PlanetBox!

How cool is this?? I just found out about PlanetBox, a stainless steel lunch box for kids, and I'm so excited I just had to break my bloggy silence and post something about it! Finally, it looks like someone's getting it just right!

If I had to design a lunch box, this is what I would create -- it's got the bento-style compartments I love so much in the Laptop Lunch System, but in food-safe, eco-friendly stainless steel, and without so many separate containers to keep track of. One section is the perfect size for a sandwich or bagel, it's got lidded containers for messier items, and the portion sizes look perfect for kids and maybe even some adults (not me, though -- I gotta stick with To Go Ware for my big, big salads!)

If you visit their website, watch the video and note the spiffy magnets for decorating, and how the carrying case includes outside compartments for a water bottle and snack (I would have loved a separate place for a snack when my son was in first grade and had snack and lunchtime).

The potential drawbacks I see are dings and dents in the stainless steel(remind your kids to keep it in the carrying case), potential leaks around the edges (not sure how fruits like melon will keep from leaking into the other sections), and the considerable cost. If anyone wants to get one and try it out, let us know how it goes!

Bean Chili with Zucchini

I'm having fun with my new lunch boxes. The insulated stainless steel bowl is topped by a small plate before you put the lid on -- just the perfect size for freshly-made corn tortillas from the Mexican grocery!

I warmed the tortillas and layered them with damp paper towels, then filled the bowls with two hot servings of Bean and Vegetable Chili made with extra zucchini and sprinkled with fresh cilantro.

I brought this lunch to my girlfriend who was reading palms at the psychic fair and we ate our little picnic together. We got lots of ooh and aahs at the cuteness of our lunch boxes and how yummy our healthy lunches looked!

Broccoli Piccata

I never thought I would actually CRAVE broccoli, but it's true! I've been craving Broccoli Piccata, steamed broccoli with lemon and capers from my first book. I made it more "Fuhrman-Friendly" by leaving out the oil and salt.

At mealtime I tossed the broccoli with my salad, hummus, and crunchy walnuts.

Golden Austrian Cauliflower Soup

One of my favorite soups of all times! I first heard about Golden Austrian Cauliflower Soup on Dr. Fuhrman's Member Center Forum, where people were raving so much I just had to try it. I've been making it ever since; it's creamy and cauliflowery, with a touch of sweetness from carrot juice so you really don't miss the salt at all.

I like to sprinkle my soup with Perfect Pepitas, a recipe from my first book Vegan Lunch Box. I packed my pumpkin seeds in the plate that fits on top of the bowl in my new lunch box, with fresh pineapple on the side.

Okra & Lima Bean Masala

Excitement! Time to introduce a brand new lunch box!

I love my To-Go Ware tiffins and use them almost every day to pack our lunches for work, but lately I've been packing more hot foods like soups and stews. The tiffins are perfect for big salads and cold foods, but now I wanted something with a tight lid that wouldn't leak that would keep my food warm until lunch time -- something like the wide-mouth insulated container I bought a couple years ago, but a bit larger and made from stainless steel.


I found one! And with a cute green apple handle, too! I ordered our two new thermal stainless steel double-walled lunch boxes just a couple weeks ago from Dino Direct, but they aren't on their website at the moment. This one looks similar.


For their inaugural voyage to lunchtime I filled them both with Okra and Lima Bean Masala from FatFree Vegan Kitchen. This is one of my favorites to make at the end of the week when fresh produce is running short but I'm not ready to go to the grocery store; I steam-saute a sliced onion with Indian spices, then add a bag of frozen okra, some frozen lima beans, and two cans of diced tomatoes.

Switching Lunch & Dinner

Sometimes it's a struggle finding time to work, shop, cook, clean, and still make it to the gym and have some time to relax. Planning meals and cooking when I get home has been especially hard; usually I'm starving and tired by the time I make it home and just want dinner to be ready.

So lately I'm trying something new: swapping out lunch and dinner. Instead of the usual big salad, I've been making a pot of soup and cooked veggies on Sundays and packing them for lunch. When I get home I fix my big daily salad for dinner.

So far this new routine is working splendidly! My lunch is warm and filling, which means less temptation to eat all the free goodies in the office kitchen, and my salad doesn't need a lot of prep work when I get home, so it's ready fast.

Today I packed an old favorite, Dr. Fuhrman's Creamy Asparagus Soup, half a baked carnival squash, and a pretty pear. (Look, it still has a leaf on it!)

Strawberry Salad

Last night I invited my friends over for a "Happy Healthy New Year Party", to kick off all our healthy eating resolutions with fresh fruits and veggies!

Here are a few of the yummy dishes I made, starting at the top: Mediterranean Eggplant (from Eat To Live, made without the garbanzo beans) with endive leaves for scooping; blanched green beans with lemon mayonnaise (mix lemon juice, zest, and white pepper with Vegenaise...this one isn't nutritarian but I enjoyed the plain green beans); celery, jicama, and sugar snap peas; and homemade white bean dip with cucumber slices and whole wheat pita bread. Not pictured are a big bowl of roasted carrots and another bowl filled with fresh strawberries and mango slices.

The party was a lot of fun, with everyone contributing other healthy dishes (one friend brought vegan Hoppin' John with black-eyed peas and mustard greens, perfect for the New Year!), and we all looked silly and got sweaty playing Just Dance on the Wii. Proof that people can still have fun and be social while eating healthfully!

This morning I made a beautiful lunch with leftovers, although there hardly were any! One friend brought this amazing roasted red pepper hummus, which I packed with cucumber slices for dipping. I sliced strawberries, apple, endive, romaine, and baby spinach for today's salad and topped with pecans and pomegranate balsamic vinegar.

Pineapple Cranberry Salad

Here's a great Pineapple Cranberry Sauce recipe someone shared at Dr. Fuhrman's Member Support Center: cook 1 package of cranberries with 1 can of crushed pineapple until the berries pop. Stir in 2 tablespoons agave, maple syrup, or date sugar (to taste, we liked it a bit tart), 1/4 teaspoon almond extract, and some chopped pecans.

We enjoyed this as a side dish at Thanksgiving, but I love it even more as a salad topping, mixed into a salad with chopped apple and pecans. I packed us whole apples to slice into the salad at lunchtime, so they don't turn brown.

The gel-cool bentos are filled with Fennel Cucumber Salad from my first book, garnished with a kalamata olive. (BTW, the side dishes fit perfectly in the top compartments of our To-Go Ware containers, even with the lids on, but I've ordered large stainless steel sidekicks for the future, because I prefer them to plastic.)

P.S. This picture sucks! You can't even see the cute little smiley faces on the apple picks holding the olives. Oh well, I was running out the door this morning and took it with my iphone. Bad shmoo!

Mirror Image Acorn Squash Supreme

Hi! Long time no post! A lot of changes have been going on in my life, not the least of which is that I now aspire to the label "nutritarian" rather than vegan. That transition has been happening for a long time, as anyone who's followed me in the past or spoken to me personally probably knows.

For example, I would no longer pack Oreos or potato chips in a lunch box just because they contain no animal products. Vegan does not automatically equal healthy. I would also not turn down something that contained a modest amount of an animal product if it were the healthiest choice available. I don't believe that animal products are unhealthy in the amounts that would have been present in humankind's natural diet before SAD came along. Rather I think of modern processed foods as the enemy: white flour, white sugar, oil, etc.

I wanted to go on record with this because I've kept pretty quiet about it out of fear, and I'm tired of living in fear of being who I am openly and honestly, 100%. I fully support and admire Voracious, the once-vegan blogger who shared in this now-infamous post about the health problems she experienced on a strict vegan diet. That took a lot of courage. I can relate, and I think that when being vegan becomes more important than listening to your body, or when it becomes a "vegangelical" fundamentalism that leads to actual death threats against those who don't agree with you, it has become something unhelpful, unkind, and unworthy of us.

That doesn't mean that I will be changing the fact that all the lunches I post here contain no animal products. I mean, I did write two vegan cookbooks and stand behind the idea that most of our meals should be entirely plant-based for optimal health.

And speaking of "coming out", let me also add that my divorce has been final for almost a year and I'm now with a beautiful woman that I love very much! For the first time, I'm in a relationship with someone who not only supports and encourages me, but also likes the same foods that I do and has transitioned to a mostly-nutritarian diet alongside me. It's amazing to be with someone who doesn't make fun of my food or hightail it to McDonald's when she sees what's on the table. Instead, she's loved all the dishes I've made so far and is even surprised that some of her long-standing health problems have gone away with this new way of eating.


We have a deal that she makes breakfast for us, usually a green smoothie or maybe oatmeal with fresh fruit, and I pack lunch. Today I packed us each some Acorn Squash Supreme from Eat To Live and big fresh salads with salsa for dressing and half an avocado each. I added a pear for a snack or dessert.


I even used a pear cozy!

Homestyle Favorites Made Meatless

Those of you with my second book might notice my friend Renee Pottle's book Homestyle Favorites Made Meatless listed in the Recommended Resources. I'm happy to announce that the book is now available at her website, Wine Barrel Gourmet, where she also sells mixes for healthy soups, pasta dishes, wholegrain breads, and more.

Renee's latest book is all about cooking with meat substitutes. I've been paging through my copy; the recipes are mostly old-fashioned favorites that you may have grown up with. Think hearty, down-home meals like ChickN and Dumplings, Sweet and Spicy Chops, Burgundy Beef, Salisbury Steak, and Fish Tacos, all made healthier and meat-free.

The book also contains a helpful list of some of the different meat substitutes available, and lets you choose which one you would like to use in any given recipes. For example, options for pork chops include Cedar Lake Meatless Chops, Field Roast Deli Slices, Worthington Choplets, or baked tofu. Cooks can take their pick and follow the recipe from there, so you're always able to find a vegan choice. Vegan recipes are noted, and many more can easily be made vegan by using nondairy milk products.

Check out this picture of Renee's Paella, one of the "Meatless ChickN Favorites". Looks yummy!

Also, I just noticed if you order the book from her website you'll get a free bonus: "The Meatless Pantry Checklist" and "Meatless Pantry Creations - Design Your Own Soup, Stir-Fry and more!" A PDF version is even available.