Menu: Lunch Box Adventure Menu from Vegan Lunch Box

Vegan Lunch Box is a book full of, no surprises, lunch box menus for kids. But you don't have to be a kid to have fun with it. (Also, if you do have kids, you don't have to make fancy lunch boxes for them to take to school every day.) In my previous posts, I have mostly been making and presenting the menus to take as lunch for myself. But meh, effort. So for this one I decided just to make it for dinner and serve it on a plate. An excellent idea! This menu comes from the Lunch Box Adventure chapter of the book.

Musubi: I made a half recipe of this, and got three big rice balls out of it - two for me and one for my dad (who had a big lunch so only wanted a light dinner). The book suggests stuffing them with an umeboshi plum or peanut butter. I didn't have any whole umeboshis, so I did some umeboshi paste and that was a very strong flavour! I also did one with peanut butter, which was fun. I would have preferred a bit of seasoning in the rice itself, as they were very large and a little more flavour would have been good.
Rating: :)



Adzuki Beans with Pickled Ginger: This is a quick and easy bean based salad, with lots of chopped picked ginger in it (including the pickled ginger juice, which forms part of the dressing). I left out the scallions in it, but did add a bit of chopped celery for texture. I had some leftovers after dinner, and I mashed them up with some mayo to make a nice beany sandwich filling.
Rating: :)



Japanese Spinach: I've made this sort of recipe before from other books, but this one was sadly lacking in seasoning. It needed a bit of salt, or a lot more soy sauce. I only made half a recipe using one bunch of spinach, which was enough for two.
Rating: :|



And here is the final plate! It also includes a nashi (aka Asian Pear), as suggested by the book. But I also added some miso soup as well (just from a packet) to round it out. It made a nice dinner, not to heavy but not too light.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



As promised, this is where I put Gizmo's beautiful portrait. This is the bookshelf in my bedroom, an don the shelf below you can see her urn (and Sahara's next to her). I love looking at this beautiful piece every day. I've been in my new bedroom for several months now, but it is a slow work in progress with filling and decorating it. I want everything to be just right for this room. My old bedroom is now my study, so that has all the rest of my stuff in it (including a lot of beautiful art as well), so I can take my time with deciding what I want in my new room.

VeganMoFo 2018 #18: Menu: Quick & Easy Menu from The Vegan Lunch Box

I've had Vegan Lunch Box languishing on my shelf for a while. Written by someone who wanted to pack interesting vegan lunches for her school-age child, there are a lot of fun little combinations in here. Though they are designed for little people on a school day, so feeding this big person on a long work day often means I need to add or adjust things! The menus themselves aren't individually named, but are split up into several chapters. This menu comes from the Quick and Easy section of the book.

Components of this menu include

• Vegan Deli Slice Roll-Ups
• Corn Tires
• Melon Balls
• Pumpkin Carob Muffins

The corn tires and melon balls don't have recipes. Just slice up a cooked corn cob into little wheels, and ball up some melon. I didn't fuss with balling the melon, I just chopped it, and also added some blueberries.

Vegan Deli Slice Roll-Ups: Is this really a recipe? It is cute though. Blot off some vegan deli slices (I used Tofurky ham slices), spread with vegan cream cheese (I used Tofutti), and roll up. It is pretty fun. Just make sure to blot the slices off well, otherwise the cream cheese will slide right off.
Rating: :)



Pumpkin Carob Chip Muffins: Normally I am not a carob fan, but I had some random carob chips to use up so why not. I have made this recipe with both carob and chocolate chips, and I prefer the chocolate. I had some leftover tinned pumpkin, which is why I made them. I made a half recipe for six muffins. They are topped with some Perfect Cinnamon Sugar, which is the author's ideal cinnamon sugar ratio... I prefer mine with more cinnamon! They have a great flavour when baked, but I think tasted even better the next day! The cinnamon sugar gave a nice crunch on top as well.
Rating: :)



Here is the completed lunch box! As you can see, I added some things. I always like to take a little box of cucumber and grape tomatoes for a vegetable snack and work every day, and I also added some prunes.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Gizmo and Sahara's girl kitty band album cover. Slightly blurry because of art.

Recipe Round-Up: Vegan Lunch Box

Several years ago, the blog Vegan Lunch Box was all the rage, and the book Vegan Lunch Box was released. It was full of cute lunchbox menus and spawned a wild craze for adorable bento-style lunch boxes. I don't really have such an adorable lunchbox system, but I make do with various containers around my house. I should note that these menus were designed for a school day, my work days are considerably longer, so I often had to add extra snacks.

Quick & Easy Menu Page 28

• Nut Butter & Jelly Cut-Outs
• Banana
• Carrot and Celery Sticks
• Easy Ranch Dip
• Soy Smoothie

I skipped the fun-cut option for my PB&J (strawberry jam is always my choice) and took it as a regular sandwich. The ranch dip was a bit meh and runny if you use all the soy milk. And I took a mango smoothie that I made at home.
Rating: Overall :), Dip :|

Quick & Easy Menu Page 36

• Bagel with Cream Cheese
• Green Beans and Carrots in a Tarragon Vinaigrette
• Red grapes
• Animal crackers

This was meant to be mini-bagels, but again I went with a full sized bagel slathered with Tofutti cream cheese. The carrots and beans had a bright, tangy dressing which were nice with the bagel. The animal crackers were an accidentally vegan brand that I bought, but I can't remember what they were!
Rating: Overall :), Beans and Carrots :)

Quick & Easy Menu Page 46

• Veggie Burger
• Sweet Potato Oven Fries
• Wheat-Free Apple Crisp
• Extra snack: Carrot sticks and hummus

The veggie burger is a construct of pre-purchased goodies - a Fry's burger patty, Toffuti cheese slice, soy mayo and salad. I love the sweet potato fries on the side, they include garlic powder that gives a great flavour. The crisp was nice, but there are nicer topping recipes out there. I added an extra snack for this. It was also meant to have amazake as a beverage, but I couldn't find any.
Rating: Overall :), Burger :), Fries :D, Crisp :)

Ready & Waiting Menu Page 145

• Veggie Tea Sandwiches
• Blueberry Lemon Mini-Scones
• Fresh strawberries and purple grapes
• Kid's Iced Tea

The book gives a range of filling choices for your dainty tea sandwiches - I used cucumber, cream cheese and dill and also Nuttelex, radish and salt. I love little tea sandwiches! The scones are super quick to make and super delicious to eat! The iced tea is a combination of apple juice (make sure to get cloudy!) and tea - I used the Red Green Dreamy mix from T2. I skipped the sugar.
Rating: Overall :D, Sandwiches :), Scones :D, Tea :)

Ready & Waiting Menu Page 151

• Pizza Shop Breadsticks
• Sneaky Momma's Tomato Sauce for Dipping
• Frozen vegetable and bean medley
• Fresh blueberries and plums

The breadsticks are made from scratch, and they are twirled around a filling of nooch, sesame seeds, salt, garlic and granules. The sauce is nice, with basil, kale and carrots in it. It is meant to be blended until smooth, but as I don't need to hide my vegetables I left it chunky. The medley was literally some four bean mix and some frozen peas and corn (they thaw for a pretty delicious snacks).
Rating: Overall :), Breadsticks :), Sauce :)

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



I know you want to see more of Abbey in her birthday hat!

Vegan MoFo 2011 #7: 'Vegan Lunch Box'

Vegan Lunch Box
Jennifer McCann, Little "S" Press, 2006



In my final year of uni I didn't have lectures, instead my time was spent out in various vet clinics doing rotations. I was enjoying my new kitchen and was keen to have the coolest lunches possible. I had heard of Vegan Lunch Box from a friend, and checked out the blog. Totally adorably lunches. And yes, they were for a young school child, but whatever. Everyone deserves cute lunches!

Recipes in the book are arranged into lunch menus, and menus are arranged into chapters. These chapters include Quick and Easy, Rise and Shine, Ready and Waiting, Lunch Box Adventure and Special Occasions. There is also an allergen free index if you are looking for recipes suitable for certain dietary needs. The book is paperback. There is a centre sections of photos, with 16 colour photos in total.

I will share some of my favourites with you from this book! This will be a little different, given they are presented as menus in the book. So I am presenting the five star menu list! These were given five stars because of fullness and how much I liked the combination of dishes, not all recipes themselves were five stars (though they were all four stars at least). Please note that I took these to act as my main lunch, and packed several other snacks to keep me going throughout the day. I am a hungry lady, after all. Sometimes the snacks will appear in the photos, and sometimes not.

Quick and Easy Menu Page 22


This lunch box includes:

- Lunch Nibbles (Vegan deli slices and vegan cheese with crackers. I used that Sanitarium stuff that comes in a roll, with squares of Tofutti cheese slices and some oat crackers)

- Easy Potato Salad, which is a pretty good potato salad, though not the most outstanding I've made. Capers make a nice addition.

- Grapes

- Back-To-School Chocolate Chip Cookies. These are pretty soft cookies. They make a bunch and are good for a crowd.

- Non-dairy milk (in the thermos)

Quick and Easy Menu Page 33


This lunch box includes:

- Pups In Blankets, which are easy and delicious and oh I want some now. They are great fresh out of the oven, but travel well and are still really nice at room temperature or even straight from the fridge!

- Ketchup or Mustard (I packed both!)

- Cooked frozen vegetables. I was skeptical about this, but it is actually oddly tasty. No need to even cook, just pack the night before and they will be thawed when you are ready for them at lunch time.

- Creme-Filled Sandwich Cookies. AKA Oreos.

- Non-dairy milk.

Quick and Easy Menu Page 50


This lunch box includes:

- Beans and Dogs. I don't think I need to explain why this is awesome. And why yes, I did take these in an adorable pink little thermos with butterflies.

- Baked Pita Chips (I actually took pre-purchased beetroot chips in this photo).

- Cucumber Crescents and Edamame (I have peas here, as I couldn't find edamame).

- Chocolate Banana Pudding. A crappy photo, but an awesome pudding. Banana slices topped by chocolate pudding. The end!


Quick and Easy Menu Page 53


This lunch box includes:

- Grilled Pepperoni Sandwich. Awesome! I took this to a place that had a sandwich press. Don't forget to take some alfoil to press yours in, because no one ever cleans the cheese or meat juices off communal sandwich presses! Gross, omnis!

- Tomato Sauce

- Broccoli Piccata. My first ever piccata experience!

- A nectarine

- Vegan candy (I have some squares of vegan coconut ice).

Rise and Shine Menu Page 106


This lunch box includes:

- Lunch Box Fondue. Amazing! I just gave it a quick zap in the microwave before lunch (this was before my nifty pink thermos), but it is good cold too.

- Assorted fondue dippers. Mine included carrots, celery, grape tomatoes and steamed broccoli.

- Apple chunks. Also great for dipping in the fondue!

- Dark Chocolate Squares. Lindt is where it's at.

Ready and Waiting Menu Page 174


This lunch box includes:

- Broccoli Calzones. These were easy to make, the dough behaved perfectly.

- Sneaky Momma's Tomato Sauce For Dipping

- Fresh apricots

- Aplet or Cotlet. Apparently some sort of jellied fruit candy. I took some tea bread instead.

Here are some other lunch boxes I have made that scored the five star rating, but that don't have photos.

Rise and Shine:
-Menu Page 74: Easy Pasta and Beans, watermelon, baby carrots, Nut and Seed Butter Cookies, non-dairy milk
-Menu Page 78: Sausage Biscuits, Perfect Hash Browns, ketchup, vanilla soy yoghurt with frozen, mixed berries, Greg's Granola, OJ
-Menu Page 90: Tofu Fish Sticks, Tater Tots, ketchup, lightly steamed broccoli, grapefruit Segments
-Menu Page 112: Vegan chicken nuggets, baked potato chips, Raw Veggie Shapes, Cherry Chip Brownies, non-dairy milk

Ready and Waiting:
-Menu Page 160: Mini-Wellingtons, peas and carrots, pear, sugar wafer cookies, non-dairy milk

And here is a list of some recipes that were five star recipes, though not in five star lunch boxes!

Pumpkin Carob Chip Muffins (I used chocolate chips)
Sweet Potato Oven Fries
Blueberry-Lemon Mini-Scones
Cornish Pasties

This book is pretty fun, and gives you some very unique lunches that will make your co-workers impressed! It is a bit fiddly though, getting everything assembled, so these days I normally just take either a salad or some stew or some wraps/sandwiches or some left-overs to work, something that is one-dish. But when I have more time, I hope to slowly continue to make these quirky little lunch boxes.

What do you take for lunch?

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post


Another one of my childhood kitties, this is Patches. He was huge and gentle.