Dana - They have wonderful kids cookbooks. I use to go over them with my kids and we'd try out a few things. We would get their lunch meals from that. They also had fun making them. I'm going to dig around to see if I still have them. One thing I did find is both my kids loved having a dill pickle w/ there lunch. I got the baby/mini ones. I'll post some of my childrens favorites recipes.
My dd loves to take turkey wraps made with La Tortilla Factory tortillas or regular sandwhiches on low cal bread like reduced fat PB and sugar free jelly. She also loves the low fat tuna I make with FF miracle whip, egg whites, tuna and pickle. Baby carrots are one of her favorites but she also loves apples, grapes, bananas, those little cups of diced peaches or mandarian (sp?) oranges in their own juice. And for snacky stuff to go with it you could try baked chips, Quakes flavored rice cakes or Soy Crisps, or those 100 calorie packs like the cheese nips, Ritz snack mix, & wheat thins. They also have the cookie choices for dessert and don't forget some FF pudding cups are always a hit. Well, that's all I could think of for now, I hope it helps!
BTW, congratulations on your baby starting kindergarten, how exciting!! Be brave, you can handle this!
Thanks that is my grandson Phoenix. He just turned 6 months. The libary would be a great place for you and your daughter to find childrens cookbooks! You know I'm glad you came up with this thread. I've rummaged through my some of my cookbooks and found 3 books. I'm hoping I didn't lose the rest when we moved.
Here's a cute snack my son enjoyed. You take a celery stalk and put peanut butter in it. Thinly sliced and diced apples squares (or you could try coconut,carrot shreds,dried fruit,granola,chopped nuts.) then a couple of your daughters favorite animal crackers. My son said the Lion tasted best.
For a drink he liked Carrot Cooler - 1/2 cup carrot Juice 1/2 cup pineapple juice.
Main meal salad in tortilla - Wheat tortilla fill with a bit of shredded cheese, lettus, broccoli,peppers, any veggie top with favorite dressing. (Sometime we'd put left over meat.) roll up and enjoy!
I love this thread because I don't have any kids but I take a real pleasure in "kid food" for lunch.
Some other favorites that I liked as a kid (and love now):
Chicken Soup in an Invader Zim thermos
Fruit kabobs (pieces of fruit stuck on a plastic skewer - I don't know, it tastes better!)
Anything in a pita
I also recommend a website: http://familyfun.go.com/
I LOVE this site - I get a lot of my cake recipes for parties from here.
My DS just started the first grade. He isn't really a picky eater but he is picky about how his food is served. For instance, he won't take a turkey or ham sandwich to school for lunch because it gets mushy or too warm (despite my best efforts with blue ice packs, insulated lunchboxes, etc.). Anyway, one thing that he absolutley loves is "octopus" hot dogs on seaweed. You slice a hot dog into eighths leaving about and inch or so uncut. When you boil it, the legs curl. This goes on top of ramen noodles that have been dyed green to look like seaweed. I use turkey hot dogs and sometimes substitute plain spaghetti or other noodle for the seaweed. I send it in his thermos and it is still warm come lunchtime. Another cute one is to put some crushed oreos in the bottom of a clear cup and top with sugar free chocolate pudding, then sprinkle a few more crushed oreos on top along with a gummy worm (you can hide one in the middle too). Stick a plastic spoon in the middle and tape a paper flower at the end to make a "flower pot". The kids in his class go crazy over these two things when he brings them - he says they made him really popular. LOL.
He also likes to take a bagel with cream cheese, sometimes I'll send a pizza roll up - some cheddar cheese mixed with a bit of cream cheese spread on a tortilla then with a few pepperoni slices (I use the turkey kind), roll it up and leave as is or slice into bite size circles. I send melon balls while watermelon is still in season, or apple slices with a little peanut butter and honey mixed to dip them in. We make our own snack mix of pretzels, cheese nips, m&m's (just a few!), almonds, etc. - it changes depending on what I have around. Oh, and cereal. He'll eat it dry as a snack or sometimes I'll send it in a tupperware bowl with a plastic spoon and he'll buy a milk to pour over it.
Also, anything cut to bitesize seems to go over better than leaving it whole. In fact, he tends to eat better if I pack a few different snacks as opposed to a traditional sandwich-type lunch. Cheese and crackers, broccoli with a ranch dip, k-bobs on those fancy toothpicks with the frills at the end (I usually alternate cheese squares and apple chunks with the peel facing the cheese so it doesn't get soggy), yogurt with granola, etc.
My best advice is to let her be a part of deciding what she'll take. And always keep in mind that they usually don't have much time for eating so the easier you can make it for her the more she is likely to walk out with a full tummy (this is probably why my son likes the bitesize stuff - it is easy for him to eat while he visits with his friends).
I can't wait to hear everyone else's suggestions. Thanks for starting this thread! It is just in time as we started school today and I don't have any new ideas this year.
Dana-- the best choice you're making is not letting her eat the crap they serve at school!!! I'm sure anything you come up with will be more nutritious! It's so sweet that you're concerned, you must be a great mom.
Kids like things that they can "do" for lunch.... so any of those recipes above that invovle eating off of sticks, digging out worms, playing with noodles, etc, she will go crazy over.
Also, fruit pizza would be fun! You usually make it on a sugar cookie, but if you want something healthier I think that a bagel or pita or something would be fine. Spread lowfat yogurt and/or cream cheese on and then top with fruit slices.
Thanks Ladies!! these are some awesome ideas. I love the idea of the seeweed.. but dd will think I'm serious.. ds probably will love it! (but that is a couple of years off!)
I think I'll get her to help me make lunch at night - she'll love that. I also really like the idea of making our own snack mixes.. that is great!!
Jessica... you are too funny! do you eat a lot of pbj?
Healthy lunch ideas for kids
It's so sweet that you're concerned, you must be a great mom. 
ds probably will love it! (but that is a couple of years off!)
