Parenting is an art and providing the right food to the kids is one of the prime pillars of this art. Being a parent it is extremely important to know which food (or dishes) will provide complete and healthy nutrition to your child. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day which can easily be supervised by you as your little one generally takes this meal right in front of you (so there is less chance that they will skip something which they really do not like) but the second most important meal; i.e. lunch is most likely to be left unsupervised.
With the “Back to School” season, the main trouble mothers of school going kids face is, “What should I pack in the lunch box of my kid?“, “How should I give him a healthy lunch?”. The conditions are tough to make the right decision as you need to make the lunch healthy, tasty and most importantly interesting (which your kid cannot resist even when he or she is eager to play while the lunch break). The point of healthy lunch is that you need to come with such lunch ideas that are filled with vital nutrients (vitamins, minerals, protein and carbohydrates). You also need to ensure that you must not take the shortcut of putting in lots of sugar (as kids generally do not ignore sweet items) because excess amount of sugar will result in decreasing the immunity of your kid. At least 2 or 3 servings of green and colorful vegetables along with fruits will be the best meal plan, but this is not an easy task. You need to think of a variety of lunch box ideas for your kids to make interesting and tasty!
In case you want to make vegetarian lunch for your kid, the options seem to become fewer as kids generally straight away reject the green lunch. Well, the situation is not that bad as you guess! Just make sure that you know the choice of your little one and make the food accordingly. You must be wondering what exactly “interesting food” is or how to make a dish interesting.
Here is one easy vegetarian lunch recipe that can turn out to be a great lunch box idea for your school going kid. It is healthy and tasty and will surely entice the kids who love colorful sandwiches. The mixture of red bell pepper, pink beans and green scallions coated with tasty mayonnaise will make the lunch super tasty. You can also replace the shredded lettuce with sprouts so that the crispiness of the sandwich is enhanced.
Healthy Lunch Box Ideas for Kids – Colorful Bean Stuffed Sandwich
Total time: 10 minutes
Servings: 4 to 6 sandwiches
Ingredients:
- 16 oz pink beans from the can (drained and rinsed)
- ½ medium red bell pepper, finely chopped
- ¼ cup green olives, chopped
- 2 scallions, green parts only and thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp egg-free mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- Pepper (according to taste)
- 2 medium tomatoes, thinly sliced
- Fresh whole grain bread
- 1 cup shredded lettuce
- salt
Instructions to prepare Colorful Bean Stuffed Sandwich:
- Put the pink beans in a bowl and use a potato masher to mash them. Add chopped bell pepper, olives, and scallions and blend the vegetables well.
- Now put in mayonnaise, lemon juice, pepper, salt and cumin and mix them well with the vegetables.
- Make a layer of tomato slices on a bread slice and put a dollop of vegetable mixture over the slices. Top with shredded lettuce and then cover with another piece of bread or you may even serve open face.
