I love peanut butter, and have found that simply jif tastes like the real thing- but it's still 190 calories for 2 tbsp, which seems like a lot.. especially if it's also on bread. I can't get into the taste of 'natural' peanut butter. Your wrap sounds yummy though! I may do wraps for the rest of this week, those are always a winner.
I can't stand "regular" peanut butter anymore, it tastes...waxy! A fun thing to do with peanut butter that is lower calorie (and maybe your toddler might like it too??) - peanut butter quesadillas! I smear a tablespoon of peanut butter on a 50 calorie tortilla, add any other filling that sounds good (especially sliced banana, but I also like thinly sliced granny smith or cranberry spread, I sometimes add a sprinkle of cinnamon) and then top with another tortilla smeared with peanut butter and grill in a big pan until both sides are golden brown (spray PAM on pan!). Cut into quarters. I heard kids love to dip things, maybe dipping it into warmed apple butter or a little honey or even a smidge of chocolate syrup would be fun?
It may sound kinda weird, but I have a self-rule to TRY to have only ONE meat per day, and it is usually fish or turkey. I prefer to have my meat at dinner time, so I usually don't have any meat at lunch. Mostly I TRY to stick to veggies & fruit for lunch, so I can save my "one meat" for dinner, and I rarely have any meat at all for breakfast (occasionally I'll have bacon... that's usually just a few times a year, tho!)
However, one of my favorite lunches is a few slices of turkey, some cut up carrots, yellow peppers, and cucumbers, with an apple or some grapes for a "dessert". YUM! But like - today, for instance - I had steamed shrimp & veggies. It was GREAT, and pretty doggone healthy. Tonight, I will either have soup or a salad for dinner - no meat of any kind, since I had shrimp at lunch. And whenever I have a small breakfast, I'll have a fairly big lunch, and a much smaller dinner.
Other lunches I enjoy:
South Beach Diet frozen or refrigerated meals
Cup of mixed fruit and a salad of lettuce, tomato & cucumber
A tomato sandwich (I always use whole-grain oat bread)
A peanut butter & banana sandwich
A turkey, cheese & pickle sandwich with mustard (sounds gross but I love it!)
Soup (or soup & salad)
A Subway veggie delight
And don't be shy about eating "breakfast foods" at lunch! - that's perfectly OK! I eat cereal (usually Kashi Go-Lean Crunch) for lunch or dinner quite often!
I also work from my home, so I get to cook lunchtime.
My 2 favorite lunches:
1 Morning Star Chick Pattie with 3 cups of cooked cauliflower. Really filling.
I make a stir fry with tons of veggies - broccoli, peppers, mushrooms, zuchinni, onions, green beans. I eat it with either a 2 or 3 egg white omlette. Really healthy, low cal and SATISFYING.
On occasion I will eat a big salad with a 3 oz can of tuna in water. Lots of romaine, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and peppers. I squeeze on some fresh lemon juice.
I know the OP doesn't like salmon, but I made a delicious lunch wrap yesterday that might appeal to others: whole wheat tortilla, grilled salmon, 20 grams of avocado mixed with 1 tsp fat free sour cream and a dash of lemon juice, and a big pile of pico de gallo that I made in the morning. It was really, really delicious. I had to have a salad with it, because a wrap alone never really fills me up, but the salmon-avocado-pico combo was surprisingly fantastic. 304 calories by my reckoning (but I don't have access to the super-low-cal tortillas).
I have been having the same thing for lunch for weeks because I LOVE it. I have brown rice, black beans, and chicken breast (which you can easily omit)--heat them up togethe rin the microwave, then add cold fresh salsa, sour cream, guacamole, and shredded cheddar cheese. It's delicious with quite a bit of protein and fiber and keeps me full for hours!
I know you said you don't like beans, and I used to think I didn't like them, either, but I think part of my problem with them was the texture. Now, I use black beans in my lunch, but I mash them up rather than eating them whole. I also make sure to rinse them very well before mashing to get any "sliminess" off them (I use canned beans because I'm lazy, but you could certainly soak and cook your own).
Also, it may sound like this all take a lot of time to make, but what I do is cook all the ingredients on Sunday and portion them out into containers for the whole week. The rice takes the longest (I don't buy instant anymore to save on $$, but you could just use instant to make it even quicker), but it doesn't require constant attention while coking, so I am often doing other things while the rice is on the stove.
If you're home, lunch can be anything you want it to be. You can cook and freeze and pop stuff in the microwave. So you're not relegated to just sandwiches or frozen dinners from the store. You can create your own meals and freeze them yourself.
But, if you simply don't have the time for a lot of cooking and just prefer something that takes little time, most of what I do for lunch are either healthy frozen dinners. Lean Cuisine, Amy's...whatever. I just check the ingredients and nutrition labels. I also do a lot of wraps. I like cream cheese on my wraps with either turkey or ham or just stuffed with veggies. Today I had a ham and veggie cream cheese wrap with red bell peppers dipped in hummus on the side. Soup is also quick and easy for lunch. I have a delicious barley veggie soup we get from the Amish around here. It takes 45 minutes, but makes enough for days. I also love PB. Yeah, its got a lot of calories, but it doesn't take much on a sandwich AND it has healthy fats, its good for you. Just eat it in moderation. Sometimes I just toss together a salad, using some sesame seeds, or pre-grilled chicken, some ham or cold boiled frozen shrimp that I thaw out, as a protein to add in. Often, I just heat leftovers from last night's dinner. If I have leftover grilled chicken or turkey, I may put that on wheat bread or in a wrap for a sandwich the next day.
Lately, I've been having a light flat out wrap with a couple slices of turkey, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, pineapple (gotta love that extra flavor), and cranberry honey mustard. I usually have a pear with it.
Today I had one of my oldtime lunches: soup and a microwaved sweet potato.
In the past, I've had the sweet and spicy starkist marinated tuna packet with carrots and pretzels on the side.
