Disclosure: This is a partnership with Meredith Parents Network and Smucker’s®
As you can imagine in our house, we make a ton of breakfast dishes, lunches and dinner spreads. It’s just how it is when you have 5 kids.
My kids have never been the easiest when it comes to their palates. I always joke with them that they were easier to feed when they were babies and had no idea what I was feeding them! Nowadays it’s a bit more complicated. As their mom whose making all of their breakfast, lunch and dinner meals (along with my husband!), I have come to embrace and LOVE the food items that they ALL genuinely love and will never, ever be upset to see. These types of food items have become my “greatest food hits” in the McClelland household. For me, there’s nothing more gratifying than making a delicious breakfast or packing a really great lunch or snack for my kids that they will eat with a smile! The secret for me as a busy mom is really honing in and sticking with those perfect on-the-go food options that my kids love, I love and that travel well. PB&J is one of those perfect on-the-go food items that works for everyone in our family. The fun part for me is making PB&J work for our family during breakfast, lunch and snack time through creative ways!
Smucker’s® Strawberry Jam helps me create some fun and delicious options for every McClelland (including mom and dad!) in our house.
Oh, yes… Smucker’s Strawberry Jam is a hit for all of my kids! They absolutely love it! It really does have just the right balance of fruit and sweetness, which is yum-yum-yummy! Smucker’s uses ripe red berries, and lets the natural flavors intensify in the making. I also love that it spreads easily, spoons easily, and (ahhh!!) disappears from the jar all too easily. What can I say, it’s a breakfast win, a lunch win and a snack win for us!
I probably make over 300 PB&J sandwiches throughout a school year, no joke. But that’s not all I use my Smucker’s Strawberry Jam for in the McClelland house!
My sons LOVE it when I make “PB&J Pancake Sandwiches!” Talk about the perfect on-the-go treat that they can even travel to the bus stop with on busy mornings! As you can imagine, with 5 kids, it can be crazy in the morning – I need quick, I need easy, I need on-the-go! I started making these a few years ago when I realized that my sons weren’t eating all of the pancakes I was making. I decided to mix it up one morning by taking Smucker’s® Strawberry Jam and Peanut Butter and creating a sandwich with the pancakes. Viola! A PB&J Pancake! Talk about fun with food! My sons thought it was super cool and they devoured them! I’ve been making these ever since! It’s also a FABULOUS after-school snack, too! It’s quick and easy, and I know my kids are getting a solid snack before they head off to after-school activities! My daughter Victoria will also just have me spread Smucker’s Strawberry Jam right on a piece of toast or plain bagel, too. This is probably the easiest morning treat of all! To make it a little but “more fun,” I’ll cut up banana slices and line the crust when them! It makes her laugh when she sees it!
At lunch, (yes) it’s pretty basic for us, but my sons enjoy PB&J sandwiches. As a matter of fact, I honestly don’t think my oldest son William has taken any other sandwich to school this year! I just spread Smucker’s Strawberry Jam and Peanut Butter on 2 slices of bread and viola! It’s super easy and a PB&J sandwich holds up very well for school lunchtime, which is key for my kids. My oldest son takes his PB&J sandwich to school as is, which is how I like it, too! But! If you want to make it a little more fun, you can cut the sandwich into different shapes! I have a large circle cookie cutter that I will use for my son Henry and I pretend the “circle” is different throughout the week. I’ll call it their “planet” sandwich or their “basketball” sandwich. I just like to make it fun for them. It’s just the truth, the best PB&J sandwich starts with Smucker’s.
Snack time, perhaps my favorite meal-time of all because really anything goes! When it comes to Smucker’s Strawberry Jam, there are a couple of ways we have some snack time fun with it! First off, the boys love it when I buy a pound cake or make corn muffins and spread it right on top! It’s a sweet addition for them and (I have to admit) it’s delicious!! The corn muffin add-on was my son Alex’s idea this past summer and it’s phenomenal!! Another way we snack roll in our house is by making yogurt parfaits! I’ll add a layer of vanilla yogurt into a bowl and then spread some Smucker’s Strawberry Jam as a layer on top, and then another vanilla yogurt layer! It actually looks pretty cool, too – but it’s a really delicious and easy snack for them! Since we’re big swimmers, these are easy snacks to pop in containers and take on-the-go to swim meets. It’s a great snack option and it’s for them to keep with them right on the pool deck.
As you can see, Smucker’s Strawberry Jam is always a trusted pantry hero for us! We have always used the Smucker’s® brand (we love grape, too!) and love how we can be really creative and versatile with the product! It makes it great to always have on hand for us! As most parents would agree, the classic PB&J is and always will be a perfect on-the-go snack, but I love that I can mix it up!
It’s just a great item for us and I appreciate that it’s something every McClelland child (and adult) will eat! Moms like me are happy to provide PB&J as something homemade at breakfast, lunch and even snack time. For me, personally… I feel like I’ve been passed the PB&J baton. It was that one sandwich I loved as a child, too. PB&J is just iconic. Even with our busy lifestyle, PB&J works beautifully because it really is that easy, on-the-go item that everyone loves!
Happy #PBJPerfection everyone!
