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15 Adult and Toddler Lunch Ideas

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adult and toddler lunch ideas
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We started meal planning about a year ago, I would say, and it’s been great.  But I was still horrible when it came to lunch ideas.  Andrew pretty much took PB&J to work everyday with some other things thrown in and since I work from home, I was even worse when it came to lunch for Skibbles and I.  She was heavily attached to breastmilk until I got pregnant so she didn’t eat a ton.  She’d nibble off my plate, have some fruit or nuts, and more and more and more milk.
Recently though, I made a commitment to do better for all of us.  It started with making sure that Skibbles had a well balanced lunch since I was no longer producing breastmilk.  Then, Andrew actually asked for lunch ideas for something other than PB&J.  I reached out for suggestions from friends, but that didn’t help much because Andrew is the pickiest eater ever – no soups, no salads, and very little leftovers.  I glanced at the Child and Adult Care Food Program standards for both children and adults and try to get in most of the allotted recommendations.
adult lunch ideas
Here’s some of the meals I’ve packed for Andrew:
  • PB&J (Yes, it’s still on the list, but we try to rotate it much more)
  • Ham & Cheese Sandwich or Turkey & Cheese Sandwich
  • Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwiches
  • Salmon with sliced Avocado and rice or Sweet Potato
  • Quesadillas (Ham and cheese or Chicken, Cheese & Black Beans)
  • Homemade Pizza
  • Tacos
  • Chicken Wraps with lettuce, tomato, and crumbled bacon
  • Meatball Sandwich

toddler lunch ideas

And here’s some of the meals that we “packed” for Skibbles.
  • Homemade “Lunchable” – sliced ham, cheese, and crackers
  • Cheesy Pasta with Pepperoni and Peppers
  • Quesadillas (like the ones above, but she also loves pizza quesadillas too)
  • Hotdogs
  • Meatballs
  • Soup (we’ve done homemade Spaghetti O’s, Beef Stew, and ABC chicken soup)

With both Andrew and Skibbles we do a fruit like apples or mandarin oranges and another side like cheese stick, carrots, nuts, or sliced peppers.  It’s been so much better for everyone!

We are currently loving our tommee tippee plates and bowls for Skibbles and looking into a bento style box like this one for Andrew’s lunch after it came highly recommended from a friend.
What are some of your go to lunches for packing?  Leave a comment below and let me know! 

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POPable Pizza Bites

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If you haven’t figured out from reading my prior posts, I use my pizza dough recipe for everything.  For our baby shower, my sister and I decided one of the things we wanted were popable Pizza Bites. Since I am always trying to save money, I automatically knew I would be using my dough instead of buying Pillsbury biscuits that the original recipe used (plus, it’s much healthier).
My recipe for pizza dough is typically divided into 2 sections, one usually frozen for later.  For this recipe, whether you freeze the second ball depends on how many you want to make.  Each ball of dough will make 28 pizza pops. Andrew loves this recipe and has asked for it to be added to our rotation. These pizza bites were a big hit at our baby shower and the kids were all in love with them!
First start with one ball of dough.

Separate into 28 equal sized circles.

I personally find it easiest to separate the original ball into 4 equal pieces then each of those 4 balls, I separate into 7 mini balls as seen below.

Roll each ball into a small circle and layer one slice of pepperoni, a cube of cheese, and another slice of pepperoni on top

Fold up the edges around the filling.

So that it is completely enclosed.

Place each ball seam size down into a 13×9 baking dish

Mix seasoning together.Brush each pizza pop with olive oil

And then sprinkle with seasoning. Cover dish and place in freezer ovenight.

**Tip: using regular pizza dough, it has a tendency to rise more than using canned biscuits. Because of this freezing is optimal in this case.  Even if you can freeze for 30 minutes it will help greatly.  If you cannot wait, you can throw right into the oven and they will still taste amazing, but there will be space in between filling and dough from the dough rising.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Pull out of the oven and remove the cover from the top.  Place dish into the oven for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with pizza sauce.

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POPable Pizza Bites
Author: Larisha Campbell
Ingredients
  • Pizza Dough Recipe you only need half the dough the recipe makes, you can freeze the rest for later like the recipe calls for or double everything below to make two batches
  • 56 pepperoni slices
  • Block of cheese I used Colby--cut into 28 chunks
  • Olive Oil
  • 1 tablespoon each: Parmesan Italian seasoning, Garlic powder
  • 1 jar pizza sauce
Instructions
  1. Directions:
  2. Roll out dough into 28 equal balls.
  3. Roll each ball into a small circle and layer pepperoni, cheese, pepperoni.
  4. Fold up edges around filling and place in 13x9 baking dish seam side down.
  5. Repeat until all balls are filled and in baking dish.
  6. Mix seasonings together.
  7. Brush each with olive oil and sprinkle with seasoning.
  8. Cover and freeze overnight (or at least 30 minutes).
  9. Baking: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove cover and place into oven for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.
  10. Serve along with pizza sauce.
Enjoy 🙂
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