It’s back to school time and it seems like there are a zillion things to worry about! From finding the best school supplies to filling out the gargantuan pile of forms that are sent home from the school at the beginning of each year, we parents have our hands full!
One thing I don’t want to stress over is whether I’m packing a lunch for my kids that they’ll enjoy with enough wholesome options to help them stay well nourished throughout the school day. As an organic farmer, I value natural and organic ingredients. “Real foods” are not always easy to afford outside of my garden so I love that Kroger is dedicated to ensuring that we can find the healthy foods our family needs at your local grocery store by providing products from brands like Horizon Organic.
Horizon Organic offers products I’ve come to trust will deliver high quality, excellence in taste and the natural, organic ingredients I prefer. My children are particularly fond of Horizon Organic as they offer many kid-friendly staples like classic mac and cheese and chocolate milk. They love to see these items in their lunchboxes and I love that I’m gifting my children a wholesome lunch with fun flavors they’ll enjoy.
Of course, my kids love variety, too and I like to pack some extra-fun and delicious options in their lunch box each day, like my quick and easy Organic Cheddar Cheese Pasta Muffins (recipe below.) Not only are they a fun addition to the lunch routine, they are chock full of natural goodness with no artificial colors and no GMO’s. With all my other back-to-school worries, it’s refreshing not to have to stress over lunchtime!
My children love the taste of the muffins (they are super cheesy) and the round shape, which makes them easy to hold and devour! To balance out the lunch, I generally add in a fruit and/or vegetable, a Horizon Organic Milk box, and a special treat like Horizon Organic Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers and Horizon Honey Snack Grahams.
Organic Cheddar Cheese Pasta Muffins
Ingredients:
2 packages Horizon Pasta Shells & White Cheddar Cheese
4 Tablespoons Simple Truth Organic Unsalted Butter
1/2 cup Horizon Organic Whole Milk
6 ounces Simple Truth Shredded Organic White Cheddar Cheese
2 Tablespoons Simple Truth Organic Cream Cheese
2 Simple Truth Organic Large Brown Eggs, beaten
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit.
In a medium stock pot, bring 12 cups of water and 1/4 teaspoon of salt to a boil.
Open Horizon Pasta Shells & White Cheddar Cheese packages. Remove white cheddar cheese packets, set aside.
Add pasta shells from Horizon Pasta Shells & White Cheddar Cheese to boiling water. Boil for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat. Drain pasta from water, set aside.
Using the still-warm medium stock pot, add butter and cream cheese. Stir until fully melted.
Add pasta. Stir pasta gently until fully coated with cream cheese and butter mix. Add egg. Stir gently until pasta is fully coated with egg.
Add reserved packets of white cheddar cheese (from the Horizon Pasta Shells & White Cheddar Cheese packages,) and milk to pasta. Stir gently until cheese mix is fully incorporate.
Add shredded white cheddar cheese. Stir pasta gently until shredded cheese is fully incorporated.
Line muffin tin with muffin liners.
Lunch Tip: I like to use bright colors and fun patterned muffin liners to help add a little extra color and fun to lunchtime meals.
Fill muffin wells with pasta mixture. Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until the top of the muffin is lightly browned.
Remove from oven, cool on baking rack for 10 minutes. Remove muffins from muffin tin, cool on baking rack until completely cool to the touch.
Kitchen Note: While the Organic Cheddar Cheese Pasta Muffins are designed to be eaten cold like a regular muffin, if there is access to a microwave, you may warm them for 10 seconds.
Do you have special tips and tricks you use for for fresh lunchbox solutions?
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Horizon, Silk, & So Delicious. The opinions and text are all mine.
I LOVE Horizon products! I try to buy organic and all-natural as much as possible, and their products are delicious and affordable. You can’t beat that!
Back to school is happening here tomorrow! We love those milks and always have them on hand. I need to step up my lunch packing game, towards the end of last year it was peanut butter and jelly everyday for my kids. Not that they complained 🙂
That’s an interesting way to eat mac-n-cheese. Wonder how much of a mess it makes!
Back to school is such a busy time! It really is wonderful to have good organic lunchbox options on hand. Your Organic Cheddar Cheese Pasta Muffins sound really wholesome and they look very tasty too!
Such a cool twist, love the recipe! First off, I’ll start by saying I don’t deserve my kids haha. I was such a brat when I was little and I refused to eat on a daily basis, I just don’t understand how my parents coped with my tantrums. My kids eat everything I give them, veggie or fruit. They don’t follow a strict diet, I just try to teach them to eat as healthy as possible and they also get the occasional sweet treat. On a usual week they might have omelet muffins, sandwiches with turkey breast, tomatoes, and salad, the usual stuff we eat at home. I try to ask for their help when prepping the lunch boxes so they can participate and so they know exactly what they’re about to have.