Fried Rice and a Smart Bento

Have you ever packed your lunch box all just-so, then had to tilt the box to get it to fit in your backpack or briefcase and felt all the contents shift? Well, Japan has the answer! The Smart Bento is designed to fit upright in a bag instead, so contents stay just the way you packed them.

The box has two long, thin layers held together with a matching band. My favorite details include the clever chopsticks that disassemble and fit inside the top lid, and the little touch of sparkle in the plastic.

When I Love Obento! first sent me the Smart Bento to review, I wasn't sure what to pack. I decided that whatever I packed in this small of a bento had to be calorie dense or I wouldn't have enough to eat, so I went with fried brown rice with edamame, grated carrots, and hijiki seaweed.

I used a recipe for Natto or Tempeh Fried Rice from Just Bento. I had planned to use tempeh, but the two stores I usually go to for tempeh were both out (horrors!), so I went with edamame instead.

(The health food store actually had natto, but I've never tasted it before, have heard nightmarish things about it, and at $15.50 a jar I couldn't bring myself to give natto a chance. Anyone want to persuade me?)

In the smaller bottom layer are baby cucumbers, grape tomatoes, and some fresh berries from my garden.

Verdict: I must say this bento box is adorable. I loved the clever way everything fit together and the neat way it stayed upright in my bag. However, on its own this wasn't enough to fill me up, and there's no way I could use it to pack my usual lunch of a large green salad. I can see this box working for those with smaller appetites, or perhaps packed alongside a thermos or another bento container. 4 stars.

(Thanks to Michelle for taking the pictures!)

Cover Photos for Around the World

My friend and professional photographer Michelle Ellis stopped by last week to take the final cover photos for my forthcoming cookbook Vegan Lunch Box Around The World.

For the cover I wanted something special, so I chose my son's number one favorite lunch from his first year at school. That turned out to be the lunch I packed him for Chinese New Year: Tofu Char Sui on a bed of brown rice, Teriyaki Green Beans, a steamed dumpling filled with sweet bean paste, mandarin orange segments, and kiwi fruit.

I set up three different Laptop Lunch Boxes to provide the cover designer with three different looks to choose from: a sophisticated, more adult look in a black bento box, the more playful purple bento to the left, and the adorable, pink, child-friendly smiling dumpling bento above. Guess which is my favorite?

You can see more images, including the "sophisticated" look, at my Flickr photostream.

Finding Nemo

I've been dying to make the fish bento from Hawaii's Bento Box Cookbook.The author filled a fish-shaped bento box with plain white rice and used sliced jumbo black olives to form scales. How brilliant is that?

I wasn't able to find a fish-shaped bento box, but I did come across this rabbit-shaped bento box, and saw at once that the pink bunny was perfect for Summershmoo and the shape was close enough to a fish to get the job done.

Unfortunately, I was told by her mom that Summershmoo does not like plain rice or olives, so what was I to do? I decided to change the plain rice into a serving of Vegan Glorified Rice, a sweet rice pudding filled with crushed pineapple and silken tofu. Once again I used fruit leather to make the cut-outs.

In the upper tier of the bento box I put two vegan sausages, some baby carrots, sugar snap peas, cauliflower florets, and jicama hearts.

Verdict: Well, it will be back to peanut butter sammies next time! Even as a sweet pudding Summer did not want to eat rice. It must be the texture she dislikes? She did, however, pick off the fruit leather and eat all the vegetables. She took one bite of the sausage. 5 star cuteness, 2 star consumption.

On the Cover of the Vegetarian Times

See the wording on the left there, "Vegan gourmet / The perfect picnic"? That's me! I wrote that! I put together a vegan picnic menu for this month's Vegetarian Times magazine. The menu features a roasted red pepper spread sandwich with baked beans, a kid-friendly salad, and coconut cream pies for dessert. The staff at Vegetarian Times made and tasted each of the recipes and liked them all (whew!), and I love the pictures they took.

Originally my summer picnic menu also included an egg-free, mayo-free vegan potato salad, because what picnic or potluck is complete without potato salad? However, the editors felt that with the sandwiches and beans, the potatoes would make the menu "too starchy", so it got canned.

But you're in luck! I saved the recipe and am posting my Picnic Potato Salad here. Think of it as a free bonus recipe! Or think of it as the best darn vegan potato salad you'll ever eat. Either way.

Shmoo Review: 101 Natural Healthy Eating Tips

This week Emily Davidson was kind enough to send me a review copy of her new book, 101 Tips: Healthy Eating, Naturally.

Emily is described on the cover as a "Healthy Eating Expert Guru" (love it!) She's put her knowledge of natural and holistic nutrition to work creating this little introduction to healthy eating made simple.

If you know anyone who has never eaten healthy food before and is looking for a good place to start -- maybe a teen or young adult just getting out on their own, or someone faced with a sudden health scare -- this is a great gift, perhaps tucked into a gift basket with healthy basics or some cooking tools.

Topics include basics like how to make a healthy salad, how to survive a trip to a restaurant, understanding ingredient labels, how to steam vegetables and cook grains, and much more. Although the book is not completely vegan, veganism is addressed and topics do include vegan protein sources, dairy and egg substitutes, and appropriate supplements for a veg*an diet. The book ends with a few easy recipes to get the health newbie started, like Roasted Vegetables, Super Oatmeal, and Watercress Stir Fry.

Thai Spring Rolls

I finally, FINALLY came across vegan spring roll wrappers in a local grocery store! All the wrappers I had seen before contained egg; these contain flour, coconut oil, and salt -- that's it. Time to whip out the Fry Daddy!

I had never made fried spring rolls before, but back when I was 17 I cut out a recipe from our local newspaper, and I still had that yellowing slip of paper in my recipe binder. I swore one day I would get around to making them, and today it was finally time to get on a roll (doh)!

The filling is a mix of blanched cabbage, carrot, and mung bean sprouts mixed with fried onion and cellophane noodles. The wrappers were easy to work with and needed just a nudge to stay sealed when they first went in the fryer.

The dipping sauce is a mix of sugar, vinegar, and sweet chile sauce from the Asian market.

Below the spring rolls we have my other recent discovery at the grocery store: enoki mushrooms, roasted in olive oil and tied with green onion stems. I placed the enoki bundles (they look like sheaves of wheat to me, wouldn't that be cute in a harvest-themed lunch box?) on a bed of brown rice. A serving of Japanese Spinach (from Vegan Lunch Box) is along the base.

Verdict: My husband was thrilled with the sudden appearance of a deep fryer in our kitchen this morning (it's just on loan from mom, so don't get used to it). He ate at least four rolls for breakfast at 6:00am before heading out for work. At lunchtime, he showed off his lunch and reports the rolls and sundry were fantastic. The mushrooms, however, were a bit chewy. 4 stars.

I'm a Twit

As you can see from the new sidebar, I am now on Twitter (and it's not because of Oprah, it was sheer peer pressure from my friends who have been extolling the virtues of Twitter until I just had to try it for myself). Henceforth! I will be twitting away about all manner of mundanity if you care to tag along.

Some readers here have expressed an interest in knowing more about my nutrient-dense eating plan, so I will use Twitter to share a bit about what I'm eating now and then and perhaps give people more glimpses of an Eat To Live-style diet. Of course, I'll also share some of the other things I do during the day ... which would be mostly "doing laundry", but I'll try to spice it up a bit.

As if figuring out that bit of new technology were not enough, I have also created a Facebook page for Vegan Lunch Box. You can become a fan there, write or post pictures on my wall, or even visit my personal Facebook page where I've added a folder of my own favorite pics from Vegan Lunch Box through the years.

Foodscapes

Oh my gosh, check out these Foodscape Posters, so perfect for a school cafeteria or homeschool classroom setting:

Banana porpoises!

Cauliflower sheep!

A kiwi monkey!

What a great way to encourage kids (and us big kids!) to eat fruits and vegetables. Along with the posters they also sell a whole Foodscapes line with things like temporary tattoos and stickers ("Veggies can't be BEET!" hee). I think these would be so fun offered at information tables or at a nutrition class, or even tucked into a lunch box.

(thanks to Linda Marks for telling me about Foodscapes!)

Flower Sammy

Making lunches for Summershmoo is about how many ways I can make a peanut butter sandwich. Today the pb & agave is a flower with her name in fruit leather letters along the top. I got this idea from Hawaii's Bento Box Cookbook,which uses cheese for the letters.

(By the way, most decorative bentos use cheese and meat slices in their designs, and I'm finding that fruit leather makes a great vegan replacement. It comes in a variety of colors, punches out well with cookie cutters, and doesn't tear or crumble like the some of the vegan meats and cheeses I've tried.)

On the side are baby carrots, celery sticks, cucumber flowers, and the tiniest little grape tomatoes I've ever seen at the store. In the apple container is (what else?) half an apple.

Verdict: Girls are fun! I don't think my son was ever as tickled and thrilled as my niece was when she saw her little pink lunch box and red apple. "Is it for me? Oh, it's beyuiful!" She loved eating the letters first, then happily ate everything but just a few of the veggies (I had no idea if she liked tomatoes -- turns out she doesn't.) 5 stars.

Crafty? Make Your Own!

If you looked at the
reusable sammy baggies in my recent post and thought, "Hey, I could do that!", you'll want to check out these instructions on How To Make a Reusable Sandwich Wrap.

According to the website, these "fun, functional sandwich wraps give you a reusable alternative to plastic baggies, plus they are a snap to make. After each use, they can be wiped clean with a damp cloth or tossed in with the rest of the laundry."

I don't know about a snap (I routinely sew my sleeves together trying to make a napkin), but they sure are cute!

Thanks, Angie!