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  • Hi, my name is Leith Brooks, nutrition expert at Pottery Barn Kids,

  • and today, I'm going to talk about healthy lunches for your children.

  • The benefits of a healthy lunch include more energy and more focus to get your kids through a long school day.

  • We're going to choose seasonal whole fruits and vegetables, and whole grains to stabilize your children's blood sugar,

  • and a nutritional lunch gives your kids a chance for a happy and great day.

  • One of my favorite healthy lunch options is a roasted chicken sandwich.

  • It includes roasted chicken, which is a great growing protein for your child,

  • and it's something, also, that you can make ahead of time, which is very helpful.

  • I'm going to also add some sliced cucumbers, but feel free to add any other seasonal vegetable that your child particularly likes.

  • We're also going to add some lettuce, and to make it, we'll add a little bit of cheese,

  • which is a great, healthy substitute for mayonnaise.

  • And for a fun, different take on a sandwich, kids will really love

  • a star for their lunch box, and you've got a fun, healthy star sandwich

  • to give your kids a nutritious lunch.

  • Equally as nutritious and a different alternative, is a whole wheat wrap,

  • and with a whole wheat wrap, it's a great way to use, again, leftovers,

  • umm, beans that you've made or used the night before, you can use white beans, pinto beans, black beans,

  • and we'll put white beans, a great vegetable protein source for your growing child.

  • And added with brown rice, it makes a great protein source for kids.

  • And then we're going to add some vegetables. And a fun way to think about vegetables for you and your child

  • is to think about the color of the rainbow.

  • How many colors of the rainbow can you add to your child's lunch?

  • We're going to use cherry tomatoes,

  • which is really fun to talk about the rainbow colors.

  • And to add a little bit of green, we are going to shred a piece of lettuce,

  • and again, just remember that any way you can personalize this for what your child likes is great.

  • And you can sprinkle the lettuce on top.

  • And then what we'll do is fold up the sides, and roll and wrap,

  • the sandwich, and you have a whole grain wrap.

  • It's a great way to get vegetables and nutrition into your child's lunch.

  • So in addition to the sandwiches, I also like to use soup

  • to get more nutrition into my child's lunch. And with soup you can be very creative.

  • I used, in this soup, two different types of beans - white beans and chick peas,

  • and carrots and onions, a little bit of garlic, some tomato,

  • and I finish it off with some Swiss chard and some whole wheat pasta,

  • which again, is also a little bit of a sneaky way to get more nutrition into my child's lunch.

  • So you can see that it is full of vegetables, full of color, and full of flavor.

  • I made this soup last night for dinner, which makes it so easy.

  • All I have to do is reheat it in the morning, and grab the Pottery Barn Kids thermos,

  • and you have a fantastic, nutritional lunch for your kids, just within minutes.

  • We all know that kids love sweets. So as a healthy alternative

  • to cookies and candy and a lot of processed sugar, I reach for seasonal fruit.

  • And today, we're going to cut up some apple slices,

  • and then I'm going to make a very simple sweetened yogurt dip.

  • And the yogurt dip includes plain yogurt, with a little bit of maple syrup and cinnamon.

  • And it's a fun, nutritious, and sweet treat for your kids.

  • Another great way to get the sweetness from seasonal fruit is in water.

  • So using the Pottery Barn Kids canteen, I fill it up with water, and add slices of orange,

  • or lemon, whatever your child prefers.

  • Today we're going to use apples. And we're going to slice them,

  • into easily dipped slices.

  • And in the yogurt dip, I'm just using plain, whole milk yogurt,

  • so that has no added sugar. And what we're gong to do to sweeten the yogurt

  • is use some pure maple syrup, which is a natural sweetener, kids love it,

  • and it doesn't have all the additives and preservatives of other processed sweeteners.

  • Then we're going to add a pinch of just a little dash of cinnamon,

  • and what you have is a sweet treat for your child, at the end of their meal,

  • but also a nutritious one. Healthy lunches do not need to be complicated.

  • Pottery Barn Kids has all that you need. They have lots of different containers, different sizes, compartments,

  • kids just love it. If you follow these simple steps that we talked about today,

  • you will make a big difference in your child's lunch, so enjoy!

Hi, my name is Leith Brooks, nutrition expert at Pottery Barn Kids,

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