Let's Do Lunch!

Happy New Year, Lunch Box Fans! Will you be eating Vegan Hoppin' John tomorrow, for good luck in the new year? I hope so!

Well, look what Santa brought me: my very own Borsa Bella Bag (sitting in front of the beautiful white roses my husband brought me for Christmas. Take that, Santa.)

These adorable handcrafted bags are made in America by the sister of a good friend of mine. When I saw the name of this bag -- "Let's Do Lunch" -- I knew I had to feature it on my blog. The bag has a quilted interior with inside pockets to hold utensils, napkins, and an ice pack, with a magnetic clasp at the top to keep the bag closed. It's a nice way to keep all your lunch containers and utensils together in one place.

Here's the vegan momma lunch I put together to go inside my chic new bag: a thermos filled with Dr. Fuhrman's Famous Soup alongside a rectangular stainless steel lunch box filled with stir-fried carrots and arame (a type of seaweed), two brown rice flowers, and a sweet Clementine mandarin for dessert.

Verdict: I am absolutely in love with arame and carrots, stir-fried together with a touch of dark sesame oil and a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds. If you have never considered eating sea vegetables, let me tell you that seaweed is simply bursting with good-for-you minerals like calcium, iron, zinc and iodine. Not only that, it also tastes amazing! Arame is a nice one to start with, as it has a mild, almost sweet taste that is easy to enjoy. Try it in a stir-fry like this one, or cooked, chilled, and sprinkled on top of a vinegar-based potato salad. Yum!

Thank you, Borsa Bella!

Preview of Coming Attractions

Here's a sneak peek at the cover design for the new, updated edition of Vegan Lunch Box coming out this March from Da Capo Lifelong Books!

For the original, self-published edition my husband and I did all the typesetting, photography, and cover design ourselves. I'm excited to see what real fancy-pants professional publishers in New York City can do. I like what I've seen so far. What do you think?

The cookbook will contain all the recipes of the old edition, plus some new, and will be completely reorganized and stylized. Best of all, I think they've even lowered the price a bit!

I can't wait to get a peek inside!

The Lonely Lunch Box

Here it is, all alone at the bottom of the box: a final unsold copy of Vegan Lunch Box. Yes, I've turned off my ordering buttons and closed up shop, ready to devote myself full time to shmoo's third grade year.

But don't despair, vegan lunch fans! I'm excited to report that a brand new, completely revised edition of Vegan Lunch Box will be coming out from Da Capo Lifelong Books in March 2008.

The book is being completely redesigned (by professionals, even!) It will include all the recipes from the original plus brand new menus and recipes I created especially for the new edition. The best part is that the book will now be widely available in bookstores across the country, instead of being distributed one at a time out of a basement in eastern Washington. Check back for more information and a glimpse of the new cover some time in the next few months.

If you would still like to get your hands on a copy of the original, self-published edition, copies are still available over at Laptop Lunches. Order one while supplies last, or hunker down and wait for spring.

Saley Days of Summer are Over

The crazy summer blow out sale was a huge success! We moved boxes and boxes of books and the orders just kept pouring in. Thanks so much to everyone who bought a book plus one to share!

I hope all you parents had a great summer and are ready to gear up for fall. I love Back To School time!! Can you believe it's just around the corner already? I'm starting to put together shmoo's third grade learning plan and order new math and history books. I really do enjoy sitting down with him for lessons each day, so I'm excited about all we'll get to learn and do this year.

Unfortunately for all you bento fans, we won't have much need for lunch boxes this year. Staying at home generally negates the need for a packed lunch, you know. Besides, I'm sure you can tell that I've always made my more elaborate lunches more for my own sense of artistic and aesthetic accomplishment than for shmoo. It was easy to find the time when shmoo was off at school all day, but now that he is home with me and has also gotten older (9 as of this week!) he really has lost interest in the whole endeavor. At the same time my sense of creative fulfillment has shifted to helping with his education and to a number of volunteer efforts. It's been a fantastic adventure, and I'm excited to be moving on to new things.

Having said that, I want to let you all know that there are only a few boxes of Vegan Lunch Box left. If you wish to order a copy for this school year, you probably want to do so quite soon! After these final cases are gone, it will be several months before the book becomes available again.

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?