Mango & Grape Tomato Salad

When you eat like a nutritarian "salad is the main dish".  I eat salad at least once or twice every day, and I  have to keep coming up with new salad recipes, or I get bored! Here's another healthy, nutritarian-style salad I've been enjoying lately: Mango & Grape Tomato Salad.

The flavors here are bright and sweet, and the recipe is simple. For the dressing, whisk together 1/2 cup mango juice (I used a mango-peach blend with no added sugar, but I bet you could easily put chopped mango into a blender with water and strain to make your own mango juice), 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, 2 tablespoons minced fresh mint, a pinch of clove and a pinch of coriander.

For the salad, cut a pint of grape tomatoes in half, dice two ripe mangoes (I like Ataulfo mangoes, they're so creamy), slice or dice 1/4 of a small red onion, and toss with the dressing. Serve on a bed of lettuce with black beans and diced avocado.

For my lunch I wrapped my avocado on the side to dice at lunchtime, so it stayed fresh.

Lentil Beet Orange Salad

This was a great salad! I was looking for something fun to do with leftover cooked lentils when I came up with the idea for a Lentil Beet Orange Salad.

I baked whole beets the night before: scrub whole beets without peeling, wrap them in foil, and bake at 400F for about 45 minutes, until easily pierced with a knife. After they cool down the skins slip off easily when rubbed with the back of a paring knife.

In the morning I tossed diced beets, orange segments, and lentils on a bed of lettuce and packed the salad with Orange Sesame Cashew Dressing. The combination of sweet beets, earthy lentils, and bright citrus was amazing!

Confetti Salad

Confetti Salads are the newest addition to my diet! They're a great way to get a higher volume of raw vegetables and fruits packed into a small serving that's easy to eat. They also travel well and make great lunches!

The idea is simple: pulse vegetables, fruits, and nuts/seeds together for a few seconds in a food processor. The softer fruits, like oranges, lemons, or pears, dissolve into the mix making a built-in dressing!

Confetti Salads are also called "microsalads", but that makes me think of microgreens. Also Confetti sounds cuter. I first heard about them at Dr. Fuhrman's Member Center forum. You can also read more about them and get lots of great ideas for them at Food = Health.

Today I made my current favorite: a few big handfuls of bagged coleslaw mix (shredded green and red cabbage and carrots), a handful of raisins, one apple peeled and chopped, one orange peeled and segmented, a handful of raw slivered almonds, a handful of raw sunflower seeds, 1/4 lemon peeled, and a big splash of Blood Orange Vinegar (you can leave this out if you don't have it). Pulse for just a few seconds to get to a coleslaw consistency.

I packed my Confetti on a bed of romaine and cucumber slices with a sprinkle of garbanzo beans.

Bean Chili with Zucchini

I'm having fun with my new lunch boxes. The insulated stainless steel bowl is topped by a small plate before you put the lid on -- just the perfect size for freshly-made corn tortillas from the Mexican grocery!

I warmed the tortillas and layered them with damp paper towels, then filled the bowls with two hot servings of Bean and Vegetable Chili made with extra zucchini and sprinkled with fresh cilantro.

I brought this lunch to my girlfriend who was reading palms at the psychic fair and we ate our little picnic together. We got lots of ooh and aahs at the cuteness of our lunch boxes and how yummy our healthy lunches looked!

Broccoli Piccata

I never thought I would actually CRAVE broccoli, but it's true! I've been craving Broccoli Piccata, steamed broccoli with lemon and capers from my first book. I made it more "Fuhrman-Friendly" by leaving out the oil and salt.

At mealtime I tossed the broccoli with my salad, hummus, and crunchy walnuts.

Golden Austrian Cauliflower Soup

One of my favorite soups of all times! I first heard about Golden Austrian Cauliflower Soup on Dr. Fuhrman's Member Center Forum, where people were raving so much I just had to try it. I've been making it ever since; it's creamy and cauliflowery, with a touch of sweetness from carrot juice so you really don't miss the salt at all.

I like to sprinkle my soup with Perfect Pepitas, a recipe from my first book Vegan Lunch Box. I packed my pumpkin seeds in the plate that fits on top of the bowl in my new lunch box, with fresh pineapple on the side.

Okra & Lima Bean Masala

Excitement! Time to introduce a brand new lunch box!

I love my To-Go Ware tiffins and use them almost every day to pack our lunches for work, but lately I've been packing more hot foods like soups and stews. The tiffins are perfect for big salads and cold foods, but now I wanted something with a tight lid that wouldn't leak that would keep my food warm until lunch time -- something like the wide-mouth insulated container I bought a couple years ago, but a bit larger and made from stainless steel.


I found one! And with a cute green apple handle, too! I ordered our two new thermal stainless steel double-walled lunch boxes just a couple weeks ago from Dino Direct, but they aren't on their website at the moment. This one looks similar.


For their inaugural voyage to lunchtime I filled them both with Okra and Lima Bean Masala from FatFree Vegan Kitchen. This is one of my favorites to make at the end of the week when fresh produce is running short but I'm not ready to go to the grocery store; I steam-saute a sliced onion with Indian spices, then add a bag of frozen okra, some frozen lima beans, and two cans of diced tomatoes.

Switching Lunch & Dinner

Sometimes it's a struggle finding time to work, shop, cook, clean, and still make it to the gym and have some time to relax. Planning meals and cooking when I get home has been especially hard; usually I'm starving and tired by the time I make it home and just want dinner to be ready.

So lately I'm trying something new: swapping out lunch and dinner. Instead of the usual big salad, I've been making a pot of soup and cooked veggies on Sundays and packing them for lunch. When I get home I fix my big daily salad for dinner.

So far this new routine is working splendidly! My lunch is warm and filling, which means less temptation to eat all the free goodies in the office kitchen, and my salad doesn't need a lot of prep work when I get home, so it's ready fast.

Today I packed an old favorite, Dr. Fuhrman's Creamy Asparagus Soup, half a baked carnival squash, and a pretty pear. (Look, it still has a leaf on it!)

Strawberry Salad

Last night I invited my friends over for a "Happy Healthy New Year Party", to kick off all our healthy eating resolutions with fresh fruits and veggies!

Here are a few of the yummy dishes I made, starting at the top: Mediterranean Eggplant (from Eat To Live, made without the garbanzo beans) with endive leaves for scooping; blanched green beans with lemon mayonnaise (mix lemon juice, zest, and white pepper with Vegenaise...this one isn't nutritarian but I enjoyed the plain green beans); celery, jicama, and sugar snap peas; and homemade white bean dip with cucumber slices and whole wheat pita bread. Not pictured are a big bowl of roasted carrots and another bowl filled with fresh strawberries and mango slices.

The party was a lot of fun, with everyone contributing other healthy dishes (one friend brought vegan Hoppin' John with black-eyed peas and mustard greens, perfect for the New Year!), and we all looked silly and got sweaty playing Just Dance on the Wii. Proof that people can still have fun and be social while eating healthfully!

This morning I made a beautiful lunch with leftovers, although there hardly were any! One friend brought this amazing roasted red pepper hummus, which I packed with cucumber slices for dipping. I sliced strawberries, apple, endive, romaine, and baby spinach for today's salad and topped with pecans and pomegranate balsamic vinegar.

Pita & Pomegranate

My lunches were either boring or repeats most of this week, so I didn't take any pictures until today: green salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, kalamata olives and olive oil-vinegar dressing, hummus, pita chips, and a wedge of pomegranate.

The shmoo and I like sharing a pomegranate when they're in season. We lay out plastic on the table and load up on kitchen towels, then tear into the beautiful fruit and eat the jewel-like seeds one by one. Pomegranates are super-healthy and oh, so pretty, but I'm especially drawn to them for their spiritual symbolism. Persephone ate a pomegranate seed in the Underworld and was condemned to stay four months in the Underworld every year. During these months her mother Demeter mourns for her and causes cold winter to cover the land. Pomegranates figure also in some Christian and Jewish traditions.

Why, I even have one tattooed on my shoulder!

Carnival Squash

After dinner last night I sliced a carnival squash into wedges and steam-baked it in the oven (fill the bottom of the baking dish with water, cover with foil, and bake until the squash tender, about 30 minutes). I let it cool slightly, then put it away in the refrigerator. In the morning it only took a few moments to make a pretty squash arrangement in my To Go Ware container.

I like plain squash and find it pleasantly sweet, but you could bake it with margarine and maple syrup and sprinkle with salt if you like.

In the middle of my squash is a smaller container of Lemon Rice and Peas, left over from earlier this week. I also packed a salad with Russian dressing, a pear, and two Fruit & Nut Bars. The bars make a perfect snack late in the afternoon.

My first week of work is over! I actually enjoy being back in an office environment, but I miss being able to shop and do errands during the day while everyone else is at work. I'm actually going to have to shop with the crowds this weekend -- shmoo and I will be getting ready for Christmas!

I Know My Momma Loves Me...

...how do I know? Because her curry tells me so!

My mom has been watching the shmoo for me in the afternoons when he gets home from school. Last night when I went to pick him up Mom insisted I take home a big bowl of yummy cauliflower, potato, and chickpea curry she had just made. It was nice not having to fix dinner! I made sure to save enough to pack for lunch today.

On the side are grapes and mandarin slices and celery with peanut butter.

I didn't pack as much today. I've been so worried about going hungry I've been packing more than I can eat; one night I was too full to eat dinner when I got home! Today I scaled back and packed just enough.

Lemon Rice and Peas

Today I made Lemon Rice and Peas from May All Be Fed. Last night I had leftover cooked brown rice, so it only took a few minutes to toss it together with Indian spices, frozen peas, cashews, low-sodium tamari and fresh lemon juice. I also threw in some garbanzo beans I had in the fridge.

This morning I packed the cold rice and peas in my To Go Ware alongside an avocado wrapped in yellow Hello Kitty. I opened the avocado at lunchtime and mashed it with some balsamic vinegar for green salad.

On the side are an orange, a low-sodium V8 juice, and yet more Fruit & Nut Bars (in case I needed a snack later in the day).

Since I have access to a microwave, I transferred the rice and peas to a regular bowl and microwaved them at lunchtime. They were so good I didn't want to stop eating, but it was too much to finish!

Now that I'm away from home all day, I feel even more the importance of a healthy lunch packed with care and love. It's a little reminder of home, a little moment of caring for yourself in the middle of the day, and a chance to smile a bit to yourself at a cute lunch box or a Hello Kitty avocado. :-)

Cabbage Rolls

Today was my first 9 hour day, so I had to pack enough to get me through!

I packed the last of my Thanksgiving Cabbage Rolls in a wide-mouthed insulated container that kept them nicely warm until lunchtime.

A simple salad with dressing is up above, with an apple, grapes in a smiling mushroom, and more Fruit & Nut Bars.

It worked! I ate lots of fruits and veggies and still stayed nice and full until quitting time!

I'm going to bed now.

Buckwheat Tabbouleh Wraps

Today I started a brand new full-time job! That's right, I finally get to pack lunches for myself!


Lunch Number One: an avocado with a tiny container of dressing, baby carrots, grapes, Fruit & Nut Bars, and four incredible lettuce wraps.

When Gluten Free Gidget shared her Buckwheat Tabbouleh Hummus Wraps on the This Is Why You're Thin! blog, I immediately thought of how lovely they would be as a healthy, gluten-free packed lunch. I followed her recipe but used only a scant 1/4 cup olive oil and less than half the salt -- it was spectacular! Very satisfying yet light and refreshing.

I topped the wraps with extra romaine to munch on.

Fried Rice and a Smart Bento

Have you ever packed your lunch box all just-so, then had to tilt the box to get it to fit in your backpack or briefcase and felt all the contents shift? Well, Japan has the answer! The Smart Bento is designed to fit upright in a bag instead, so contents stay just the way you packed them.

The box has two long, thin layers held together with a matching band. My favorite details include the clever chopsticks that disassemble and fit inside the top lid, and the little touch of sparkle in the plastic.

When I Love Obento! first sent me the Smart Bento to review, I wasn't sure what to pack. I decided that whatever I packed in this small of a bento had to be calorie dense or I wouldn't have enough to eat, so I went with fried brown rice with edamame, grated carrots, and hijiki seaweed.

I used a recipe for Natto or Tempeh Fried Rice from Just Bento. I had planned to use tempeh, but the two stores I usually go to for tempeh were both out (horrors!), so I went with edamame instead.

(The health food store actually had natto, but I've never tasted it before, have heard nightmarish things about it, and at $15.50 a jar I couldn't bring myself to give natto a chance. Anyone want to persuade me?)

In the smaller bottom layer are baby cucumbers, grape tomatoes, and some fresh berries from my garden.

Verdict: I must say this bento box is adorable. I loved the clever way everything fit together and the neat way it stayed upright in my bag. However, on its own this wasn't enough to fill me up, and there's no way I could use it to pack my usual lunch of a large green salad. I can see this box working for those with smaller appetites, or perhaps packed alongside a thermos or another bento container. 4 stars.

(Thanks to Michelle for taking the pictures!)

My Modified Eat To Live

Salad, salad, salad, is that all you ever eat for lunch? Yep, pretty much. But gosh darn, I like it!

Here's the salad-of-the-day in my two-tier To-Go Ware tiffin. I'm so happy that To-Go Ware has added little Sidekick containers to their line. The lids are stainless steel (no more crying over cracked plastic!) and they fit snug; I haven't had any leak problems. I used three today to hold black beans, picante sauce, and half an avocado to top my salad with at lunchtime. I love the way they all fit in the tiffin.

Shmoo has now proclaimed that he "only eats pears" and has stopped eating all other fruit. ("Who are you and what have you done with my son?") I tried to tempt him with some of this fresh pineapple, but ended up eating it all myself. I packed it in the smaller top container from the three-tier tiffin -- it can be packed and used alone for small snacks. And look at the pretty food picks I found to eat it with!

I've been feeling so good lately! I've been improving my eating style and getting back on track with Eat To Live, with the help of my wellness coach, a personal trainer (basically I need people telling me what to do at all times or I wind up face first in a vat of pudding), the support of my friends, and a lot of hard work.

Right now my slightly-modified Eat To Live food plan goes as follows:

• A green smoothie for breakfast.
  
  
• A small snack if necessary (usually a piece of fruit).
  
  
• A big salad with different toppings, some steamed vegetables, and fresh fruit for lunch.
  
  
• A snack if necessary (usually fruit and an ounce of nuts, or a slice of sprouted wheat bread with almond butter).
  
  
• A big bowl of soup or stew, cooked vegetables, or a stir-fry for dinner.
  
  
• beans are in there at least once a day, at lunch, dinner, or both.

What have I modified? Dr. Fuhrman advises people not to snack, but I find I get too hungry and fall off the wagon if I don't get those snacks. So I snack. I also use a bit of olive oil at times, and I sprinkle salt on something if it means the difference between enjoying it or hating it and feeling sorry for myself.

Apologies for all you non-ETLers out there who might find this post terribly boring. Hopefully I'll find someone else to pack a lunch for soon! Preferably someone who hasn't entered the terrible tweens....

Road Trip with a Pitted Prune

We’ve been stuck under gray skies so long, I can hardly remember what the sun looks like. It sure feels melancholy around here towards the end of winter. Time to get out of town and take a road trip! Yesterday we packed lunches and rode along with my dad and his sweet dog Libby, up into the pretty foothills of the Blue Mountains.

For shmoo’s lunch I packed a veggie dog in a whole wheat bun, two corn-on-the-cobs, and a Sunsweet Ones. What clever marketing is that? They’ve packaged individual pitted prunes in little wrappers to look like candy!! I saw these at the store and just had to give them a try. It seems like they would make the perfect, healthy treat to tuck into the corner of a kid's lunchbox.

For myself I made a hummus, sprout, tomato, and lettuce sandwich on sprouted wheat bread packed in our Lunch Skin bag. I also packed a tiffin container of mini cucumber slices, baby carrots, celery, and green grapes, and two Golden Delicious apples.

We started out worried about the weather; the car was wrapped in dense fog and the cold was bitter. We guessed we wouldn’t be able to get too far into the hills and would probably have to turn back. But as the car headed up into Dayton we climbed out of the cloud cover and suddenly, there it was! The sun was shining down on us from a blue sky! We had a wonderful, warm tramp about in the hills. The snow was mostly melted away. The ground was mucky but mostly clear.

Verdict: Shmoo wolfed down the hot dog and an apple but wouldn’t eat the corn ("too mushy" – it was cooked frozen corn), then said "This is my treat? Nice try!" and handed me the prune. Oh well, I still think it's a great idea. Maybe it will work better with younger children?

We nibbled on the veggies and grapes together on the drive back. I discovered that I love popping a slice of mini cucumber and a green grape into my mouth at the same time. Nice flavor combo!

Nacho Cheese for Everyone!

Enough of the serious stuff for a moment -- time for some fun! Shmoo and I meet our homeschool friends each week at the community center for games and fun and momma chats. This week I wanted to pack something fun for shmoo and I to share with our friends.

I made a batch of Nacho Cheese Dip and packed it in a warm thermos along with a big bag of organic corn chips for shmoo and his friends. I also packed a big batch of veggies for me (the kids were welcome to eat the veggies, too...but they didn't): lightly steamed cauliflower, baby carrots, jicama, celery, cherry tomatoes, and radishes.

I packed the veggies in a three-tier tiffin and left the third container empty. At lunchtime I poured the warm dip into the empty container to make it easier for dipping. I also packed some little fondue forks to make dipping the vegetables more fun.

Verdict: Everything tastes so good with this dip! I've been experimenting with the recipe and have discovered I can substitute canned white beans for the cashews to make the dish nut-free. I also like to add a bit of fresh salsa to the mix before I blend it, to add more flavor and a nice orange color. (Follow the link to the recipe and you'll see other people's variations, too.) James' best friend was hesitant to try the dip at first, but ended up coming back for more and then more. Can you believe I ate that much cauliflower?? 5 stars.

Long Shmoo Update, with Bonus Momma Lunch

Hey, it’s been such a long time since I’ve posted a lunch! I just had to take a picture of mine this afternoon -- isn’t it beautiful? This is pretty much what I eat every afternoon: some kind of salad and steamed veggies or soup. This salad is topped with Blood Orange Vinegar, sliced oranges, and cold cooked beets. I just love all the color and freshness.

The cooked vegetables are asparagus and yellow squash. This is such a treat, the first asparagus I’ve had in months – so good! I can’t wait for May, when half my refrigerator will be devoted to our local asparagus.

Well, a lot has been happening here, some of it good, some of it bad. In the GOOD NEWS, I’ve finished writing a new cookbook! Vegan Lunch Box Around the World features menus from, well, around the world, with emphasis on nutrient-dense recipes and the healthy vegetables, salads, and fruits I like to feature in my meals (don’t worry – there are more than a few special treats thrown in as well!) Visit my flickr album to get a glimpse at the great pictures my friend Michelle took for the book (the veggie burger is my favorite). It will be available in September, so stay tuned!

In BAD NEWS, my son’s health has been failing this fall and winter. Bit of background: as I’ve mentioned before, shmoo lives in a mixed “mom loves veggies/dad loves steak” household, and although I try to present him with healthy plant-based options at all times, I’ve never dictated what the shmoo was “allowed” to eat. Although he consistently prefers veggie meats over the real thing, he’s never gotten over his passion for junk food, soda pop, and cheese. I battle with sugar addiction myself, and I know I haven’t helped at all with all the times I’ve broken down and brought home bags of cookies, taken him to Baskin-Robbins with me, or shrugged my shoulders when he wanted soda pop. Even worse, he continues to dislike a lot of the vegetables I offer, and his resistance to them seems to be getting more intense as he gets older. Many of the healthy foods he used to eat he now refuses to touch (he even turned down broccoli the last time I made it!)

Then a few months ago my husband decided to start buying raw, unpasteurized whole milk. This thick milk comes in glass jars with enormous globs of cream rising to the surface. Shmoo has been sucking this stuff down in huge glassfuls and loving it…it’s like drinking half-and-half.

This summer I was alarmed watching his weight go up, and then listening to the doctor prescribe him allergy pills. But I continued to maintain that my son was his own person and could make his own choices. I provided all the educational material I could without sounding too “geez, mom” lectury, but in my mixed household (i.e. without the agreement and support of his father) I feel like I’m only listened to so much, and that my hands are somewhat tied (i.e. I can suggest he lay off the crap, but I can’t remove it from my house).

Then in December, shmoo started coughing continuously, day and night, and was finally diagnosed with asthma. Now he carries an inhaler wherever he goes. Since then he’s also suffered two long-lasting colds that never seem to go away.

Is it the milk? I hate to talk trash about something certain people near-and-dear to me see as an ideal food, but I honestly think so. Of course, it could also be the junk food we’ve allowed (even vegan food can be unhealthy garbage!!), or the soda pop he always drinks when he’s away from home, or something else entirely.

Anyway, after nagging his wheezy little head off, I finally convinced him to lay off milk for the last three weeks or so. It’s impossible to say anything for sure just yet, but he tells me he feels a difference, and he has only needed the inhaler twice in the last week, versus several times a day before. Now if only the cold would go away…

What’s the moral, peoples? If I had to go back and do it again, you bet I would be laying down the law a heck of a lot more, enforcing instead of suggesting healthier eating, and hopefully would manage to be a better, more consistent role model for my son.