The Schulte's Go To School

Well, school is right around the corner and the rush is on to get new clothes, school supplies, tennis shoes, and make it to open house on time!  For the past four years I have home schooled my children and this year we were lead to send them to a school about 20 minutes away from our home.  They are all so excited (except the girls are not so excited about the uniforms)!  So, we got our school supplies, our uniforms and we even did make it to open house on time last week, miraculous I know!  But, then I thought about LUNCH!  For the last four years they have had a wonderful lunch as they have been home, and lunch was easy.  Now I had to think about how in the world to make lunch portable with variety and nutrition!

I began by making an extensive menu!  I planned out breakfast, school snack, lunch, and after school snack.  Then I created a shopping list that has every ingredient I need to make every breakfast, snacks, and lunch on my menu.  I photo copied that list.  I then highlighted everything that I was out of and off to the store I went.  I purchased all I needed for breakfast, lunch, school snack and after school snack.  On Sunday I will be making the "snacks" I need for the week, as my kids begin school on Monday.  Today I am taking some time to get all my recipes printed off and put in a binder....I know that seems ancient in our times of technology but it is still easier for me to pull out my binder and flip to my recipe than to open up my computer and find all the documents.  So, I have a binder that have my menu, shopping list, and recipes in it.  It is on my counter ready for quick reference.  The menu, recipes, and shopping list are in plastic page protectors so if I accidently slop on them when baking/cooking they wipe clean!

Here is an example of one of the breakfasts on my menu.  (In each breakfast I try to pack it with good fat and protein to keep them filled up and prepared for their morning, it keeps them full and going strong until lunch!)

Egg McMuffin- Hold the McDonalds!
Ingredients:

Goat Cheese Slices (I used Trader Joes Goat Gouda)
Canadian Bacon or Sausage Patties (Make sure they come from a good quality meat source and are nitrate free)
Organic Eggs
1 Mason Jar Lid
Spray Cooking Oil (or oil sides with coconut oil)
GF Kinnickinick Bakery English Muffins (Cut in thirds, or they are too thick, and toasted)

I took a toasted Kinnickinic Bakery English Muffin

 for the top and bottom. I then greased a mason jar rim and put it on my frying pan, broke an organic egg into it and broke the yolk. Once the egg turned white I popped the rim off with a forkand it took form (egg mcmuffin form), I flipped it and heated up the canadian bacon (nitrate free). I then layered the english muffin (gf), egg, goat cheese, canadian bacon, and english muffin. Cut in half and served with fresh organic raspberries. Looking at the egg packed with protein and 1 slice of the goat gouda having 25% of daily calcium that is a pretty good start to the day!  I served it with a helping of fresh oraganic raspberries for an antioxidant punch!  This will keep them full and full of energy until lunch!  That is they way to start off a school day.  A great alternative to the sugary carbs of the typical American Breakfast, and very quick and easy to make.