Summer Lunchbox Challenge Round One
Summer Lunchbox Challenge Round One
Dips
This week I set out quite a smorgasbord for my lunch taste-testers. We had hummus, ranch dressing and a peanut butter/ apple sauce/ cinnamon mixture alongside honey wheat pretzel rods, Pepperidge Farm Snack Sticks, celery, cucumber sticks, snow peas and carrot sticks. I also served the snack sticks with ham wrapped around them and a touch of butter to hold the ham.
The dips can easily be packed in small plastic containers and a cold pack.
Not one of my testers went for the hummus on anything. I love hummus, though, so I’m not going to give up easy on this one. Perhaps I’ll try a milder variety next time and report back.
Both the ranch and peanut butter mixture met mixed reviews. Surprisingly, my toughest judge downed the celery, cucumbers and snow peas quite happily and said he liked them plain or with the ranch dressing. (Cha-ching! I’m happy to skip the ranch and offer the veggies plain next time!)
The peanut butter mixture went well with the honey wheat pretzel sticks. One taste-tester agreed with me. But that’s not enough for me to make it a habit around here. Incase you’d like to give it a try, I’m including the recipe at the end of this entry. It makes a good sandwich and is also good with apple slices.
Variations on a peanut butter sandwich
Peanut butter, sliced strawberries and strawberry jelly- This was an overwhelming hit… even for the one who claims to not like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!
Peanut Butter and honey- Another hit with everyone. But this surprised me because I’ve opened many a lunchbox at the end of the day to find these still inside. I asked my son if he would like for me to pack these for his lunch again and he said “No.”
“No? But you just inhaled that sandwich and asked for more. Why don’t you want me to pack this?” I said.
“Well, I just want to eat what everyone else is eating.”
Aaaaarrrgh! You’ve got to be kidding me. Even if he likes it at home he doesn’t want to be the weird kid with the healthy lunch. He wants what everyone else is eating.
I guess I’ve identified the challenge, ladies. Help me out and join in the lunchbox revolution so our kids can be cool and healthy at the same time. And, like I said, I’ll try almost any of your ideas and report back. I’m even recruiting the neighborhood kids so we can get a less biased tasting board.
Any ideas? Send them on and I’ll continue my search. We WILL overcome!
Peanut Butter/ Applesauce/ Cinnamon dip
- 1/3 cup peanut butter
- 1/3 cup applesauce
- 2 Tablespoons honey
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
Mix together and serve.
Find out more about Amy at her blog Mom’s Tool Box.
For more info on the Summer Lunchbox Challenge start here.
AUTHOR | Toni
Toni, one of the original 3 Moms, is a military wife and stay-at-home(schooling) mom of six, soon to be seven great kids. On her personal blog, The Happy Housewife, she writes about saving money, healthy eating, recycling, homeschooling, life as a mom, and crafting.
My dd likes “ants on a log”-the old peanut butter and raisin stuffed celery sticks. I found this a little messy to pack, though, so I instead spread a tortilla with peanut butter and then sprinkled raisins and chopped celery over it. If it looked a little dry or pasty, I’d drizzle on a little honey and then roll it up.
Also, in order to take advantage of the cheaper big containers of applesauce or yogurt or homemade pudding, but not drive myself nuts trying to keep track of little containers and lids I did this: Buy a box of the “snack size” zip-top bags, fill with yogurt and seal. Your child can snip off a little corner at lunch time and have homemade “Go-Gurt” It’s a little wobblier but they’ll catch on.
I notice you have a link to Hillbilly Housewife. Great stuff. I’ve recently been trying out her methods of making homemade yogurt from starter. We’ve been enjoying lots of smoothies and I’ve also tried her recipe for custard style yogurt, flavoring the homemade plain stuff with Jell-O. Awesome!
The Sabra brand of hummus is the best on the planet Amy. I buy a huge thing of it from Costco.
[...] felt lost for ideas at lunchtime, but this summer I tested a few new things and wrote about it here on Happy to be at Home. The last in the series features my lunchbox cheat sheet, which chronicles a [...]