Lunch is always a little stressful for me. Partly because I have three children who all like different things. Partly because… I have three children. Then there’s me. I often end up with a handful a nuts or maybe a granola bar because, well if you’re a mom then you know. It’s just hard to find time to eat.

As Luciano Pavarotti says, “One of the very best things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” I love this, yet I also abhor it because in my household, there are three tiny people running around. Mealtimes often look more like training times than times to stop and devote ourselves to eating.

That aside, I do love coming up with new and interesting things for my kids to eat. Because my children don’t like chicken nuggets or macaroni and cheese and fast food hurts their tummies. Poor kids. They never get happy meals.

These little open faced sandwich squares are one of my lunchtime favorites because they are pretty healthy and my kids LOVE them! They are super versatile, too, and fun to make. If your kids are a little older than mine, I bet they could make these themselves.

Here are the steps

1.) Toast some bread. Whatever kind of bread you have will work fine! Today I used homemade sourdough, but I sometimes use sprouted grain or whole wheat. I suppose you don’t have to toast these, but I like to because toast holds up better when you pick it up, whereas bread is kind of floppy.

2.) Mash a spoonful of avocado on top of the toast. Really, you could use any kind of spread… one of those herb cream cheese spreads or goat cheese or laughing cow cheese. Or mayonnaise or salsa… whatever floats your boat. We like avocados around here and they’re a super food, so I use them!

3.) Sprinkle on some cheese. I used feta here, but we also like these with cheddar! Here’s what it looks like once you’ve done these things:

 

4.) Place the pepperoni. My kids will eat almost anything if there’s pepperoni on it, but we have also used sliced ham and turkey. I like to cut the toasts into fours because they seem easier to handle. When cut, they don’t fall apart like they would if left whole, and they’re just fun little things for kids to grab.

5.) Serve with a side: snapea crisps (that’s what we used today), multigrain tortilla chips, raisins, apple slices, gummy bears. We don’t usually serve candy around here, but my kids would probably giggle ferociously if I put gummy bears on their lunch plates. And I’d do almost anything to make them giggle.