Making Lunches Fun

School lunches have been in the news a lot lately.  Home packed lunches are to become a thing of the past, with all school children now being provided with a hot meal at lunchtimes.

Spiderboy and Doodles do already have a hot meal at school & nursery but we often take a packed lunch along for a picnic on a nice day or for an easy tea after swim lessons.  I'm not a huge fan of sandwiches (too many dry, tasteless offerings from my childhood) so with that in mind, I try to mix things up a bit and make packed "lunches" more exciting.  

I posted a recipe for these ham, cheese & onion muffins a while back, and they were a huge hit with my kids.  If I do make sandwiches, I cut them into fun shapes - something I discovered when Spiderboy was very little and I couldn't get him to eat sandwiches - how much more fun is it to eat a train or a little animal?!

What do you mean you can't tell they are a crocodile, a lion and an elephant?!

Adding some individually packaged foods is very handy - it cuts down on the mess and makes it fun for the kids. We were sent some of the new flavoured Cheestrings to try out, which would be ideal for lunchboxes or snacks on the go.  Spiderboy was put off by the strong smell of the Cheese & Onion and Cheese & Tomato flavour when they were opened but Doodles on the other hand happily wolfed down a whole packet, followed by some of the Cheestrings Spaghetti!

I have to admit I was quite surprised when I read the Cheestrings website section about how they are made and of what...they contain no artificial colours, preservatives or flavours and provide one quarter of the recommended daily amount of calcium and vitamin D!

It only takes a little bit of imagination to make food more fun - if you have a lunchbox with compartments, you can offer different tasty treats, like putting some fruit into a cupcake case.

You could also personalise lunch containers without a huge expense - just use some stickers - or leave them a little handwritten note or joke inside.

If you're in the mood for more fun with food, check out Kitchen Fun With My 3 Sons for some great ideas. 

I shall leave you with the memory of my mother discovering with horror the stash of mouldy sandwiches under my bed one day...can't recall why I didn't just throw them away in the bin at school but then I never was very bright!  Strangely enough, I didn't get anything tastier offered as an alternative after that...

Disclosure: I was sent a Cheestrings gift pack for the purpose of this review.

Recommended Birthday Presents

Both my kids have their birthdays in August so they have been on the receiving end of lots of great gifts lately.  I thought I would share some of the ones that most appealed to them and they have been making great use of.  

Each title links to Amazon where you can buy them (photos are all stock ones, not my own).

Doodles (age 3)

My First Sticky Mosaics

This was a huge hit, and kept her sitting still for ages.  It reinforces colours and shapes, as you have to stick the correct shape on to the base picture to create the finished product.  There are 4 pictures in the box and they lasted her quite a while.  They also have sticky hooks to attach to the back so you can display them afterwards.

Moon Dough Pizza Set

Both Doodles & Spiderboy played with this one although I have to warn you, don't let it into your house if you have anything resembling OCD tendencies!  It was the first time I have come across Moon Dough, & it has a strange dry texture which crumbles easily (but it does sticks back together).  The best thing is that it doesn't dry out unlike play dough so it has been sitting on our kitchen table for a good week or so, with the kids returning daily to play with it.  

This was a cute set with three colours of moon dough (although they quickly got mixed together) to make pizza bases and then toppings.  

Melissa & Doug Self-Correcting Number Puzzle

I love the fact that you have to match the pictures up to the numbers in this puzzle - each with a unique jigsaw fit so you know if you make a mistake.  She pretty much has her 1-12 numbers down pat but this goes up to 20 so it's great for that next stage.

Spiderboy (age 5)

Sea Monkeys

This has to be one of Spiderboy's favourites.  You get a small tank to fill and various sachets that you have to add to the water over a period of time.  After around 5 days, some tiny shrimps hatch and begin to grow.  You need to feed them every two days with some powdered food that's included.  I am worried that Spiderboy will eventually be disappointed because he keeps asking how big they are going to grow...I think he has visions of actual monkeys!

If you're slightly squeamish, don't Google them and read the Mumsnet thread about them essentially being lice... :/

It's a Chicken

This is like a child's version of pictionary, with some fun elements.  Spiderboy doesn't like drawing or colouring of any kind so I was interested to see that he enjoyed playing this.  Its great for developing fine motor, and the simple drawings you have to copy from the card are easy enough for children to follow, aided by pre-printed circles.  Of course they love the clucking chicken timer that you have to  compete against too!

Magic Tooth Fairy Game

This is one of those games that you can't understand the fascination with...and it quickly begins to grate although to be fair, there are no noisy elements to it.  You each get a "mouth" with a set of teeth and you have to work your way round the board, losing teeth and collecting gold coins from the tooth fairy in exchange.  Warning: Do not play this 10 minutes before bedtime because it can go on for *ages*!

Easy Chocolate Birthday Cake

There is a glut of birthdays in our family around this time so I was pleased to discover this chocolate cake recipe in a book recently. The kids helped me make it a few times, and really enjoyed it.

Ingredients
Cake
60g butter (softened)
165g caster sugar
1 egg
225g self-raising flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
125ml milk
60ml boiling water
1/4 tsp bicarb soda

Icing
160g icing sugar
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1-2 tbsp boiling water

Method
Cream the butter & sugar until smooth, and add in the egg, beating well.

Sift the flour and cocoa together, and fold them into the creamed mixture, alternating with the milk.  

In a cup, combine the water and bicarb, and lightly fold into the mixture.  Pour the complete mixture into a well greased cake tin and take at 180 / 160 fan for around 30-40 mins.  Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool completely.

When you are ready to ice the cake, sift the flour and cocoa into a bowl and mix together.  Add the water a little at a time until you reach your desired consistency.  Spread over the cool cake.

Before the icing dries & sets completely, carefully sit your numbers (or letters if you want to spell out a name!) on top and sprinkle over Hundreds & Thousands.  Gently left the numbers up and you will be left with sprinkled numbers in your desired age - easy peasy!

I saw the idea of using pre-cut numbers or letters a while back - I think the Blogger in question cut them out of cardboard so if you don't have these kind of plastic ones you could easily do that.

You could always add some more decorations to fancy it up further, or just some candles. I love the idea of using jelly beans to create flowers too - check it out here.  

Prawn & Chilli Linguine

This is one of my fail-safe recipes, a fall back when I don't have anything else planned or we need a quick meal.  Obviously it's not kid friendly, as I add fresh chilli (unless your kids have very tolerant palates!)  It has a lovely clean fresh taste, and I can guarantee that everything in this recipe will already be in my cupboard, fridge or freezer so chances are you will have the ingredients too.

Ingredients
Linguine or spaghetti (enough for 2 people)
Pack of frozen prawns
1 fresh red chilli, deseeded & chopped
30g Parmesan, grated
Any left over veg (in this photo, I used green beans but the previous week I added cherry tomatoes so use whatever you have lying around)
Half a fresh lemon - grated zest plus the juice

Method
Put the pasta on to boil.  If you are using fresh veg like the green beans, put these on to boil for a few mins too or they may be too crunchy.

Heat a little oil in a frying pan, and add the chilli.  Add the prawns & the grated lemon zest, and allow to cook through.

When the pasta is ready, drain and add immediately to the frying pan.  Throw in the lemon juice, the veg and the Parmesan and toss well.

Serve immediately with a glass of chilled white wine (and no, that part is *not* optional!) 


If I don't have prawns, I use a tin of crab meat - equally delicious.  If I don't have a fresh chilli, I use Lazy Chilli from a jar.  See, there really is no excuse not to make this!

Spicy Salmon Pilaf

This has become a bit of a favourite in our house recently - its very delicious but also feels extremely healthy.  Of course it also has the added bonus of being easy to make ;)

Serves 2

Ingredients
2 salmon fillets
100ml natural yoghurt
1tsp curry paste
Half a green chilli
1 small onion, peeled & chopped
2/3 cardamom pods
2 tsp mustard seeds
200g brown rice
400ml hot vegetable stock
2 cupfuls of frozen peas
2 "blocks" of frozen spinach (or a few handfuls of fresh)

Method
Mix the yoghurt, curry paste and chilli together and pour over the salmon in a shallow dish - set aside and allow to marinate.  Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Heat some oil in a pan and add the onion, cardamom seeds and mustard seeds.  Cook gently for 5 mins until the onion softens.  Turn up the heat and add the rice, stirring for a few mins.  Pour in the stock, the peas and the frozen spinach (if you are using fresh spinach, add it at the very end) and bring to the boil.  Cover and simmer for around 25 mins, keeping a close eye so it doesn't dry out - in which case, add a little more boiled water.

While the rice is cooking, put the salmon as it is into the oven and cook for around 20 mins.  

Serve the rice with the salmon on top or on the side, sprinkled with some fresh coriander if you have it.