Aug 16
2010

Back-to-School Olive Challenge Recipe Roundup

in Bento, Recipes by Type

My girls love olives, and not just because they love popping them onto the tips of their fingers.  They think they are candy, and I’m not about to try and change their minds.  Olives are a great source of monounsaturated fat, iron, Vitamin E, copper, and dietary fiber.

Crazy About Olives!

With children returning to school, I thought it would be nice to have some new healthy recipes to use when packing school lunches.  Lindsay Olives graciously agreed to help me out with a Back-to-School Olive Challenge.  We selected a handful of bloggers with young children at home that we thought would come up with some great lunchbox recipes using olives, sent them each a box of olive goodies to play with, and challenged them to come up with a fun and healthy lunchbox recipe using the olives.  The results were phenomenal.  We were impressed with the delicious creativity that came from these bloggers and can’t wait to share their ideas with you!  A big thank you to Lindsay Olives and to all of the talented participants for their participation.  Now read on to be inspired by the great lineup of lunchbox recipes!

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Crazy Pizza BreadCrazy Pizza Bread from Erika of The Ivory Hut — Kids will automatically want to eat a slice of this delicious loaf as soon as they hear the name.  What kid is going to turn down a dish that uses the words “crazy” and “pizza” in the title?  This gorgeous loaf can be filled with all of your kids’ favorite toppings, then sliced and toasted and packed away into their lunchboxes with the added bonus of a container of marina sauce for dipping.  Crazy Pizza Bread Recipe

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Confettura di Olive - Olive SpreadConfettura di Olive (Olive Spread) from Paula of Bell’alimento — An olive spread that will take an Italian meat and cheese sandwich to new heights in flavor, or be a yummy dip for green apple slices, and put a big smile on your little one’s face.  A wonderful blend of savory and sweet, this spread uses lemon zest and green apple to give it bright summer flavor, and a bit of ginger for zing.  Confettura di Olive (Olive Spread) Recipe

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Tortellini Pasta SaladTortellini Pasta Salad from Kate of Our Best Bites — This tortellini pasta salad is the perfect way to get a picky eater to expand their palate horizons.  Cheese-filled tortellini pasta is tossed with chopped veggies and a light creamy dressing.  This pasta salad is so addictive that your child will be asking you to make it again and again.  Tortellini Pasta Salad Recipe

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Olive & Herbed Cream Cheese Sandwich CupsOlive & Herbed Cream Cheese Sandwich Cups from Dara of Cookin’ Canuck — A great way to take an ordinary sandwich and make it new and fun.  This dish will delight your kids with the toasted bread cups filled with herbed cream cheese, chopped rotisserie chicken, grated carrots, and black olives.  The only struggle will be preventing your kids from eating them before they are packed away into their lunches.  Olive & Herbed Cream Cheese Sandwich Cups Recipe

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Tortillitas de Patatas y Aceituna - Bite Sized Spanish Potato Omelets with Green OlivesTortillitas de Patatas y Aceituna (Bite Sized Spanish Potato Omelets with Green Olives) from Diana of A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa — Spoil your kids by packing these bite-sized Spanish potato omelets into their lunches. Made with potatoes, eggs, onions, and green olives, the omelets are perfectly sized for little hands, will keep until lunchtime, and taste wonderful served at room temperature.  Tortillitas de Patatas y Aceituna (Bite Sized Spanish Potato Omelets with Green Olives) Recipe

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Rice & Olive SaladRice & Olive Salad from Rachael of La Fuji Mama — This rice and olive salad only takes 5 minutes to throw together and is a great way to use up leftover rice.  The salad can be made the night before, or right before you are packing your child’s school lunch.  Add your child’s favorite ingredients, and they are sure to gobble up every last bit.  Rice & Olive Salad Recipe

{ 30 comments… read them below or add one }

Paula - bell'alimento August 16, 2010 at 10:34 am

Love all the great olive recipes! Everyone was so creative! I’m so happy to have been a part of this tasty challenge! Mwah!

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Joy August 16, 2010 at 10:53 am

Great recipes. I know I should eat more olives. Maybe in these recipes.

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Jenny Flake August 16, 2010 at 11:00 am

Cutest ever with those olive hands! Great recipes too! Have a great Monday girl!

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Michelle August 16, 2010 at 11:08 am

So cute with the olive-tipped fingers which is exactly how I used to eat olives as a child!

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Maria August 16, 2010 at 11:15 am

I love the olive hands! Great roundup!

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Kate @ Our Best Bites August 16, 2010 at 11:31 am

Thanks again, Rachael, for involving us! It was so much fun and I love all the other olive-y ideas! :)

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Mardi@eatlivetravelwrite August 16, 2010 at 12:24 pm

Love the pics! Makes me wish I had kids so I could make these cool lunchbox lunches. Wait, I guess Neil is a big kid after all!!

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Maggy@ThreeManyCooks August 16, 2010 at 12:55 pm

Love Lindsay Olives! What a great group of recipe, they all look so good.

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bunkycooks August 16, 2010 at 1:57 pm

Those photo s bring back memories of Camp Blogaway! Knockers up! ;)

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bunkycooks August 16, 2010 at 1:58 pm

Those photos bring back memories of Camp Blogaway! Very cute. Knockers up! ;)

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Phoebe August 16, 2010 at 5:12 pm

Great ideas and recipes! I would eat each and every one if it were packed in my lunchbox! :)

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Rachel ~ Southern Fairytale August 16, 2010 at 5:35 pm

LOVE love LOVE this idea and all those recipes sound delicious!

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Betty @ scrambled hen fruit August 16, 2010 at 6:11 pm

Do all kids stick olives on their fingertips? Thanks for the roundup of recipes-we love olives here.

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Fuji Nana August 16, 2010 at 6:13 pm

What is wonderful about lunchbox food is that it is usually simple and durable (i.e., it makes good leftovers). I love all these ideas! What fun! Kudos to all of you creative kitchen goddesses!

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Claudia August 16, 2010 at 6:30 pm

Love olives and my kids grew up loving them – they had no choice. Fun ideas for the delectable olive. Love the kids’ olive fingers!

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anncoo August 16, 2010 at 6:41 pm

What a cute post and thanks for the great recipes too.

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megan @ whatmegansmaking August 16, 2010 at 6:50 pm

You’re making me wish I liked olives! I’ve never liked them, and I alwas wish I did. My vegetarian cousins always ate them like candy, like your kids. I always felt like I was missing out.

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Barbara | VinoLuciStyle August 17, 2010 at 5:47 am

The salad looks great, the girls adorable and the resealable containers? Yippee!

A nice roundup of ideas…thanks Rachael.

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[email protected] August 17, 2010 at 6:31 am

I love olives and so do my children! Wonderful recipes!

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Michele August 17, 2010 at 8:01 am

I love all kinds of olives! when I was a kid I used to love to suck the pimientos out of spanish olives! The things we did to amuse ourselves! LOL

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Jen @ How To: Simplify August 17, 2010 at 12:18 pm

I love this post! My husband and I can’t get enough of olives. When I was little, I used to run around with black olives on my fingers too. I would chase after my family and I quickly adopted the nickname Olive Oil.

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marla {family fresh cooking} August 17, 2010 at 4:41 pm

This is such a fun post! We love olives over here. It is great to see all of the creativity with these awesome food bloggers. Your girls are so cute having all that fun with those olives :) xo

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Noriko August 18, 2010 at 1:19 am

Adorable pictures and great recipies! I’m craving olives now.

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Ellen (lapuremama) August 18, 2010 at 9:56 am

Great idea! And I totally agree about olives… at least the kids are loving something healthy vs. gummy bears or something :)

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Kim at Rustic Garden Bistro August 18, 2010 at 12:35 pm

What a creative bunch of olive recipes! I agree with Gwen – reminds me of Camp Blogaway!

[K]

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Cookin' Canuck August 19, 2010 at 9:02 am

Thanks so much for including me in this challenge. All of the recipes look fabulous!

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SMITH BITES August 19, 2010 at 5:38 pm

Rachel, seriously – I want to make every single one of these recipes – and I probably will since The Professor is back in school; I try to pack lunches that are tasty and interesting which every recipe looks to be. And those girls, oh. my. heck. Better lock them up until they’re 30 – the boys will be calling for sure . . . oh yeah, I think I remember seeing the oldest planting a wet one on another little cutie by the last name of Hair??

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Tree August 20, 2010 at 10:10 am

These all look AWESOME! I love any kind of olives…so good! I will seriously be trying the Crazy Pizza Bread for my kiddos. Found your blog on FB….following now! :)

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Liz - Meal Makeover Mom August 23, 2010 at 12:49 pm

I love your rice & olive salad recipe. The sweet/tart/salty combo looks delish! Wish my boys were back in school … but they have another week off before the official start day.

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