Quick, Easy, and Healthy Lunches in NYC

We are taking a little trip to New York City today.

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to go to New York City to do a live demonstration in Bryant Park on healthy school lunches. When I was asked to do the demo at the Kids Food Festival, I wasn’t‘ sure if I could make it. Why? because it was a bit last-minute for this mom of 3 kiddos who feels guilty leaving dad to fend for himself or pull all the family-stops to make my “thing” happen.

Then, that’s when a lightbulb went “on” in my head and I decided to email my friends at Sabra to see if they would be interested in helping this lunch aficionado get to the event.

Not only did I make it there, do a live demonstration on how to use Sabra hummus for delicious school lunch wraps, but I also got to see a few friends and MOMables community members.

While I don’t work for Sabra, I’ve partnered with them from time to time to create awesome recipes my community will love. It’s no secret that my entire family loves Sabra hummus. All you have to do is check out my instagram feed. I’ve toured the facility and seen how they make hummus, met with people that work there and their chefs, and have gotten to know to their PR and Marketing team. To me, Sabra isn’t a brand I purchase at the grocery; it’s a group of people that support my mission and happen to make a product my family loves. Needless to say, I was thrilled when they emailed me back telling me they would love to help me get to NYC! You see, this Kids Food Festival was a pretty BIG deal. The event partnered up with the James Beard Foundation (sorta the Oscars of the food world) to bring other awesome presenters!

The park was packed. Thousands came out in low-30-degree weather to experience the food demos, healthy food samples, try a little ice-skating, and enjoy the sunny day. I even met some little ones who LOVED my hummus, carrot, and avocado lunch wraps. Don’t worry, I didn’t forget to share the recipes with you… check them out below.

While my trip was a short 48hours, it was fantastic. In my 30 minute healthy lunch session, I met lots of MOMables fans from the city, saw parents’ surprised faces at their children eating hummus wraps and dip their veggies in my zesty Sabra  salsa dip. Most importantly, I received some great feedback on how helpful it was to visually see how to integrate more healthy ingredients into a lunchbox.

Here are a few tips:

• Wraps are awesome vessels to introducing new items in your child’s diet. Don’t be afraid to sprinkle a little “extra healthy” like shredded carrots in there.
• Wraps need something to keep them moist and help them stay together. I love using Sabra hummus as the “glue” for my wraps.
• Veggies are a lot yummier when dipped. One of my favorite dips is my zesty salsa dip. It’s high in protein and a healthy substitute to store-bought ranch dressing.
• Every lunchbox needs a treat. These raw cookie dough bites were a huge hit with samplers and on my MOMables recipe section as well.
• Compartmentalized lunch boxes make packing lunch a lot easier and eating it a big hit! For my favorite lunch packing supplies, click here. 

Oh, boy… I could go on and on and on… on how to pack awesome lunches. I just wrote a cookbook with over 200 recipes  and I have a whole website full of resources. Can you believe that I even have a newsletter where I send out free ideas each week? Including an 8 week program on how to pack awesome lunch boxes (i.e.. no more soggy sandwiches!). Sign up here.

Back to this awesome trip. I just have to say that I am so thankful to be doing what I love. I love helping parents make fresh school lunches and food their kids will love. Thanks to Sabra, I was able to go to New York and share my lunch-making mojo with hundreds of festival attendees. Life is good when you love what you do… and share that with the people around you… anywhere that might be.

I was not compensated or obligated to write this post. In full disclosure, Sabra did help make my NYC trip possible. However, I felt that it was important to show my community the personal reasons I partner with amazing brands that  support my mission.

Photography by Tiffany Casanova.