Sorry for the sparse posts last week. We were in the midst of back to school registrations, Dr. appointments, school shopping, and just about everything else back to school related. Oh, and I just had our dogs groomed and one of our dogs had fleas! Ugh! So I’ve been dealing with that too…fun times. We’ve never had this problem and I’m kind of freaked out and it just added another thing to my “to do” list.
Anyway, now that all the kids are squared away for school, it gave me some time to look for lunch ideas for the kids. While it’s easy to find tons of ideas for cute lunches for little kids, there aren’t many ideas for big kids or teens. To remedy that, I thought I would do a back to school teen home lunch round-up of hearty sandwiches that are a little more substantial for “big kid” appetites.
For this round-up, I looked for recipes that fit three of my major criteria for home lunches:
- Something my kids would actually eat.
- Simple ingredients.
- Quick and easy recipe.
First up, this pizza grilled cheese sandwich @Kirbie’s Cravings. This sandwich is lunch kids can really sink their teeth into. It’s filled with the basic pizza toppings of mozzarella, pepperoni, and marinara sauce. However, I don’t see why you can’t add in spinach, mushrooms, onions, whatever else the kids like to make this into a supreme pizza sandwich.
A basic chicken salad just won’t do. This Quick Chicken Salad @Real Mom Kitchen is packed with grapes, green onions, pecans, celery, and apples.Yum-o-licious! Some have even added sunflower seeds, craisins, and even chopped pickles to adapt this recipe to their liking.
My kids and I L.O.V.E Panera! When I saw this Copycat Panera Tuna Salad Sandwich @Cincy Shopper, I knew my kids would like it. I like that the main ingredients in the tuna salad mix are pretty basic and the onions and tomatoes can be added or left out as needed.
When it comes to egg salad sandwiches, I don’t mess with the egg mixture as my kids tend to like it plain. This Egg Salad Sandwich with Bacon and Avocado from Add A Pinch keeps the egg mixture simple while adding slices of bacon and avocado to take it over the top.
Sweet Pennies from Heaven’s take on a ham sandwich is awesome! She made a Copycat Applebee’s Clubhouse Grille Sandwich Recipe using Texas toast, ham, turkey, bacon, two cheeses, BBQ sauce, and more. Sound yummy? I think so!
Buffalo Turkey Waffleich @My Pinterventures
The waffle maker isn’t just for waffles. Use it to make a crisp crust on this slightly spicy buffalo turkey waffleich!
It’s hard to improve on a BLT, but Kevin at Closet Cooking added a basil mayo to his BLT Sandwich. Since I always have pesto in the fridge, I can easily add it to mayo to pump up the flavor in the classic BLT.
Sometimes I need to switch things up with something sweet. This Grilled Peanut Butter Apple Sandwiches at All Recipe makes for a more grown-up and filling PBJ. It’s filled with cinnamon and sugar coated apples that are between two pieces of grilled buttered bread…are you drooling?
All of my kids, especially my boys are Nutella freaks.This Strawberry Nutella Panini from Recipe Boy would be quickly inhaled by all of my kids.
I can’t wait to make all of these amazing sandwiches for the kids. Do you think your teens would like these sandwiches?
Find more lunch ideas on my Pinterest Boards.
Follow My Pinterventures’s board Recipes: Lunch on Pinterest. Follow My Pinterventures’s board Simple Bento Ideas for Kids & Recipes on Pinterest.
Erlene, these sandwiches look AMAZING! I’m getting hungry for lunch and these are very tempting. Thanks for sharing at the #HomeMattersParty – we’re looking forward to what you have to share next week. 🙂
~Lorelai
Life With Lorelai
Thanks for the great party and letting me share. I think these sandwiches are amazing too and my kids will love them.
Hi Erlene!
These recipes look great! Sharing today on my FB page & pinned to my Back to School Board for future reference! Sucks about the fleas lol.
KIM
Appreciate the shares! Yes, I’m still sort of freaked out about it. I’m so paranoid and have been checking daily…lol. We think he may have picked it up when my dd started taking him on a trail new our home.
Being empty nesters, we often like sandwiches for dinner now and these are GREAT recipes 🙂
Thanks for the posting.
I love sandwiches too. So simple to make with great flavor.
Erlene, I know my ds19 would love it if I made these for him to bring to college this fall. He’s commuting to save money on his loans.
I hope he likes these. I tried to pick sandwiches that even the pickiest eaters with big appetites would like. Good for him on trying to save money on his loans too.
I suddenly have an overwhelming urge to eat sandwiches beginning with that Strawberry Nutella Panini! What a fabulous collection! Sandwiches are good for dinner sometimes too!
Lol…the Nutella sandwich does look good and I’ve actually made it with strawberries and bananas before…yummy!
Love these photos and recipes, especially the croissant sandwiches. My kids, though not teens yet, would love them!!! Thank you for posting!
I actually just bought croissant today to make some sandwiches. Can’t wait to surprise my kids with some of these new sandwich ideas.
Hey — great roundup! Don’t you just love a good sandwich?! Teens/pre-teens are hungry hungry hungry people. I’m sure they’ll love any of these!! We’re back in school now, trying to get back into the swing of things. Thank you Erlene, for including our copycat Clubhouse Grille in your roundup. 🙂
Thanks for coming by. I had to include your yummy sandwich in this mix as I know my kids will love it.