It's Crazy Kung Fu Shmoo's Summer Clearance Blow Out SALE!

UPDATE: Please note that this sale expired August 1st.

That's right! We're crazy, crazy, crazy for slashing prices this low -- must be the heat! Visit VeganLunchBox.com to take advantage of my Summer Clearance Blow Out Sale: from now until August 1st buy TWO COPIES FOR $30.00! You heard right: two copies of Vegan Lunch Box for just $30.00! *

Woo, I always wanted to be a used car salesman. Anyway, I thought perhaps a juicy sale might encourage people to buy copies now for back-to-school time, so I don't get slammed in late August. And perhaps it will make up a bit for my shameful lack of posts.

Things have been quiet around here lately, I know. Please don't expect too much of me this summer; a lot has been happening in my life that doesn't fit in a lunch box! I hope everyone is out there enjoying some vacations and summer fun, like we are.

Someone mentioned hoping I would post some summer travel ideas and recipes. Please don't forget to look through the archive of recipes and blog posts from last summer for a collection of picnic, road trip, and camping ideas.

*Every good sale has to have fine print, so here's mine: Price includes free shipping via USPS Media Mail. This deal is for US orders only. For International and Priority shipping, please select the Priority and International order button and order at the regular price of $22.95 plus $5.00 shipping. To purchase just one copy, use the regular $22.95 order button.

Eat To Live Bundle

FYI for those of you who are interested in learning more about Eat To Live, I am selling an Eat To Live Bundle on ebay.

The set includes both of Dr. Fuhrman's DVDs, the 5 CD audio book "Disease-Proof Your Child", and an unused container of Dr. Fuhrman's Cocoa Powder (I bought it, then thought better of adding cocoa powder back to my diet -- too tempting!).

Even after you've sat down and watched them once, these DVDs are great for putting on in the background for snippets of encouragement and inspiration as you putter around during the day. The CDs are especially great for listening to in the car with the kids. After they hear these lessons on the fabulous disease-fighting properties of a healthy, plant-based diet, you might find your kids becoming more enthusiastic about eating their vegetables!

Rocking Rainbow PB & J

Remember the Jif Most Creative Peanut Butter Sandwich Contest? Back in February shmoo and I sampled the Texas Roll 'Em Up, and today I finally got around to making my second favorite entry: the Rocking Rainbow PB & J. Although neither of my vegan-friendly favorites won the contest, they both made Runner Up.

Half a whole wheat pita is filled with (organic, all natural) peanut butter and grandma's homemade jam, and the outside is spread with more peanut butter and decorated with fruit.

Two daikon butterflies are flitting about the rainbow. (Please don't ask me how I did it. I found instructions in an old library book on garnishes, and I went through an entire daikon to get these two good ones!) Baby carrots with vegan ranch dip, a small container of sesame sticks and a cup of shmoo's favorite oat milk complete the meal.

Verdict: The biggest question I had about the Rocking Rainbow was, how do you pick it up and eat it without all the fruit falling all over the place? Well, shmoo solved the problem in his own simple way: he picked all the fruit off and ate it first with his fingers, then picked up the pita and ate the sandwich. The butterflies got their little wings nibbled off, and everything else was devoured. 4 stars.

P.S. Speaking of pb & j, isn't it amazing what a simple peanut butter sandwich can do?

Wild Garden Hummus

Those of you who read my picnic posts last summer might remember my love for Wild Garden Hummus. It's my favorite hummus for camping, traveling, and picnics; the flavor is mild and not too garlicky for kids, it's oil-free, and best of all the jars are shelf-stable and don't need refrigeration. Yes, I've packed many a glass jar of Wild Garden for lunch on a long train or car trip.

So imagine how excited I was to find out that Wild Garden now comes in single-serving "Hummus To Go" packs! Hey, no more heavy glass jars or leftovers going to waste! I plan to pack some of these with us on our outings all summer long.

Today I packed the hummus with some Wild Garden Roasted Garlic Pita Chips, baby carrots, sugar snap peas, and cucumber, and a fresh mandarin orange cut into wedges.

Next to the hummus a bite of Equal Exchange Dark Chocolate is peeking out. One of shmoo's friends was selling these fair trade chocolates and coffee as a student fundraiser. How cool is that? Most of the kids' group fundraisers I've seen have involved chemical-laden cookie dough, microwave popcorn, or cheap chocolate at a high price. It's great to discover that there are positive, vegan- and eco-friendly alternatives.

Verdict: Certainly this is one of the easiest lunches I've ever packed! Shmoo tore off a corner of the hummus pack and squeezed ribbons of hummus onto his pita chips, reminding me of the Cheez Whiz of my youth. 5 stars.

Sunny Wholegrain Sushi

Here's one of my lunches for a change, photographed in a colorful Melamine 3-Layer Tiffin from Pearl River. I actually bought the lunch box as a gift for a friend who collects melamine (shh, don't tell!) but couldn't resist posing a lunch in it before passing it on.

On the upper right is a big serving of Asian Salad made with baby lettuces, cucumber, edamame, carrot, and daikon.

On the upper left are some Sunny Wholegrain Sushi cones, filled with healthy whole grains, avocado slices, and sunflower sprouts. I shaped the cones using a sushi cone mold from BentoTV.

Above the cones are a pig-shaped container of homemade Ponzu Sauce for the sushi, a kiwi container of Orange Dressing for the salad, and some Japanese Spinach from Vegan Lunch Box. This recipe from my aunt is the ideal way to prepare cooked spinach for a lunch box; the spinach is barely blanched and all the liquid is squeezed out, leaving the spinach chewy and flavorful, and excellent cold.

For dessert are two mandarin orange flowers with kiwi fruit centers.

Verdict: In an appalling act of mealtime injustice, my husband ate both of my mandarin flowers when I wasn't looking, and had to face my righteous, mandarin-deprived wrath. 5 stars.

More of Mabel

Linda from Mabel's Labels contacted me after reading my comment below on creating a label for veg*ans based on their Allergy Labels:

"Mabel is thinking we might be able to modify the Allergy Alert Label. Why don't you give me the text you'd like to see on a vegan label and we'll see if we can make a prototype."

How about it? Does anyone have some wording they would like to suggest? Would there be a demand in the veg*an community for a label like this for our children? Would you buy them?

Some of you have criticized my comment that the "I don't eat" list should be modifiable, because individuals have different ideas about what veganism or vegetarianism means to them. For example, some vegans would add white sugar to their list, others would not, and the same is true for honey. More controversially, I know scores of "vegans" and "vegetarians" who eat eggs, fish, chicken, etc. I'm not saying this is good or bad, I'm just saying it's true in my experience.

I understand that there is one set, proper definition, but in practice each family is different. I think allowing people to design their own "don't eat" list would be nice. Also, some parents might wish to add other items like "food coloring" or "wheat" to the list if their son or daughter is sensitive.

Perhaps leaving off the "I am a x" and just writing "Please don't feed me:" would be the best way to go.

More thoughts for Linda?

Mabel's Labels

So far in his school career, shmoo has misplaced four lunch containers, two container lids, several cloth napkins, and at least a dozen spoons (I've restocked the spoon drawer twice!)

So when Linda from Mabel's Labels offered to send some labels for shmoo, I was delighted. Now, as you can see, all shmoo's containers have his name and a cute little cat on them. Shmoo even got to pick out the color scheme and picture himself. And now when he forgets his lunch things they will at least have a bit better chance of making their way back to him.

My big question about the labels was how well they hold up to repeated washing. This picture was taken after lunch, when the containers had been washed with warm soapy water and air dried. The labels showed absolutely no sign of wear. I asked Linda about durability and received this response: "I personally have labels that have been on for over 2 years - the life expectancy of our labels is LONG!"

I love the labels, but here's what I really wanted to share, especially for those of you dealing with food allergies: Mabel's also sells Allergy Labels. How cool is that? You can detail what your child is allergic to and put it on everything they will eat and drink from during the day.

Hmm, I wonder if you could even change the wording from "I am allergic to:" to "I am vegan, I don't eat:"? Just a thought.

Thanks, Linda!

Road's End Shells & Chreese

Here's another new vegan product I picked up while on vacation: Road's End Shells & Chreese. I bought a box of their Cheddar Style Shells & Chreese to see how it would compare to my regular homemade version from Ultimate Uncheese (a perennial shmoo favorite).

It was so easy to make! I boiled the noodles, tossing in some frozen peas and corn at the end, drained it, then added some plain nondairy milk and the flavor packet. Just like a conventional box of mac & cheese! The instructions called for just 1/4 cup of nondairy milk, but the pasta still seemed too dry. I added at least an extra 1/4 cup before getting a nice, smooth consistency.

On the side are baby carrots with Vegenaise and dill for dipping, fruit salad, and three Mi-Del Ginger Snaps for dessert.

Verdict: Whipping this up took no time at all, but how would the flavor compare? "Hey, this tastes just like the macaroni and cheese that you make, Mom!" shmoo said. High praise for Road's End, from both the cook and the consumer. 5 stars.

PUL Wrap

Vegan Lunch Box reader Lilia saw my recent post on Wrap-N-Mats and wrote in with these pictures and comments:

I saw your post about the Wrap- N-Mats and your dislike of the plastic smell. I found a solution and thought you might want to share with your readers. I made my own cloth diapers for my dd who is now 2 1/2 and potty trained. I have tons of PUL left over. This is polyurethane laminate coated fabric. After I read your post last night, I decided to wrap my sandwich in it. I made the sandwich last night, refrigerated it overnight and carried it in my insulated lunch bag. My sandwich was nice and soft at lunchtime. It didn't get stiff. I will be making more of these now for my family and my friends.

To get an idea about what the fabric looks like you can go to Diaper Shop. It's fairly soft considering it's coated, especially if the material that was coated is a knit. A little more stiff if it's a woven, but still folds up more like a thick napkin than plastic. I bought lots of "diapercuts" from Diaper Shop. You can get a nice variety of fabric choices this way, without having to buy a full yard. They run about $3 a cut. and could probably get 4 out of one 20x20 cut. Much more affordable than the Wrap-N-Mats.

As you can see from Lilia's pictures, making a PUL wrap looks easy, with no layers of fabric and plastic to sew together. And the fabric selection is great, with both fun prints and plain solids. Thanks, Lilia!

Follow Your Heart Pizza

On a recent trip out of town I was finally able to pick up some Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Cheese. I've been hearing about this stuff for years and couldn't wait to try it for myself. Today I took a bit of the mozzarella-style cheese and turned it into a lunch box pizza with tomato sauce, broccoli, and capers.

On the side is, yes, another Applesauce Fruit Squeezie and a bite of fair trade dark chocolate.

Verdict: I really, really wanted to like Follow Your Heart. It's more local than Sheese and isn't made with transfats like Tofutti slices. Perhaps it's a case of having inordinately high expectations, but I was disappointed. None of us liked the taste or texture of any of the Follow Your Heart cheeses. We found them gritty, soft, and watery. But still, I felt worlds better giving this to my son versus giving him Tofutti, and cooked on top of pizza shmoo said the mozzarella tasted "not bad". At lunchtime shmoo picked the broccoli off the pizza first and gobbled it up (dang, I should have put more on!), then ate every last bite of the pizza -- even the crusts! 3 stars for Follow Your Heart.