Whether you have older children who attend school, or your toddler attends daycare or a preschool program, here are 7 back-to-school lunch tips:

1. Make dinner do double-duty

You’re already in the kitchen preparing your family’s dinner, why not use that time to get a head-start on the next day’s brown bag lunches?

Make a double batch of meals that taste just as good “the morning after”, or cook dishes that can be transformed into something “new”, such as pasta sauce that’s just as yummy as pizza topping (on ready-made crust of course).

To make meal planning easier, take a look at Dine Without Whine. It’s a monthly service for planning your family’s meals and grocery shopping.

2. Include lunches when meal planning

To do tip #1, you need to be more organized. This means including your kids’ lunches when planning your family dinners.

3. Let the kids participate

Lighten your load and teach your children some important life skills at the same time. Even small children can help prepare their lunches.

If morning is too stressful, then make this an after-dinner activity – which brings us to…

4. Make advance preparations

Do whatever you can do ahead of time. For example, cook in batches on the weekend, or put leftovers in packable containers the night before.

5. DIY fast food

Commercial packed lunches are attractive but unhealthy. But who says you can’t make your own? Buy your own colorful and attractive lunch boxes, such as a bento-style lunchbox.

Fill it up with a variety of healthy food. Think of mixing up foods with different textures and colors. And cut them up into small pieces so they’re easy and fast to eat.

6. Soup it Up

Soup makes a quick and healthy lunch. You can cook a large pot in the weekend and pack it in a thermos for a warm and satisfying lunch. Serve with whole wheat bread and some fresh fruit and you’ve got a complete meal!

7. Sprinkle in some fun

Sneak a little surprise into your child’s lunchbox once in a while. It could be a little chocolate treat, stickers, or a sweet note from you. Getting something unexpected makes lunch fun.

With planning and creativity, your children can have healthy, delicious lunches without too much work for you.

For meal planning help, go to Dine Without Whine. It makes meal planning a breeze, while helping you save time and money.

Then you’ll have time and energy for those school lunches.

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You can still feed your toddler wholesome, organic meals without any of the stress,
even if you are a mom on the go.

There are a few organic food companies that come to mind when I think of convenience meals for toddlers.

Happy Baby – Premium Organic Baby & Toddler Meals

Peas of Mind – Healthy frozen food for growing kids

Mom Made Meals

Also check out these organic convenience foods for baby and younger toddlers-

Tastybaby

Petite Palate

Bella Baby Foods

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From Family Fun:

Independence Day Pops

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:
3 cups vanilla yogurt
Red food coloring
Blue food coloring
Waxed paper
Sugar cones
Popsicle sticks

1. To make a half dozen pops, tint 1/2 cup of the yogurt with red food coloring and 1 1/2 cups with blue food coloring. Leave the rest plain.

2. Make waxed paper cone liners by folding six 12-inch square sheets into triangles, wrapping each around a sugar cone, and using tape to hold the shape. Then place the paper cones inside the sugar cones.

Step 4 – Independence Day Pops 3. Fill each cone with 1 tablespoon red yogurt, followed by 2 tablespoons white yogurt, then 3 tablespoons blue yogurt. Insert a Popsicle stick and freeze the pops until firm, about 4 hours, using the cone box to keep them upright (as shown).

Fruit Flag

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:
29 large strawberries
30 large blackberries
7 or so large bananas
Lemon juice

1. Hull and halve 29 large strawberries and set them aside.

2. Arrange 30 large blackberries, as shown, in the upper left corner of a serving tray or cutting board (it should be at least 8 by 13 inches).

3. Cut 58 banana slices, 3/4-inch-thick, into a bowl. Sprinkle on lemon juice and toss the slices gently with a rubber spatula to keep them from browning.

4. Assemble the banana slices in rows as shown and top each slice with a strawberry half.

Check out Family Fun for more 4th of July crafts and recipes!

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Now there is a solution: HomeFree has launched a new brand of organic, ready-to-eat, whole grain cookies and coffee cakes free of common food allergens including peanuts, tree nuts, dairy and eggs.

HomeFree products are:

-Free of peanuts, tree nuts, eggs and dairy
-Certified whole grain – each cookie serving contains at least ½ serving of whole grains
-Certified organic
-Fine for most people allergic to wheat (not gluten-free; contain oats)
-Fine for most people allergic to soy (most contain soy lecithin)
-Baked and packaged in a dedicated bakery
-Allergen tested
-Without trans fat or cholesterol
-Without corn sweeteners, artificial colors, artificial flavors, MSG, and genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
Certified vegan (oatmeal cookies, and coffee cakes)
Certified kosher pareve

Even for a child (or adult) without allergies, HomeFree baked goods are a nutritious alternative to traditional cookies and cakes.

You can purchase HomeFree products at select Whole Foods, and online at www.homefreetreats.com.

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When was the last time your family had a meal together?

I don’t mean sitting in the car munching on burgers from the
drive-through. I mean sitting down at the table and sharing
a home-cooked meal.

If you can’t remember when you last enjoyed a family dinner,
make plans to have them more often. Experts have found – and
continue to discover – plenty of benefits for both children
and adults when families have dinner together at least three
times a week.

I know…I know, it’s not always easy, so click here if you need help with meal planning and
grocery shopping.

Here are 10 reasons why you should have family meals more often:

Good For The Body

1. When families eat together, everyone tends to eat
healthier. People who have frequent family meals consume
more calcium, fiber, iron, and vitamins B6, B12, C and E. It
could be because home-cooked meals are healthier than fast
food and restaurant meals. (Source: Archives of Family
Medicine)

2. Children tend to eat more fruits and vegetables when they
frequently have dinner with their families. They also tend
to eat fewer snack foods. (Source: American Dietetic
Association)

3. Children in families who eat dinner together are less
likely to be overweight (Source: Archives of Pediatrics &
Adolescent Medicine). This makes sense, given the findings
in #1 and #2 above.

Good For The Brain

4. Children from families who eat meals together get better
grades than their peers who don’t have lots of family meal
times (Source: Lou Harris-Reader’s Digest National Poll).
So family dinners are not only good for the body; they’re
also good for the brain.

5. When families eat together frequently, children have
better language skills compared to kids from families who
don’t have family mealtimes often. (Source: Harvard
University)

Good For Emotional Health

6. Children of families who eat together report feeling
happier and are more optimistic about the future, than their
peers who have infrequent family meals. (Source: Lou Harris-
Reader’s Digest National Poll)

7. Teenagers are less likely to use drugs, smoke, and drink
alcoholic drinks, when their families eat together
regularly. (Source: Columbia University)

8. It may come as a surprise, but among Moms who work
outside the home, those who have family mealtimes reported
feeling less stress than those who had family dinners less
often. (Source: Family and Consumer Sciences Research
Journal)

9. The more often teen girls had meals with their families,
the less likely they were to have symptoms of depression and
suicidal behaviors. (Source: University of Minnesota)

Good For Family Bonding

10. Eating together gives family members the chance to
communicate and build relationships, something that both
adults and children appreciate very much. (Source: Nutrition
Education Network of Washington & Oprah Winfrey’s “Family
Dinner Experiment”)

I hope these reasons motivate you and your family to try and
eat together more often.

We’re all busy – But as the list above shows, family meals are worth every effort we put into them.
It helps to plan ahead so that we’re not scrambling to get dinner ready or panicking because we don’t have all the ingredients we need.

To make it easier to get the family around the table with a home-cooked meal, check out Dine Without Whine’s Menu Planning Service. It cost just a penny to try it out!

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Stores have already started to remove the crackers from the shelves, but you will need to look in your pantries and throw out any crackers you have on hand to be safe.

Types of crackers include- Toasted Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers, Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Crackers, Cheese and Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers, and Peanut Butter-Chocolate Sandwich Crackers.

If you have any questions about the recall you can contact Kellogg Consumer Response Center at 1-888-314-2060

http://kelloggs.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=230

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Click here to open coupon in a new window and print

This coupon expires 12/21/08 and is limited to one box per family.

7 Delicious flavors to choose from:

- Yes Peas & Thank You Carrots
- Smarter Squash & Wiser Apple
- Grrreat Greens & Easy-Being-Green Beans
- Chick Chick
- Baby Dhal & Mama Grain
- Super Salmon & Regular Prunes
- Gobble Gobble & Paradise Puree

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Here is my recipe for yummy chicken & dumplings that both your toddler and the rest of the family will love!

Homemade Chicken & Dumplings

Ingredients:

1 Whole Chicken (cooked)

Baby Carrots – cut up

1 Refrigerated can of biscuits

Salt & Pepper (to taste)

Directions:

I use the leftovers of 1 large rotisserie chicken. We eat some of the chicken the night before, then I remove the chicken from the bones and refrigerate, keeping the bones.

The next day I boil the chicken bones with some cut up baby carrots and a little salt and pepper.

I boil for about 30 minutes until I have my chicken stock. Remove and throw away bones.

Add leftover chicken (shredded) into pot.

Take 1 can of refrigerated biscuits (I use the small can of 10) and separate biscuit dough into pieces, 3-4 per biscuit. Gently drop 1 by 1 into the pot.

The biscuits will become your dumplings and will puff up, and then go back down. Put burner on a simmer and stir every so often.

Within about 20 minutes your broth will begin to thicken. Add a teaspoon or 2 of wheat flour if you like your sauce a little thicker.

Cut up chicken and dumplings to bite size pieces for your toddler.

Serve & Enjoy!

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Breakfast is the easiest meal of the day to prepare, and usually a toddlers favorite.

Take a look and some of these easy toddler breakfast ideas that you can mix and match to make more than 2 weeks worth of breakfasts.

Toddler Breakfast Ideas

Pancakes – Make ahead and freeze extra, mini pancakes are a favorite

Waffles – same as above, we LOVE this new Mickey mini waffle maker

Scrambled eggs – easy to make toddler favorite, add veggies when you can

Oatmeal – instant or regular

Grits

Toast – cut into fin shapes with cookie cutters & top with butter, jelly, or peanut butter

Cereal with Milk – Cheerios, Chex, Rice Krispies, Kix, Puffed Rice, Flakes just to name a few

Cottage cheese and fruit

Fruit and yogurt – We love bananas and strawberries

French toast – cut into sticks (strips), dip in applesauce

Mini bagels and cream cheese

Muffins – Make ahead and freeze, banana, zucchini, blueberry, apple

Yogurt and cereal – top yogurt with crushed cereal

Biscuits with jelly

Breakfast burrito – endless possibilities, stuff tortillas with eggs, cheese and veggies

English muffins

Cereal Bars – Nutri Grain, Gerber Gradulates Fruit & Cereal

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