Teacher Friendly Lunches

With school quickly approaching, one things stands out to me almost as much as having to wake up to an alarm every morning: I'll have to start packing lunches again. As I'm sure many other teachers can testify, when lunch goes unplanned and unpacked the night before, we end up going to school empty handed which leaves either cafeteria food (ew!) or fast food as the viable options. Knowing this, I've already started my search for meals that can be made ahead of time, are at least semi-healthy, have a nice protein to carb ratio, and are tasty. One of my absolute favorites has been Lemon and Chicken Orzo. This dish starts with an orzo base, adding chicken, cucumbers, green olives, and sun dried tomatoes, and then gets topped with a lemon dill dressing. Is your mouth watering yet? For a recipe to a be a success in my book, it has to be easy to make in huge batches. My husband is not a light eater (he lifts, I'm not complaining), so we've been known to go through a "serves 4" recipe in one sitting. When I double this recipe, we have enough for a large dinner and two lunches a piece.

Some of my other favorite meals include Pad Thai, Lo Mein, and Peanut Soba Noodles. I know you sense a theme, and yes, I love pasta. What are your favorite lunches to pack?