Creative School Lunches: Back to School Themed Lunch

This morning Facebook welcomed a whole new batch of back to school pictures taken by proud parents as their kids went off to school.  My friends in New York, Michigan, California, Massachusetts, and tons of other non-southern states, all posted pictures of their kids in their first day outfits, holding their first day signs (although I couldn’t help but notice that many didn’t have signs, so maybe that’s a southern thing?).  As someone who spent the majority of her childhood going back to school after Labor Day, it just seems like the right way to do it.  Enjoy the whole summer and then go back to school.  After Labor Day.  But alas, our district – like pretty much all of Florida – is one of those August return dates.  It always seems early to me.

But in the middle of all those cute pictures of kids donning new backpacks and ridiculously clean tennis shoes, one of my friends posted a picture of her daughter’s school lunch.  Or, at least, what was supposed to be her school lunch.  Instead, the status read “Fail.” with a picture below.  I couldn’t exactly make out what it was – it appeared to be a flower sandwich and some green bean fries – but it was clear that her attempt at creative school lunches had gone awry.  In a funny sort of way, but the result was clearly not what she intended.

So I thought this would be the perfect time to continue my Creative School Lunches series and debut my September Back to School Themed Lunch!The black board is a black Jell-O jiggler with a few letters made out of icing.  Although a bit more sugar than I’d like to see in a school lunch, it’s about the same as one of those Jell-O cups made for lunch boxes.  And if you really want to cut down on sugar, you could always use sugar-free Jell-O.

Tip: You can find the recipe for black Jell-O HERE.

The apple is made using this cookie cutter, cut from a sundried tomato wrap, which was as close to red as I could get.  I then filled it with white American cheese and salami which are two of their lunchtime favorites.   And for a little bit of extra protein, the chalk is a cheese stick cut in half.When it came to the sides for this lunch, I really wanted to load up on fruits and veggies but keep it interesting at the same time.  I cut the veggie ABCs out of cucumbers, squash, and zucchini.  Admittedly, veggies are a tough sell for my kids, so I added a bit of ranch low-fat ranch dressing, which made them much more acceptable.Tip: Be careful when cutting your veggies out using cookie cutters.  My veggies would get stuck, so I’d try to push them lose by using a spoon.  While it worked, it also left spoon marks on some of my veggies (you can see them on the A & B).  Just use something flat when trying to free the veggies from the cookie cutters and you should be fine.

I really wanted to add a splash of color when it came to the fruit to brighten up this lunch, so I went with watermelon, pineapple, and cantaloupe.  Each lunch got 2 sets of numbers.

There it is…My Back to School Themed Lunch!  After the Jell-O set, the entire thing came together in about 10 minutes (although in fairness, I did use pre-sliced fruit so that made it easier), so like my others, it’s relatively easy to make.  Speaking of, if you missed my other creative school lunches, be sure to check out my Din-O-Mite School Lunch and my Princess & the Frog Themed School Lunch.  And be sure to check back for more creative school lunches – October’s is sure to be spooktacular!