Pimp My Tiffin!

While Vegan Lunch Box ("The Book") is away at the printers (soon! very soon!), I've been keeping myself busy inventing something new!

This summer I posted a series of picnics featuring my stainless steel food carrier. Although I love, love, love my carrier, several times I found myself walking out the door with lunch in hand but napkin and fork still on the kitchen counter. I dreamed of finding a way to attach my utensils to the tiffin so I wouldn't forget them.

Building a better brain wasn't an option, so eventually I got busy in my sewing room and came up with something I'm calling a Tiffin Hugger:


The quilted fabric cinches tight around the top but leaves the handle exposed for easy toting, and includes enough extra space around the food carrier to tuck in a small ice pack or a snack bar or two. A pocket on the outside holds utensils and a snazzy matching napkin. The hugger is not insulated enough to keep food cold all day, but with an ice pack it will keep lunch cool on the way to work or to the park. And it looks darn-tootin' adorable!

It was so much fun I didn't want to stop, so I made four black floral huggers with matching napkins, and three green floral huggers with hot pink napkins. I've decided to try selling them here for $14.00 each (such a bargain!).

Each tiffin hugger will include a napkin and a little stainless steel ramekin with plastic lid (the same kind I use for dressing in lunches like this one). The stainless steel food carrier and bamboo utensils are not included; you'll have to visit To Go Ware to get those.


$14.00 Black Tiffin Hugger with napkin and ramekin (stainless steel container and bamboo utensils not included) SOLD OUT



$14.00 Green Tiffin Hugger with napkin and ramekin (stainless steel container and bamboo utensils not included) SOLD OUT


Wow, thanks everyone! Tiffin Huggers will be heading out across America on Monday!

Tofu Apple Spring Rolls

Here's a lunch I created and photographed especially for the cookbook (which is on the way to the printers, eek!). A rice paper wrapper enfolds a mixture of gingery baked tofu, fresh apple slices, Napa cabbage, and cilantro. On the side is a small container of peanut sauce for dipping and some of my stepdad's Asian-style asparagus (he's thrilled that a recipe of his is actually going in the cookbook). For dessert, a nectarine and a dish of luscious black rice pudding. This is our favorite treat when we eat at a local Thai restaurant -- chewy black rice topped with a mixture of sugar and coconut milk.

Verdict: Big thumbs up from the photographer and testers -- my husband even said this spring roll was worth the cost of the entire book! Shmoo doesn't care for rice paper, so he stuck with tofu and apple slices and a big, piping bowl of black rice pudding. He says to pack the pudding in a thermos and eat it warm, but I think it's also nice at room temperature if you don't want the added weight of a thermos. 5 stars.

I'm Lovin' It!

Make your own sign at Ronald McHummer.

Leaning Tower of What?

I’m glad to see that there are so many wonderful blogs are out there filling the gap left by our lack of lunches. I'm especially inspired by the health-conscious mom over at Junk Food Lunch Box.

Now there's a mom who understands that nothing says "I Love You" like high fructose corn syrup.

Not-Back-To-School

Speaking of back-to-school, most of you have probably noticed that we have not. Gone back to school, that is. This year we’ve enrolled in a part-time program called "parent-teacher partnership". It's fabulous! I think he's learned more in the last two weeks than he did all last year. Although it cracks me up that I have regular meetings with my son's "learning consultant".

Anyway, that means shmoo only packs lunch once a week. So far he’s been very enthusiastic about packing his own. It’s an interesting mish-mash of whatever he can put together by himself -- sandwiches, cold veggies, fruit, and soy yogurts. Yesterday he fried a pan of veggie bacon for a bacon sandwich, then ate it all for breakfast. He made a very squishy cashew-macadamia butter and strawberry jam sandwich instead.

A Vegan Daily Bite

Vegan Lunch Box is being featured today on AOL's Diet & Fitness page as the "Daily Bite".

Welcome, AOLers, and don't forget to check out the Archives for an entire year of vegan lunch boxes!

"Pack a Lunch With Punch!"

VegCooking.com has put together a great list of Veggielicious Lunchbox Dishes and other ideas for the back-to-school crowd.

BentoTV

Oh, I think BentoTV is just about the cutest thing EVER. I want every little bento box, nori punch, and rice mold she carries.

Too bad the show isn't vegan. But I think a lot of the ideas could easily be veganized. (Do veggie dogs make good octopuses?)

A Vegan Campfire

Here's our brave shmoo ready to hit the trail on another exciting outdoor adventure. Man, that kid can hike!

If you're getting ready to head into the wilderness, too, check out the new article I wrote for kidscantravel.com: A Vegan Campfire.

Special thanks to TsugaMensch for recommending the book Lipsmackin' Vegetarian Backpackin'.

Happy Campers

We're back from our big end-of-summer campout! Last year I relied heavily on meal packets from Mary Jane's Farm. Although I still love them, at around $7 a serving the price was looking a bit too steep. This year I decided to make my own camp tucker using dried or canned foods that wouldn't go bad without refrigeration.

The first night we had the luxury of a fresh green salad from the still-cool cooler, along with a heap o' "High Water Hoppin' John" -- black-eyed peas, precooked brown rice, and a can of collard greens. This recipe was from the clever new cookbook Apocalypse Chow by well-known vegan chef Robin Robertson. The book is a "guide to eating with elegance even when the refrigerator, stove, and microwave are rendered powerless", and it succeeds wonderfully; stock your pantry using these helpful lists and recipes and your family will stay happy and well-fed during the next natural disaster. The recipes rely heavily on canned foods, so it's perfect for car camping where weight isn't an issue.

Speaking of canned food, I didn't want shmoo to miss out on the quintessential campfire "weenie roast" experience, so I brought along a can of Cedar Lake Deli-Franks. Canned veggie dogs frighten me, but shmoo jumped in with gusto and roasted them over the campfire, along with (of course) vegan marshmallows. He gave them both a big, sticky thumbs up!

So what if food weight is an issue? If you're hauling everything into the back country, you're going to want to ditch the cans and find something more lightweight and portable. That's where my favorite camping cookbook of all time comes in: Simple Foods for the Pack. This friendly little book has dozens of easily veganized recipes. Pictured here are Polenta Cakes: sturdy, savory "journey cakes" made at home the night before the trip. These tasty mini-casseroles were filled with zucchini, carrots, tahini, and onion (shhh, don't tell shmoo). I would recommend them highly for the lunchbox.

Ah, and those of you who are addicted to Larabars will be happy to note that this book includes an entire collection of "fudges" made from mashed dried fruits, dates, and nuts. Pictured here is Apricot Date Fudge, made from dried apricots, dates, walnuts, coconut, and a squeeze of lime. This was my husband's favorite campout treat.

On our final night I made another dish from Simple Foods: Sunflower Seed Patties with Shiitake Mushroom Sauce (I left out the milk powder and added more vegetable broth powder to make it vegan). I was amazed that this dish fit easily into two small ziplock bags, weighed almost nothing, and made enough for three generous servings. I opened up some small cans of peas, corn, and spinach on the side.

And finally, for dessert, here's a dish I created especially for our trip: Peach Blueberry Campout Crumble. I've wanted to work with dehydrated Just Blueberries for a long time, and I finally got my chance. The flavor was surprisingly fresh, and they plumped up with just a minute's cooking time.