It’s time to go back to school! If your kids picked up some bad eating habits over the summer, it’s ok you now have time to get them back into the healthy swing of things.
I was thrilled to talk to WJXT in Jacksonville about how to get kids eating healthy breakfasts before school and how to pack them a healthy lunch they will LOVE!
https://www.news4jax.com/video/what-to-pack-for-school
I was thrilled to pick up some great products shown in this segment at The Fresh Market in Jacksonville. Note: On Wednesday, August 16, The Fresh Market will unveil an enhanced shopping experience in the Jacksonville area communities, with an expanded selection of fresh and delicious food that furthers the brand’s long-
standing dedication to offering top-quality, unique and small-batch items.
One thing I picked up at The Fresh Market (also available at Publix) was a2 milk. In case you don’t know about a2 get to know this product. It’s milk from cows that only produce the A2 protein, and no A1. A1 cause discomfort in some peoples, but after you drink this delicious milk you will feel great. I know my kids love it!
A great option for lunch boxes is anything from Absolutely Gluten-Free I love sending my kids in with hummus or guacamole and some of the Absolutely Gluten Free crackers. Then for something sweet I’ll add some brownie crunch and the superseed crunch is great for snack time or a sweet treat!
As for bread? Rudi’s Organic Bakery Soft White and Soft Wheat Kids Bread is the only available national organic kids bread. The bread has the soft fluffy texture kids crave and comes in small, thin slices making it the perfect size for kids – and lunchboxes. You can find it by using the store locator on the Rudisbakery.com or Whole Foods
Another great idea? Skip the mayo and butter and instead use Pompeian Extra Virgin Olive Oil. We love mixing it with macaroni and parmesan in the morning and then putting that pasta in a thermos. The kids LOVE it! It’s National Olive Oil month so this is a perfect time to make this dish, although we think all year long is the perfect time for Olive Oil. We have a bottle of Pompeian next to our stove at all times.
As for the amazing lunch boxes, bento boxes and thermos you see in the segment? That is from my go to store for back-to-school food accessories Bed, Bath and Beyond. They have great looking and great quality lunch boxes. Kids LOVE the bento boxes too and it really helps you think about sending them with four different items so you can craft a great balanced lunch!
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traveling
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As for the menu there are a couple of vegetarian or vegan options. I was going to order the Homemade Falafel dinner, but they were out of falafel (sigh). I wasn’t thrilled they were out of something on their first day, BUT since it was their first day I’ll give them a break. I instead opted for a whole wheat wrap with seared portobello mushrooms in a style they call Havana “Vibe.” It came with fresh greens, corn and black bean salsa, avocado, plantain strips and salsa fresca with a cilantro lime vinaigrette. The menu also says it comes with white cheddar cheese, but there wasn’t any cheese on mine (not sure why) so I believe this was vegan. The plantain strips also seemed to be missing from my wrap. All that said this was DELICIOUS. I would definitely get it again. I can’t say I’d get it every day though because it was $16. It’s $11 for a basic wrap and then the protein adds anywhere from $5 – $7. My “protein” was the mushrooms and those were an extra $5. I had read the Allens were trying to do healthy fast food at affordable prices so the $16 price tag on a wrap is rather stunning. It’s even more expensive than the super hot “
Breakfast is also on the menu with smoothies, juices and a couple gluten-free options including blueberry pancakes and muffins (I had the banana one, which is also vegan). I was happy to see an Acai bowl on the menu, but again the $12 price tag is steep. My husband just had one at Acai nation in Los Angeles and it was $9.95. Breakfast options at fast-food spots should definitely not be above $10. Also there is an Egg Ohm-Wich option (love the Ohm part, very clever). You can also order these as an Ohm-let. There are four “vibes” to choose from here and I found it strange that three out of the four include regular old bacon. Not even a turkey bacon for those who avoid pork, but really what I would have liked to see is vegetarian bacon.
10:15am. We were shocked when we got there to see about 500 people (at least) in line to get in. This was an event with kids, so imagine hundreds of kids waiting in a line that long. We asked what was going on and were told that the festival people only had two ticket scanners so buckle in for a long wait. It took about 30 minutes before we got in and then it was a scramble to make it to the venue where Restaurant Impossible’s Robert Irvine was speaking. We snagged one of the last seats and luckily Irvine kept his 45 minute presentation rather entertaining. The other big shocker here though was that even though this was a “food festival,” the food consisted of a McDonald’s booth, a Barilla pasta tent, Kind Bars and a few other offerings. Definitely NOT food festival material, but we let it slide because this was geared toward kids.
long again. Luckily I did have a pass that allowed us to skip the line. Inside the event lines were also already forming (see a pattern here), lots and lots of lines. Since this was Asian I figured there would be a decent offering of vegetarian food, but I was wrong. There were maybe 3 or 4 little bites that I could eat. As for the all the other people there? I couldn’t help but think they paid $150 (some less thanks to Groupon) to stand in line and wait for a one or two bites of something? So that is $300 a couple. The event was sold out so obviously there are lots of people who think this is a great idea, but for $300 they could have feasted at the best restaurants South Beach has to offer. Guess what we actually did leave the event after a short time and went to eat at a restaurant. We were still very hungry!
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s, according to Joni Juice’s Cindy Kasindorf
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NY1 interviews Dr. Chattoo about his thoughts on meat
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