Let's
face it, cooking is not a top priority in the lives of
every man, woman, or child on the planet. In fact, far too
people have made learning to cook a priority in their lives.
This means that we often exist on convenience foods and boxed
mixes rather than taking the effort to prepare healthy meals for
our families and our own personal enjoyment.
The same holds true for lunches when we often resort to a can of
soup or box of macaroni and cheese or some other such product
rather than putting our creative efforts into making a quick and
easy yet delicious lunch. You will see many ideas in this
article and the hope is that these ideas will not only get you
off to a great start for ending the lunch rut we all seem to
find ourselves in at some time or another but also to try new
things on your own.
First of all, not all great lunches require actual cooking in
order to prepare. Some of them will require the use of the
microwave and some of them will need to be cooked or at least
prepared before hand and reheated. The choices are virtually
limitless once you understand the creative concept that must be
in place. You should also find that many of these ideas are so
simple you will wonder why on earth you have never thought of
them. I certainly hope that some of these ideas will become main
features within your own home.
Lettuce wraps. These mike delightfully delicious lunch treats
and the filling can be prepared ahead of time, which leaves only
reheating the filling and wrapping when you're ready to eat.
This is a fun lunch to share with your little ones and it
teaches them that lettuce is much more versatile than people
often give it credit for being. Some people choose to go with a
teriyaki inspired filling; my family likes taco inspired
fillings for our lettuce rolls. You are perfectly free to come
up with a favorite filling of your very own.
Try sandwiches with different breads. Believe it or not, my
children love trying new things. It's a rare trait for which I
am extremely grateful. Believe me I understand all too well how
fortunate I am. My youngest however, has a little difficulty
with thick or crusty bread. Her favorite sandwich choice has
become Hawaiian sweet rolls. We put the meat, cheese, mustard,
and pickle in her roll as if it were a bun and she's thrilled.
Other great ideas include hollowing out crusty rolls and filling
them with roast beef and cheddar. You can broil this in your
oven for a few minutes for a rare sandwich treat. The cooking
part is very minimal and you do not have to have in depth
knowledge of anything to prepare or enjoy these simple treats.
Other great bread ideas include croissants with ham and cheese
or chicken salad, taco pitas (another great favorite in our
household), and paninis (this works really well if you have a
George Foreman grill or a panini press).
While this is by no means the end all be all guide to cooking
quick and easy lunches it is good food for thought. The hope is
that this will get your own creative juices flowing so that you
can prepare wonderful lunches for your family without needing to
do too terribly much heavy cooking in the process.
By Jack Sands
Find tips about strawberry allergy and soy allergy at the Common Food
Allergies site.
