Blackberries & Pixie Vites

Today was a noon release day leading into SPRING BREAK -- hooray, an entire week off to play! Don't worry, though, I plan on posting a lil' bit of this-n-that next week to tide us over.
For school snacktime today shmoo chose some fresh blackberries (I covered them with a bit of crumpled parchment paper to keep them from knocking about). He also wanted to take one of his new Dr. Fuhrman's Pixie-Vites to school, basically to show off. They arrived Monday, and shmoo is quite enamored! He stirs them into his juice (which he turns into some kind of elaborate science experiment role-playing game) or eats them straight à la Pixy Stix.
I love Dr. Fuhrman's vitamins (no, I'm not being paid). They're designed for people eating a healthy, plant-rich diet, with no mega-doses of anything, and no isolated vitamin A or beta carotene.
Personally, I think a good supplement can help fill in gaps even in the healthiest diet. One interesting study showed that vegan diets tended to be deficient in calcium, iodine and vitamin B12. The same study showed meat-eating diets tended to be deficient in calcium, iodine, vitamin C, vitamin E, fiber, folate, and magnesium. So either way, it couldn't hurt!

Antless Logs & Chickpea Spirals

This morning I made "veggie spirals" -- pasta colored with powdered spinach, beet, and tomato powder -- and tossed it with olive oil, garlic, parsley, and chickpeas. Up in the fruit section we have apple and orange slices (now that's an apple that's not going brown!). Over in the veggie department I used a small cookie cutter to make cucumber flowers and spread organic peanut butter on celery sticks (no raisins -- shmoo can't stand ants on his logs). For snacktime I tucked in another Thinkorganic! Cashew Pecan Bar, one of shmoo's new favorites.
Verdict: Even antless, the logs got soundly rejected -- not even a nibble! But maybe I just packed too much, as he didn't finish all his fruit or cucumber, either. The pasta, however, was very well-received. 3 stars.

Kabobs & Crazy Hair

Today is "Crazy Hair Day" at shmoo's school, so I found a funny picture and made a little "Happy Crazy Hair Day!" card for his lunch box (try getting a Hallmark card for that one!). This was an all-around fun lunch to make: a wholewheat bagel spread with organic peanut butter, sprinkled with sunflower seeds, and cut into bites; peas & carrots; fresh fruit kabobs on little wooden skewers (pointy tips cut off after they were filled, of course!) with "Orangey Sauce" on the side (mix 1 cup vanilla soy yogurt with 1 TB concentrated frozen orange juice and sprinkle with cinnamon -- veganized from the sadly honey-heavy and not vegan book 50 Ways to Take the Junk out of Junk Food).
Verdict: Yes, it all fit! I crammed a couple more bagel bites in, then snuggled those kabobs down and wrapped everything in plastic wrap. He accidentally spilled most of the yogurt dip (what a mess!), but the part that made it to his mouth was enjoyed. 4 stars.

Empanada

When I started the Vegan Lunch Box project, I had no idea how universal the hand pie was. So far I've made Italian calzones, Russian piroshki, Cornish pasties, and now Spanish empanada! This empanada is filled with Taco Smart Ground. If I hadn't been making them for a picky shmoo, I might have made a pumpkin empanada, or one filled with spinach (using vegan cheese), or maybe just added some sautéed onions, green olives and raisins to the veggie meat (a traditional combination). The large lidded container holds apple and jicama, the medium container holds black beans and red Spanish rice (rice cooked with garlic, cumin, and Knudsen's Very Veggie Juice instead of water). The smallest container is filled with tofu sour cream for dipping.
Verdict: The empanada was completely devoured, along with everything but the sour cream. I guess anything in pie dough is an instant 5 stars.

Corn Cakes

This weekend I made corn pancakes from Erin Pavlina's Vegan Family Favorites for breakfast, and we all instantly fell in love! Made with cornmeal, whole wheat pastry flour and melted Earth Balance, they honestly taste so flavorful and buttery that they don't need any syrup or toppings. I made another batch for shmoo's lunch, this time adding lots of fresh corn kernels to make them more corn frittery (I also used 4 oz. silken tofu instead of Ener-G, and used 1 cup rice milk instead of 3/4 cup soymilk and 1/4 water). I packed them with a side of shmoo's favorite "Tuscan Bean Medley" (cannellini beans and chestnut limas) from Trader Joe's, and an organic orange. Beverage: vanilla rice milk.
Verdict: I usually slice our oranges into wedges (they're prettier and easier to hold), but decided to try peeling it this time, so I could fit more into the lunch box. It wasn't very photogenic, but there were no complaints! He couldn't quite finish all the beans, and saved the rice milk for after school. 4 stars.

"My, where did you get that lovely lunch box?"

It was another noon release day today, so instead of a lunch box I decided to write up another FAQ-type post, this time answering the timeless question, "Where did you get the lunch box?" (Yes, I know the link is right there in the sidebar, but people still ask me a lot!)

The lunch box you see in the pictures is a Laptop Lunch System from Obentec. We love it! The bento-inspired lunch box comes with removable containers in different sizes and colors, and a space for a fork and spoon. One of the larger containers has a lid to hold wet foods like applesauce or soy yogurt, and the set includes one tiny lidded container for things like dressing and dip. The other containers simply go into the lunch box without lids and the cover of the lunch box acts as a lid to hold them in place. Usually this is enough, but if I’m packing something very small, like peas and corn, I will cover the inner container with plastic wrap or foil just to be safe.

The Laptop Lunches FAQ can answer more questions regarding the lunch box system.

"Does it hold enough for an adult?" I think so. It certainly has space to hold more than I could eat! If you also purchase a thermos or lunch jar, it should hold all you need for a good-sized adult meal.

"How do you keep his food cold?" The entire lunch box slips into an insulated carrying case with room for a beverage container and an ice pack.

"How do you keep his food hot?" If it's something that really needs to be eaten warm, I will pack it in a preheated thermos (fill with boiling water and let it sit, covered, for 10 minutes, then drain, dry, and fill with hot soup or stew). The thermos we use is a 10 oz. thermos I found at our local grocery store. There are some nice thermoses online at the Thermos Website, and the Laptop Lunch people also sell a large "food jar".

"How does he reheat things?" He doesn't; he eats things like cooked veggies, pizza, etc. cold or at room temperature. Although I have seen some classrooms with microwaves, his class does not have access to one. Before you decide that sounds awful, think of all the great cold cooked veggies and beans you find at salad bars, and think of the cold pizza college students eat for breakfast! You can eat a lot of things cold that we are simply in the habit of eating hot.

"How do you keep the apple slices from turning brown?" (I know that's not specifically about the lunch box, but it's another one I hear a lot.) I toss his apple slices with a bit of orange juice. If we're having grapefruit for breakfast, I'll sprinkle the slices with grapefruit juice. Lemon juice will also work, but we find it too sour. Citrus soda will also do the trick, but we don't tend to have any around.

Whew! I think that's it, and we can use this comments section to ask more questions specifically regarding the lunch box.

Sticks 'N' Stones

I wanted to use up the rest of our Yves veggie ham, so I made shmoo some roll-ups filled with homemade tofu-cashew creme cheeze (from Bryanna's book Soyfoods Cooking for a Positive Menopause) and packed them with organic pear slices and Reduced Fat Triscuits. I came across this Sticks 'N' Stones Salad in one of my mom's old "Taste of Home" magazines -- blanched carrot and celery "sticks" and water chestnut "stones" (I used whole chestnuts to make it even more stonelike, and the magazine recipe added 1/4 tsp. dried dill weed to the dressing). I think the name alone might entice kids to give it a try!
Verdict: The salad was really good! Blanching the celery and carrot sticks in boiling water for 2-3 minutes then plunging them in ice water changed their texture just enough -- still crunchy but tastier than raw, and the dressing was fantastic. Don't forget the dill. It was nice to get away from Tofutti cream cheese and try something homemade; the cheeze was a bit softer to work with when making the roll-ups, but the flavor was excellent. 5 sticks 'n' stones, no broken bones.

Chickpea Noodle Soup

Chickpea Noodle Soup: get (or make) some good-tasting veggie broth, add tomato paste, nutritional yeast flakes, and some spices. Throw in a chopped carrot and some drained, canned chickpeas, simmer for 10 minutes, then add broken angel hair pastas and simmer for another 4 minutes (can you see the steam coming up from the thermos?). On the side is a mixed fruit salad (apple, orange, banana, and strawberries) and a fig bar.
For the past couple weeks I've been experimenting with desserts using no refined sugar (being defined by me as sugar crystals, maple syrup, corn syrup, honey substitutes, and sweet rice syrup, but excluding fruit, dried fruit, dark molasses, and barley malt). You should have seen my pecan tartlett disaster last night -- who knew barley malt would bubble up to twice its original size in the oven? But these sugar-free fig bars with wholewheat-oat-walnut crust turned out very nicely! And did you know figs are a good source of calcium?
Verdict: Shmoo scarfed up everything but the chickpeas at the bottom of his thermos. "They were too crunchy," he complained. 4 stars.

Ham & Cheese Croissant

Here's my new recipe for vegan croissants, using Earth Balance margarine instead of butter. I also used half whole wheat flour to add a touch of nutrition to what otherwise is merely a handy margarine-to-mouth conveyance system. I sliced them in half and filled them with vegan ham deli slices and a slice of Tofutti vegan cheddar, for classic ham-and-cheese croissants. More blanched green beans are in the lunch box today, along with some beautiful fresh organic strawberries. Shmoo picked out the fabric for this Egyptian hieroglyphic cloth napkin; he's fascinated with mummies and all things Egyptian lately.
Verdict: There is nothing like the smell of hot, baking croissants wafting through the kitchen, and the taste of one fresh from the oven. Go make some! 5 stars.

Tofu-Vegetable Spread

A few months ago blog reader Dee made cloth napkins for shmoo's lunch box, but he has since lost every last one of them (plus four spoons, two containers, three winter coats...). This weekend I finally tried my hand at sewing some myself using the easy instructions Dee sent. They turned out great, but is it still more eco-friendly to use nondisposables if they end up disposed?
Anyway, for lunch today I made a Tofu-Vegetable Spread sandwich from Raising Vegetarian Childrenby Jo Stepaniak, with blanched green beans, corn "tires" and an organic strawberry fruit leather.
Verdict: One thing this book recommends that I haven't seen anywhere else is to always simmer water-tub tofu for 10 minutes and chill thoroughly before processing into any kind of uncooked recipe. They say tofu packed in water (not the silken kind in asceptic packages, that's okay) is "a prime medium for breeding foodborne pathogens". Huh. Does anyone else always simmer their tofu before using it in eggless salad and such? I never have before, but did this time. The spread was just "okay" (I think less tahini, more soy sauce next time). 3 stars.
P.S. Happy Meatout Day!