Every August, parents are bombarded with articles, tips and suggestions for healthy kid lunches. Each new school year begins in earnest with balanced, beautiful lunches. We pat ourselves on the back for doing our part to help little minds and bodies grow. But somewhere around November (December if you’re lucky), the rut sets in. Whether your children are planning their lunches or it’s a parent-led decision in your home, January is the perfect time to infuse your lunchbox routine with some new options and a renewed commitment to healthful meals.

This month we'll be posting some food suggestions to refresh your breakfast and lunch routines and will include some downloadable images (below) to add to your LaLa Lunchbox Food Library. Click here to see how to easily add images to your Food Library. Keep checking this page for new food additions throughout the month and click through for the easy, kid-friendly recipes. (click the images to access the recipes)

Happy New Year to you and yours!

Resolution Food #1: Ricotta Cheese

Resolution Food #2: Quinoa

Resolution Food #3: Eggs

Resolution Food #4: Dried Mango

Ricotta is one of those things I only think to buy if I’m making lasagna. My kids don’t currently like lasagna, so it’s been a while since we’ve had ricotta chez moi but with the onset of cold weather, I thought it might be a great opportunity to reintroduce the warm comfort of gooey lasagna to my kiddos. Here’s the not so great news: my 7 year old gave lasagne a sideways thumb (aka, it's so-so) and my 3 year old gave it a thumbs down. Apparently, tomato sauce is only okay on pizza. Hmmph. Here’s the great news: we were able to use one container of ricotta for breakfast, lunch AND dinner - nothing wasted! (recipes below)

My kids gobbled up Ricotta Apple Pancakes for breakfast. They had a hint of sweetness, thanks to vanilla extract and were packed with flavor. These pancakes are based on the quick pancake recipe from Mark Bittman that appeared in the New York Times Magazine recently and are super fast to assemble (in other words, you can do this on a hectic school morning because it's not so involved).

I used the remaining ricotta cheese to make Ricotta Carrot Roll Ups for lunch. I still had lasagna noodles, which is what I used as a wrapper here, but this can be made with any kind of wrap or tortilla. This was a fun project for my kids to get their hands dirty with - my son loved rolling his own lunch!

Check out other New Years Resolution foods right here.

Ricotta Apple Pancakes

Ingredients
2 eggs
4 tablespoons of flour
4 teaspoons of water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 small apple, peeled and diced

Method
Whisk together the eggs, flour and water until there are no lumps. Add vanilla extract, cinnamon, ricotta and apple and combine. Fry these little pancakes in a pan until golden brown on each side - takes about 2 minutes per side.

Ricotta Carrot Roll Ups

Ingredients
4 lasagna sheets, boiled OR 4 small tortillas OR wraps
1/2 cup of ricotta cheese
16 baby carrots
Pinch of salt
Pinch of garlic powder (optional)

Method
Set out your wrapper of choice on a cutting board. Spread out the ricotta cheese evenly along the edge. Cut the baby carrots in half and place them evenly along the ricotta cheese. Roll up and cut into bite sized pieces. Enjoy!