After seven days of being back at work and the kids back at school, I am feeling worn down already. To my defense, I was hit with a nasty cold/flu bug last week and it was so bad, I had to take a day off of work. This left me trying to recuperate over the weekend and then back at work on Monday with a sore throat and a stuffy head. Seriously uncool. It served as a reminder that back-to-school season is one of the most important times to instill a sense of routine and healthy eating habits among our children. This week, I have set out on a goal to prepare nutritious lunches the night before, and with Butterball's Turkey Chicken Trio, making sandwiches for the family just got a lot easier.

When it comes to my two kids, I have found that, now more than ever, their individual tastes differ one from the other. My son is quite particular with his food and prefers carbs and sweet foods while my daughter will pretty much eat anything under the sun. If I ask them to choose a deli meat for sandwiches, my daughter more often than not will choose the turkey while my son would rather have ham. For this reason, I like that Butterball offers both turkey and ham-style turkey along with chicken breast all in one neat zip-lock package. 

This week, I made sandwiches using the Butterball deli meats and kept them simple, just like the kids ordered. I added a little bit of canola mayonnaise, two slices of meat and a few small slices of cheese all sandwiched between a One Bun. It makes for the perfect size sandwich which is just right for little hands. Two slices of meat contain about 20 calories. Half a tablespoon of canola mayonnaise contains about 50 calories. The One Bun is 100 calories and the cheese has about (yikes!) 100 calories as well. So that's about 270 calories. In my sandwich, I like a slice of tomato and maybe some lettuce but I don't like to add them if I am making it the night before since the tomato will make it all soggy. For a little crispiness, I like to grill the sandwich for a bit. It's good to mix it up every once and a while. When I need some fresh ideas, it's great to know that Butterball.ca has a bunch of recipes for every meal of the day, including this Artichoke Turkey Pizza recipe. Doesn't it look good?

Do you have creative ideas on how to mix it up when it comes to your kid's lunch using Butterball products? Submit your recipe on Butterball's Facebook page and you’ll be entered to win $500 in gift certificates that you can use towards purchasing Butterball products. You also have the chance to win some of their weekly prizes, by simply registering and rating some of your favourite Mix it Up with Butterball recipes! But you may not want to wait too long. The contest will end on September 16, 2012.