Back in late June, I was invited to speak at Blossom Birth a non-profit resource center for soon-to-be and current parents located in Palo Alto. I expected to talk mostly about making baby food but found myself fielding questions about school lunches instead. Most parents in attendance had school-age children and were faced with the challenge of coming up with creative ideas for school lunches to satisfy both their children and any dietary guidelines their schools may have set. This definitely was a tough nut to crack, so I decided to do some brainstorming before the school year began and pass on my ideas to all you school lunch packing parents out there. My strategy and tips for younger kids and general lunch packing guidelines are featured in this article written for The Parents’ Club of Palo Alto and Menlo Park’s monthly newsletter while this blog entry outlines some more menu ideas for school age children.
The criteria we used for our menu ideas were: 1) no PBJ – too many schools have banned peanut products due to growing allergies; 2) will keep till lunchtime; and 3) finger foods that would be kid friendly. The five ideas we came up with are:
- Meatball “Gyro” | Our homemade meatballs hidden with nutritious goodies stuffed into a pita
- The Ultimate Quesadilla | Melted and then sliced into strips so that kids could easily dip them into salsa or guacamole
- Chicken and Rice Burrito | Even the pickiest children seem to love chicken and rice, so you can’t go wrong here
- Tortellini and Tomato Kebabs | Turning a dinnertime favorite into a lunchtime finger food
- Tuna Fish Sandwich | This old standby gets healthier with some flaxseed
We figure parents can pick two of these options each week, prep the necessary ingredients ahead of time, and then just assemble the morning of when they’re packing lunch(es). Drop in some extras like yogurt cups, bag of trail mix, edamame, or quick bread muffins, and you’ve got a lunch that will be the envy of all your kids friends. For the full recipe download with even more supplement ideas, click here.
Below we feature our chicken and rice burrito, which can easily be turned into an adult’s lunch as well. Just spoon on a dollop of hot sauce for you, and you’ve got lunches checked for the whole family.
Chicken and Rice Burrito
Ingredients
- Rice – 1 cup
- Rotisserie chicken meat – ~ 1 cup (turn the rest of your rotisserie chicken in this delicious soup)
- Avocado – 1
- Tortillas – 3 to 4
Make
- Rinse rice in water 2 to 3 times. This will achieve light and fluffy rice by rinsing away a lot of the residual starch
- Place rice in a >2 quart pot and fill with 2 cups of water. Add a generous pinch of salt, and if you want to more flavor and color, try spooning a few tablespoons of tomato sauce into the water
- Bring to a boil, and then lower heat, cover, and cook until rice has absorbed all the liquid, about 10 to 15 minutes
- While rice is cooking, cut up desired amount of rotisserie chicken
- Store both rice and chicken in airtight containers
- To make lunch, warm tortilla. Place tortilla up on a piece of aluminum foil. Scoop desired amount of rice and chicken into the bottom of the tortilla. Add some avocado slices
- Wrap burrito by folding the bottom over and then the sides. Roll tight and wrap in tortilla
Serve / Substitutes / Supplements
- Add dairy: If you kid loves dairy, consider a spoonful of sour cream or a sprinkling of their favorite cheese
- For adults who can warm up their lunch: Anything can be burrito-fied, so consider adding a scoop of last night’s leftovers into your burrito
- Democratize food: Let your kid(s) pick out the tortilla at the grocery store. There are so many flavors and colors these days, and it’ll help them feel like part of the decision making process
