school lunches

School lunches can become repetitive and tedious; the following is a list of 5 easy recipes for our kids to enjoy.

Lunchbox Pasta Salad from BBC Good Food

Ingredients:

400g of pasta
4-5 tablespoons of fresh pesto
1 tablespoon of mayonnaise
2 tablespoons of Greek yogurt
½ a juiced lemon
200g of mixed cooked veg (e.g., peas, green beans, courgette)
100g of cherry tomatoes in quarters
Choice of 200g of cooked of chicken, ham, prawns, hard-boiled egg or cheese

Method:

Cook the pasta in boiling water until al dente. Drain and tip into a bowl. Stir in the pesto and leave to cool.
When the pasta is cool, stir through the mayo, yogurt, lemon juice and veg. Spoon into lunchboxes or on to pasta plates and put the cooked chicken or protein of your choice on top. Chill until ready to eat if intended for a packed lunch.

Quick Mini Quiches from Kidspot Kitchen

Ingredients:

Vegetable oil spray
4 large eggs
3 finely chopped spring onions
1 cup of creamed corn
50g of grated tasty cheese

Method:

Heat the oven to 180°C and spray 10 holes of a muffin tray with vegetable oil.
Mix all the ingredients together and spoon into the pan; fill each muffin cavity about 2/3 full.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until set in the middle.
Cool completely and store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Cornflake and oat fruit biscuits from Australia’s Best Recipes

Ingredients:

1 cup of self-rising flour
3/4 cup of rolled oats
1 cup of Cornflakes
150g of butter
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup of sultanas
1/2 cup of finely chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup of chocolate bits
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
1 tablespoon of honey
1/2 cup of coconut

Method:

in a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients.
Stir in melted butter, vanilla, honey and beaten egg.
Drop tablespoons of mixture onto baking trays lined with baking paper. Flatten with a fork.
Bake for 10-12 minutes at 180C.

Kiwi Pops from Kidspot Kitchen

Ingredients:

2 kiwifruits
200 g of dark chocolate
Pop sticks

Method:

Cover a flat tray with baking paper and place in the fridge.
Peel and slice each kiwifruit into 4 thick wedges.
Push the pop sticks gently into each slice.
Melt chocolate in the microwave in a glass bowl in 30 second bursts, stirring well in between.
Dip the kiwi into chocolate and tap off excess gently. Place on cooled tray and return to fridge to set.

Energy Bites from BBC Good Food

Ingredients:

100g of pecan
75g of raisin
1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed (or a mix – milled flaxseed, almond, Brazil nut or walnut mix)
1 tablespoon of cocoa powder
1 tablespoon of agave syrup
50g of desiccated coconut
2 tablespoons of peanut butter

Method:

Put pecans in a food processor and blitz to crumbs. Add raisins, peanut butter, flaxseeds, cocoa powder and agave syrup, then pulse to combine.
Shape the mixture into golf ball-sized spheres and coat in the coconut. Put in the fridge to firm for 20 mins.

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Recipe 1: 2 Ingredient Lunchbox Scrolls

If you want to make some fresh scrolls for lunch at home or lunch boxes, this is a really fast and easy recipe. Equal parts self raising flour and greek yoghurt, that’s it!!

Serves: 8
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook times: 20 mins
Total time: 35 mins

Ingredients:
1 cup Self Raising Flour
1 cup Greek Yoghurt

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 180C
2. Mix flour and yoghurt and make a ball.
3. Knead for a few minutes, adding more flour if mixture is too wet.
4. Sprinkle extra flour on bench, roll dough into rectangle

Mix ingredients together into a bowl to create dough. I add a little more flour if the mix is too sticky. Roll out onto a floured flat surface. I have made a double batch below and created a different variety of scrolls. One side is ham, capsicum, pineapple and cheese, the other ham and cheese.

Then roll up and slice into 2 cm thick segments, bake on baking tray until golden, approximately 15-18minutes.

Recipe 2: Mexican Chicken Salad Sandwich Filling

Ooh we so love Mexican in this household. The girls and I like most dishes as I make them, but the boys (so macho) like to add in extra dashes of chilli sauce or jalapenos. We often have chicken rolls for lunch on the weekends, but this took the traditional chicken and mayo roll to a whole new level. If you love mexican you must try this!

Serves: 8-10
Prep time: 10 mins
Total time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

1 tomato, finely diced
1 capsicum, finely diced
3 spring onions, finely sliced
1/2 cup tasty cheese, grated
2 poached chicken breasts or 1 BBQ chook, shredded
1/3 cup mayonnaise
taco seasoning, to taste
Bread rolls

Instructions:

1. Add tomato, capsicum, spring onions and cheese into a large bowl, stir
2. Place chicken, mayonnaise and taco seasoning into bowl and stir to thoroughly combine.
3. Taste and add more mayonnaise and seasoning if required
4. Serve on bread rolls. There is enough mix for approximately 10 rolls.

Firstly I combined a diced tomato, capsicum, spring onions and cheese.

Then added poached chicken(or BBQ chook), mayonaise and taco seasoning.

Serve on bread rolls… tiger bread rolls on this day, for a special treat!

Recipe 3: Fruity Bliss Balls

These Fruity Bliss Balls are nut free, which are ideal to put in the lunch boxes of kids who have a nut free policy at their school, store in the fridge for up to one week.

Serves: 18
Prep time: 15 mins
Total time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

10 medjool dates, remove seeds
1/2 cup raisins or sultanas
1 cup rolled oats
1 tablespoon cacao or cocoa
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
coconut

Instructions:

1. Place the ingredients into a food processor.
2. Process on high speed for several minutes until the mixture sticks together like a paste.
3. Take small handfuls of mixture and make into balls, roll in coconut.
4. Keep in the refrigerator, enjoy.

My kids usually take 3 bliss balls in replace of a fruit, read more about my lunchbox packing guide.

Recipe 4: Greek Mason Jar Salad

I’m trying to mix up what I am eating for lunches during the week. Earlier this year I was stuck in a rut of making a sandwich every day. Now I take time to plan ahead and make sure I eat something different each day. I still have a sandwich, but another day I may have crispbread loaded with tuna, spinach, onion and tomato and then another day a mason jar salad.

Prep time: 10 mins
Total time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

1-2 tablespoons classic dressing
1 /3 cup chickpeas
Capsicum, diced
Cucumber, diced
Red onion, sliced
Cherry tomatoes, halved
Olives
Chicken, shredded
Fetta, cubed
Baby spinach, washed

Instructions:

1. Place all ingredients in the order listed above into a clean mason jar
2. Seal tightly, refrigerate and use within 5-7 days.

https://offspringmagazine.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/greek-mason-jar-salad-5.jpg

There is a special technique to the salad assembly to keep all the contents fresh. The vegetables and protein need to be layered in a particular way:

Layer 1 – Dressing
Layer 2 – Chickpeas
Layer 3 – Hard vegetables – capsicum, cucumber and red onion
Layer 4 – Soft vegetables – cherry tomatoes, olives
Layer 5 – Protein – chicken and fetta
Layer 6 – Salad greens – baby spinach