Season Types: Summer

1. Start with a Balanced Base: To pack the perfect bento box lunch, always start with a balanced base. Use a combination of grains or carbohydrates like rice or quinoa, to provide energy throughout the day. Add a healthy dose of vegetables, like steamed broccoli or colorful bell peppers to ensure your kids are getting their daily nutrients.

2. Pump up the Protein: The star of your bento box will be a great source of protein to keep your kids’ full until snack time. With at least 16g of protein per serving, Just Bare Lightly Breaded Chicken Bites, Strips and Fillets are the perfect protein-packed addition that’s both tasty and nutritious. Plus, they’re made with all-natural ingredients, making them a wholesome choice for busy moms.

3. Keep It Colorful: A visually appealing lunch encourages kids to eat healthily. Use a mix of colorful fruits and veggies like cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks, or sliced strawberries. Adding these pops of color will make your bento box more enticing and enjoyable!

4. Include a Fun Dip or Sauce: Kids love dipping their food and adding their favorite flavors to mealtime. Try to include a small container to pair fruits, veggies, and Just Bare Lightly Breaded Chicken with their favorite sauce or dip. As an added bonus – make your dips homemade to keep things extra fresh!

5. Don’t Forget the Snacks: A well-rounded bento box should include a small snack to help curb afternoon cravings. Try adding a handful of trail mix, a few pretzels, or a small granola bar for a little extra treat.

6. Get Creative with Shapes and Sizes: Turn lunchtime into a fun and interactive experience by using cookie cutters or small molds to create fun shapes with your ingredients. This creative touch will make your child’s lunchtime exciting and memorable.
7. Prepare the Night Before: Start your morning off right by prepping your fresh ingredients, dips and sauces the night before. Just prepare your Just Bare Chicken while you’re sipping your morning coffee with a quick run of the air fryer. Voilà – the kids are off to school!

A well-rounded, colorful, and fun bento box lunch featuring Just Bare Chicken is a surefire way to encourage healthy eating habits and keep your kids satisfied throughout the day. With these tips in mind, you’ll be on your way to creating the perfect bento box lunch for your child. Top it all off with a love note to your sweet sidekick and they are sure to thrive through the school day!

How did November get here so quickly?

Conventional thinking suggests that a year has four seasons – spring, fall, summer and winter. The reality is a bit different. There’s actually a fifth season, the holiday season. It’s a force of nature too and calls for certain navigational strategies to make the most of this very special time of the year.

The holidays are, indeed, special. They’re full of festivities, celebrations and traditions. But mostly, they’re full of people — family, friends, coworkers, the neighbor next door and as hard as it might seem sometimes, you. Yes, you.

Dash away, dash away, dash away all!

As the calendar starts filling up with annual get-togethers and holiday parties, why not schedule something for yourself? In particular, something active you could do and invite family and friends to do too. Who’s up for a 5K walk over Thanksgiving? Or a 10K run to ring in the New Year? Getting ready could be just the ticket to keep the body moving throughout the holidays, and it could also help set the stage for a healthy 2023. Traveling during the holidays? Check online to find out what’s happening at your destination. And there are always regular walks in the neighborhood, touch football to burn off the most recent feast and longer hikes in nearby parks. For a lot of people, good cheer depends on staying active.

Something new for something old.

Another way to navigate the holidays is to get creative with healthy alternatives when you’re cooking. It’s true that some substitutions in certain recipes might be non-negotiable. Expectations are high for those family favorites handed down from one generation to the next. Then again, it might be the perfect time for an update so even more people love it. Coconut milk in place of heavy cream? Almond flour instead of white flour? The options are nearly endless.

Always welcome wherever you go.

There’s a bonus for making a dish with universal appeal. You like it too, and no matter what else makes its way to the bring-a-dish-to-share spread, you’re guaranteed at least one healthy choice and the start of the most nourishing meal possible.

For a great tasting finger food that’s welcome at any party, try Jerk Chicken Skewers. If the #1 strategy for enjoying the holidays is to keep things simple whenever you can, this dish excels in every way. It preps in 15 minutes and cooks in 12. Sweet and spicy, these mini skewers are the right bite at any gathering.

Exuberant fans + asphalt neighborhoods.

The idea of celebrating outdoors in the brisk autumn air is a time-honored tradition harkening back to harvest festivals. College football parties most likely started on Ivy League campuses more than a century ago. Over time, ardent tailgating has become a mainstay activity at collegiate, professional or high school events. It’s one last hurrah before winter social hibernation sets in. Football (since the season is short and the number of home games limited) and auto racing are particular favorites for pre-game partying.

Envisioning a parking lot as the perfect setting for a gathering takes some imagination, but it’s easy once a sea of happy revelers get together to create a temporary neighborhood, socializing with friends and meeting new comrades. In fact, some dedicated tailgaters care more about the pre-game fun and never attend the game inside the stadium.

A great tailgating party doesn’t just happen.

Making a plan is key. Decide, for instance, if you want to invite your guests to bring a dish to share or if you’d rather do everything and maybe slow cook a big pot of shredded salsa verde chicken ahead of time for a creative build-your-own taco bar (using a camp stove to reheat). Or you could get all smoky and grill pre-seasoned chicken cutlets for hearty Greek-style sandwiches. Chicken Brochettes with Chimichurri Salsa or Coffee-Rubbed Drumsticks served with a creamy fresh fennel coleslaw are good do-aheads, ready to sizzle on a hot grill grate. 

It’s all more fun and much less fussy if your menu is based on items you can make ahead of time that are easy to tote. Pack coolers with chilled food just before leaving home, with meat on the bottom in direct contact with ice packs. Wrap breakable bowls filled with slaw or potato salad or pickle-filled jars in tea towels to settle into the cooler, with condiments and veggies packed last.

Let the grilling games begin.

Some sources estimate that 92 percent of tailgate pro’s make at least part of their food on the grill, but in the last 10 years as the quest for better food has become mainstream, menus are now more creative. A hallmark of modern tailgating is a culinary competition that drives the event. Fan-generated entertainment is an integral part of the excitement.

If a char-grilled dish is at the heart of your menu, a small kettle or hibachi grill is tailor-made for tailgating. Set the grill up at least two feet or more from your vehicle. A chimney starter with newspaper or compressed fire starter cubes help get the coals going quickly. And try not to over-build the fire, using just enough charcoal to cook your food so it’s faster to extinguish the coals.  

Food safety scores big.

To stave off hunger, set out snacks (like veggies, chips and layered dips) for grazing first. But wait to unpack chilled foods until the grill is fired up. Or if a family-style potluck is on the menu, wait until tables and chairs are set up and ready for the community spread. The buffet should be packed up again no later than two hours after the party begins.

As soon as food is off the grill, start cooling things down. Carefully remove the grill grate, close any air vents, then stir the charcoal with tongs or a stick. After a few minutes gently spray the coals with water (from that spritz bottle you should keep on hand to prevent flare ups), and cover the grill if there’s a lid. Transport the cooled grill with the coal ashes and safely dispose at home.

Ambiance + Spirit – Tips from the Pros.

Tailgating traditions embrace the best of sports enthusiasm. Bonding over common passions and good times had by all prevail despite friendly rivalries.

Every coach in every pre-game interview says that winning comes down to the fundamentals, and it’s true for tailgating too. Here, blocking and tackling means making sure you have all the essentials at the ready when the big day arrives, and a detailed checklist makes this prep-work fast and easy.

Is there anything this sandwich can’t do?

Grilled cheese is a charmer. It wins friends pretty much at hello, and for many people the introduction starts early. Often, the relationship goes so far back to childhood that it’s nearly impossible to say when you first took a bite of a sandwich that remains a true and trusted friend all the way into adulthood.

What’s more, the plain grilled cheese of youth has gone through its own transformations over the years, and the grown-up versions popular now make this timeless classic even more mouthwatering. Today’s treat: Cowboy Barbeque Chicken Grilled Cheese.

This changes everything.

The essential goodness of a grilled cheese sandwich is the crisp, browned exterior and the ooey-gooey, melted interior. But every variable can change — the cheese or cheeses, the bread, the butter — which in turns changes the character of the sandwich.

What if you added the lean and clean protein of Just Bare chicken along with the bold flavors of barbeque sauce and red onions? Even better, why not save time by using Just Bare Rotisserie chicken from the deli? For consistent texture, it’s a good idea to chop or shred the chicken into small pieces. In minutes, you’ll be ready to start grilling — this time in the oven.

Pressing the issue.

There are a variety of techniques for getting a perfectly crisp, browned exterior and melted cheese on the inside. If you’re making just one or two, you can press the sandwiches between two heavy skillets. To weight down the top skillet, use a big can or two from the pantry.

For a larger quantity of sandwiches, consider using two large rimmed baking sheets, also known as half-sheet pans. A good strategy for making sure the baking sheets are the right temperature is to put the pans in the oven while you’re preheating it to 400° F. That way, when the oven comes up to temperature, you know the baking sheets are 400° F too. Be careful, of course, handling the hot pans and adding something heavy to weight down the top pan. A heavy pizza stove or cast iron skillet would be ideal to press down the top pan.

Order up! Grilled cheese glory.

One last comment on the essential ingredient in a great grilled cheese sandwich. That’s the cheese, of course, and there is seemingly an infinite selection to choose from. There’s a scientific explanation for why some varieties melt better than others, but a good rule of thumb is milder, softer cheeses melt better than harder, sharper cheeses that have been aged longer. This recipe suggests shredded Provolone, Havarti or Gouda cheese. Other options could be Swiss, Colby or Muenster.

Got that oven preheated yet? For lunch, supper or a late night snack, Cowboy Barbeque Chicken Grilled Cheese is a new grilled cheese classic that satisfies like never before.