[George_Stella]

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Ø Recipe ideas for school lunches and after-school snacks
o Healthy

Make the lunch balanced by providing a fun and healthy main dish with protien (helps you stay full longer)complimented by a healthy snack or treat and a sugar-free drink such as bottled water and a Crystal Light powder pack so they can make their own at lunch! Minute Maid and Tropican also now make juice with less sugars.
Send them with a Thermos of Hot Soup on a cold day


When you're cooking fresh your eating healthy! There are also many prepackaged "healthier" snacks available today made with less sugar and from whole grains. (see list below)

More of MY universal quick-tips for whateever it's worth:

-Shop the outside Isles of the grocery store as that's where all the fresh healthy colorful foods are!

-When you're cooking with color you're eating healthy

-Fresh is Best


o Fun and exciting

Include a surprise in the lunchbox or bag, maybe a new pen or pencil or a set of stickers.

Lunch begins when they open the lunchbox or bag!

Shop with your kids to find the perfect lunchbox that they think is "Kool"!

There are many types of lunch boxes and bags these days and I suggest that the box be as fun and interesting as the food ! Shopping online will offer the most choices.

Go Green with Reusable Designer Lunch Bags from "Reusable Bags"
--Eco-Bag totes made from organic cotton linen at $7.00 each.

TIPS: Try to make certain whatever you buy is insulated and don't forget a thermos for drinks and soup and reuseable ice packs.

Bento Boxes---like opening a gift!
Create your own "Lunchable" type fun meals filling these compartmentalized plastic boxes with sliced or chunk cheese, lunchmeat and a healthy snack! Don't forget to Include individual packets of condiments as it's the little things that count to the kids!




o Cost-conscious

o How to save time and money while providing healthy meals
Not only is it fun and exciting to get your kids in the kitchen to cook dinner it can save time and money all the while bonding with your children and stregthening the family unit! We sit down with the sale ads and plan our meals around what's on sale and what we like of course. A few favorites are:

a. Family Style Chicken-- (recipe incl)made from 10 pound bags of chicken leg quarters.( We usually pay about 60 cents a pound at Walmart or $6.00 a bag!)
From this we get dinner for 4, with plent leftover to make a great Fajita Chicken Salad and my favorite a simple plain chunky chicken salad!

b. Chili Turkey Burgers ---(Recipe incl) made from fresh ground turkey, a lower fat alternative to ground beef that is less expensive and goes on sale in 1 pound packages all the time for buy one-get one free! This is a great "dump and mix" recipe; like making mud pies! And it is fun to cook all at once on a non stick electric pancake griddle!

c. Easy Cheesey Chili Chicken -- (Recipe incl)Boneless, skinless Chicken Breast--again a great frequent sale item as low as 1.99 pound at times and even buy 1-get 1! And it cooks fast and easy making it another easy and delicious meal great for making a lunch wrap the next day(add a slice of avocado to make it exotic!

o Easy

Easy Cookin' = fun in the kitchen! One pan meals are big around the Stella household; sure you can have fun making cookies with kids we already know that ( and we also know we sure don't need more sugar!) but you can have the same fun making the family meal as it's fun to get all the ingredients ready and dump and mix in a bowl with your hands, a whisk, wooden spoon or spatuala!




Suggested Recipes from my books:

School Lunches
a. Dill Deli Rolls (cut into pinwheels)
b. BLT Lettuce Wraps (or W.W. tortilla)
c. Chicken Fajita Salad (in a "Kool" and colorful salad carrier) may use ww wrap
d. Chili Turkey Burgers

Healthy Snacks with Recipes
a. Nutty Muddy Trail Mix
b. Crispy Pepperoni Chips
c. Cheese Crisps (and salsa)

Easy Exciting Snacks-No recipes
Whole Almonds
Yogurt, no sugar added now avail
Apple Sauce , no added sugar now avail
a. String Cheese or indiv. cheese packs
b. Nuts--ind. packs
c. Pretzels
d. Sugar-Free Jello Cups
e. Whole fresh strawberries or blueberries
f. Cut up chunks of melons
h. No sugar cookies and even gummies are now available in stores
i. Hard Boiled or devilled eggs
j. Olives and toothpics

After School Snacks--Recipes incl
a, Fresh Fruit Slushee
b. Anthony's Berry Good Smoothies
c. Refreshing Fruit Kebobs

Ø Quick tips for parents
o How to get your kids to want to eat healthy lunches

Get your Kids involved, get your Kids In The Kitchen the night before to help make the family dinner. The trick is that they are also helping to make their own school lunch for the next day from the leftovers! I always say, cook once, eat twice; while saving time and money!

If the kids can't help make dinner let them help make the lunch the night before and keep refrigerated to avoid last minute confusion in the morning!

By making their meal exciting from the box or bag to the interesting containers and meals, their friends will be impressed and your kid will feel special and with a proper lunch that's how it will be!

o How to get your kids engage in menu planning

Ask your kids what they like for lunch and then Have a fun food party! Cooking should be fun and if you approach it that way from asking them to help pick out the recipes to shopping and cooking your kids will join right in! They can even invite a few friends over to help! They will most always eat what they make!

One trick I use is to make your kitchen look exciting by using colorful measuring cups and spoons, shiny stainless steel pots andn pans and of course a bright red blender! And my secret weapon is an electric non-stick pancake griddle as it's safe and unitimidating and fun for kids to use. I make our family meals on it too including our all time favorite; Chili Turkey Burgers which are not only fun to make but make a tasty leftover for lunches!

Ø Suggestions for partners
o Lock & Lock (portion controlled lunch box alternative)
QVC, see QVC.com for all styles
Go Green with Reusable Designer Lunch Bags from "Reusable Bags"
(Eco-Bag totes made from organic cotton linen at $7.00 each.
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[Dingie_Dinah]

Excellent Advice George! Wonder why I'm just seeing this? Must not have had enough Coffee this morning or something.

Thanks for the insight!!!
_________________
Dingie Dinah
Stella Style since 5/2003

May you always have
Love to Share,
Health to Spare,
And Friends Who Care

"Nothing Tastes as Good as Thin and Healthy Feels"

'Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.'

[mgonser]

Ditto what Dinah said. These are wonderful tips as I make my husband a lunch every day to take to work, save money and I know he's eating healthy! Thanks George!

[missymagoo12]

thank you for putting this in this forum!! well said!! sue