup in a crockpot or use canned soup-either way drain the broth off and put some on a plate. Serve with cut up grilled cheese or plain bread or crackers.

Whole wheat tortillas with lunch meat and cheese wrapped up inside. Heat it enough to melt the cheese and then cut it into "wheels" I have also added cream cheese and sugar free jelly inside for a yummy snack.

I usually serve all of my meals with some type of fruit or vegetable as well. I cut up grapes, green beans, cooked carrots, broccoli, frozen peas or blueberries. My son used to love cooked spinach at this age and I would lightly salt it with season salt(I mean barely a dash) and a tad of butter. He ate it by the handfuls!

Hi A.!
I got an awesome idea from my msn mommies board. My daughter is 12 mo but I'm sure it will work for you too.
Pancakes w/ tons of nutrients!!
I got the Trader Joes pancake mix, 100% whole wheat for fiber.
I make about 40 3in pancakes at a time, put wax paper in between & freeze them so I can thaw 1-2 a day to make at least 1 meal quick & easy!
Play w/ the recipe & have fun..I put in chunks of fruit/veges so she gets the texture. I dont want to puree it & sneak it because I want her to eat these items & think its normal..
In some we mix in a can of pumkin, you can add peas, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, lima beans, chicken, apple/blueberries, I mix in breastmilk or rice milk.
If you are nursing & use breastmilk, MAKE sure to throw out any pancakes NOT eaten w/in 24hrs after being thawed. I learned the hard way & gave my girl spoiled milk =(

Oh & she LOVES spaghetti (I use organic 100% whole wheat)

heres a link on my mommy board w/ tons of ideas
http://boards.msn.com/Healthboards/thread.aspx?threadid=7...

Here's a good resource:
http://www.wholesometoddlerfood.com/toddlerlunch.htm

i make homemade egg rolls and my 18 month old loves them because they are portable and he is so busy all the time. use egg roll wrappers and make the filling with whatever you want. last night i made some with turkey burger, cabbage, shredded broccoli, carrots, ginger, mushrooms and he loves them. he also loves rice and i make rice pudding with the left overs. will she eat soups. i make a lot of soup, chalries favorite is potato soup. i make thicker soups becasue they are easier for him to eat on hisown. the corck pot is my firend for the soups. he also likes corn torilla casserole. i tear up 4 tortillas and tos them in butter and cook them until soft, i add 2 eggs and scramble them . we also do a lot of jellow with fruit and puddings, yogurt, he loves tuna and chicken salad sandwiches.

My kids like bean burritos, just put some canned refried beans on a tortilla, sprinkle a little cheese on and microwave about 30 sec.. How about soup or making some homemade banana bread,or chicken salad sandwich? Cottage cheese is good with a little cinnamon or with mandarin oranges, strawberries or blueberries. How about leftovers from dinner the night before or hard boiled eggs, ? Apples slices and dip are good too. The dip is 8 oz. light cream cheese, 3/4 C. brown sugar, 1 T. vanilla $ chopped walnuts. Mix all together with mixer until blended. It has a carmel taste to it, mmmm. My daughter loves to even eat plain garbanzo beans. The more of a variety you can get her to eat, the better off you'll be. Be creative !

I have done various different things... When time is short I have used Gerber Graduate meals, sometimes its just the little bowls of the ravioli (these ones don't have sauce so less mess of that sort) and other times its the full meal ones they look like mini tv dinners with the main dish and a vegetable (sometimes you have to mix the veggie in to the main dish, depends on the veggie and the kid in my case). They are great cuz you pop them in the microwave for only 30 seconds.
I found that if I cut them small enough even at 15 months hot dogs were a hit, (Slices then cut into quarters, so pretty small) with a dot of ketchup on them when they seemed ready for such.
My girls LOVE pasta of any sort with pretty much any sauce, or even no sauce.
Spaghetti-O's, Chicken noodle O's, Chicken and Stars, and any of the themed soups like Cars, Princesses and Dora are also hits... but they mostly like the noodles and chunks of chicken, the broth doesn't get eaten by them so much...
I'm afraid that with 3 under the age of 3 I tend to take the easy route for lunch and save my energy for a focused dinner, and sometimes don't even manage that lol.
I hope these ideas help some, good luck making lunch interesting, and God bless.

Go to the grocery and get a rotisserie chicken. Take it home and de-bone it. You can serve it with shredded cheese and some kind of sauce (bbq, hot, soy, teriyaki, etc.), you can make burritos, you can put it on a salad, or mix it with pasta.

Happy eating!