Healthy ideas for back-to-school lunches and snacks

Organized for school lunches and after-school snacks? Not yet!

Fear not. We're here to help.

Meet our cooking team: Stephen, Matt and James Hummel. Stephen, 14, is a freshman at Lakeside High School. Matt, 12, and James, 8, will be returning to Intown Community School. These guys will be helping Mom and Dad, Kim and Paul Hummel, make their lunches and after-school snacks this year.

Lunch for the Hummels follows a formula: snack item, main course, fruit and dessert. The snack is often pretzels or fish-shaped crackers, and the main course is usually a sandwich. Stephen is pretty flexible and sometimes takes a bagel or maybe chicken or spaghetti leftovers. Matt sticks with a ham or turkey and cheese sandwich. James is the only one who will confess to the family fondness for fluffernutter sandwiches -- peanut butter and marshmallow creme. Hummus with carrots is a favorite and a healthful family snack.

They're all pretty handy around the kitchen. Once a week they bake bread together, and that's often the basis for their sandwiches.

We brought in Butch Raphael, regional chef for Whole Foods, to help the guys fine-tune their cooking skills. Raphael came with recipes for granola, hummus and tuna melts.

These recipes are well-tested on Raphael's own kids: Ayden, 10, Shayna, 7, and Ezra, 4. The Raphael kids don't fix their own lunches -- mom Pam takes care of that -- but they do make their own snacks. Butch Raphael admits he's been banned from lunch duty.

"I put in too many treats! Or I mix up the ketchup and mayonnaise on the same side of the bread. That's not allowed," he said with a laugh.

The Raphael kids really love fruit as an after-school snack. "We freeze berries and pieces of banana. The key to getting kids to eat fruit is to make sure it's the right size," Raphael said. "A big apple is just too much for a little kid."

The Raphaels mix fresh fruit juice and water to make frozen fruit pops and freeze half-filled bottles of water to pack with lunches. In the morning they top the bottle with water, and it's icy cold when everyone is ready to eat.

The Hummels' formula for lunch is a good one. Jennifer Seymour from the Nutrition Guideline Development and Recommendations team at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, "We know that diets rich in fruits and vegetables can help people feel full without adding unwanted calories. It's a good idea to make fruit and vegetables, whole grains and low-fat milk products the primary choice for lunch and snacks."

How did our cooks like what they made? Hummus is a family staple, so no surprise: They liked it. The granola was layered with yogurt, sliced strawberries and blueberries for a special after-school treat, pretty enough to share with company.

The tuna melts were the biggest hit. Turns out that tuna and pickles aren't staples in the Hummel household, even though everyone really likes them. "I guess I just don't go down those aisles," Kim said. The melts disappeared in a flash.

Talk about it: What's in your child's lunch?

Get these recipes: Tuna Pita Melt, Hummus, Granola snacks