Since Cole started kindergarten last month, I’ve been struggling daily with what to make for his lunch. In daycare it was easier; they could heat food up in the microwave or toast things like bagels and waffles in the toaster, and nuts were okay. I bought a thermos and some nut-free Peabutter thinking that they would help me to expand on my options for his lunches. Unfortunately Cole hardly eats anything from his thermos because apparently it takes too long for him to eat, and he tried the peabutter and informed me it was ‘gross’ (I tried Wowbutter too and got a similar reaction). Back to square one. I wanted to be creative with the foods I sent him so that he’d actually eat his lunches. First I tried wraps with veggie cream-cheese, shredded carrot, and ham. I was sure those would win him over, but neither of the boys ate them. This surprised me because I really enjoyed them and have been eating them for lunch a lot myself. I still had a bunch of tortillas left though, so I tried pizza quesadillas. Basically these are just tortillas stuffed with pizza toppings and grilled on an indoor grill. (I cut my quesadillas with kitchen scissors to get a nice clean edge on them.)

Cole didn’t like these either. Bennett ate them though and seemed to like them. He’s a big fan of anything to do with pizza. That’s why I tried making homemade pizza pockets, using flax seed pizza dough with ham, pineapple, peppers, tomato sauce and cheese stuffed inside. Finally, success! Cole’s lunch container came back empty, and he said they were good and I could pack them in his lunch again. They also freeze wonderfully. I have a batch in my freezer and I just pull them out as needed when I pack lunches the night before.
Despite all my best efforts to make lunches more interesting, Cole told me the other day that he’s happy to have ham sandwiches every day. “Really?” I asked, “Every day? Won’t you get bored?” He said to me, “No Mommy, don’t be silly. I could never get bored of ham sandwiches.” Good to know. I guess I don’t have have to worry about being creative with school lunches anymore!

Pizza Pockets
1 batch of flaxseed pizza dough
Pizza fillings of your choice (ie: ham, pineapple, peppers, tomato sauce and cheese)
Cornmeal

Roll out the dough and cut into circles (you can use a large round cookie cutter, large cup or small bowl, or I used one of these: Progressive International 4-piece Dough Press Set). Place filling in the center of each circle, then fold the dough over and pinch it shut. Poke the top of the dough with a fork. Place on a greased baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Bake at 425F for about 15 minutes, or until tops are golden.