This is a guest post from Amy who blogs at Mom’s Toolbox.

I’m on a quest to pack nutritious lunches that won’t be tossed in the trash for my children… and summer is the perfect time for research. Join me on this quest, and submit any ideas you might have… I can use all the help I can get!

Wrap it up! But not with a tortilla.

I took suggestions from your comments for wraps to see what my crew would do. For some reason, they rejected the wraps. Any tortilla wraps. I guess they think tortillas are only for tacos.

So while making a traditional sandwich, I decided to try a new twist: I flattened the bread with a rolling pin, added the ingredients and rolled it up like a wrap. Then I cut the roll into pieces like sushi.

They all went for this new twist! My oldest still wasn’t sure if it would be cool enough for the lunchbox (I had no idea kids really cared that much about each others’ lunchbox contents.), but he said he might eat these sandwiches at school.

Here’s what we tried inside: (Amazingly, they loved them all!!)

Peanut butter, granola, honey

Peanut butter, apple sliced into small sticks, honey

Peanut butter, banana, granola, honey

Almond butter, granola

No Phyllo for these guys

I tried to get a little fancy and wrapped chicken sausages (in the refrigerated section near hotdogs) in phyllo dough and baked them in the oven. I thought this might offer a healthier cousin to the hotdog and would be cool because of the way it was wrapped.

My two guest-tasters, girls ages almost 9 and 12 and my daughter, age 2, loved them. But my two boys (ages 5 and almost 7) pulled off the phyllo. They agreed that they did like the sausage, but not that much. I might try them again later in the summer, though, and see if they like them the second time around. Or try it using the pastry wrap instead of the phyllo. (I couldn’t find the pastry dough at the grocery store instead. Maybe I should stick to the recipe!)

The recipe I used was modified from Rachael Ray’s Yum-O cookbook. It included a delicious apricot soy sauce dipping sauce that was fantastic. I think it’s worth a try for your family.

You can find her recipe on the Yum-O website.

Meatball madness

I have to admit that today I considered a drive-through lunch. (All this rejection is a bit exhausting.) But some leftover meatballs caught my eye and rescued me.

I heated them up, along with the cream sauce my husband served with them over the weekend and also a bowl of marinara. I stuck toothpicks in the meatballs and served them on a plate alongside fresh berries. I offered both sauces as dipping options.

The kids could not get enough of the meatballs. They called them meatball lollipops and enjoyed every bite. Then they called the strawberries popsicles and went to town on those, as well. Perhaps toothpicks are the answer!

One son didn’t go for either sauce, but loved the meatballs plain. The other (my more challenging lunchbox guy) asked if I would pack them in his lunch, a thermos for the meatballs and a thermos for the sauce. And a few toothpicks for eating. (Will they become swords in the lunchroom? I don’t know. I’ll wait to see.) My daughter was too busy eating and dipping in the marinara to say much. I have found a new winner!

I’m especially in love with the meatball idea because I can put all sorts of things in meatballs. Think of how fantastically nutritious I could be! And I could probably even puree some high-power veggies to slip in the sauce. If they love ‘em, there will be meatballs every week. (Meatball Monday? Toothpick Tuesday?)

Then that got me thinking… I’ll bet some of you have some great meatball recipes. Do you have any you would like to share? Please leave a comment with your recipe or a comment with a link to your own blog and meatball recipe so we can try them in our own kitchens (and lunchboxes in a few weeks.)

And if you have any other ideas for the Summer Lunchbox Challenge, please leave those as well. We need to band together to stamp out non-nutritious lunches!

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