Every day this week, I’m featuring a new reader back-to-school recipe. In case you’ve missed the previous recipes in this mini-series:

• Reinvented Ants on a Log
• DIY Lunchables
• Cheeseburger Mini Muffins

Today’s recipe comes from our own Lori (the fantastic gal who provides us with the Walgreens and Rite Aid deals each week). Her submission? Monkey Hotdogs – a twist on the classic peanut butter and banana sandwich.

Ingredients:

One banana
One hot dog bun
Peanut butter
Jelly

Directions:

Spread the peanut butter on the hot dog bun. Add the banana, then make a small spread of jelly across the top (to resemble jelly). Wrap carefully and chill until lunchtime.

Lori writes:

My daughter is a picky eater who has never really liked savory sandwiches, so this awesome recipe was super helpful to me when I learned that I was spending $2.25 on her school lunch that which consisted of a hotdog and two baby carrots (her choices from their offerings…AACK!) and began packing her lunch to save money and get some healthy food into her.

For the one I made (pictured above), I also used slivered strawberries on top of the jelly. I was thinking a fun variation on this would be to use Nutella (and probably then nix the jelly). Lori also suggests making a “relish” using finely chopped green grapes. I also found this version at AllRecipes which uses tortillas instead of buns.

Any other ideas for how you could vary this recipe? Have you ever made something like this for your kids before?

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This week I’m featuring Coupon Project reader recipes as part of a mini “back-to-school” series! I hope these ideas will inspire you to keep things fun when packing those lunches each day.

Today’s Cheeseburger Mini Muffin recipe comes from Robin. There are a few ways this recipe can be modified, too! (Love that!)

Ingredients:

1/2 pound ground beef ( ground turkey or chicken works well for this recipe as well )
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 1/2 Cups- All purpose flour
1 Tablespoon- sugar
2 teaspoons- baking powder
1 teaspoon- salt
3/4 Cup- Ketchup (tomato sauce can also be used as a substitute )
3/4 Cup Milk (any variety)
1/2 Cup- butter or margarine, melted
2- Eggs
1 teaspoon- prepared mustard
2 Cups- shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

In a skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, combine the ketchup, milk, butter, eggs, and mustard; stir into the dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in the beef mixture and cheese. Fill greased miniature muffin cups three-fourths full.

Bake at 425 for 15 to 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Refrigerate leftovers.

Yield: 5 dozen (Note: Muffins may be baked in regular size muffin cups for 20 to 25 minutes, recipe makes 2 dozen.)

Robin writes:

This is a recipe that I used for my daughters school lunchs, and I am pleased to say that my husband loved taking them to work with him as well. The recipe travels perfectly, we have used these for family picnics, baseball games, and just about any grab-n-go event we have to attend. Perfect little after school snack too! They are super hot out of the oven warm with a salad for a simple dinner, or just as yummy served room temp in a lunch box.

Robin also suggested in her email that you could modify these with ham and cheese (omitting the onion) if you wanted. I decided to go that route. I think these muffins would make a nice portable breakfast or lunch. I like the versatility of this simple recipe. As a final note, I used a dark nonstick muffin pan and found that mine were done much faster than 15 – 18 minutes. I’d start checking your muffins around 10 minutes just to make sure.

Thanks, Robin!  

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A few weeks ago, I asked for some of your back-to-school recipe ideas! Each day this week I’ll be featuring a different reader recipe.

Today’s recipe comes from Mandy. It is a twist on the classic ants on a log.

Ingredients:

Pita (I used sandwich slims in the photo above)
Peanut butter
1/2 celery, chopped finely
Raisins

Directions:

Spread peanut butter on pita or sandwich slim. Distribute celery and raisins evenly. Yes, that simple!

Mandy writes:

I actually bring these for my own lunch, too.  They take about 1 minute to make, which is great when I forget that we don’t have any lunch-friendly leftovers.  Plus, that celery crunch makes it easy to skip the chips.

Can I say how much I enjoyed this recipe? It was very tasty. Plus, this version is much more portable than the traditional ants on a log because it is neatly tucked inside bread!

Thanks, Mandy!

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