A simple homemade potato-carrot soup in a thermos for lunch today. In the lunch box I packed homemade crispy croutons and a tiny container of Bac-Os (yes, indeed, they are vegan!) to sprinkle on top of the soup before eating. For fresh fruit and dessert, green grapes and a Chocolate Chip Bake-At-Home Oatmeal Energy Bar.Verdict: Did bacony Bac-Os make every bite better? "They gave me Bac-O Burps," shmoo reported. "Oh, bad?" "No! It was g-o-o-d good. I had Bac-O Breath!" Every last bacony bite was gone. 4 stars.
P.S. Another noon release tomorrow. See you Thursday!
36 comments:
mmmm....Bac-Os!!! So good!
Lunch looks great!
Marisa
Did you know you can get little cookie cutters (animals, hearts, stars, letters, etc.) at craft stores and make crouton shapes?! We just started doing this and it's so much fun to have animal croutons in your soup - we've also discovered the joy of animal-shaped beets, jicama, carrots...
Another noon release day? But they just had one on Friday!!??
The lunch looks yummy. My daugher is loving green grapes right now. However, she's not keen on peas and carrots right now (favourites only a few days ago). Funny how they switch preferences every week or so. :-)
Ooh, I love fun shapes. I should get some of those too.
Jennifershmoo, what do you think of those energy bars you've been making? Are they soft or hard after cooling?
They stay soft and chewy. I dunno, the company contacted me and sent me the mix to try, so that was really fun (woo, free stuff!). But it's something I would never buy myself; if I wanted to bake bars I would make some from scratch, and I don't like the whole flaxseeds in them. They were good for what they were, and we had no trouble finishing them off!
What brand are the Bac-Os, they look delic for the soup....!
Looks yummy!! Funny because I have a similar soup on the stove for our dinner :)
Y'all have alot of noon release days! Holy Moly! LOL
Eeeew to the bacO breath, yuck, but he's funny and cute!
The lunch looks great and I'm with yellow-belly-hippy lady about all those noon releases, whoa!
I know! I think kids today get a lot more noon releases than I did.
I thought it was funny that Bac-O breath was a plus in his book. LOL!
>>What brand are the Bac-Os
Betty Crocker (follow the link in the post and read all about them).
i got horrible bacos burps the other day too! i had them on my baked tater. poor shmoo - baco burps are GROSS!! :D glad he liked them though - lol
I was so amused when I found out that Bac-Os, along with many store brand "bacon bits", are vegan. No wonder they're so cheap! XD
Potato-carrot soup looks FANTASTIC. Now I'm hungry!
Yes, Bacos are vegan, but just as important to consider is that they have artificial food coloring and they soy used is genetically modified. I stay away from them, because the food coloring and how it affects children and who knows about genetically modified food??? Yikes. "Bac-un bits" from Frontier are 100% natural and organic, non-GMO, and taste much better than Bacos. They are available through the Frontier Natural Products coop site, natural foods stores, etc. I have a couple pound bags of them (you can get jars of them, too) because we go through a lot of Bac-uns...
That looks like such a yummy lunch, I love soup with potato in it!
Soup with potato is delicious!
Some another recipe potato soup
Haha Bac-oBurps :)
Rockets
Bac-Os are vegan? I had NO idea. YAY!
Oh and Jennifer, thanks so much for mentioning that Starburst jellybeans are vegan. Because of that, I put those in my daughter's Easter basket instead of any other brand.
I have a question and I don't want to come across as critical of your lifestyle, I am honestly just curious. I have been assuming, reading your blog, that your son is rather young. Since the children under the age of five get the majority of their protien from milk and dairy, how do you ensure he gets enough protein on a vegan diet?
I don't want this to seem critical I really am just curious I think the things you post here are fantastically creative and want to try a few of them myself.
Oh just a mini-rant: I picked up a can of soup at the store last night because I thought I could have it. (I'm vegetarian, not vegan.) It was called cheese tortellini soup or something like that. Had a tomato base. So I thought "cool!"
FIRST ingredient? Chicken stock. Second ingredient? Chicken.
I can't tell you how often that happens. Chicken in some form or another is used in WAY more food products than I ever knew before going vegetarian.
Anyway, it was frustrating. The picture looked so yummy. I came home and made fideo from scratch with vegetable stock to feed that craving for a hearty soup. Your potato and carrot soup looks scrummy.
I'm not Jennifer, but kids all over the world eat a vegan diet and are very well-nourished. Protein comes from a variety of food sources, not just dairy.
We're not even completely vegan, but my 11 year old daughter gave up cow's milk in favor of other types of milk: soy, rice, etc. She loves them and gets plenty of protein from her diet.
I'm random, but I hear if you combine certain foods like beans and rice, you can get a complete protein. WE don't know everything shmoo eats, and since Jennifer seems to work so hard, it seems that she would take care of the protein thing
i live in bc (canada) and i've never seen bac-o's. we just call them "bacon bits". but interestingly enough, most of the bacon bits that i've found are made of soy and are at least vegetarian, if not vegan. another funny instance of a "meat" product being unintentionally vegan, and most omnis don't even know it.
Hello Curious Cookie-
I don't think your questions are being critical of a vegan lifestyle in any way. They are questions that everyone has once they start looking into it. =0)
I have two vegan children, one who is 7 and one who is 2. The 2-year-old has been vegan since birth and is a very happy, and extremely healthy little guy. You can get all the protein you need from legumes, nuts and seeds. There are so many kinds of beans out there! LOL! There's also tofu, seitan (wheat gluten protien) and tempeh (fermented soy bean cake). You don't necessarily need to combine foods at the same meal to get a complete protein... For instance, you could have some whole wheat bread, pasta, rice or other grain during lunch, and have your legumes or nuts with dinner, and it still counts (just make sure to eat a variety of proteins and grains throughout the day).
I did nurse my baby for 2 years (no infant formula is vegan), and i thought it would help him for the rapid-growth spurts between ages 1-2. Just weaned him and he's doing great on a well-balanced, mostly organic diet. He's actually larger than all the other 2-year-olds in his daycare! I really paid close attention to his iron (baby cereals), Vitamin D (adequate sunlight) and B-12 (fortified soy/rice milk, fortified cereals, nutritional yeast, tempeh) consumptions while he was growing, and still do keep up. I followed this formula:
Breat Milk + Vit. B12 + Vit. D + Appropriate Solids + Sufficient Calories = Healthy Vegan Baby!! =0)
Here's a link I thought you might find helpful, but there's tons of info all over the net if you do some searching.
http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/kids.htm
Hope that helps your curiosity!
Obviously, i meant "BREAST milk". Ha! "Breat"????
+++I can't tell you how often that happens. Chicken in some form or another is used in WAY more food products than I ever knew before going vegetarian.++++
Yes, I was alarmed to find out that Doritos salsa verde flavor chips have chicken (I forget whether it was fat or broth or powdered flavoring). Chicken in tortilla chips? Glad I didn't indulge often before finding out!
I've used Bac-Os when cooking beans, and they're curiously good on peanut butter sandwiches. It's one of those things that doesn't sound like it would be good but it is.
Great lunch, as always. :)
Is little shmoo taking the WASL? I know he's just in 1st grade, but I heard some schools are having kids take it.
At my school we have early release (1:20 pm) every Monday to save money--is that what shmoos school does?
Labryis: Doritos???
See that pisses me off. I must spend two hours in the grocery store just reading every ingredient on the label to make sure chicken broth or beef flavoring or something isn't snuck in at the end. And I'll get all excited thinking "oooo this is ok!" then I'll see it.
Blech. And I get disgusted and put it back. Pick up new product, read label, start over.
>>Is little shmoo taking the WASL? I know he's just in 1st grade, but I heard some schools are having kids take it.
It is testing week here. The higher grades are taking the WASL, but his class is taking the ITBS (Iowa Test of Basic Skills) instead.
>>At my school we have early release (1:20 pm) every Monday to save money--is that what shmoos school does?
I think so; it's basically every other Wednesday here. Most of the school districts I know of are having early release one day a week to save money.
this is fantastic. after only one term of packing a school lunchbox I have been getting very lazy. Also, my little boy is starting to ask for stuff like ham. We're on school holidays here, but when school starts again in a few weeks and I have looked carefully through your archives I will be ready to go.
Yum, potato soup!
I'm not a vegan, but your lunches sure make it a tempting choice!
Gelatin is the other animal product that seems to sneak into way too many foods where its not expected.
Thanks, Jennifer, for pointing out (in one post or another a while back) that some fruit "gels" products are, in fact, vegan. Since gelatin is in so many non-Jello-like foods, I just assumed all those products contained it and never even checked the label. I've missed those products -- especially when I'm sick and have that "mom gave me Jello to feel better" yearning -- and it was good to find that I can actually have some without special trips.
As a comment to the chicken-in-everything discussion, BBQ Baked Lays have chicken fat in them! I've written the company because it's just so ridiculous....even fried BBQ lays don't have chicken fat. Of course, I just got a canned letter in return and a lousy coupon to buy more of their chips!
On another note, I'm having these weird Bac-O cravings, and it's all your fault! =) Lunch looks great as always, keep it up!!
This is such a respectful and pleasant group of commenters. :) It's very nice to see that as somebody who's not a vegan but does pack 2 lunches everyday and wants to eat a healthy omni diet.
Thanks you, Jennifer, for all the work you must do!
about fruit gels containing gelatin:
i have found that most north american fruit gels contain gelatin, but asian ones use plant-derived gelling agents.
my favorite fruit gel snack is called "squez'n'bites" (i think they made a mistake and should ahve spelled it "squeez" tho). i've seen them at most asian stores. they come in a small bag with maybe 10 little containers. the gels come in strawberry, grape, banana, and mango flavor, and have a little chunk of lychee or coconut in them. they're delicious and vegan! oh, and if you try them, put them in the freezer for a few hours. they're even better icy! man, now i have a craving. maybe i'll stop and get some on my way home from work tonight.
Jennifershmoo, I just found your blog today through a friend of a friend's blog. I'm so impressed that you are living and eating the vegan way in Kennewick, WA! I grew up an hour away on the Oregon side of the river, and we did all our major shopping in the TriCities. When we moved there in 1987, tofu was my favorite food. We went to the grocery store to search for said tofu, and they had never heard of it.
I imagine things have changed over the years.
Cheers! Abby in Berkeley, CA
"Echo said...
Labryis: Doritos??? "
Yeah, not something I bought often, fortunately. It was for a party and one of the guests happened to glance at the label. Tortilla chips I didn't think to check unless they had a title suggestive of meat ingredients like "chili" or "Pizza" or something. I also didn't know about bbq baked lays. I thought we'd made progress when they started using vegetable oil instead of lard but now they're using it as flavoring.
I think if enough customers write it does work. Look how fast they started getting trans fats out of chips when it started getting publicized!
I have to go back to reading every single label, even if I can't imagine meat in it. What's next, chicken flavor in our applesauce?
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