Summer Lunches

Sweet summertime, when my floors are covered in sand, my wash is loaded with towels, and my table is FULL of beached out hungry kids. Often times, and especially in the summer, I pull out a tray, load it with some mix and match bites, and call it a "snacky lunch". No dishes, no plates, no complaining - there's something for everyone. My only request is that the kids try one piece of food from each section. Here's a peek at what the kids ate last week:

MONDAY

This lunch included organic grapes, Aldi's organic cheddar puffs, rainbow carrots and baby bell peppers with hummus, and a fun treat, The Incredibles' yogurts, which were an ALDI special buy. They also had smoothies that consisted of oranges, beets, kale, mango, banana, and hemp.

TUESDAY

Tuesday's lunch looks rather bland, but it was a big hit with the kids. This one is a mix of strawberries, apples, peppers, and tomatoes, and a fun play on pizza. For the mini pizzas, I used whole wheat mini bagels, baked at 350 for 5 mins so they wouldn't get soggy, and then topped them with organic jarred pizza sauce from ALDI, and some mozzarella cheese. I popped them back in the oven for about 5 mins and there ya have it...easy peasy!

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday called for some creativity because I needed to get to the grocery store, so I grabbed some cheese sticks, hard boiled eggs, and fruit cones. Fruit cones are a fun summer breakfast/snack treat I pull out when necessary, and the concept is simple - chop up some fruit nice and small, let the kids stuff it into cones, voila. Suddenly fruit is really fun! To be honest, if you compare the label between a cone and a box of original Ritz crackers, there's not much difference, so don't get hung up on the fact that it's a cone...its a special treat!

THURSDAY

We were feelin' the Thursday blues this week, so I decided to put a little extra effort in and theme our lunch. Clearly, I went with breakfast, which happens to be the most simple theme for ANY meal. Here we have blueberry muffins, berries, grapes, kiwi, and whole grain waffles with peanut butter. Their smoothies were quite sad - oranges, bananas, water, spinach, and hemp. But hey, you win some, you lose some, and they enjoyed them, so I'll call it a win for the sole reason that it gave them a veggie for the day.

FRIDAY

BOY Friday was a rough one. We had an extra mouth to feed this particular day, and we were all WHOOPED from the beach. I literally grabbed the cheddar penguins (like goldfish) that were left in our beach bag, quick chopped some cucumber and apple, and made a few PB&J sandwiches cut into nibble size bites. The verdict? This was their favorite lunch of the week. Of course it was...

 So there ya have it! Do you do snack trays in your house? What are your kids favorite snacky lunch foods? Be sure to check out my video. which also includes MY lunches for the week, and let me know if you'd like more posts like this!