National Healthy Lunch Day

Did you know that today is National Healthy Lunch Day? I’ve teamed up with the American Diabetes Association to help spread awareness about the importance of taking the time to prepare a healthy lunch. The number of people with diabetes has been increasing for years now, and we want to take action to stop it. During the holidays, it can be easy to give up on your health goals amid all the indulgent temptations at home and work. But with a little bit of planning, you can at least bank of having a healthy lunch at work. One of my favorite things to pack for lunch is a big, filling salad like this mozzarella, tomato, and chickpea salad. Pack your salad in a jar for a beautiful and fun way to take your lunch to work.

Looking to get started on making healthy lunches? Here are some of my favorite options!

• Make a salad a meal! Put together a filling salad like the mozzarella, tomato, and chickpea salad listed below. The secret to making a salad satisfy is to incorporate some healthy fat and protein!
• Soup and Sandwich: Pack a 1/2 sandwich on whole grain bread with a thermos of soup.
• Grown-up Lunch-able: Cut up an assortment of veggies and pack them with some sliced cheese, hummus, and whole grain crackers for a fun finger-food lunch.
• Loaded Baked Potato: Microwave a sweet potato until soft and top with blaFck beans, cheese, chopped tomatoes and cilantro, and salsa. Pack a piece of fruit for dessert.
• Grain Salad: Create a grain based salad like this quinoa one. Pack with some fruit and yogurt to complete the meal.
• Create a Macro Bowl: Roast up some veggies on the weekend and prep a batch of quinoa so that you can easily recreate a macro bowl for a healthy, filling lunch that is loaded with nutrients.
• Leftovers: I love it when I have healthy leftovers from dinner the night before! I simply pack the leftovers in my travel friendly lunch containers so I can just grab it on my way out the door to work. These eggplant lasagna rolls are some of my favorite leftovers!

For more healthy lunch ideas and tips, head over to the American Diabetes Association and download their National Healthy Lunch Day toolkit.

Mozzarella, Tomato, and Chickpea Salad

Created by: Deborah Davis

Course Salad

Cuisine Vegetarian

Prep Time 5 minutes

Total Time 5 minutes

4

This simple salad is just 7 ingredients and comes together in a matter of minutes for a healthy lunch you can take with you on-the-go.

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Ingredients

  

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• 2.5 ounces fresh mozzarella balls drained and quartered
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes
• 1 cup no-salt-added canned chickpeas
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
• Freshly ground pepper to taste
• 12 ounces fresh baby spinach
• Optional: 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Instructions

• Combine mozzarella balls, tomatoes and chickpeas in a medium bowl. Add olive oil, salt, and pepper. (I added 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar here as well.)
• Wash spinach (if not pre-washed), and divide equally among 4 bowls. Top each bed of spinach with 1/2 cup mozzarella-tomato-chickpea mixture. Serve at room temperature.

Notes

Recipe from the Mediterranean Diabetes Cookbook by Amy Riolo.

Nutrition

Serving: 1/4 recipe | Calories: 155kcal | Carbohydrates: 16g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 2.3g | Cholesterol: 5mg | Sodium: 156mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 5g

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The American Diabetes Association provided me with the ingredients to assemble the recipe above for a healthy lunch as compensation for my participation in National Healthy Lunch Day.