Lunch in a Box

The end of the school year is nearing and it seems the kids are getting more and more excited about the last lunchboxes of the year. Everyone wanted to plan their lunchboxes last night and think about what they wanted and how.

My 7 YO wanted a sandwich bento box with a jelly sandwich and a granola bar at the bottom (with a little bear and grass decoration) and a peanut butter and banana sandwich at the top. I also added a couple of dye-free yogurt pretzels and some grapes with - as he called it- M&M bento picks ;)

My 5 YO wanted a jeep or recycling truck sushi box. Yes, he asked for this and I had no idea and for sure not the skills to fulfill that wish. I ended up making three triangle rice shapes and set them on lettuce. I added cucumber skin for the window and recycling sign and cucumber slices and yellow mini tomatoes as wheels. For him, I also added a few yogurt pretzels, more garden cucumbers and an oat & brownie bar from Trader Joe's. I have a lot to learn but it was fun to make!

With a lot of imagination (especially with that of a 5 YO) you can make out the truck, lol.

My oldest wanted a homemade Lunchable and got Tortilla chips and Guacamole, some yogurt pretzels and a Pumkin Seed Ciabatta roll with butter and blackberry jam.

All three have ice water today and no additional food since today is a short day :)

Happy Wednesday!

Chobani Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Bars

I was wondering the other day what snacks to buy or make for my children this week especially since we all kind of had gotten fed up with the store bought ones. I went to Chobani Kitchen and found this great recipe for Cranberry Oatmeal bars. I did not have everything on hand so I improvised a little bit.

The original recipe for the Cranberry Oatmeal bars can be found here.

  

I followed the recipe and my only changes were that I substitued 6 oz of mini chocolate chips for the 6 oz of cranberries and instead of using 0% Vanilla Chobani Yogurt and the orange zest, I used the Orange Vanilla Chobani Champions Yogurt. I only substituted because I had everything else in the pantry and really wanted to make those. I also doubled the recipe because I wanted to make sure we had enough for the lunchboxes this week :)

Here is the adapted recipe for a casserole dish :

{Ingredients}

• vegetable oil cooking spray
• 2 C all-purpose flour
• 2 C quick-cooking oats
• 1 C packed brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 6 Tbsp canola oil
• 6 Tbsp orange juice
• 2 2/3 C Orange Vanilla Chobani Champions
• 1 C sugar
• 4Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 2 large egg white, lightly beaten

{How to make them}

• Preheat oven to 325°F.
• Spray an 11 x 7-inch baking pan with cooking spray.
• Whisk together flour, oats, sugar, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon in bowl.
• Drizzle butter, oil and orange juice over dry mixture, stirring until moistened and crumbly.
• Reserve 1/2 cup mixture.
• Press remaining oat mixture into the bottom of prepared pan.
• Combine mini chocolate chips, Chobani, sugar, flour, and egg white in medium bowl, stirring well.
• Spread yogurt mixture over prepared crust.
• Evenly sprinkle reserved oat mixture over filling.
• Bake for 40 minutes or until edges are golden.
• Cool completely in pan on a wire rack before slicing.

When they came out of the oven it was hard to wait for them to cool because they smelled so good!

They are delicious and so easy to make! I really enjoyed the yogurt layer and my kids thought they were perfect for after school :)

We enjoyed this recipe so much I will make the original recipe with cranberries next week!

Happy Monday!