We're having fun with Ricemellow vegan marshmallow fluff from Food Fight! Mostly we've been scooping up the fluff with a one-ounce cookie dough scoop to top mugs of hot soy cocoa -- just like melty marshmallows! For lunch I made Little shmoo a fluffernutter (peanut butter and marshmallow fluff) sandwich on Rudi's Organic Multi-Grain Oat bread (amazing -- organic wheat bread with no trans fats, corn syrup, or honey!). The bread was just wide enough to cut each half of the sandwich into a little kitty cat. The fruits & veggies of the day are organic apple slices, sugar snap peas, and baby carrots. Beverage: vanilla soy milk.
Verdict: Little shmoo loved his fluffernutters! He ate all his apple and sugar snap peas but ran out of time to finish the carrots, which he ate as part of his after-school snack. 4 stars.
Great site! I love seeing your creative ways to make your son's lunches fun and healthy.
ReplyDeleteI have a question.....how are you keeping your apples from turning brown after slicing them? My son hates the lemon juice trick.
Keep up the great work.
Thanks, Kim! Yeah, lemon juice is too tart for us, too. I use orange juice, and citrus soda will also work.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great lunch today! I love the fluffer kitties.
ReplyDeleteWowww... dessert in the entree! Hehe. I like how you balanced it so there's not too much sweetness in the meal. I've actually never had a fluffernutter sandwich. Hmph. I wonder if you make the trimmings of Shmoo's lunch your breakfast? I can just see myself, at least, chowing down on apple skins and breadcrusts...
ReplyDeleteLittle kitty cats! That's awesome!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the other students at the college would laugh at me for bringing kittycat sammiches for lunch...they'd just be jealous.
WOW! Ricemallow is made from BROWN RICE SYRUP!? Way better for you than that fluff crap!
ReplyDeleteHello, my name is Avery and I have been reading for about a month. Since my daughter [4] and I moved in with my fiance, I have been cooking mostly vegetarian and vegan meals and am working on making a smooth transition with my daughter. She, unfortunately, is not as open minded to veggies as Little Shmoo so sometimes dinner is a struggle. I have been slowing building up my kitchen arsenal and last night, finally found nutritional yeast and Braggs! Very exciting! My goal is to provide my family with a nutritious and delicious and most of all, cruelty free diet. I am very excited about this bread that you have found because, as you mentioned, it is impossible to find bread without high fructose corn syrup! I am an avid label reader and that is an amazing discovery! We have really had a hard time finding a bread like that so I will definately look for it! Can't wait for the cookbook!
ReplyDeleteI thought you didn't eat animals?!?!
ReplyDeleteHe he ho ho.
As a cat lover, I just love the little kitty sandwiches, Jennifer! A few months ago, I found some of that Suzanne's Vegan Ricemallow Creme at my local health food store--works great for rice krispie treats (it had been soooo long since I'd had those!). I also really like Rudi's Organic bread--I have some of the whole wheat burger buns right now, and they're tasty. It can be so hard to find good quality wheat buns without honey!!
ReplyDeleteThose kitties are adorable! Now I want to take a sandwich of my own tomorrow, cut into some fun shape. You're such an inspiration.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love your site! I've been a vegan two years and just reading your blog and looking at the pictures inspired me to bring a vegan lunch kit to work everyday. You've also given me some great ideas. Keep up with the good work!
ReplyDeleteIgnorant minds want to know what's the nutritonal difference between corn syrup and rice syrup...
ReplyDeleteIt just occurred to me, on the topic of Horrifying Crusts, does shmoo like vegan bread pudding, which presumably comes complete with crusts, but perhaps acceptable since they're cooked into mushiness...
Hi! I'm a first time commenter, but have been reading for a few weeks now. I am usually very bad about packing my lunch, so I go most of the day without eating, and am using your site as an attempt at inspiration to bring lunch to work with me!
ReplyDeleteI have to ask--does the vegan fluff compare to the real thing in taste and texture? I used to love fluff, and had a great fudge recipe that called for fluff back in the day... now I'm wondering if it could be made with the vegan stuff.
However, I haven't seen it in stores (yet!) and would rather not waste a pangea order on it if it's not quite the same. I generally avoid vegan substitutes because they just don't "measure up" to the "real" deal in my opinion.
Thanks in advance.
Mallory
I've never tried this stuff...but am interested.
ReplyDeleteOh my, Mallory brings up a good point-- vegan fudge! For valentine's day! How awesome! I wonder if it could be done?
ReplyDeleteOh, and also to Mallory-- as far as vegan subs not measuring up. I was an omnivore for over 20 years, and stopped eating meat cold-turkey (heehee) and then stopped eating eggs, then dairy. It was so easy since you can find pretty much anything you would want made vegan! The tastes and textures may not be *exact*, but it's not really that hard to get used to. I haven't really given up anything except the gross feeling after eating animal products. I mean, vegan marshmallow fluff, how much better can it get!?!
-Erin
Hi Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteHey, where did you find the Rudi's bread locally?
Nels would really love some kitty sammiches. Great idea!
- Ali
Hi, Do you have a good mac & (non)cheese recipe? Every recipe that I've come across suggests using beans to get the creaminess but I don't think the texture would be right. I was thinking of using your fondue recipe but not sure how much. Suggestions?
ReplyDeleteI buy Rudi's Organic breads at Whole Foods, but I know most Trader Joe's carry the Rudi's Organic Cinnamon Swirl bread. My personal favorite is the 7-Grain & Flax, which is wonderfully yummy—though the Multi-Grain Oat is great too!
ReplyDelete>I thought you didn't eat animals?!?!
ReplyDeleteDoh!! We eat PEOPLE, too -- gingerbread people!
Hi, Karen Anne -- good question! I'm not a nutritionist so I'm not entirely sure. My personal concern with high fructose corn syrup is the amount of chemical processing it goes through and the fact that most (if not all) nonorganic corn is now genetically modified. I do use organic corn syrup to make rice krispy bars (but now that I've found this fluff I might switch!). I've also read that hfcs does funky things to your blood sugar. I'm sure we eat sweets with corn syrup at times, and I don't worry about it as long as it's in moderation.
Re. brown rice syrup, I'm under the impression that it's is made from whole rice, processed without chemicals, and retains some of its complex carbohydrates and B-vitamins. Marshmallow fluff = health food. LOL!
Just to clarify, it's the egg whites in regular fluff that makes it not vegan; it has nothing to do with rice vs. corn.
Bread pudding -- yes, he does like bread pudding (and french toast). I think it's the hard texture of crusts that he doesn't like, so if they're soft he doesn't mind.
Hi, Mallory! True confessions time: I've never actually tried regular marshmallow fluff (or eaten a fluffernutter!!), so I have no idea how it compares. Anyone? I can tell you this stuff is super-tasty and reminds me of melted marshmallows, if that helps.
Hi, Ali! It's at Fred Meyers in the regular bread section, not the health food section.
Hi, Sweet Pea! I do have one for my upcoming cookbook. I think the fondue would work nicely on pasta, too, but I haven't tried it myself. Let me know how it goes!
ReplyDeleteI think I'm losing my mind! It's got too much to do these days, I guess. Accidentally posted this with the comments for the wrong date. Anyway....
ReplyDeleteJennifer and Karen Anne, high fructose corn syrup, only developed in 1970, is not the same thing as the corn syrup you buy in the store. The kind we can buy is actually mostly glucose. But, you're right, Jennifer, regular corn syrup is probably GMO unless you get the organic kind.
HFCS is made by an enzymatic process strictly for the food processing industry because of its cheapness, sweetness (it's sweeter than regular corn syrup), and other qualities.
Nutritionally, there is not much difference between white sugar, corn syrup, and brown rice syrup. We shouldn't depend on any sweetener, "natural" or not, for nutrition, except maybe blackstrap molasses, which actually has alot of calcium and iron in it. Unrefined sugars and syrups have trace amounts of nutrients, but you'd have to eat tons to have it amount to anything.
2 T. of brown rice syrup contains 110 calories, 30 mg sodium, 31 g carbohydrates, 25 g sugars, 1.5 mg calcium, and 1 g protein.
2 T. light corn syrup contains 62 calories, 14 mg sodium, 16.89 g carbohydrates, 5.89 g sugars, and no protein.
According to Brenda Davis, vegan RN, in her book on diabetes, all sugars react pretty much the same in the body, except agave nectar, which is very expensive-- too expensive for me to experiment with! I hear, though, that you can use half as much as you would sugar, whereas you need to use more brown rice syrup, because it's not very sweet (but it's sweeter than corn syrup).
The sweetener that you choose, for vegans, is really more about how the product is grown and produced, than about nutrition, when it comes down to it. Pure maple sugar, for instance, as I know from personal experience, can give you a sugar high quickly followed by a super drop in blood sugar just as well as any other sugar! So, my philosophy is, eat in moderation, and in conjunction with either healthful ingredients, or other healthful components of a meal.
>Oh my, Mallory brings up a good point-- vegan fudge! For valentine's day! How awesome! I wonder if it could be done?
ReplyDeleteI just vegan-ised my grandmother's recipe for fudge, it wasn't too hard. You could probably do the same with any recipe you find. I used coconut milk instead of using soy milk in place of the milk because I don't like how soymilk heats... but other then that it's pretty straight forward.
Thanks, Bryanna! I deleted the comment from below so there's no confusion.
ReplyDeleteRenee, I bet that fudge with coconut milk was divine. :-)
Hello! Your kitty cat sandwiches are the most adorable thing ever. I have a toddler who is kitty cat crazy... can you divulge where you found your cutter?
ReplyDeleteHow do you get your apple slices from discolouring? I want to know your secret!
ReplyDeleteHi, April! I picked up the cookie cutter at a local gourmet cooking store (Ariel's in Richland), but I'm sure you can find something similar online.
ReplyDeleteHi, anonymous! I actually answered that question above. Look at the first two comments. :-)
The kitty shaped sandwiches are clever! I have lots of kitties on my "Freaks" blog.
ReplyDeletethank you
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