Good Ideas For A Healthy School Lunch

To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

It's back to school and along with books and supplies, many students also tote their lunch. NY1's Shazia Khan filed the following report on tips on making it a healthy one.

It should come as no surprise that a nutritious meal can make a difference in how a student performs in class.

"A healthy, well-balanced diet really enables chemical messengers in our brain to optimize efficiently, so this will result in improved concentration and memory for our kids," says registered dietitian Ariele Gordan.

One should not stray too far from the basics when preparing a school lunch.

"There's really four things that parents should be thinking about when they are packing their kid's lunch. Protein, which would give your kids satiety, there's whole grains, which will give your kids sustained energy for the day and of course there's fruits and vegetables for fiber, antioxidants and vitamins," says Gordan.

Variety is key, so NY1 stopped by Chelsea's Table, where Chef David Seigal serves up healthy yet delicious ideas for school lunches.

"You don't have to have the standard peanut butter and jelly. I ate that as a kid every day for like 10 years and I got kind of bored of it. You can do great stuff," says Seigal.

Ideas include homemade humus, home-baked chicken nuggets and a chickpea and beet salad.

"You can roast beets you can boiled them you can buy precooked beets and that just cuts down on your preparation time its really simple and really healthy obviously very high in iron and just great for kids," says Seigal. "You can have red beets if kids are afraid of the color, you can get golden beets, you can even get candy-striped beets."

And don't forget the snacks.

"Snacks not only keep that fuel tank going but they also help prevent hunger for dinner, which you always want to prevent," says Gordan. "So when you pack a nice snack, you're really encouraging your child to eat that fruit or veggie and of course you want to have different colors and variety."

As for dairy, keep it lowfat. Water is best, but if kids want other options, stick with 100-percent fruit juice -- 4 ounces for the 6 and younger set and 6 ounces for the older kids.

Healthy Lunches From Chef Seigal

Homemade Organic Hummus, Pita and Organic Carrots
2 cans organic canned chickpeas
1/4 cup tahini
fresh lemon juice (1 lemon)
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 each pita bread (or whole wheat)
organic baby carrots
Many people don’t realize how easy it is to make your own hummus - you can flavor it with anything you like such as garlic, red pepper, etc. Using a food processor, blend 2 cans of rinsed and drained organic chickpeas, and fold in 1/4 cup tahini, juice from one lemon, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Puree until smooth, or whatever texture you like your hummus. Enjoy with toasted or grilled pita bread, and organic baby carrots, or carrot sticks. Celery and sliced red peppers are also great with this too.

Grilled Vegetable Sandwich: (serves 4)
2 each green zucchini
2 each yellow squash
2 roasted red peppers
1/2 cup goat cheese
1 sprig each fresh parsley, rosemary, thyme (chopped) Some kids think vegetables are plain, but throw them on the grill and you have great BBQ flavor. If you don’t have a grill, you can easily cook these in a pan with a little olive oil. We use local summer squash, zucchini, eggplant and fire roasted red peppers. If you don’t have fresh red peppers, you can also use canned one’s. Make your own herbed goat cheese spread using creamy goat cheese and chopped fresh herbs of your choice (parsley, thyme and rosemary work well). We always use our organic homemade flatbread, but you can find organic bread, whole wheat pita, or 7-grain bread.

Pasta w/Bolognaise sauce (serves 8)
2lbs grass-fed ground beef
2 onions diced small
4 cloves garlic, chopped (optional)
3 large cans of diced tomato
3 sprigs fresh oregano (or 1 tbsp dried oregano)
2 lbs your favorite pasta (we use macaroni at the restaurant)
1/4 cup olive oil
Sear the ground beef in a large pot with olive oil, and stir with spoon until all beef is cooked. Remove beef and reserve. Add onions and garlic to the pot (add a little more oil if need be), and stir occasionally until the onions are translucent (about 5 min). Add the beef back to the pot, along with the onions, canned tomato, and oregano, and simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally for 25 min until most of the tomato juice has cooked off. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook pasta in salted boiling water until tender (about 10 min). Drain pasta and combine pasta and sauce.

Chicken Nuggets (serves 6)
2lbs all-natural chicken breast (sliced into strips)
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 organic eggs (beaten)
3 cups breadcrumbs
½ cup finely diced spinach (optional)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Slice the chicken breast into 1 1/2" strips, and toss in flour, then dredge in beaten eggs, removing excess eggs, and coat well in breadcrumbs. If you want to add in some vegetables here, you can add in a ½ cup of finely diced up spinach into the breadcrumb mixture. Bake in 400F oven for 8-10 minutes until golden brown. These can be made in advance and frozen. Just make sure these are wrapped tightly.

Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce
3 parts mild dijon mustard to 1 part honey - mix well with spatula or whisk

Chickpea and Beet Salad (serves 4)
2 cans organic chickpeas, liquid drained
1 large cucumber diced
1/2 cups roasted red peppers, diced
1 handful of arugula leaves (or baby spinach) washed and set aside
1 cup golden beets, diced
1 cup red beet, diced (can use canned beets if needed)
1/2 cup feta cheese
1 oz lemon juice
3 oz olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
Combine all ingredients together and toss in a large bowl. Add in lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper. Gently mix well and serve.

Turkey Sandwich
We make our own organic flatbread, but you can use whole wheat bread, pita or any bread you wish
1 oz honey mustard sauce (see recipe above)
3 oz roasted turkey breast (we use Applegate all-natural, hormone and antibiotic free)
1 oz alfalfa sprouts
1 oz sliced tomato (you can also sub with cucumber slices)
1 slice swiss cheese (again, we use Applegate here) Whole wheat bread or pita bread

We make our own organic flatbread at the restaurant but using whole wheat bread or pita bread is fine. Layer the alfalfa sprouts, tomato, turkey breast and swiss cheese. Take another slice of bread, spread some of the honey mustard sauce and lay this on top.

Chef Seigal says parents can keep things fresh for lunches. The best thing to do is to tightly wrap items in either plastic wrap, or store in airtight Tupperware or reusable ziplock containers.