Extreme makeover

Two days ‘till school starts and I am trying to get ready. Towards the end of the school year, we got pretty lazy with breakfast and lunch around here. My 11 year old daughter has to be out of the house by 7:15 am, so breakfast was often Nutella sandwiches and a cup of “coffee milk” — hot milk with a splash of coffee. I may as well give her a Snickers bar and send her on her way.

My other two are in elementary school and don’t have to leave the house until the more civilized hour of 8:25, so they usually get a better breakfast. My kids also bring their lunches to school, which presents a plethora of problems. I have one kid who is a vegetarian, one who doesn’t like sandwiches, one who will only eat peanut butter and honey sandwiches and a strict “no nuts” policy in all the schools. Ugh.

The summer has been an endless stream of chicken fingers, fries, ice cream, and popsicles so this seems like a good time for a nutrition makeover. 

Sausage-tomato fritatta, potato&onion fritatta and apple cinnamon muffins. They look better in person, I promise.

I am trying to get a head start this year by making homemade muffins (gluten free! – that’s another story) and fritattas to have on hand so I don’t have to scramble too much to get these kids fed and packed and off to school.  I am also trying to cut down the junky, carby, processed crap they all eat too much of — all the Goldfish and crackers and chocolate chip granola bars and Pirate Booty that seem to be all my kids want to eat. I need to figure out how to make packable nut-free, sandwich-free, junk-food free lunches that all my kids will like. Back to school time is going to be back to healthy eating time! Watch out, kids!