The Dietitian's Way

I am a Registered Dietitian with a professional education in nutrition, health and wellness.  I, however am also a mother, a daughter, a wife and a business owner.  I’m a real person just trying to live a healthy wholesome life, just like you!  My business and my blog are all about that.  Making healthy living apart of your lifestyle, making it easy, affordable and do-able.   The Dietitians Way is part education, part guidance, part real-life trial and error.  I hope you continue to join me on this journey, find my knowledge helpful and smile from time to time.  

Thinking Outside the LUNCH BOX - Part 2 - The Kids

There is a lot of debate over school hot lunch today and it is one tough issue in today’s schools.  These days a lot of moms (and dads) are making homemade lunches at home, in attempt to provide a healthy wholesome meal for their kids.  The toughest part is often keeping the kids “entertained” with their lunch while also keeping it enjoyable.  Here is my top 10 list of ‘outside the Lunch Box’ ideas to hopefully stir up some new lunches for your littles.

1.     Pasta, Rice or Alternative Grain Salad

  • You can make your own from scratch OR it can be as simple as getting a prepared box mix, like Suddenly Salad.
  • The MOST IMPORTANT PART of this is adding fresh veggies – broccoli, carrots, peppers, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes – ALSO add cubed cheese, ham or turkey

**the key here is to add veggies, meat and dairy to the pasta/grain to make a complete lunch

2.     Get Creative with Sandwiches:

  • Cream Cheese and Strawberries, Sliced Apple and Cheddar Cheese, Cream Cheese and Cucumbers/Tomato
  • Sandwich Shapes – Use various sized Cookie Cutters – this also works for fruit, cheese and lunch meat
  • Different types of bread – Pita Pockets, Whole Wheat Buns, Flatbread, Bagels

3.     Whole Grain/Whole Wheat Tortillas

  • Wraps are fun and kids enjoy them.  You can do meat and cheese or Hummus with Cheese & Veggies (cucumbers/peppers/tomato/olives).  Kids also love Almond Butter (which works for peanut free schools) with honey, bananas or jelly, even a BLT (try turkey bacon) or Pizza wrap (turkey pepperoni) is yummy

4.     Home-made ‘Lunchable’ 

  • Skip the sandwich and send cheese, whole grain crackers and cut up summer sausage/beef or turkey sticks. Roll-ups made with a cheese stick and ham secured with a toothpick, maybe even wrapped around a breadstick are fun too!
  • KABOBS ARE FUN! – Fruit kabobs with Cheese OR Veggies, meat, cheese, and bread

5.     Kid Sushi Rolls (Tortilla Pinwheels)

  • PB & J, Meat, Cheese & Lettuce, Hummus & Tomato, Nut Butter, Banana & Honey, Taco Dip & Veggies
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6.     Make your own TACOS or PIZZA

  • Cut up flatbread let the kids top with sauce, cheese and turkey pepperoni or ham.  Cook breadsticks stuffed with cheese and pepperoni then pack pizza sauce to dip in.  Hummus Pizza with veggies and cheese is yummy too!
  • Pack small tortillas (the corn ones work great!) with seasoned grilled cooked chicken strips, various toppings and special sauce to make tacos!
**Use Cupcake/muffin holders to divide toppings for build your own wraps, tacos and pizzas

7.     Cottage Cheese Salad

  • with fresh veggies and salad dressing (French is a favorite for this) OR cut up fruit. Cottage cheese is a great low fat, non-meat protein source.

8.     Soups with Whole Grain bread or Crackers

  • Tomato, Chicken Noodle, Vegetable, Baked Potato, Turkey Rice, Broccoli Cheese
*Send in a thermos, will be warm and ready for them at lunch time, great for the cool months ahead

9.     Mini Quiches

  • Easy way to incorporate veggies (spinach & broccoli work great!) cheese, and protein if you like.  They can be eaten cold and cooked in mini muffin tins for fun easy to handle kid-sized bites.
 
**Make a crust using wonton wrappers, cresent rolls OR go crustless works great!

10. Muffins or Quickbread 

  • These are not just for breakfast!  They can be made with a variety of different fruits, carrots, zucchini and whole wheat flour OR try a savory version with cheese/ham.

Lunch Box Extras:

Yogurt – cups or sticks – put yogurt sticks in the freezer, ready to go by lunch, add some granola and berries and you have a parfait!

Flavored Hummus with Vegetables, Pita Chips or Pretzels

Baked Snacks – Veggie or Apple Sticks, Popcorn, baked cheese puffs or chips, whole grain crackers

Cut up Melon, Grapes, Pineapple, Berries, Mini Oranges

Peapods, Cherry Tomatoes or Veggie Sticks (Cucumber, Carrot, Celery, Zucchini, Summer Squash)

Trail mix with nuts, dried fruit, cereal

Homemade Granola bars or Energy Bites, google it, lots of variations

Baked Cinnamon Apple Chips

It is really important to make sure that our children receive the adequate amount of nutrients throughout the day. I have included a link to the dietary recommendations for healthy children of all ages.  School Age Children 4-18 years have a wide caloric range from 1200-2200 calories per day (based on gender and age).  Check out the link below to see your child's individual needs.

Dietary Recommendations for Healthy Children

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/Dietary-Recommendations-for-Healthy-Children_UCM_303886_Article.jsp

 
Welcome to my Blog; THE DIETITIANS WAY.  Yes, I am a Registered Dietitian with a professional education in nutrition, health and wellness.  I, however am also a mother, a daughter, a wife and a business owner.  I’m a real person just trying to live a healthy wholesome life, just like you!  My business and my blog are all about that.  Making healthy living apart of your lifestyle, making it easy, affordable and do-able.   The Dietitians Way is part education, part guidance, part real-life trial and error.  I hope you continue to join me on this journey, find my knowledge helpful and smile from time to time.  Thank you for your support!
        Sincerely,
Christine Spettel, RD, CD
Lifestyle Nutrition 
Green Bay, Wisconsin