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Erin
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I'm really wanting to get back away from cereals for breakfasts. We used to juice and have fruit for breakfast. Then we slipped  However I'm no longer finding juice, smoothies etc enough we are still hungry. Does anyone have ideas for breakfast?
Also in regards to lunches, we are getting very tired of sandwiches, but I need something that doesn't take too long to prepare/cook. I'd love to have some great ideas here as well. 
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ALmom
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When we have dinner leftovers, those are great for breakfast or lunch - the problem is that now that we have some growing boys and teens, we don't have as many leftovers as we used to. I'll be looking this over for ideas for me too.
A few things that we can generally make in enough quantities to have leftover -
lasagne, chili, southwestern stew (very salty)
For lunch we also do salads a lot - have a tiny bit of leftover turkey or chicken, some cheese and as long as the lettuce is already clean it is a put your own fixings in from the table. We can by little bags of miniature veggies that are already ready to serve on salads to help with prep time.
Janet
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Rachel May
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A big time hit at our house is a bowl of refried beans with a little cheese and sometimes sour cream on top. you can throw a corn tortilla on the side, or if you are really feeling nice, give them corn chips to dip. I usually make 4 lbs of pintos at a time and then freeze what we don't eat. They thaw quickly and beautifully in the microwave. We've had them four times this week, so  . However, beans are cheap and nutritous and no one gets hungry again for a long time.
Anthony told me tonight that we were having a "poor people's dinner." I think it came from listening to Mr. Popper's Penguins. 
We will eat pinto beans for any meal. Sometimes for breakfast or lunch, I'll make scrambled egg burritos with a side of mangos or manderine oranges with bananas or virgin pina coladas.
Quesadillas with fresh spinach and garlic and beans.
Hummus with pretzels or pita and a side of oranges. Garbanzos have that added bonus of not being so gas producing.
That said, I do try to limit fume producers to only 2 or 3 days a week unless I'm desperate. 
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Rebecca
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Our family eats fruit every morning for breakfast but it never seems to do the trick to ward off hunger so I try to get eveyone to eat some protein along with it each day. I, personally, eat two hardboiled eggs each morning which I boil up a dozen at a time. It seems to keep me even-keeled emotionally and I am not hungry until lunchtime. My children are not egg eaters  so I usually have string cheese on hand for a quick pick me up. Sometimes we have yogurt with the fruit. I am all for quick breakfasts unless it is the weekend when I make muffins or pancakes.
My husband who is peering over my shoulder would like to recommend "Pizza Bagels" for lunch (although he is known to eat them at midnight as well)which are basically a toasted bagel with sauce and cheese and "nuked"  in the microwave until melted.
Best of luck,
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Natalia
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My latest discovery for lunch is to make pizza with the hot roll mix from pilsbury for the crust. It only rises for 15 min and then bakes for another
15 minutes. Just add pizza sauce and your favorite toppings.
Other things we have for lunch:
-Scramble eggs with crescent rolls
-English muffin pizzas
-Black bean quesadillas ( mash two can of black beans drained, add 1/3 c of salsa, spread on tortillas, add cheese and bake at 375 for 10-15 mins)
-Baked potatoes
-Chicken nuggets with sweet and sour sauce and baked french fries
-Fried rice ( when I cook rice for dinner I cook extra and use it to prepare fried rice )
-Tuna salad on crackers
-roast beef wraps ( roast beef, shredded carrots, philadelphia cream cheese with chives, Monterrey Jack cheese wrapped in a flour tortilla)
-refried beans with cheese in a tortilla
-Scramble eggs and potatoes burritos
HTH,
Natalia
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lapazfarm
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On cold winter mornings when the kiddos come in from their barn chores, they like nothing better to greet them than a steaming bowl of oatmeal. I cook up a big pot and set it on the table with bowls full of brown sugar, chopped pecans or walnuts, raisins, maple syrup, butter, milk, salt and pepper,and a sprinkler of cinnamon. Each kiddo makes their own with whatever toppings they choose (though I do the littles for her). It never fails to please.
For lunch a favorite is french bread pizza. Split a loaf of french bread in half lengthwise, add sliced cherry tomatos and fresh mozzarella, drizzle on some olive oil and sprinkle with basil, oregano and garlic. Bake until cheese sizzles. Serve with some fruit on the side.
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Helen
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Dear Erin,
On a day out with our girls, we stopped in Williams Sonoma, where the sales clerk was making 'upside down pizza'. I haven't tried it at home, although I would like to, I just keep forgetting to buy pita bread. In a skillet she melted some mozzarella cheese first, then added chopped tomato (and something green) and then covered it with a pita. Then she flipped the pita to toast the under side of the pita, and then slid the whole pita onto a plate, voila! Now you have a right side up, fresh pizza on a pita.
I looked for the recipe at Williams Sonoma, but couldn't find it.
But, I did find plenty of other recipes, I'll include the link, although, I can't say I have tried any, or possibly could try them:
Pizza Recipes
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Leonie
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I have recently been cooking ahead on weekends - for weekday lunches! It just means its all ready to go for dh at work or for us at home. I often roast a turkey roll for sandwiches or makes some lentil soup or split pea dahl or chilli con carne to have with rice or tortilla or bread and fruit.I can throw these together in the crockpot or oven when making a weekend dinner - little preparation required.
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Erin
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Thank you all very much for all your great ideas.
Its my monthly shop tonight so I've just been jotting down all your fantastic ideas
They are all really good, I can see I just need to be more creative but yet these don't look too time consuming.
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Donna Marie
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I used to pull my hair out trying to get meals together and keep track of the food and make sure things were healthy and that a variety was being served...I think I came up with a few things that work for us....
BREAKFAST:
We have been using the crock pot for breakfast. The kids' favorite is what they call oatmeal pudding...basically it's oatmeal but it softens a lot as it cooks (which is better for you as soaked grains do not have the phytic acid in them making it healthier for you!) You can adapt this for a variety of grains!
We add 1 part old fashioned oats to 2 parts water (somtimes I make this half milk)some butter and a small dollop of honey or pure maple syrup..we add lots of goodies depending on what we feel like...cinnamon, nutmeg, a dash of cloves, vanilla, raisins, dried fruits, chopped apples, pumpkin...whatever you feel like...(the kids love the pumpkin one the best! They call it pumpkin pie oatmeal!) Cook on low overnight...just mix it up after the kids go to bed and turn it on before you go to bed. It is done and ready for you when you wake up...stir and serve! I always wanted someone to make ME breakfast! LOl! And it smells great too!
I also chop some kind of nut and place it on the pizza stone in my oven at night, and just turn it on and toast in the morning (careful it cooks fast)...just till it's light brown and starts to smell yummy! The kids then sprinkle on top...voila! They are satisfied till lunch!
I am also looking for and fooling around with no/lo sugar muffin recipes. Again, this can be mixed up fast after the kids are in bed! You can place it in the muffin cups and slide the tin into the fridge and first one up slides it into the oven to bake! Serve with tea and fruit and this is what I call my "working breakfast" When we have to get our school work done early, we can munch and learn at the same time!
LUNCH:
About once a week I put a huge pot of soup on at lunch time that we take from whenever we need a snack or to supplement any meal....I assign each of the older kids to a cutting board and one to the sink to scrub and it gets done in no time! I had to work smarter...I kept trying to work harder...go figure... 
Lunch is usually left overs from dinner...I make homemade pizza dough and I freeze it in rounds. Sometimes we defrost some (take it out at breakfast) and make stuffed pockets with leftovers and fried onions and bake on the pizza stone (golly, I love that stone!) I sometimes will chop the leftovers from any dinner and freeze in zip lock baggies and they are great for fried rice dishes, over pasta or we will make stuffed potatoes etc...I freeze almost all the left overs so I can control their ahem...distribution better. We are getting much better at not wasting food!
Sometimes we just eat a huge salad! We like to throw lots of different ingredients in this too!
DINNER : the stuff to use at lunch!
We cook in bulk and freeze all the time. I only put on the dinner table what I know is reasonable for my family to eat and I carve the meat or divide dishes and freeze in bags for other dinners right away. I don't do the weekend cooking or the once a month cooking thing, but when I do cook I try to think ahead and make extra that can be used as the base for other meals...this is great for things like homemade tomato sauce! It also helps that we aren't eating the same thing in different ways three days in a row. ( I figured this out when my dh was starting to gobble... It sure saves on the pocketbook when we have been out all day and need a quick fix meal! -Not to mention that it conrols the mess and I have to think less about meals on any day that I am busy! (Which is every day )It helps to have at least SOMETHING started! I do use large pots but TRY to clean them right away...(i.e. I use one of those two burner skillet deals on the stove to fry up sausage in half the time, and they clean up real fast afterward)...sooo less mess overall in the kitchen during the week.
My dh will often cook a whole loin (beef or pork) on the grill that has been cut into steaks. (Yep! we use the grill year round! It sure helps when your dh loves to play with fire We then freeze in bags and defrost on the stone at 350 and they taste like they just came off. This makes some of the best quick meals on the go! We gave up the microwave years ago and we get along just fine! You should see what I do to a whole chicken...haha...
HTH!
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MichelleW
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Wow Donna Marie! What fabulous ideas. This thread has been so helpful to me, but especially your post. I am not an early riser and when I try to make a "good" breakfast we don't usually end up eating it until lunch!
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Donna Marie
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MichelleW wrote:
| I am not an early riser and when I try to make a "good" breakfast we don't usually end up eating it until lunch! |
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I hear you! I know that when I don't get a jump on the kids in the morning by cooking breakfast, (and I am such a night owl!) they end up tearing the kitchen apart!  And they needed a good balanced meal to be useful to me and themselves or I was setting them up for failure. I also knew that there were times I DID NOT have time to cook EVERY meal...drove me nuts! I told my dh that I could be realllly good at 1 thing today and what should it be?? Laundry? School work? Cleaning? I have so many hats to wear and I knew it had to be done and could be done somehow!...If I spend like 15 minutes in the kitchen after the kids go to bed, I am AHEAD the next day, even if the baby keeps me in bed for some extra-long nursing. I always put the command in my head "Feed my lambs" (I try always to put before me that these children belong to God first and I have to be a faithful steward! I try to get that 15 minutes in no matter how tired I am at night.)
That crock pot is really like having an extra hand, but like any good servant, it waits for me to tell it what to do! LOL the same with the dishwasher, the washing machine and the dryer...all my faithful friends!! There is nothing like the feeling of having some of the next day's work done..I feel like I am setting myself up to succeed instead of setting myself up to fail
I am so glad it helps you!
God Love you!
Donna Marie from NJ
hs momma to 7dc
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Donna Marie from NJ
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Finding Elegant Simplicity
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lapazfarm
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Wow! I never thought of using the crock pot for breakfast before! I'm going to try this. Got any more crockpot breakfast recipes?
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mary
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all of the breakfast and lunch ideas sound yummy. i am trying to move away from such a heavy carbohydrate diet. i have a child who gets constipated easily and we all really do better if we eat little/no processed foods and much less carbohydrates. unfortunately, those seem to be the staple of most easy to prepare and easy to get the kids to eat lunches.
i wonder if any of you have any ideas for lunches (especially) that are more protein/veggie based?
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Erin
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Donna Marie,
I am going to have to print out your ideas Fantastic.
Makes me wonder whether I need a crock pot, and what is a pizza stone? We also don't have amicrowave due to health concerns.
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momwise
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Donna Marie wrote:
| We add 1 part old fashioned oats to 2 parts water (somtimes I make this half milk)some butter and a small dollop of honey or pure maple syrup..we add lots of goodies depending on what we feel like...cinnamon, nutmeg, a dash of cloves, vanilla, raisins, dried fruits, chopped apples, pumpkin...whatever you feel like...(the kids love the pumpkin one the best! They call it pumpkin pie oatmeal!) Cook on low overnight... |
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Hmmm....your oatmeal never burns huh? Does it cook for about 8 hrs. (I would turn it on at 10:30 and get up about 6:30)? This sounds like a great idea.
I can get organic old-fashioned oats at Vitamin Cottage for .60/lb., so we're always trying to think up oatmeal combinations, usually with a little protien.
Right now the 2 littles have been eating p.b & j oatmeal for quite a while. I just stir in a tbls. of peanut butter after cooking and put a little jelly on top. The pumpkin pie oatmeal sounds great!
When I had blueberries or strawberries I added cream cheese and berries for "Berries and Cream Oatmeal." Banana Nut is a good combination too. I also like to make homemade "granola."
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marihalojen
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The oatmeal variations might be just what we need for Fall around here. Dd has taken to crouching in the fridge, looking...looking...for something to eat for breakfast. Drives me nuts  so I think I need to get organized about breakfast again.
Blueberries and cream oatmeal sounds fab to me! PB&J Oatmeal would be very different (and easy!) to spring on her.
I think a breakfast pizza on pita would be yummy too and I'm always up for breakfast burritos (eggs, salsa, cheese, pepper strips if I have them around).
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We're big fans of refried beans and cheese for lunch--great for dipping if you have toddlers!
Here is a great, stick-with-you smoothie recipe. I don't have time to explain the nutritional reasoning behind it, so I'll just say that it's a very Weston Price/Nourishing Traditions inspired combo:
2.5 c. plain yogurt
1/2 can full fat cocount milk
2 raw eggs
generous splash of lime juice
frozen banana
large handful frozen mango
Blend and enjoy! This is my favorite, but, in general, we add eggs to our smoothies for good protein. I know that might freak out some of you, but we get great eggs from a farmer we know and trust and no one has ever gotten sick off his eggs. Good fat helps a lot--coconut milk or oil, flax oil, fish oil. It all tastes great in a smoothie. We get big bags of frozen fruit in bulk but Trader Joe's has great prices if you don't care about organic.
I love the crockpot oatmeal idea. It makes me want a crockpot . . .
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Philothea
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I put raisins, a bit of organic brown sugar and a dash of vanilla extract in our plain oatmeal (generic quick oats). Delicious and filling. Another easy favorite is organic yogurt with granola and fresh fruit stirred in.
When I have a little bit more time, I like to just scramble some organic eggs and serve them with whole wheat toast, butter and preserves.
When I have no time at all, I hand DS an organic cereal bar and a cheese stick and he eats them in the car. Thankfully, I've gotten better about rising on time, so this doesn't happen very often.
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Re the crockpot -- you can cook lots of things for breakfast including glutinous rice with ginger, onions and salt, yellow split peas in milk (or milk alternative like soy or rice coconut milk) and sweetened, barbecued beans (believe it or not my dh loves this for breakfast), tapioca cooked like the split peas, millet, etc. All yummy breakfast alternatives -- except my little ones don't think yellow split peas are a fun breakfast item :(
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4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: Healthier Breakfasts?- Lunch ideas?
