This week we are doing a series called Lunchbox Inspiration: Five Ingredients Five Ways. Today let’s talk about using chicken as the main ingredient for school lunches. Visit here to see Monday’s Lunchbox Inspiration using peanut butter and Tuesday’s Lunchbox inspiration using cream cheese. We also discussed using ham and tuna.

Chicken Veggie Quesadillas- Make a quesadilla with chicken and vegetables. These are easy to make and serve for lunches.

Chicken and Macaroni- Add chicken to your favorite mac n cheese recipe. This should keep warm in a thermal tote.

Pizza Chicken Rollups- Mix chicken to pepperoni and cheese and roll it up. These should freeze well also if you want to make a lot of these in a big batch.

Chicken Salad Sandwich- Make chicken salad combined with sunflower seeds and grapes to give this recipe a healthy twist!

Chicken and Pesto- There are several recipes out there with pesto added to chicken. You can smear pesto on bread or a tortilla and add chicken. I found a Gluten-Free Chicken Veggie Pasta meal that should be good cold or warm for the kids.

This week we’ve talked about 5 ways to make a lunch with peanut butter, cream cheese, and ham. Today let’s talk about 5 ways to make a child’s lunch with tuna. Try adding tuna to pizza, cottage cheese, sunflower seeds, biscuits or pasta to spice it up.

Spinach Tuna Pizza- Using tuna as a topping? Oh yes you can! Add tuna, spinach (or another veggies), and cheese on a pizza crust.

Tuna Salad- This is easy to pack for a child’s lunch. Serve with crackers, bread, or tortilla wraps.

Tuna Foldover- Try using biscuits instead of bread to make a tuna sandwich more kid friendly. Add cheese and mayo to make is even more delicious.

Tuna and Cottage Cheese- Mix tuna with veggies, sunflower seeds, and cottage cheese to make a yummy tuna salad.

Tuna Dumpling-  Make it bento style. Make small tuna dumplings with cream cheese. These are fried, but every once in a while seems good.

This week we are doing a series called Lunchbox Inspiration: Five Ingredients Five Ways. Let’s talk about using ham as the main ingredient for school lunches. Visit here to see Monday’s Lunchbox Inspiration using peanut butter and Tuesday’s Lunchbox inspiration using cream cheese. Today we are adding pasta, pineapple, potato soup, veggies, turkey, and more to spice up ham lunches.

1. Pasta Salad with Ham- Try adding strips of ham to already made pasta shells! You can make it a bento lunch.

2. Ham and Pineapple Melt- Sound yummy? Instead of bread, you can use an English muffin with a pineapple as the outer ring. Melt with cheese. This should stay good in a child’s lunch box that has a thermal pack.

3. Ham and Cheese Sliders- This is different from just using bread. Try using a sweet roll like The King Hawaiian Rolls. Add ham, cheese, toppings, and call it a day.

4. Ham and Potato Soup- Try adding ham chunks in a potato soup. The sky is the limit with soups. You can add any veggie or cheese inside the soup.

5. Ham and Turkey Wrap- Ham and turkey is a good combination. When using a wrap instead of bread, it can make a difference in taste. Add veggies like tomatoes or spinach.

Yesterday we talked about 5 ways to make a lunch with peanut butter. Today let’s talk about 5 ways to make a child’s lunch with cream cheese! You can add tomatoes, strawberries, and a variety of vegetables to cream cheese to make a delicious meal.
Strawberry and Cream Cheese Sandwich- Spread some cream cheese on a sandwich and add strawberries inside the sandwich. This sounds delicious!

Cream Cheese Veggie Wrap- Try spreading cream cheese inside lettuce and wrap the lettuce to make a sandwich. Kids don’t like lettuce? Try wrapping a tortilla around some other yummy vegetables like tomatoes with cream cheese layered inside.

Turkey and Cream Cheese- Open-Face Turkey Bites are easy to make! Try adding cream cheese, shredded cheese, and turkey on top of crackers! Serve with fruit or veggies.

Cream Cheese and Ham Pinwheels- Make a bento lunch with pinwheels stuffed with cream cheese and ham.

Cream Cheese Fruit Dip- Why not serve cream cheese as a dip or yogurt? Any veggies or fruit can be eaten with cream cheese.

Making school lunches can sometimes become a hassle over time. We run out of lunch ideas or the kids get tired of eating the same thing every day for lunch. To help you out for the first few weeks of school, check out this week’s series: Lunchbox Inspiration: Five Ingredients Five Ways.

Today let’s talk about peanut butter! I found 5 + other ingredients you can use to combine with peanut butter. How about adding cream cheese, honey, raspberries, chocolate, cranberry chutney, or jelly to make your kid’s peanut butter lunch?

Here are 5 ways to incorporate peanut butter with other ingredients for your child’s lunch:

1. Applewich- Try cutting out the core of an apple and using the rest of the apple as bread! Smooth some peanut butter inbetween the apple slices and you have an applewich! 
2. Peanut Butter Sandwich with Raspberries- Does your child love raspberries? This recipe looks great with the addition of this fruit. Use whole wheat bread to make it even more nutritious. Photo above is of this recipe.
3. Peanut Butter Quesadilla- Yummy peanut butter and jelly is spread on a quesadilla. 
4. Peanut Butter Rollups- How about making a rollup with peanut butter, cream cheese, and cranberry chutney? This sounds delicious and is more fun that just putting 2 slices of bread together.
5. How about a bento peanut butter lunch? Make it a little sweet with chocolate and peanut butter spead. Add ham rollups and you have a filling lunch!

How else do you spin off the regular peanut butter and jelly sandwich?