School Lunch Day 54: Tortilla pinwheels

The Lunch Idea:

I follow a very loose meal plan for lunch.  You can read more about my meal planning process here.  For lunches, I just have a basic idea of the kind of thing I'm going to pack each day, and Thursday is my day to do something with a tortilla.  I've done a lot of quesadillas lately, because they are quick and easy, so today I thought I would try to mix it up just a little. Tortilla pinwheels are super easy to make and you can put basically anything in them.  You just put a thin layer of your fillings on a flour tortilla, roll it up as tight as you can, and slice.  I like to put a little skewer through them to keep them from falling apart when my kids toss their lunches around. 

If these lunches look a little light to you, it's because they are. My kids have not had big appetites lately and a lot of their lunch has been coming home. So I thought I would pack a little less and see if they can get through it a little easier. 

What's in the lunch:

• Two have a tortilla pinwheel with cream cheese and turkey
• Two have a pinwheel with butter, cheddar cheese, and cabbage. 
• A whole carrot
• Dried cranberries (these are from Target)
• Seaweed snacks. 

Questions and Tips:

• If you're packing ahead, try using green cabbage in a roll or a sandwich instead of lettuce, it stays crunchy and doesn't get soggy, and chance are nobody will notice the difference. 
• When making the pinwheels, it helps to have some kind of spread on the tortilla to stick it together.  Two of my kids don't like cream cheese, so I put a thin layer of butter on theirs. Hummus is great too. 
• I love it when we can get small carrots, then I can just trim the ends and peel it a little and throw it in the lunch whole. 
• These a packed in EasyLunchboxes. You can read more about why they are my favorite lunch boxes here.