Looking for Ideas on "Side Dishes" with a Sandwich.

I understand this totally. My daughter likes cheese sandwiches. We have done cut up apple, raisins, carrots(raw). We sometimes do potato chips (say 5 or 6 only). We have also done things like noodles that they can pick up with their hands, if necessary (bow ties, rigatoni noodles (put on fingers like nails). I am not a person that recommends playing with their food, but sometimes to get them to try new things with their lunches, you try new things. I hope that this helps. Have fun!

My girls love pasta salad, I make a big bowl at the begining of the week, then have it for several days. You can put whatever you have in the house. We do jello cups too if they like that.

Hi M. - I remember the days of trying to find something to go with my kids' lunches. My mom fixed a cottage cheese/jello salad one day and the kids LOVED it! I could never get them to eat cottage cheese before that. And now that they're grown and on their own it's still a lunch favorite when they visit. Try this:

1 reg. size carton cottage cheese (small curd)
1 lg. envelope jello mix (any flavor - mine love strawberry)
1 sm. can crushed pineapple (drained)
1 carton Cool Whip

Fold cottage cheese, Cool Whip, dry jello mix & crushed pinapple together with a spoon until well blended. Refrigerate 1-2 hours. (You can also add any kind of chopped nuts or other fruit slices if they like them).

It's full of good protien but tastes like a sweet dessert and it's great for hot summer days!

T. Kaye

Raw vegetables, cooked vegetables, veggie chips, etc...

HI M.-

I second the idea of checking out the website below. Here's a link for you to get there quickly:

http://www.laptoplunches.com/ideas.html

I read about this website from someone here at mamasource a couple of months ago. There are so many photos that you can see too. The co. sells waste free lunch containers too. (Their products look great.. I may be buying them in the future... maybe I should ask mamasource if their products are worth it.)

J.

Great list below!

-Hummus with pita chips, veggies, pretzel sticks, etc.
-New fruits like raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, cantaloupe
-Do a 'letter of the day' side dish, for example start with 'A' and serve apple or avocado, 'B' the next day and serve broccoli or blueberries (I remember doing this in kindergarten and thought it was so cool; every day we looked forward to what our new food would be!)
-make a veggie salad (use a variety of veggies) but make pictures on the plate: faces, trees, flowers, etc.

check out laptoplunches.com There are lots of good ideas there! Also allrecipes.com you can type in a search

WOW-- great ideas so far. My kids also love canned green or yellow wax beans (cold from the fridge right out of the can), also canned baked beans (same thing--ice cold. Weird but they love it!) If your kids will eat low salt ones even better. They also love frozen peas and frozen berries. We also eat lots of strawberries-- whole sometimes with a bit of sugar to dip in, raspberries, canned pinapple. I know some people will say the canned veggies and fruit have too much sugar or salt...but you can rinse them which helps and also if they eat it it's better than a handful of junk. Another thing is the Go Gurt fizzies (or something like that) It is yogurt in a tube but it fizzies when you eat it...super fun!!

How about some mandarin oranges or cantaloupe?

If you think about food groups, you need milk, grain (which is the bread from the sandwich), protein (which is peanut butter, cheese or meat from the sandwich). Then you need a veggie and a fruit (or two of each). If you put lettuce, tomato or sprouts in the sandwich, you just need fruit on the side. When you think about all of the different ways to mix up these groups, it gets fun. You could make pita pocket sandwiches, wraps or tea sandwiches. You could have yogurt and granola with banana and strawberries, graham crackers with peanut butter, and melon balls.

The best part is when the girls help you make them. (p.s. Meijer has seedless watermelons for $3.99 each.)

I have a 7 year old son, but we've done fruit cups, yogurt, pudding, jello. I've even made fries, tater tots and veggies. My son is a huge veggie eater, so can steam up just about anything to go with the sandwich. Hope this helps.

Hummus (regular) with carrots or sugar snap peas.
carrots with peanut butter
raisins
fruit kabobs on a toothpick
apple slices with peanut butter
frito lay natural cheetos
yogurt
string cheese

M.,

Some quick thoughts:

- smoothies: oj, strawberries and ice
- carrot stix with ranch
- celery with peanutbutter and raisins on top (ants on a log)
- parfaits: yogurt, blueberries and rasberries with granola on top
- cheese stix
- go-gurt
- soup (lots of veggies in it)
- veggie crackers or chips (like terra cotta)
- apple slices with pb

Ants on a log(celery sticks filled with peanut butter topped with raisins). Carrot sticks, pickles,or deviled eggs are a hit with children as well. Good luck!

How about baby carrots and snap peas? And maybe some slices of bell peppers? Works well with or without a fun dip.

Best,
R.

Edamame - it's delicious, healthy and fun!

my daughter loves grape or cherry tomatoes, sugar snap peas, carrot stix - or sometimes a whole carrot for the bunny-like novelty. Also Veggie Booty and sweet potato chips.

Fruit salsa with baked cinnamon apple chips (got this recipe from Pampered Chef)
Chop 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and cored
1 Pint Strawberries
3 Kiwi, peeled (cut ends and use a veggie peeler...easy peasy)

Mix all chopped fruit and sweeten with apple jelly or a little sugar if fruit is a little tart. You can also add a chopped up orange or maybe some pineapple for a little different flavor.

Cottage Cheese
Yogurt
Cheddar Cheese slices from the block
Celery sticks with peanut butter
Veggie slices with Ranch Dressing (my kids love cucumber, bell pepper, cherry tomatoes)
Soup
Granola Bars
Orange wedges
Watermelon cubes
Boiled eggs
Make grilled cheese with baked potato slices (drizzle aluminum foil with olive oil, lay out thin sliced taters on the foil, drizzle with more oil and some garlic salt and parsley...bake until just starting to brown for 10 to 20 minutes at about 400)

Make a variation of your sandwiches by using tortillas warmed over the flame on your stove with tongs. Then roll up with thin sliced turkey, cheese, chopped lettuce, ranch dressing....you can buy whole wheat tortillas for more nutrional value.

Or just warm tortillas over the flame with tongs and roll up with peanut butter and jelly.

(I like to fold up one end, then both sides and then roll to keep all ingredients inside the tortilla)

If you make the turkey/chicken/ham kind then serve with refried beans, a little red rice, avocado slices...

Serve sandwiches with fruit smoothies...use frozen fruit, a little vanilla yogurt and then some fresh fruit....

Look up smoothies on the internet and you will find lots of recipes. Try the foodnetwork.com

Hope some of that helps.

Oh I forgot a new one that I just tried with my kids...I sliced raw sweet potatos into something like shoestring fries. I served with ranch dressing. I also tried it with balsamic vinegar...I liked that one too.

You can also bake sweet potato slices/wedges in the oven with a little olive oil drizzled on them and seasoning salt...that's good too.

Cheese sticks, organic yogurt squeezers, sesame sticks & Annie's canned organic pasta & cheese sauce (they make 3 or 4 different kinds; it's like a healthier version of Spaghetti O's).

most recent favorites here:

crunchy carrots or cucumbers with dip
mashed potatoes (instant)
fresh berries, grapes, bananas
string cheese
steamed broccoli w/butter
corn on the cob (from frozen) - more fun if you have the little corn cob holders
peanuts or mixed nuts
triscuits with easy cheese

Banana chips. Also. They sell precut carrot chips

frozen gogurts or tuberz (same thing except organic). sometimes i wrap them in foil to keep them chilled, but that might not be necessary.