Shaun, there are several things on that list that The Picky One would eat and The Little Gourmet would go nuts for - thanks for the ideas! Terri - I will also be making your Pizza Rolls they look fantastic and I am going to make it even easier on myself and pick up a ready made pizza dough at our local pizza shop. Here is another list from a few years ago where I have found inspiration. It is similar to Grainlady's link, but there are a few differences. 14 Fresh Brown Bag Lunch Ideas Pasta Lover's Lunch Salad. Pack a cold pasta salad and a plastic fork, and your pasta lover will love you, too! Make your salad with lean meat or low-fat cheese (so it has some protein), lots of vegetables to boost fiber and nutrition, and use a whole-grain blend pasta, like Barilla Plus. Then just drizzle some light vinaigrette over the top and toss. Pita Pocket Sandwich. Pack your whole-grain pita pocket with chicken Caesar salad, or any other lean meat or cheese filler mixed with vegetables and dark green lettuce. The Fruit and Cheese Plate Special. Make crispy cracker sandwiches with whole-wheat crackers, slices of assorted cheese, and lean meats. Don't forget the fruit, which goes nicely with the cheese and adds fiber and nutrition. Peanut Butter Fun Pack. Pack 1/8 cup of natural-style peanut butter, along with a plastic knife or spoon, wheat crackers, and celery sticks, and you have a peanut butter fun pack! Bagel With Cream Cheese, Please. Bagels are a wonderful foundation for hardy sandwiches that stand up to being in a backpack or locker all morning. You can toast a bagel in the morning and simply spread some light cream cheese in the middle. Or make a bagel sandwich with, say, a little light cream cheese, some turkey, and cranberry sauce, then top it off with alfalfa sprouts or Romaine lettuce. Carry a Cobb Salad. Plastic containers can hold the makings of a delicious salad lunch. Fill it with chopped green lettuce, chopped hard-boiled egg, light cheese, and/or lean ham. You can buy packets of light dressing, or just use extra packets of light salad dressing left over from your last trip to the fast-food chain. It's a Wrap! Wraps are a nice change of pace from the usual sandwich. Use one of the new higher-fiber tortillas, like the multigrain flour tortillas available in most supermarkets. Then fill 'er up with chicken Caesar salad or assorted lean meats, cheese, tomato, sliced onion, shredded Romaine lettuce, and light dressing. Just roll it up and wrap in foil. Noodle Soup Cups. Many schools offer a hot water dispenser so kids can add hot water to packaged noodle soup cups. Some brands are higher in sodium and fat, and lower in fiber than others. Check out the options in stores like Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. Veggie Sushi. Not all kids will go for this one, but there are some out there who really like seaweed-wrapped sushi rolls. You can now buy pre-made sushi at many supermarkets, too. Choosing the veggie-filled sushi means there's no chance the sushi will get a little "fishy" while it's in your kid's backpack. Toss Some Taco Salad. If taco salad is a favorite, you can pack the meat mixture tossed with the shredded cheese, tomatoes, and chopped Romaine lettuce in a plastic container. At lunchtime, your child can add crunchy, reduced-fat tortilla chips and a little light dressing. Fried Rice Can Be Fun. When made with eggs or chopped lean ham and lots of veggies, cold fried rice can be a satisfying noontime treat. Make your own, or plan on leftovers the night before if you're ordering from a restaurant. Talk About Taquitos. I started doing this last year, and it seems to have stuck with my girls. I pop some Bean and Cheese frozen Taquitos from Whole Foods into my toaster oven in the morning, then let them cool. Then, I wrap them in foil and make sure they stay cool by packing a frozen juice box or small water bottle. By noon, they are cold, fun finger food. BBQ Chicken Sandwich. Your child can assemble a yummy BBQ grilled chicken sandwich fresh at lunchtime. Just pack a grilled, boneless, skinless chicken breast (you can make it in your indoor grill the night before) with some lettuce and sliced tomato in one baggie, and a whole-wheat bun in another. Add a packet of BBQ sauce to the lunch bag, and it's good to go. Meal Muffins. Certain types of muffins work as a lunch entr. If you bake them over the weekend and keep them in the freezer, you just have to pull one or two out in the morning. By lunch, they are nicely chilled and ready to eat. Try ham and cheese muffins, Mexican Cornbread muffins, or quiche muffins (quiche filling, baked with or without crust in a muffin pan).

Oooh, but it can be LOL. Just think. Turkey soup. Freeze some meat for sandwiches and casseroles. Freeze leftover stuffing to crumble onto those casseroles too! If you have any gravy, that tastes good mixed with cooked noodles and defrosted meat, topped with stuffing, and baked until hot. Add a can of cream soup if it needs more liquid. You could also add mixed veggies, or the frozen leftovers from this feast! Cranberry sauce can be added to quick breads (pour the batter in the pan, then add cranberries and swirl with tip of a knife, or mix right in for "pink" batter), used to fill pie crust strips or phyllo dough (I would add chopped apples) and baked then frozen. Or even added to pancake mix, the leftovers would make a tasty breakfast later on. Just wrap and freeze. Or make muffin batter, fill cups part way, add a dollop of cranberry sauce, fill the rest of the way. Cranberry surprise muffins, and they freeze like a dream. Wrap individually and add to lunches, or heat for a few seconds in the microwave for a quick snack. Or send them over to me LOL!

I like Glenda's Refrigerator Bran Muffins. You mix a huge amount of batter and it keeps in the refrigerator for 6 weeks. You can bake just one or two, and have fresh muffins every day. I also like the Malt-O-Meal muffin recipe that is printed on the box of cereal. And lastly we all enjoy the Peabody Inn Vanilla Muffins recipe that I found in an article that said people drive from far and wide for these muffins. I will look up the recipe and edit it into this message. Here's a recipe I found online some time ago. I could not resist seeing what a muffin that is called a Dirt Bomb tasted like. Since I still have them in my computer, here is the recipe: Dirt Bombs Yields: 12 muffins* 3 cups all purpose flour, minus 3 tablespoons 1 tablespoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter 1 cup granulated sugar 2 large eggs 1 cup whole milk ** Topping *** 3/4 cups unsalted butter, melted 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon Preheat oven to 400º F. Place the rack in the center position. Generously grease a 12-cup standard muffin pan. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cardamon into a mixing bowl. In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Scrape the bowl down half way through. Mix in the eggs. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the milk in two additions, mixing gently by hand to incorporate all the flour. The batter will be on the stiff side, but airy. Don’t over mix or beat the batter as this will make the muffins tough. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, without smoothing the tops. Bake for about 25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. As soon as the muffins are cool enough to handle, turn them out onto a wire rack. Add the melted butter to a bowl. In another bowl, mix the sugar and cinnamon. Dip the muffins (top, sides and bottom) in the butter, using a pastry brush -if necessary- to cover areas not buttered by dipping. Immediately roll the muffins in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Serve warm or at room temperature. *I've made this twice, and both times, this recipe has yielded 16 muffins instead of 12. **I substituted whole buttermilk for whole milk because I always have it on hand and prefer it for baking. *** The amounts listed for the sugar and cinnamon are not quite enough to coat all the muffins, so I recommend you double it. _______ Malt-O-Meal Magic Muffins 1 1/4 c flour 3/4 c Malt-O-Meal 1/2 c sugar 3/4 c milk 1/4 c vegetable oil 1 egg 1 Tbsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt Heat oven to 400 degrees. In large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and stir together till all are moistened. Fill greased muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes. 1 doz. _____ Peabody Inn Vanilla Muffins 2 c flour 1 c sugar 2 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt 2 Tbsp melted butter, cooled 1 c milk 1 egg 1 1/2 tsp vanilla Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin tins well. 1) Sift flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into large bowl. 2) Add melted butter to milk and egg. Beat to mix well. Add vanilla 3) Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Pour milk mixture in all at once. Stir with fork only until moistened. Do not over mix or beat. 4) Quickly spoon batter into muffin cups filling each slightly more than half full. 5) Bake 15 minutes for mini muffin pans; 18-20 minutes for full size muffins. Remove immediately from pans and serve hot. 12 regular muffins or 30 minis. These muffins have a lovely hint of a crunchy exterior when you bite into them the first day. That crunchiness disappears if you have left overs for another day.

A lot of what I had to say was similar to the others, above. Caramelization starts at 350F, so that's minimum for toasty. A lot of cake recipes bake at 325F so they won't brown. I, personally, love the browned bits on cakes, but not so much on muffins. Quickbreads, inc. muffins, are a kind of cake. Same principles. The higher the heat, the drier the cake or muffin. If a batter is particularly soggy, where drying it out is preferable, I can see the high heat. There may also be a reaction desired where the greatest amount of steam as fast as possible is wanted. In general, the quicker the bake time the less important the exact temperature. With a 9” cake, you need the center to cook through without ruining the edges. That isn't a muffin issue, though could become one at high heat. The purpose could be for a drier outside. I don't have different bake times for the same muffins in silicone, steel or Polish stoneware, in papers—I was surprised, but it's true. YMMV. With any baking, however, ovens are wildly variable. Most aren't very accurate, and operate with a wide range around the set number. Received recipes from family, friends and tradition, may have temperature settings that conformed with the ovens used, rather than reflecting the actual oven temperature. Remember the classic instruction to wait 30-60 minutes after the pre-heat light goes out to out in your baking. That was to even out the old ovens and get the whole thing hot, rather than just the sensor. Muffins could be put in when the light for 400F goes out and be done before the oven fully reaches that temperature. But many modern ovens are faster to heat, more thorough and more accurate. That's the longer version. :) Anyway, if the muffins come out just right, don't sweat it. If they could be improved, adjust a little.