September is here and the school year has officially kicked off again.
And if you are already starting the fear the food fatigue and having to unpack half-eaten lunchboxes, fear not.
We recently caught up with the lovely Cliona O’Connor – the mama-of-four behind the hugely successful and inspiring blog LeanMeanMomma and Homebird to pick their brains about yummy lunchbox recipes that are bound to keep the kids excited for school meal times.
O’Brien Fine Foods recently launched Homebird – Ireland’s only Bord Bia approved pre-cooked, ready to serve sliced chicken and turkey, and we think these are perfect for a healthy and tasty lunch – and Cliona – who has become our go-to blogger for all things family food – could not agree more.
In fact, Cliona has developed some great recipes to liven up the kids lunch boxes – just in time for the new school year. Here are three of them we think are bound to go down an absolute treat with the entire family:
1. Courgette Turkey Wraps
Ingredients:
- 1 pack Homebird Traditional Irish Roast Turkey Slices
- Cocktail sticks
- 1 courgette
- 1 tub of sweet chilli hummus
- Salt and pepper
Method:
- Cut courgette in half lengthways – this will help reduce waste after
- Slice the courgette lengthways with a peeler into several long thin slices
- Using a teaspoon “butter” them with hummus
- Lay the sliced turkey on top and season accordingly
- Roll up lengthways and place secure with a cocktail stick
2. Inside Out Wraps
Ingredients:
- 1 pack Homebird Traditional Irish Roast Turkey Slices
- 1 tub of Cream cheese
- Fat bread sticks or Celery sticks or carrot sticks
Method:
- Spread cream cheese on the slice of turkey as if to butter it
- Place bread stick (or alternative) in the middle and roll up around it
- Cut across diameter if it needs to fit in a box
3. Pinwheels
The advantage of making pinwheels (besides the fact that they look great) is you can pop different flavours of wraps into the lunch box of each child to encourage them to try new flavours without worrying that they won’t find something they like in there – just pop in a few tried and trusted ones too!
Ingredients:
- 1 pack Homebird Traditional Irish Roast Chicken Slices
- Cocktail sticks/lollipop sticks
- 1 sandwich/tortilla wrap
- Spinach leaves
- Sliced Cheese
- Mayonnaise or cream cheese
Method:
- Spread the wrap with Mayo/cream cheese.
- Lay the rest of the ingredients on the wrap and roll lengthways.
- Slice into 2-3 inch pieces and secure with cocktail stick.
- Mix and match 2 or 3 flavour combo’s per lunch box.
Cliona’s top luncbox tips
As we all know it is not always easy getting your child to eat the lunch you have made, so all help and tips are greatly appreciated we say. Here are Cliona’s:
- Get your child to open and close the lunchbox in the shop prior to purchasing it. They can look really cool but may end up being a nightmare for little fingers so this is essential. As is easy cleaning!
- Re-usable stacking pots are a fantastic way of storing mini breadsticks, hummus, yoghurt, fruit sauce or fruit/vegetable slices. It’s a nice way for them to decipher between what to eat on each lunch break also. Pots for small break and lunch box for big one.
- I re-use the double ended medicine spoons in the lunch boxes for yoghurts. They fit in easily as they are so small and if they go get lost it’s no big deal.
