"I'm not usually one for 'cute' recipe names," says Nava Altas inThe Vegetarian Family Cookbook, but she made an exception for this clever combination of couscous and tiny shell pasta. Personally, I'm a big sucker for cutesy names, so I'm glad she did.
Next to the "seashells in the sand" is a dish of cooked frozen bean and vegetable medley (broccoli, carrots, and green, black, white, and kidney beans) and fresh organic strawberries. For dessert, I baked miniature pecan tarts. This was "take two" on trying to make a pecan pie with only barley malt syrup for sweetener. I came up with the idea during our attempt at a sugar-free Lent, but learned the hard way that barley syrup bubbles up to an alarming degree when baked.
Verdict: The tarts were a success -- nutty and chewy with a hint of cinnamon, and not teeth-shatteringly sweet like regular pecan pie (oh, how I love it). Just a few bites of shells and veggies were left. 4 stars.
P.S. As an update to yesterday's Zaru Soba, shmoo had soba for dinner and lunch, and wants to know if I can make it for dinner again! He never goes on "food jags" where he wants the same thing over and over (this is the boy who once walked in the kitchen at breakfast and whined, "Aw, pancakes again?? We just had them yesterday!"). So I am amazed. Zaru soba is like the sleeper hit of the lunch box.
21 comments:
If you're ever on the East Coast, Vegan Treats makes a killer pecan pie. It's so good I've eaten an entire 9" pie in one day.
www.vegantreats.com
for locations (mostly in NYC, Philly, and Georgia)
I'm with you on the cutesy names :). And I'm sure that shmoo (and all kids) enjoy cutesy names for their food! I think it's great that you come up with creative titles. Great looking lunch as always.
does the couscous and shells dish have any sort of seasoning?
Soba a big hit? Who knew??? That is really great news though...they are so easy and good for little shmoo.
What do you use to replace the eggs in a pecan pie? That has always had me stumped.
I made the blueberry pies yesterday! They were a huge hit at the party and so easy too! Thanks for sharing that recipe! This one girl who came over is severly allergic to milk and eggs. If milk touches her skin, she will break out in hives! When she learned that all of the food at the party was dairy free, she just went crazy! Her mom told me this was the first time she has ever been to a party that she could actually eat anything!
Hi Jennifer!
My 7 year old & I just looked at all of the meals for April, and she thought they all looked delicious! She especially wanted to try the caramelized tofu! She said it looked "yummy."
We are not vegan, we do however eat a natural diet, no articial anything, no preservatives, and no artificial colors/dyes. It's mostly organic, about 85%.
I've already grocery shopped for the week, but when I go again, tofu will be on my list. Thanks again for the inspiration!
Funny, I was reading that from the cookbook the other day and my daughter caught the recipe's name. She thought that was really clever and suggested that we make it, and also come up with other mixes like that!
;p Seems even Shmoo is not immune to the power of soba! Does he like it any other way than the zaru soba? I love yakisoba.
>>does the couscous and shells dish have any sort of seasoning?
Nothing fancy, basically margarine and salt & pepper, with options for other additions. It was tasty plain, and good for breakfast the next day with cinnamon and sugar.
>>What do you use to replace the eggs in a pecan pie? That has always had me stumped.
Most of the vegan recipes I've seen use cornstarch and egg replacer (like Ener-G, a mix available at health food stores). These tarts were basically homemade pecan butter mixed with some barley malt, so they were thick and didn't need egg replacement.
>>Does he like it any other way than the zaru soba? I love yakisoba.
I don't know. We'll have to try that next!
Totally unrelated to this post, but a while back you made something out of "Nonna's Italian Kitchen" and I must say, I worship you for turning me on to that cookbook. I've made a few very tasty recipes from it and am sitting here right now with a huge plate of yellow risotto (meaning "super expensive risotto because it contains saffrom) and it's delicious. Yummm. So yeah, thanks for mentioning that book. :)
And today's lunch looks great. :)
Hi Jennifer - love, love, love your site. Gives a new vegan great ideas. Keep up the good work!
Hi Jennifer,
I've been admiring your site for a long time, but this is the first time I've ever commented. I'm a fellow vegan and cook here in Santa Cruz, CA, the home of the laptop lunchbox. :)
Cooking Japanese food is my passion (I used to live there), and if Shmoo loves soba so much that he wants to go to Japan, I feel obligated to let you know about Miyoko Nishimoto Schinner's wonderful cookbook, "Japanese Cooking Contemporary & Traditional." It's completely authentic japanese food, and 100% vegan. It's my absolute favorite cookbook. :)
Take care!
-Laura
I love the pecans!
R2K
Thanks for the cookbook recommendation, Laura! I'll add that to our collection!
Hi, I'm learning more about vegan and vegetarian cooking and eating. Your boxes are always so beautiful and happy, you've got me inspired!
Hi, I just came across your blog and just love it! I love the idea of the vegan lunchbox. I am a vegetarian and have a food blog where I post a lot of vegetarian and vegan recipes. Drop in at http://saffronhut.blogspot.com if you get a chance!!
Cheers!
jobetta:
if you use saffron, try finding an iranian or middle eastern grocery store to buy it from. saffron is *much* cheaper there, and of way better quality.
i always use saffron when i make pizza. after soaking the threads in a bit of hot water, i add the water/saffron to the mixture for the crust. it's delicious!
hmm. you mention that you used barley malt syrup when giving up sugar for lent. is there a reason that you considered barley malt syrup not sugar? is it significantly more nutritious than sugar?
I thought it was interesting that you liked the shells and couscous for breakfast. One of my favorite vegan restaurants makes couscous with sweetener (I like agave nectar), cinnamon, and very small, diced green apples. It makes a great dessert or breakfast!
Hi, Alexandra. Good question! Here's a website that helps explain my decision to use some barley malt syrup, when I ruled out almost every other sweetener besides fresh and (some) dried fruit:
http://www.edenfoods.com/issues_goodfood_barley.html
It describes barley malt syrup as "about half as sweet as refined sugar", and it has a strong taste like dark molasses. You can only use a bit of it or it gets overwhelming.
It also passed my personal "I can't binge on this" test. I tried it and I comfortably walked away without eating the entire batch or obsessing about it. So that's how I knew that it wasn't acting like regular sugar does in my system. It didn't "trigger" me the way sugar, cane crystals, maple syrup, etc. does. Perhaps mixing it with the protein and fat of the pecans helped, too.
I have that cookbook, too--its awesome! Unfortinatly, I'm not someone who actually FOLLOWS directions...
One thing I was thinking of was that yet another way to keep apples from getting brown. (Yes, I know you do the orange juice thing) Toss them in cinnimon! I don't know when my mom started doing this, but it's sooo good.
Great lunch!
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