Food

Sandwiches are great, but they get boring pretty quickly. So I’ve done the dirty work for you and have found over 120 no sandwich lunchbox ideas that I know your kids will appreciate and enjoy. Have a great school year!

50 No Sandwich Lunch Ideas for Kids

Homemade Pizza Buns

Tacos

15 No Sandwich Lunch Ideas

Crustless Mini Quiche

Banana Dog Bites

50 Lunch Ideas That Aren’t Sandwiches 

Vegetarian Sausage Rolls

Create Your Own Mini Pie 

13 Lunchbox Ideas for Kids Who Don’t Like Sandwiches 

Applewiches

9 Lunchbox Ideas (Sandwich Free)

13 Ways to Use Tortillas for Lunch

Healthy Brown Fried Rice

As a bonus I wanted to add in a couple of links for some healthy breakfast ideas in case your kids are also getting tired of the breakfast choices at home 😉

Banana Berry Smoothie

Healthy Blueberry Muffins

Breakfast Sandwiches

Simple Morning Smoothie

More Back to School Ideas…

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Skinner® pasta.

One of my favorite recipes that my mom used to make our family when we were kids is this delicious and easy chicken spaghetti recipe.

Every time I make it I feel like I am back in my momma’s kitchen as a little girl helping her make it.

Texas Chicken Spaghetti

My mom has been making pasta for our family for as long as I can remember and I am carrying this on by doing the same thing in my home. I learned this recipe entirely from her, down to the exact kind of ingredients to use!

I love making this recipe when we have friends or family over because it is inviting and it feeds a lot of people for a great price. I think that pasta, in general, is a great dish to serve your friends and family. It is warm, makes people feel good, and fills their bellies!

We always use Skinner pasta varieties in our home for our pasta recipes because the quality is perfect (seriously, everyone I know LOVES it) and it is very cost friendly for a young mom like me. It is also the #1 pasta brand in Texas and being a proud Texas girl I’ve gotta stick to my roots of course!

I usually use regular spaghetti noodles for this recipe, but you can really use any kind of noodles. Skinner pasta carries all kinds of varieties from the basic spaghetti noodles to Skinner Texas Shape pasta, like I used in this three cheese macaroni recipe! No matter what pasta variety I use the revipe always turns out amazing, it is the friendliest pasta brand in Texas!

How to Make Texas Chicken Spaghetti

This recipe is so simple it will blow your mind. Which I know is ideal for busy moms who are trying to make their meals warm and inviting while not spending hours in the kitchen.

From start to finish, this recipe will take you about 35 minutes and only 10 of that is prep. All you need is 6 simple ingredients to make this delicious meal.

I love whipping this up on a weeknight and I can grab Skinner pasta from most of the stores in the area.

You’ll need 2 pots. One to cook your noodles in and the other to mix together and warm up the cream of chicken soup, cream of celery soup, canned chicken, and Rotel.

This recipe can be switched up easily if you don’t like one of the ingredients. I have used cream of mushroom soup before, I have used chicken breast, and I have even grabbed a rotisserie style chicken from the store and used that meat!

After you cook the pasta and heat the other ingredients up on the stovetop, combine the two together in the bigger pot and stir until the liquid mixture evenly covers the pasta. Then pour the mixture into a 13×9 baking dish and top with cheddar cheese.

We use a lot of cheese on ours, but it doesn’t matter how much or little you use. Just top it to your liking 🙂

Then bake it at 350° for 25 minutes and you are done!

Texas Chicken Spaghetti Recipe

Ingredients:

12 oz package Skinner pasta

10 oz can cream of chicken soup

10 oz can cream of celery soup

12.5 oz can of chunk chicken breast

10 oz can of diced tomatoes with green chilies

Shredded cheddar cheese (to taste)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Cook Skinner pasta according to package
3. On low, use a saucepan to combine and heat canned chicken breast, cream of celery soup, cream of chicken soup, and Rotel.
4. Combine Skinner pasta and sauce mixture until the pasta is evenly coated.
5. Pour pasta mixture into a 13×9 baking dish and top with shredded cheddar cheese.
6. Bake at 350º for 25 minutes.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Skinner® pasta.

When life gets insanely busy my go-to for dinners are (of course) slow cooker recipes!

They take little prep, little cleanup time, and are incredibly delicious.

To save you (and I) a ton of time I have gathered an entire month of slow cooker recipes and have even created a meal plan menu that you can print out and use at home!

This is to make life easier for both you and me. Several of these I have tried but there are a few that we haven’t and I can’t wait to put them on our meal plan for the month!

30 Easy Slow Cooker Recipes

All of these recipes are intended to be made in the slow cooker and a lot of them are “dump recipes” where you can freeze all of the ingredients in a ziplock bag, then dump them into the crockpot!

Garlic and Lemon Chicken Dump Recipe

Slow Cooker Creole Chicken and Sausage

Slow Cooker Ham and White Bean Soup

Crock Pot Honey Garlic Chicken

Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

Classic Slow Cooker Pot Roast

Slow Cooker Chicken Tetrazzini

Slow Cooker Korean Beef Tacos

Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken

Slow Cooker Honey Dijon Mustard Chicken

Slow Cooker Beef Noodles

Crispy Slow Cooker Carnitas

Skinny Veggie Crock Pot Lasagna 

Crock Pot Mexican Stuffed Bell Peppers

Slow Cooker Chicken and Corn Chowder

Slow Cooker Chicken Fajitas

Crock Pot Salsa Verde Chicken

Slow Cooker Vegetable Beef Soup

Slow Cooker Chicken Burrito Bowls

Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff

Slow Cooker Texas Chili 

Crock Pot Chicken Wild Rice Soup

Slow Cooker General Tso’s Chicken

Slow Cooker Baked Ziti

Slow Cooker Steak Fajitas

Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken Pot Pie

Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef

Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice

Crock Pot Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Slow Cooker Shepards Pie

30 Day Slow Cooker Meal Plan

Here is a preview of the 30-day meal plan calendar that you can print out and use at home for yourself! I just bookmark this page with all of the recipe links and then print out the calendar for my fridge.

More Recipes You’ll Love

4 Ingredient Baked Ziti – this recipe is SO easy and one of my go to’s on busy weeknights!

Texas Chicken Spaghetti

Three Cheese Macaroni 

Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf 

Halloween is close…well maybe not close, but close enough for me to start preparing for everything fall! So here it is, 16 easy Halloween treats for your next Halloween party!

Jump down a couple of recipes and you’ll find out how to make your own pumpkin spiced latte! YUMMY!

These Pumpkin Cheesecake Truffle Mummies are NO BAKE and easy to bring to Halloween parties for treats!

Or bring some Pumpkin Pretzels as an appetizer for a Halloween party! I might make these for B’s October birthday.

I’m such a sucker for Oreos, these Halloween Oreo Cake Bars wouldn’t last more than a day at my house.

Bones and Cheese Dip are certainly creepy enough for your Halloween dinner, and they are only 4 ingredients!

I’ve heard of regular dirt and worms for dessert, but I’ve never seen this graveyard twist on it!

Tired of spending too much money at Starbucks? Make your own Pumpkin Spiced Latte in the crock pot with this recipe!

Host a costume party and serve these deliciously frightening Bloody Shirley Temples for drinks.

I am obsessed with all things that have ginger snaps in them so I will be trying these Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes ASAP!

This Candy Corn Punch takes only 3 ingredients and is a fun after school snack for the kiddos.

Here’s another recipe with yummy Oreos that I won’t be able to resist. I’m going to make this Halloween Bark with white chocolate!

These Easy Pumpkin Patty treats are no bake and easy to make!

I am beyond excited about making these Pumpkin Pie Pop Tarts. I’ve never stumbled across a homemade pop tart recipe, so I totally plan on utilizing this one!

Is there anything better than pumpkin and cream cheese in one recipe?

Strawberry Ghosts are perfectly themed for Halloween and super delicious!

I’m not too sure that I am creative enough to make these Chocolate Covered Apples look this good, but it’s worth a shot!

And I think this one is my absolute favorite Halloween recipe, Mini Spider Pizzas!

This post has been sponsored by Kraft-Heinz. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

There is nothing that gets me more excited for fall than this delicious Harvest Hash recipe.

This recipe includes delicious ingredients like PLANTERS Dry Roasted Peanuts, pretzels, and candy corn to put a fall twist on traditional cereal snack or trail mix recipes.

The sweet flavor of peanut butter chocolate candy and candy corn combined with the salty flavor of pretzels and PLANTERS peanuts make this an extremely addicting fall snack!

Fall Harvest Hash

It is also my go- to fall or Halloween party recipe since it is so simple to make. There is a Dollar General right outside my neighborhood that I can run to anytime to pick up the ingredients, which makes it really convenient to make since I am always preparing for things last minute.

Planters Peanuts are available for only $2.50 during the week of Tues 9/30 and Wed 10/28 at Dollar General! Perfect timing to get this recipe made before Halloween!

Also, look at these colors! I just about fall in love every time I make this because it gets me right in the mood for sweaters, pumpkin patches, and changing leaves!

We have this bowl sitting on our kitchen table full of harvest hash, and it makes for a good colorful fall centerpiece. Who doesn’t love edible decorations!?! Anyone can just walk on past and grab a handful for a quick snack, too!

But I’ll warn you now…it is SUPER addicting.

Making Harvest Hash

You only need a few ingredients to put this harvest hash recipe together:

• Rice Cereal
• Pretzels
• PLANTERS Dry Roasted Peanuts
• Candy Corn
• Candy Corn Pumpkins
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Candy
• Butter
• Brown Sugar
• Vanilla Extract

The best part about this recipe is that it is super customizable to your liking. Just swap the ingredients out with something else you like if you find the recipe is too sweet or too salty.

I got all of my ingredients to make this recipe at Dollar General, which is not only convenient, but also so affordable!

Basically, to make this recipe all you have to do is preheat your oven to 275 degrees, toss the rice cereal, PLANTERS peanuts, and pretzels in the brown sugar/butter sauce, and bake for about 45 minutes.

I check in on it every now and then while it is baking and toss the ingredients around to be sure it isn’t burning on the edges.

Then, when that mixture is done baking, I add the candy corn and chocolate peanut butter candy to complete the recipe! This recipe makes A LOT of harvest hash, so be prepared to send some to the neighbors or to put some in little treat bags for your coworkers or for your kids to take to school.

I personally love making this recipe for Halloween parties!

Harvest Hash Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

• • 1 box of rice cereal

• • 4 cups of pretzels (you can use any shape of pretzels)

• • 2 cups of PLANTERS dry roasted peanuts

• • 1 cup of Candy Corn

• • 1 cup of Candy Corn Pumpkins

• • 1 bag of peanut butter chocolate candy

• • ¾ cups of melted butter

• • ¾ cups of brown sugar

• 2 tablespoons of vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

1. 1. Preheat oven to 275.

1. 1. Melt the butter in the microwave then combine with vanilla and brown sugar. Stir until combined well.

1. 1. Add rice cereal, pretzels, and peanuts to a large bowl and mix together.

1. 1. Coat the dry ingredient mixture with the butter mixture and stir until evenly distributed.

1. 1. Use parchment paper (or foil) to cover cookie sheets (I use 2 normally) and pour mixture in a single layer on each sheet.

1. 1. Bake for 45 minutes. Stir occasionally.

1. After baking, let the mixture cool and then add your candy corn, candy corn pumpkins, and chocolate peanut butter candy.

This post is sponsored by Barilla. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Being from Texas, the summers can get unbearably hot and when that time of year comes around I love to eat this light pesto pasta salad to fill me up without dragging me down.

I am a total sucker for heavy comfort food pasta recipes like baked ziti, but when it is 100 degrees outside I crave something light and refreshing like this easy recipe!

Simple Pesto Pasta Salad

For this recipe, I used Barilla Ready Pasta which cuts down about 10-15 minutes from your prep time. If you haven’t used Barilla Ready Pasta yet get to the store NOW. Each pack of Ready Pasta contains 2 servings of fully cooked pasta, so all you have to do is microwave the bags for 60 seconds, and the pasta is ready.

This pasta has seriously saved dinner multiple times just by being a time saver. It is something I keep stocked in my pantry for times when I need to whip up a quick dish.

Light pesto pasta salad is perfect for a light lunch, a side dish for dinner, or as a potluck item to bring to a BBQ this summer!

It took me about 10 minutes from start to finish, the longest part being to chop the cucumber and tomatoes which still hardly took any time.

Light Pesto Pasta Salad Recipe

First, you’ll want to chop your veggies. I made a family sized portion of this pasta so I used about a cup of cherry tomatoes and sliced them in half, but feel free to add more or use less if your family prefers something different.

Then I sliced 1 whole cucumber up and then diced them into smaller pieces. You can also feel free to alter the amount of cucumber in the recipe.

Heat your Barilla Ready Pasta up for 60 seconds in the microwave. I used 3 packages of the Ready Pasta because I wanted to make multiple servings. Each package comes with 2 servings so alter as needed.

Pour your pasta out of the packages and into a bowl, then add 1 jar of Barilla Basil Pesto Sauce, your cucumber, and your tomatoes.

For extra flavor, I added 1 tablespoon of bacon bits too!

My family really loves cheese so we added a full cup of parmesan cheese to our pesto pasta salad. Then to add some protein I used 1 package of Starkist Tuna and mixed all of the ingredients together.

That is it!! An extremely easy pasta recipe that your family will love!

Ingredients:

3 packages Barilla Ready Pasta

1 cucumber

1 cup cherry tomatoes

1 jar Barilla Basil Pesto Sauce

1 cup parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon bacon bits

1 package Starkist Tuna

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Slice cucumber and cherry tomatoes.
2. Microwave Barilla Ready Pasta for 60 seconds (follow directions on package).
3. Pour pasta into a bowl and add Barilla Basil Pesto Sauce, cucumber, tomatoes, bacon bits, and tuna.
4. Stir then salt and pepper to taste.

ENJOY!

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