Lunch Box Contest Honorable Mention

I couldn't resist giving out just one more Vegan Lunch Box award and free cookbook! This one goes to Christine in Arizona, who sent in this adorable "Summer Bunny" lunch!

"I grew up in Saskatchewan Canada, where every summer at afternoon I would be seated in my mother’s kitchen enjoying one of her delicious lunches. She used fresh vegetables from our garden, warm homemade breads and juicy fruit from the farmers market, which have also become some of my favorites as I continue to cook and grow. This Summer Bunny lunch was inspired by the cool Canadian summers in Saskatchewan that I miss terribly.

"Starting from the top left, I made carrots out of Granny Smith and Gala apples, held together with toothpicks. Next I made a salad with organic red leaf lettuce with chopped sugar snap peas, cucumber and radishes. I sprinkled Galaxy brand Veggie Shreds (parmesan, mozzarella and romano flavored) for that yummy cheese texture. For the dressing, I used Annie’s Organic Pomegranate Vinaigrette, which was delicious!

"On the bottom left I made a bunny-shaped sandwich (Athenos humus spread, sliced tomato and cucumber between whole wheat bread), a filled a mini watering can with sliced carrots (every bunny’s favorite food!), all over a bed of alfalfa sprouts. For dessert, I made two mini servings of organic rhubarb crisp, a HUGE childhood favorite of mine, sprinkled with granola and ground cinnamon. I also added some of Annie’s vegan chocolate chip bunny grahams for a little variety! And for the drink... Soy on the GO Cappuccino (also comes in chocolate and vanilla)."

Is that incredibly adorable or what? Thank you so much, Christine, for sharing your work of edible art with us!

Lunch Box Contest Winner #5

Here is the phenomenal Amy, Winner Number Five in the Vegan Lunch Box Contest. Amy is fifth in honor of the FIVE lunch boxes she packs for FIVE of her children. How she manages to pack five lunches at all is a mystery to me, not to mention the fact that all the lunches look delicious, healthy, and fantastic!

Amy writes:

I love your blog and when I saw your contest I thought it would be fun. I have 6 children (the youngest is breastfed and doesn't need a lunchbox yet) so I'm sending in a picture of lunches I made for 5 of my children...


The bottom left has Southwestern Eggrolls on a bed of brown rice with diced tomato on the side. The inside of the roll is tempeh, spinach, corn, black beans, onion, red pepper, jalepeno which is left out for the kids, tomato, chili powder, and cumin. My recipe is a copycat of Chili's Southwestern Eggroll recipe except I substituted steamed tempeh for the chicken and just omitted the cheese. They are baked instead of deep fried like the original. The dipping sauce is vegan avocado ranch for the eggrolls. I used toffutti sour cream, veganaise, and soymilk in place of the dairy in the recipe. The top left has carrots and cherry tomatoes from our garden to use with the rest of the dipping sauce. The top right is mango and blueberries. The bottom right is an attempt at a vegan churro. I used a vegan donut recipe and it came out a lot flatter than I anticipated and looks more like a cookie.

The rolls and dip look delicious, and I love that they included my favorite soy food, tempeh. I'm so glad you took the extra time to photograph and share your family's lunch with us. Congratulations and thank you, Amy!

Lunch Box Contest Winner #4

The fourth winner of the Vegan Lunch Box Contest is Candice, who sent in her entry all the way from her current home in Laos. Candice handily beat out all competition in the categories "Most Unusual Fruit" and "Funniest Lunch Box Logo".

Candice writes:

"In this lunch box that I bought in China (attached pictures for the humor -- there is 'Chinglish' on the lid) I have packed fresh spring rolls stuffed with bean sprouts, home made peanut butter, Thai basil, lettuce, and glass noodles (I cut one open in the middle so you could see inside. For the record, fresh springrolls do not photograph well!)

"In the red bowl is spring roll dipping sauce made from palm sugar, vinegar, water and chilies. The red bowl has a lid (Tupperware). In the blue bowl is ground peanuts that are sometimes dumped into the dipping sauce, but you can always just mash the spring roll down in there and get some peanuts on the end of it. The green stuff is bell peppers. The eyes on the spring rolls are hijiki seaweed.

"On the other tray are dragon fruit (about 1/3 of an entire dragon fruit), two rambutans, and home made roll-out vegan oatmeal cookies.

Best of all Candice was kind enough to send me her healthy
recipe for Roll-Out Vegan Oatmeal Cookies and I have posted it for all to enjoy.

Thank you so much, Candice! I hope I have a chance to try rambutan and dragon fruit someday. They look like crazy Dr. Suess fruit to me -- I love it!

Lunch Box Contest Winner #3

This contest entry from Sherrila in California won my heart with a beautiful lunch container and a meal fit for a king -- or, in this case, a very hungry vegan husband!

I really like this Nissan Stainless Steel Lunch Totewith its nesting containers tucked into an insulated carrier. (I noticed in researching this lunch container that they have discontinued the current model and are coming out with a new one soon; I'm not sure what the changes are as it looks identical in the pictures...)

Let's start the description on the bottom left with heart-shaped melon salad with a trio of adorable strawberry mousies on top.

Next to it is a bell pepper filled with tofu salad and a salad of flower-shaped carrots, peppers, and zucchini, and a container of dressing on the side.

The hearty main course is a "Tuscan-inspired" pot pie filled with spinach, cannelini beans, and apple-sage vegan sausages from Field Roast. That pie sounds sooo good right now -- I love Field Roast!

For more pictures of lunch and lunch box, along with a more detailed description of contents, check out Sherrila's contest entry pdf.

It's so beautiful, Sherrila! You have one lucky husband. Keep up the good work!

Lunch Box Contest Winner #2

Here is Winner Number Two in the Vegan Lunch Box Contest: the Amazing Aracelis from beautiful Puerto Rico! Aracelis had by far the most entries in the contest, but any one of her artful vegan lunches would have won it for her on its own.

To give you just a taste, here are my four favorite entries from Aracelis:

1. "This is 'Chinese Take-In'. Home made Szechwan eggplant, barbecued tofu stir-fry (with broccoli, tri-colored peppers, cauliflower and mushrooms), white rice garnished with pepper flowers and black sesame seeds; and to round off the lunch: more broccoli. This was a nice and decadent lunch."

2. "This has been my favourite lunch so far. The contents are: steamed broccoli, cauliflower, snap peas and tri-coloured peppers. Edamame; with a BBQ sauce container. Strawberry and vegan chickn bits; and lastly onigiri (omusubi) filled with mushrooms sauteed in hoisin sauce. I could eat this every day!"

3. "This is a simple lunch, but it really hit the spot. Lentil soup, rice, broccoli, watermelon, and black bean mini burgers. The soup was made by my mom, specifically to accommodate me. She's really sweet!"

4. I call this 'TGIF Bento'. Everything (except the tofu dog) was home-made. The contents are: sesame noodles, maki sushi (avocado, carrots and cucumber), char siu seitan steamed bun, broccoli, tofu octodog, mango, blackberries and a tomato. It was a really good lunch and good way to end the work week."

Congratulations, Aracelis! Thank you so much for sharing all your wonderful creations with us!

Lunch Box Contest Winner #1

I am pleased to present you all with the First Place Winner and youngest competitor in the Vegan Lunch Box Contest!

"My name is Abraham and I am 9 years old.

"Like your son, I am homeschooled so I usually don't pack a lunch for school. My mother often shows me your pictures and told me about your contest. I decided to make one of my favorite vegan lunches and enter it.

"Like you, I have a blog. I put up a lot of pictures of the meal there: The Little Giant.

"I call this lunch 'Artist's Palate'.

"In addition to my bamboo spreader and a cloth napkin, I took rice cakes, peanut butter, raisins, dried coconut, two blackberries, a few cherry tomatoes, some sweet red pepper slices, and a few green beans.

"I also packed two tiny "donut" peaches that we found at the farmer's market. Everything was organic except the raisins and all of the vegetables are local, too."

Thank you so much, Abraham, for entering the contest and showing us the artistic side of fresh fruits and vegetables. Lunchtime at your house looks like fun!

Abraham's free autographed copy of Vegan Lunch Box is on its way. I'll introduce you all to the second place winner next week.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Contest Update

Thank you so much to everyone who entered my Vegan Lunch Box Contest. The deadline for entry was yesterday. I've been enjoying looking at all the yummy lunch pics and reading your wonderful, creative descriptions. Good job, everyone!

Wow, it's going to be tough: there are over 50 fabulous entries and I'm going to have to narrow it down to 5. It makes me wish I had more books to give away!

The five lucky winners will be notified via email on September 1st (my birthday!), and their lunches will be featured here on the blog throughout the month of September. So stay tuned!

The Vegan Lunch Box Contest

Hot, hot, hot off the press! A box filled with copies of Vegan Lunch Boxjust arrived at my door, fresh from the publisher. My first thought was, "Wow, it really happened! It's a Real Book again!" My second thought was, "Let's give them away!" So, here I am to announce

THE VEGAN LUNCH BOX CONTEST!

Here's what you do:



Pack a lunch, take a picture, and email it to me along with your name, mailing address, and a description of whatcha got in there. The top five lunch boxes will be featured here on the blog, and the five winners will receive a free autographed copy of Vegan Lunch Box!

The lunches can be packed in any container, lunch box, or bag you like, but all the foods must be vegan (i.e. no meat, poultry, fish, dairy products, eggs, honey, or bugstuff). Points will be given for nutritional balance, creativity, and attractiveness.

Entries must be received by August 25th. The winners will be notified via email on September 1st, and their lunches will be featured here on the blog throughout the month of September.

Good luck! I can't wait to see all of your vegan lunch boxes!