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The Dempster’s Lunchbox Inspirations program is a place where moms like you and me can get out of the lunch time rut and keep our kids excited to open their lunchbox every school day.  I’m the type of mom that prefers freshly made meals with fresh ingredients over prepackaged products.  With Dempster’s Lunchbox recipes, not only can I stay true to that, I can find easy and quick recipes to save myself time.

The first Dempster’s lunchbox recipe I had the pleasure of testing out was the Chicken and Cucumber sandwich recipe.  My kids can be picky at times limiting my cooking options but I can happily say that they are big fans of chicken and cucumbers.

INGREDIENTS

• 8 Slices DEMPSTER’S®/ BON MATIN® Healthy Way® Multigrain bread
• 2 Packages MAPLE LEAF Prime® Grilled Chicken Breast Strips, coarsely chopped
• 30 ml Light cream cheese, softened
• 15 ml Light mayonnaise
• 60 ml Red or yellow sweet pepper, chopped
• 30 ml Chives, chopped
• 0.5 English cucumber, thinly sliced

DIRECTIONS

Instead of using the 2 Packages MAPLE LEAF Prime® Grilled Chicken Breast Strips, I cooked 2 large chicken breasts I had in my freezer on my Hamilton-Beach Panini Grill.  Place the thawed chicken breast on the non-stick grill and let cook while you prepare the other ingredients.  Once the chicken breast has cooked, or if you are using the prepackaged Maple Leaf chicken breast strips to save yourself some time, chop into coarse pieces.  Place the chopped chicken into a mixing bowl.

Preparing the rest of the ingredients:

Dice a red or yellow pepper.  My 10 year old daughter is our pickiest eater so I chose a yellow pepper because it’s easier to “hide” in the ingredients.  You may want to chop the pepper smaller, if you also have a picky eater; most often if kids can’t see it, they will eat it and love it.  Next, chop the chives and set aside.  In a small bowl soften the light cream cheese in the microwave slightly.  Place the remainder of the prepared ingredients over the coarsely chopped chicken breast in the mixing bowl, stirring to mix thoroughly.

Thinly slice half of an English cucumber, setting aside for later when you are constructing the actual sandwich.

An added touch:

My kids love the lemon pepper flavoring so what I did was add a little fresh lemon juice and a dash of pepper to my mixture for that extra flavor.

Constructing the sandwich:

Divide the chicken mixture evenly among the 4 slices of Dempster’s Multigrain bread, spreading the mixture to the edges. Place the cucumber’s that you thinly sliced earlier on top of the chicken mixture you just spread over the bread.  Top with another slice of bread, slicing the sandwich diagonally and wrap it up ready for the lunchbox.  Add some dill pickles or your child’s preferred garnishes and you’re sure to have a lunchbox hit.

I snuck this new sandwich recipe into my kid’s lunchboxes this week hoping that my picky eater didn’t notice the added peppers.  Not only did she not notice the added peppers, all 3 kids came home that day and told me how good their sandwich tasted; surprisingly they asked me to make it again sometime.  It’s not often my kids ask me to make something twice, the compliment put a smile on my face.  There’s no better feeling than when your child comes home from a busy school day and remembers to thank you for their lunch.  Thanks Dempster’s for a new lunchbox favorite!

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Here’s what we did!  Gathered everything we could possibly need to create our very own sensational pizza on a bagel!

Ingredients

• Dempster’s Thin Bagels
• Maple Leaf Ready Crisp Bacon
• Pizza Sauce
• Grated Cheese
• Pepperoni
• Pineapple
• Spinach
• Roasted Red Peppers

Once all our ingredients were laid out the rest was simple!

My nine year old had a great time slathering on just the perfect amount of pizza sauce “Not too much and not too little Mom.”  Then we layered on cheese, bacon, pineapple and pepperoni.

The older daughter’s was a little more adventurous adding some roasted red peppers and even some spinach to the mix.

The results were fantastic!

The girls are always happy to help make Pizza Bagels for lunch and I’m happy to know they will come home with empty lunch boxes!

*Note sometimes a toothpick or two helps to keep your creation together.

*A great substitution when at home is to toast up Dempster’s English Muffins and use them as the pizza crust.

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Since my kids can be picky about their lunch foods, sometimes I like to make them a breakfast sandwich to have in their lunch. They like eggs, and they prefer bagels to bread, so it works out well to do this!

Ingredients

• 1 Dempsters Bagel
• 1 Egg
• 1 slice processed cheese
• 1 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp onion chopped finely so the kids don’t notice…it adds flavor that they prefer, but they think they don’t like onion
• 1 tomato slice cut in small cubes
• 1/3 cup of cooked ham, cubed

Directions

1. Mix the egg with the onion, tomato and ham and fry them.
2. Toast the bagel.
3. Put the mayonnaise on both sides of the bagel.
4. Put the cooked egg mixture on the bagel, and the slice of cheese on top and you have a breakfast sandwich!

If you can wrap it in foil, this is the best way to keep it hot, but if you can’t do that due to a garbageless lunch rule, put it in a container and wrap a clean dish towel around it to keep the heat in.

Enjoy!

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My son particularly likes this recipe because of the sweet and spicy flavor the Dijon Mustard and apple ingredients create together.  What I love about this lunchbox recipe is not only that it is very quick and easy to make but a little goes a long way.  With 3 school-aged kids, especially my 12 year old son who seems to keep eating more than my grocery budget wants to allow, larger recipes are the ones I seek out.  By sending one full pita in my son’s lunchbox and splitting one between my girl’s lunches comforts me to know they’ve all filled their tummy’s and replenished their energy.

Ingredients

• 4 DEMPSTER’S® Pita Pockets
• 2 Cans of Flaked Ham
• 60 ml Light mayonnaise
• 1 Small to Medium Red Apple, chopped
• Deli Sprouts
• 12 slices of Mozzarella Cheese
• Dijon Mustard

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl, blend together the flaked ham and light mayonnaise.  Chop the small apple into small pieces and add to the ham mixture, mixing thoroughly.
2. Cut the DEMPSTER’S® Pita Pockets into half and with your hands peel apart the bread until you have two halves for each Pita.
3. Spread a thin layer of Dijon Mustard on the inside bottom of the pita pocket halves before spreading a thicker layer of the flaked ham and mayonnaise mixture.  Layer 3 slices of mozzarella cheese side by side on each pita half.  Lastly, stuff the top of each pocket half with a layer of sprouts and they are ready for individual wrapping.

**Tips:  Leftover cooked ham from the night before works well with this recipe, instead of using canned ham, dice the ham into small pieces and mix in as instructed.  Regular mustard can be used in place of the Dijon Mustard, if preferred.  Some children do not like mustard; if this describes your little one, omit the Mustard altogether.  If you don’t need 4 pitas, store the remainder of the ham mixture in the fridge for later use.

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