WOW! Thank you, Bloggie Voters!

OMG!! Vegan Lunch Box won the Bloggie for Best Food Blog! I'm still in shock!

Thank you so much to everyone who voted for me! And thank you to everyone who visits the Lunch Box and leaves their kind, encouraging words behind. You all help keep me believing in the power of veganism, and you make this blog a fun, exciting place to be. THANK YOU!!

Piroshki

Piroshki are small Russian hand pies, usually filled with potato & onion, kasha (buckwheat), or ground meat. This one is filled with simple mashed potatoes (potatoes, Earth Balance margarine, salt & pepper) for Little shmoo, who loves simple potatoes. So, we've got one potato piroshki, peas & carrots, and a pear, along with four Reduced Fat Triscuits (they're finally making them without trans fats!) and four slices of Soy Deli Savory Baked Tofu.
Verdict: The piroshki were delicious (FYI, I made the same rich, "buttery" dough I used to wrap Pups In A Blanket back in September -- and yes, it will be in the cookbook). We hadn't tried storebought baked tofu before; I was worried it would be too spicy, but it wasn't spicy in the least. My son liked nibbling it on crackers, and I put some in my salad for lunch. Only a few little peas were left rattling around in the lunch box. 5 stars.

Hot Dog Soup

I wanted to do something with the leftover veggie dogs this week, so I decided to make this simple German Lentil Soup with Frankfurters (I used 6 cups of water and cooked the lentils until soft before adding the carrots). For fruits and veggies Shmoo chose a kiwi fruit and baby carrots with ranch-bean dip ("Brussels sprouts...no, baby carrots...no, Brussels sprouts...no, baby carrots with dip!"). He's been admiring some shredded coconut up on the cupboard shelf lately, so last night I made some of Dr. Fuhrman's Date-Nut Pop'Ems and rolled them in coconut for a surprise treat.
Verdict: He finished half the soup and everything in the lunch box, and praised me to the heavens for satisfying his coconut jones. Pop'Ems are such an easy recipe to play with; this time I used soft dates, almonds, cashews, and sunflower seeds, and added a tablespoon of roasted carob powder. 3 stars.

Soy Controversy

A lot of people are emailing and posting about the amount of soy in my son's diet, which I expected. Rather than see it hashed out again and again, I thought I could create this special soy post and refer people here as it comes up (I'd like an FAQ for frequent questions like this, but until I get to it I thought having a specific post I can link to would be the closest thing).

I like what John Robbins wrote about soy on his website here and here. But I think the site I would most recommend is Bryanna's Soy Concerns FAQ -- it's very comprehensive and well-researched. Thank you, Bryanna!

If you're worried about soy there are plenty of other things you can eat, even on a vegan diet. Some people decide to limit their soy consumption to traditional soy foods, like tofu, tempeh, soymilk, and miso. A lot of Jo Stepaniak's books contain soy-free recipes, including the Food Allergy Survival Guide, which is perfect for those out there with soy (or other) allergies.

Tofurky & salad

Ever since the Salad Miracle occured in November, shmoo has been happily eating a big bowl of salad every few days or so, but only if it's finely shredded, and only if it has my Dreena- inspired Asian Miracle Dressing on it (follow the first link above for the recipe), and only if it contains a fruit. Them's the rules. However, lettuce, no matter how finely shredded, is still classified as a toxic pollutant if placed on or in any sandwich, wrap, or other food, and he'll still tell you he "hates spinach", even though he gobbles it down with gusto.
Today we decided to try sending some of his favorite salad in the lunch box: romaine, baby spinach, red cabbage, carrot, apple, and fresh walnuts. You can see the gold-standard dressing on the side next to a Thinkorganic! Cherry Nut Bar, and a half-sandwich of hickory-smoked Tofurky with Vegenaise on cracked wheat.
Verdict: He ate all the sandwich, even the crusts this time. Now I think the trouble with salad is the amount of chewing it takes. These kids only have 20 minutes, so there was some serious last-minute shovelling to get those last few bites in! We loved these new Thinkorganic! bars made from nothing but mashed dried fruits and nuts (mine was Cashew Pecan -- good stuff!). 4 stars.

A Day in the Life

Another noon release day today -- sorry, no lunch box!

Instead, a few of you have been asking what Little shmoo eats when he's not at school, so today I thought I'd pay a bit of attention and give you an example of a full day's food for my growing seven-year-old. Now I'm not saying it's perfect, or ideal, or whatever, so don't nit-pick it to death -- it's just what today was like. Tomorrow will be another day. Okay, here we go (most of the foods were organic, if I could get it)...

• Breakfast: smoothie made from fortified vanilla soymilk with frozen mango, pineapple, brown rice protein powder, and ground flaxseed; whole wheat toast with Earth Balance margarine (he chose toast over cornbread, and margarine over peanut butter or almond butter); a vegan chewable multivitamin.
  
  
• Mid-morning snack at school: the leftover Twinkie Dog (chosen over fruit or a fruit-nut bar).
  
  
• Lunch at home: big bowl of mixed green salad (romaine, spinach, red cabbage, carrot, half an apple, and freshly cracked walnuts) with his favorite salad dressing; a bowl of broccoli Cheeze Please soup (a creamy soup made from potato, carrots, silken tofu, and nutritional yeast and topped with steamed broccoli -- from Jo Stepaniak's Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook); some more walnuts (he likes to sit at the kitchen counter and crack them) and a large handful of unsalted sunflower seeds (so he could pretend he was a squirrel).
  
  
• Snack: two bowls of vanilla soy yogurt mixed with slices of banana, frozen blueberries, and frozen cherries (chosen over a peanut butter sandwich or a kiwi fruit).
  
  
• Dinner: two big bowls of brown rice mixed with black beans & corn, topped with cubed avocado and steamed zucchini (he turned his nose up at our Yumm! sauce, and sprinkled his with Bragg's and Spike instead); a fresh pear; calcium-fortified orange juice.
  
  
• Late-night snack: baked Kettle Chips with ranch-flavored bean dip.

In between bites he went to school, went shopping with me, engaged in mortal combat with his friend H-Bomb, played volleyball at the gym, did homework, read books, whined his way through some chores, and play-wrestled with his dad.

You can see that I usually give him two or three healthy things to choose from, especially at snack time. I think choices are important. Would he choose meat if that was an option? No, he wouldn't -- it happens sometimes he always politely refuses. Ah, but would he choose candy and soda pop if I had listed that as an option? Absolutely -- in a heartbeat! But we don't have those things in the house, so the idea didn't come up. Was he sad and deprived because of this? No, in fact he had a very happy day today, and I think he's generally happier and healthier than he would be on the typical American diet.

And so the sun goes down on another vegan-friendly day in the life of a shmoo...

Corn Dog

A brilliant woman named Lisa emailed me after seeing my recipe for vegan Twinkies, and suggested I use my new Twinkie pan to bake vegan corn dogs (didn't I tell you the woman is brilliant?).
I used the easy corn bread recipe posted in the comments on February 16th, replacing 1/3 cup maple syrup with 1/3 cup plain soymilk to make it not quite so sweet. I covered the bottom of the cup with batter, set a (slightly trimmed) veggie dog in the middle, then covered it with more batter. I baked them at 350º for 25 minutes, and packed one in the lunch box with a tiny container of ketchup, baked Kettle Chips, steamed Brussels sprouts, and pink grapefruit segments.
Verdict: I baked two dogs so I could peek inside one and make sure it was done -- they were perfect! When shmoo came in the room I closed it back up and set it before him.
"A Twinkie!" he said.
"Open it up," I told him.
He peered inside. "It's...a TWINKIE DOG!" he exclaimed. "COOL!"
The other cool thing that happened today was shmoo choosing to eat his Brussels sprouts at mid-morning snack time instead of his fruit. Have I mentioned they sometimes get a mid-morning snack break? Well, they do, and he always chooses to eat his fruit and/or dessert, so it was neat to hear that he chose the veggie first. 5 stars. Thanks, Lisa!

Peas & Carrots

A few days ago in the comments someone mentioned May All Be Fed by John Robbins, and it reminded me of how much we love Jia Patton's wonderful recipes in the back of that book. Today I made her Lemon Rice and Peas -- brown rice mixed with peas, cashews, and Indian spices -- and my husband's favorite, Ginger Carrot Cake with Orange Glaze, made with fresh ginger and plenty of walnuts and organic raisins. Cantaloupe balls are on the side.
Verdict: It was a perfectly empty lunchbox today! I was so happy when shmoo finally started enjoying raisins so I could make cakes like this one, all chock full of them. 5 stars.

Frittata

Last night I made a tofu frittata (from Bryanna Clark Grogan's book Nonna's Italian Kitchen) with slices of potato and a bit of Smart Ground cooked in. This morning I baked spelt biscuits and made biscuit sandwiches with the frittata and slices of Tofutti cheese. I packed them along with peaches canned in juice and some lightly steamed green beans.
Verdict: I just love all of Bryanna's recipes -- she's a vegan goddess! I made the frittata last night after shmoo went to bed, intending to use it for lunch purposes only. But it came out so lovely and golden and tasty...shmoo was lucky there was enough left for lunch! He ate all the green beans, peaches, frittata and cheese, and left one biscuit behind. 4 stars.

Sloppy Lennies

Here's my kidified version of good ol' Disorderly Lentils (aka Sloppy Lennies) from McDougall: Throw 1 cup rinsed red lentils, 2 cups water, 1 cup smooth tomato sauce (I use my Vita-Mix to turn chunky tomato sauce, cooked carrots and steamed kale into an innocent-looking puree so a certain someone will eat it in peace), 1 TB soy sauce and a pinch of dried basil into a saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Ta da! Serve on wheat buns or toast.
Next, this fruit salad combination has been a favorite with the kids in our family for years: combine equal parts fresh pineapple and banana slices, drizzle with a bit of agave nectar or Just Like Honey (which really does taste just like honey, it's amazing!), and top with lightly toasted walnuts. The acidic pineapple and drizzle of "honey" keeps the bananas from getting too brown before lunch time.
Finally, for dessert, look what just arrived at our local health food store: Betty Lou's Organic Smackers. Yes!! Chocolate peanut butter or almond butter cups with the word "vegan" right there on the front of the wrapper.
Verdict: He ate about half the bread and most of the Lennies -- next time half a bun. This fruit salad was a big hit, as always. And the Smackers? We are sooo in heaven, you have no idea. They're not as good as the Reese's cups I miss so much -- they're better. 4 stars.