I'm looking for easy fun healthy summer meals

NCISFanatic01

School let's out in like 4 weeks. I have 2 teens and a tween who will be invading my day time hours Starting May 31st and I want to be able to feed them healthier than I have in the past. No more canned pasta, no more hotpockets (unless it lean pockets) no more mac n cheese 3 times a week. You get the picture.

What I need is easy healthy alternatives that is quick and easy and budget friendly. I have found several salads that I know the kids will enjoy but I will not feed them salad 2 meals a day for 2.5 months. HELP...

tararocks

Not sure what their preferences are, but you can do a lot with sandwiches, light bread with all kinds of fillings, pita pockets with fillings, wraps or tortillas, bagel thins, etc. That changes up the normal sandwich style...lean lunchmeats, lettuce, veggies, try different spreads, mustard, mayo, hot sauce, cream cheese, etc. I jsut sent my teenage daughter with lunch the otehr day, thought she was going to hate it but sounded good to me...leftover grilled chicken breast, i shredded it, took a tortilla spread some spinach and arrtichoke cream cheese in it, threw in some lettuce, rolled it up...asked her when i picked her up how her lunch was, again fully expecting her to probably hate it (but I am also trying to get her to eat better)...she LOVED it!
Also it sounds like you are at home to make their lunches? A great one we do usually on weekends or occasionally during summer when my husband is home during day...take an individual pizza crust (or a whole one since you are feeding multiples) light layer of pizza sauce and load it up, turkey pepperoni, mushrooms, black olives, normal pizza toppings...or jsut last weekend we had leftover grilled veggies, used classico pesto sauce, used the leftover grilled veggies (wouldve been yuck to jsut reheat but perfect on a pizza) mushrooms, zucchini, yellow squash, and bell peppers...light sprinkle of cheese...it was AMAZING...also to cut out some carbs can do the same thing on a low carb tortilla or flat out wrap.

sally414

I like the idea of creative sandwiches - some other ideas...

- Healthy pasta salad with homemade olive oil dressing and fill with veggies, chicken, and ww pasta
- Premade salad shakers in tupperware or jars
- Make a bunch of veggie burritos, freeze, and then microwave throughout the week
- What about trying healthy "Lunchables" with crackers, lean meat, cheese, fruit, etc?
- I also buy a rotisserie chicken, shred it up and mix with greek yogurt, lite mayo, walnuts/grapes/celery to make chicken salad (great on a sandwich, crackers or on top of a salad)

TesselCat

Do they like soups? There are tons of chilled soups that are great for summer, you can make a batch when you've got some spare time and just keep it in the fridge for when they're hungry! Gazpacho is one of my favorites but there are so many different types! You could also keep some cooked chicken in the fridge to go with it for a protein aspect.

Slow cooker meals are also really great since you can just set it up to cook all day and then do whatever you need to and have it ready for dinner!

ETA- You could also try to involve them in the cooking! They might learn something and find they enjoy it.

MrsB1229

Tuna salad sandwiches, chicken salad sandwiches, BLT's (turkey bacon!), baked chicken nuggets, chicken tacos, shrimp with veggies over dreamfield's pasta, sloppy joe with 90/10 ground beef, BBQ chicken, Teriyaki chicken, Pulled pork sandwiches. pizza with light cheeses...I think with kids it's all about portion control at this point. Serve with lots of veggies, yogurt, fruit....cut out the soda and sweetened juice drinks. I make a black bean salsa that I pretty much put on everything that I eat. My boys love to snack on that.

staceypunk

Sweet potato and black bean quesadillas:

You can roast the sweet potatoes on the weekend so they are ready to go when you need them during the week.

I use my food processor with the slicing attachment to slice the sweet potatoes pretty thin. Toss with one tbsp oil and a little salt then spread out onto baking sheet and put in 375-400 oven until soft, usually about 20 minutes but I forget, maybe less?

what you'll need:

flour tortillas
sweet potatoes, cut in quarters and then cut thinly
canned black beans, rinsed and drained
scallions, cut up (green and white parts)
shredded cheese of your choice (I like monteray jack or mozzerella)

Get a saute pan good and hot
Assemble quesadillas in this order- tortilla, sprinkle some cheese, layer of sweet potato, layer of beans, sprinkle scallions, sprinkle of cheese, tortilla.
Spray pan with PAM spray.
Cook quesadillas over med - medium high heat for a couple minutes on each side, pressing down with spatula to make it all stick together. Take care to spray PAM spray on top quesadilla before flipping over.
I cut into quarters and I eat some greens on side and sometimes some yellow rice.

It looks like a lot to type it all out like a recipe but it is so good and easy, I promise

They are best straight away, but we always enjoy the reheated leftovers the next day as well.