Easy-Peasy Grilled Cheese-y School Lunches

 

I guess most people fry their grilled cheese sandwiches, but I hate dirtying up a frying pan. Plus the stove is my working space in the kitchen for packing lunches, and I'm 100% likely to burnt or melt something (probably myself!) if I try to work around a cooling burner.

So I make quick and easy grilled cheese in the oven. I can do a bunch at once that way too. I just turn the oven on to broil, butter the outsides of both slices of bread for each sandwich, add the cheese (and thinly sliced apples, or whatever else I'm cooking in with the cheese) and sprinkle with a little garlic salt (trust me - they're ah-mazing this way. And with gluten-free bread, adding flavor is a must!) 
I usually cook 3 minutes on one side and 2 on the other, unless I'm popping them in right after turning the oven on. Then I do 5 and 3. If you want toastier you can leave them in longer, but be sure to check every minute after these times, and check promptly! They can go from gold to black in seconds!

Grilled Cheese for Kindy!

GF dairy-free grilled "cheese" sandwich, dried seaweed snack, organic purple and green beans and grapes, DF Ranch 

Wednesday, 9/4/13 - In addition to the dairy-free cheese sandwich, (crusts-on... I must have been in a hurry that day!) I gave her some dairy-free Ranch in a Mini Dipper to dip her green and purple beans. I love all the fun unique colorful produce we get in our weekly farm share! 

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Toddler Grilled Cheese

GF dairy-free grilled cheese, dried seaweed snack, organic raspberries and grapes

 

Similar to Big Sister's lunch, except I had raspberries that needed to get used up, and she still has a hard time chewing raw green beans.

Hasty Toddler Lunch

GF dairy-free grilled cheese; organic purple cauliflower, heirloom cherry tomatoes, carrots, sugar snap peas, grapes

 

Thursday, 9/19/13 - More colorful produce from the farm to complement her cheesy sandwich.

Squares for Kindergarten

GF dairy-free grilled cheese, dye-free rice crispy treat, DF Ranch kale chips, organic ground cherries and sugar snap peas

Tuesday, 9/24/13 - The ground cherries (from our weekly farm share) are skewered on picks I got at Dollar Tree. At 100/$1, they're a great start for your bento tool collection, and to share for classroom snacks, playdates, cousins, teacher lunches, etc.

I cut the crusts off these sandwiches, so Big Sis got an extra half-sandwich, since gluten-free bread is tiiiiiiny. I save the crusts in the fridge for a variety of dishes. Meatless meatloaf, French Toast Casserole or muffins, croutons, or stuffing.

Healthy Toddler Fare

GF dairy-free grilled cheese, dye-free rice crispy treat; organic green cauliflower, carrots, ground cherries

Finally! A child that enjoys cauliflower! But just the colored ones. Works for me! Neither girl was a big fan of the ground cherries, so I ended up eating most of them.

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