Back to School Lunches

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have noticed that I am currently working with Supervalu highlighting their ‘Back to School’ options in store.  My Stories last week highlighted some lunch options and I thought it might be an idea to share my recipes with you as Inspo for making your own kids or teenage lunches!  This isn’t something Supervalu have asked me to do although I feel I should mention that the majority of the products I have used have come from their store.

CORONATION CHICKEN WRAPS

Sauce Ingredients:
6 Tablspns Mayonnaise
3 Teasps Curry Powder (mild or medium depending on your kids’ tastes)
½ Teasp Ground Cinnamon
2 Tablspns Mango Chutney
1 – 3 Tablspns Sultanas or Flaked Almonds

500g Chicken Fillets (I usually poach my chicken fillets in a saucepan of water with a couple of grated garlic cloves and some salt & pepper but you can just use plain water.  Once cooked, allow to go cold and then shred)

Method:

1. Mix the first 5 ingredients together in a bowl before adding in your chicken and coating it in the sauce.  
2. Lay out a wrap onto which you will spread the coronation chicken and some mixed leaves before rolling up, cutting in half and placing in your lunch box.  
3. You could also use this chicken as a sandwich filling or in a roll
4. The unused filling will stay fresh in the fridge for a couple of days so long as it is in a sealed container or foil covered bowl

SWEETCORN & COURGETTE FRITTERS

This is a recipe I have made many times and while it is perfect for lunch boxes, I’ve enjoyed it a number of times for my own lunch on a weekend when it is topped with a poached egg and sweet chilli sauce.  This is a recipe I found on the BBC Good Food website a while back when Sinead had a friend from school to visit who was vegetarian – but you most definitely don’t need to be vegetarian to enjoy it!!

Ingredients:
198g Can Sweetcorn, drained
2 Spring Onions, finely sliced
50g Grated Courgette
1 Teasp Smoked Paprika
50g Self-Raising Flour
1 Egg
40ml Milk
Sweet Chill Sauce

Method:
1 Mix all of the ingredients except the sweet chilli sauce together in a large bowl
2 Heat a frying pan and add a thin layer of sunflower or olive oil
3 Spoon 2 tablespns of the mixture in mounds on the pan and fry until golden on each side
4 Allow to cool before placing in a sealed container in your fridge until the next morning.  
5 Place however many fritters you want in a portion into a tub and drizzle over some sweet chilli sauce

PESTO PASTA

This is so simple and no recipe is really needed!  Pasta is great for keeping your kids filled up during the day and is a very inexpensive lunch option.  A bag of penne pasta and a jar of pesto in Supervalu will cost you €2.19.  While the pesto will make 4 – 5 lunches.  The pasta will last a lot longer.  I use 50g of dried pasta per serving.

To this you could add, chopped cooked ham, leftover roast chicken, cherry tomatoes or even those small balls of mozzarella 

MUFFINS

This is one from Rachel Allen and she calls it her ’30 Day Muffin Recipe’. Basically, you mix up a muffin base which is stored in your fridge to which you can add whatever flavours you like. The batter will stay good for literally 30 days so hence the name. A great idea if you want to give your kids some freshly baked muffins for school without the hassle of making them completely from scratch every time. These could be baked the night before or even in the morning if you are one of those super organised people 🙂 They are not super sweet either and the inclusion of wholemeal flour and bran in the recipe definitely makes them a more healthy option

Ingredients for Base Recipe:
125g Light Brown Sugar
100g Caster Sugar
3 Eggs
500ml Milk
125ml Sunflower Oil
1 Teasp Vanilla Extract
300g Plain Flour
½ Teasp Salt
2 Rounded Teasps Bicarbonate of Soda
160g Wholemeal Flour
25g Bran

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160ºC.  Whisk eggs and sugars together in a large bowl. Add the milk, oil and vanilla extract and mix well. Sift the plain flour, salt and bicarb into another bowl, then add in the wholemeal flour and bran and stir these into the wet ingredients.
2. This is the basic batter to which you can add whatever flavours you like. It can be kept in your fridge until needed and regardless of what you want to add to your batter, just ensure you fill your muffin cases no more than three-quarters full before placing in the oven.  As an indicator – 400ml of your base mix will make approx 10 muffins
3. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes until set and spongy to the touch.  Allow to cool before placing in your lunch boxes (you can dust with icing sugar if you want to ‘pretty’ them up but this isn’t necessary!)

Variations: 
Blueberries, Raspberry and White Chocolate Chunks, Chunky Apple & Raisin or Raspberry (fresh or frozen) to name but a few!

TRAIL MIX

150g Supervalu Fruit & Nut Mix
95g Bag of Cadbury Dairy Milk Giant Buttons (see variations below)
30g Bag Salted or Unsalted Popcorn

Mix all three items above together and give your child a small tub in their lunchbox or after school if nuts are not permitted due to allergy concerns and school policy

OPTIONS: I’ve used Cadbury Buttons here but you could also use chocolate covered nuts, dried fruits such as banana or apricot or chocolate covered pretzels

PEANUT BUTTER & APPLE

One of those things which shouldn’t work but it does!  

Thinly slice an apple variety of your choice – Pink Lady or Golden Delicious are good!  Pop them into a small tight sealed container with some smooth peanut butter.  Your kids will love it!

Again, please check with your school if peanut butter is permitted.  This is a great snack to enjoy once the kids arrive home and are ready to get into their homework and will keep the hunger at bay until dinner!

OTHER TREAT IDEAS:

Fruit Flavoured Yogurts
Cereal Bars
Flapjacks