Last night I made Indian Rice Salad from May All Be Fed
-- brown rice cooked with Indian spices, then tossed with veggies and a mild dressing and chilled. The recipe recommended serving the salad with chapatis (Indian flatbreads), so this morning I made a batch of Oat Chapatis from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian.I tucked two into the lunch box and we ate the rest with breakfast (they're excellent warm with margarine and spicy peach butter).Also in the lunch box today are a tropical fruit cup and a new experiment I am calling "So-Gurt". "It's not fair," shmoo complains. "Everyone else in my class gets Go-GURT® but I don't." Have any other parents out there been hearing this? Oh, the sufferings of youth! Apparently squeezing flourescent yogurt out of a tube is simply not to be missed.
I know some marketing genius is developing soy yogurt tubes even as we speak, but in the meantime I'm trying my hand at homemade: I filled a snack-size ziplock bag with about 1/2 cup cherry soy yogurt and froze it overnight. This morning I cut a very small slit in one corner of the bag. Hopefully at lunchtime shmoo can finish tearing the corner away and push out the custardy yogurt.
Verdict: My son was able to successfully squeeze yogurt out of a baggie, making him feel at one with his peers. It seems silly to me -- half the yogurt he would get in a cup, and a wasted plastic bag. But then again, so do a lot of things nowadays. I guess I'm just an old mom, sitting in my rocker telling "when I was your age, we ate with spoons" stories. Oh, the rice and chapatis were good, too. 4 stars.
Oh, goodness. Another reminder to put making various types of Indian flatbreads on my to-do list. . . Maybe I'm getting old (20?) but somehow eating yogurt with a spoon seems like more fun ;)
ReplyDeleteMan. The thing I remember envying more than ANYTHING in my friend's lunches were string cheese. My mom refused to buy them due to high salt/fat content (killjoy!), and I remember turning green with envy when the rest of the kids opened their lunches. Thank goodness Shmoo hasn't asked for those. . . even The Mighty Shmoo might have trouble w/that one!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the so-gurt, though. Very innovative!
P.S. I bought corn chips so I can make your bean dip tomorrow! I think your website dictates my food cravings.
Jennifer, you rock for being so creative about making that fun yogurt treat for Schmoo!
ReplyDeleteAnd to College Vegan Athlete... i've been vegan for 12 years and have loads of cookbooks, but my favorite is still 'The Compassionate Cook' aka, the PETA cookbook by Ingrid Newkirk. It has simple recipes that always get raves from my friends and family. It's on Amazon.com right now for $10.
You are crackin' me up over here! I think the whole Go-Gurt thing is weird but at least Shmoo got this one out of the way, unless he's hooked. The rice looks good. Tell me, what kind of syrup is packed in those fruitcups?
ReplyDeleteYum, that rice looks soooo good! Looking at this post reminded me that I want to start using World Vegetarian again, so thank you. :)
ReplyDeleteFred Meyer carries the applesauce in a tube too. This is what we opted for when we read the ingredients of gogurt. *shudder*
ReplyDeleteIt's hard having a different lunch from everyone else when you're little, regardless of how awesome your lunch actually is. My mom used to pack me these super elaborate Japanese bento lunches, but I wanted lunches like everyone else. Go figure. XD I'm glad the "So-Gurt" worked out well, though!
ReplyDeleteBeen lurking for a while, de-lurking to say what a great idea that was to freeze the yogurt in a snack size baggie. I don't like Go-gurts because they're so darn expensive. Plus they only seem to come in oddly fluorescent colors and flavors that don't at all resemble actual fruit.
ReplyDeleteYou made homemade chapatis BEFORE school? Do you get up at the crack of freakin' dawn or what??!
anyone else interested in trying the home-made squeeze so-gurt, a little hiking birdy told me that yu canget these sort of re-fillable toothpaste-type tubes at hiking suply stores- think they have them at REI, actually. pop a clip off the end, fill it up with squeezable stuff, slide the clip back on... has some kinda opening at the other end, I think. haven't actually used one. tho they can leak.
ReplyDeleteMight be worth a look/ try?
My son was able to successfully squeeze yogurt out of a baggie, making him feel at one with his peers. It seems silly to me -- half the yogurt he would get in a cup, and a wasted plastic bag.
ReplyDeleteYes, but I think you are a very good mom for making him the treat he wanted even if you think it's silly! (Psst - so do I, but don't tell shmoo.)
Go-Gurt and So-Gurt. Very intersting...
ReplyDeleteTry Yougurt Bard for Kids
Jennifer Shmoo,
ReplyDeleteYou are awesome, and oh so inventive! Thank you for being such an inspiration.
I just wanted to say that, inspired by this blog, I went and bought my very own laptop lunchbox and packed my own delectable lunch in it for work today. The lunchbox seemed small at first (since it's designed for the kiddies) but it fits everything I need quite well. Thanks for the inspiration!
ReplyDeleteIf you have a vacuum sealer (foodsavery thing.) they sell freezer pop bags that can be used for yogurt.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sorbentsystems.com/channel_bags.html#pops
Wow! Twinkies, fishsticks, go-gurt: is there anything you can't veganise?
ReplyDeleteAlso? To everybody who suggested the squeezy applesauce, it sounds rad. I'm totally looking out for that.
It's cute I think when kids are just enthraled with the simplest little things. My cousin was wailing that she didn't have those hooker looking barbaie dolls: Bratz. and everyone else did and she no longer had friends. She got over it in a week.
ReplyDeleteThat "so-gurt" is giving me a big childhood flashback!
ReplyDeletemom had these "popsicle" moulds when I was little, and my favourite treat in the summertime was frozen blueberry yogurt pops. *real* fruit juice was also wonderful frozen this way.
I'll have to dig those out again and try a vegan yogurt version. :)
~S
that's so cool you got shmoo happy with so-gurt! wtg!!
ReplyDeletehi
ReplyDeleteit was so nice to see an indian tiffin i have been reading your blog regularly for the last couple of weeks and i enjoy reading and trying to get ideas .
but in india you do not get all the things that you mention.
Awwww. Kids just want to fit in, no matter how stupid what they're trying to fit into seems sometimes! I'm glad you found a way to let him eat so-gurt without a spoon. He'll remember it fondly.
ReplyDeleteI love these lunches. I don't have kids, but you are so creative, and your recipe links are very helpful. A definite inspiration! I just linked to this blog in mine yesterday. (Got the address from Nava Atlas.) An e-friend is amazed by your effort; I admire your creativity and am grateful that you post the results!
Jennifer, I have no regrets putting your site on my list of links. Your food, and your devotion to the cause, are both outstanding. And the Indian rice? Looks fantastic. I'll have to pick up May All Be Fed myself and give the recipes a go. Here is something that is really cool: my readers have checked out your site because it's listed on mine, and they have read about my shift to eating in a much more mindful way (veggie), and now they themselves are considering the switch. One soul at a time. One soul at a time.
ReplyDelete>>Have ya got the shawl and wire glasses to match your rocker?
ReplyDeleteActually, yes I have!! I wear wire-rimmed glasses, and I have several shawls -- that I hand knit, even! But I must confess...I don't actually have a rocking chair!
Thanks for all the heads-up on the applesauce tubes! I had never heard of them, but now I'll be keeping my eye out for some.
>>You made homemade chapatis BEFORE school? Do you get up at the crack of freakin' dawn or what??!
6:30 or so. There's nothing like pattin' out the dough as the cock crows. Or something.
>>Tell me, what kind of syrup is packed in those fruitcups?
ReplyDeleteHi, eatpeace! Almost all the little plastic cups of fruit I've found contain corn syrup. The tropical cups are the only ones I can find that are sometimes juice-sweetened (I actually don't have the original packaging so I'm not sure about these Dole cups, but I know the other brand I buy is fruit-sweetened).
>>is there anything you can't veganise?
Deviled eggs.
>>your recommed to a young, new vegan as their first vegan cookbook. And again I'm looking for more simple less intimidating recipes.
I don't have "How it all Vegan!" or the "Compassionate Cook" by PeTA, but from what I've seen they both look like good basic books to start with. I really liked "The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook" when I was just starting out; the recipes are generally simple, tasty versions of American home-style cooking, including very comfort-foody dishes like tofu pot pie, coffee cake, oatmeal cookies, etc.
"Am I the only vegan who loved--actually, still loves--junky food? I try to avoid it, but sometimes they just pop up.."
ReplyDeleteNope. Not just you at all. I eat a lot of chips and fries and stuff like that.
To the person who asked about cookbooks: I find that the recipes in Vegan Planet turn out great every time. I've only been vegan since January, and I'm not the world's best cook, but I have yet to be disappointed with a recipe from that book.
Dandilion: Earth Balance margarine is awesome. It tastes just like butter, melts well, and doesn't have any transfat (hydrogenated oil). The "light" Smartbalance (the kind with Omega 3 added) also appears to be vegan but doesn't taste quite as buttery as Earth Balance.
Btw, Thanks for the push toward the Chapatis. I made them to go with dinner last night and my family was delighted.
ReplyDeleteyay!
ReplyDeletewe eat chapatis toooo.