What's in Your Lunchbox...Wanna Trade?

It's 11pm. You want to go to bed, but your kids' lunch boxes are all sitting empty on the counter. What can you pack them for school that is good enough to not come back uneaten (as is generally the case in my house), but also healthy enough to get them through the day?

CTbites is happy to introduce a new column geared towards helping parents solve the age old question. What to pack in those darn snack bags? Chef Nicole has been gathering data on this for some years now, and has a bevy of great ideas for you and your family. Here is post #1 of What's in Your Lunchbox?

Kids sushi

No, we don't want to you to stay up all night creating maki like a sushi chef. These rolls are made from lunch meat rolled up with a cheese stick, skewered with a toothpick. Cute eh? We have added red pepper and cucumbers into ours. Once you roll your cheese stick in the lunch meat, these little roll ups get cut into pieces just like maki. They are a great snack for kids who don't like sandwiches and heck..anything with a toothpick is more fun to eat.  

Any type of lunch meat can be used for these bite-sized snacks. We are also serving up plantain chips this week as a fun alternative to pretzels or chips, and little cups of fresh pink grapefruit (from Stop & Shop). The grapefruit cups are great if you don't have time to cut up fresh fruit but want to give your kids a little vitamin C. Enjoy!