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.
Salad, salad, salad, is that all you ever eat for lunch? Yep, pretty much. But gosh darn, I like it!
Here’s the salad-of-the-day in my two-tier To-Go Ware tiffin. I’m so happy that To-Go Ware has added little Sidekick containers to their line. The lids are stainless steel (no more crying over cracked plastic!) and they fit snug; I haven’t had any leak problems. I used three today to hold black beans, picante sauce, and half an avocado to top my salad with at lunchtime. I love the way they all fit in the tiffin.
Shmoo has now proclaimed that he “only eats pears” and has stopped eating all other fruit. (“Who are you and what have you done with my son?”) I tried to tempt him with some of this fresh pineapple, but ended up eating it all myself. I packed it in the smaller top container from the three-tier tiffin — it can be packed and used alone for small snacks. And look at the pretty food picks I found to eat it with!
I’ve been feeling so good lately! I’ve been improving my eating style and getting back on track with Eat To Live, with the help of my wellness coach, a personal trainer (basically I need people telling me what to do at all times or I wind up face first in a vat of pudding), the support of my friends, and a lot of hard work.
Right now my slightly-modified Eat To Live food plan goes as follows:
What have I modified? Dr. Fuhrman advises people not to snack, but I find I get too hungry and fall off the wagon if I don’t get those snacks. So I snack. I also use a bit of olive oil at times, and I sprinkle salt on something if it means the difference between enjoying it or hating it and feeling sorry for myself.
Apologies for all you non-ETLers out there who might find this post terribly boring. Hopefully I’ll find someone else to pack a lunch for soon! Preferably someone who hasn’t entered the terrible tweens….
It finally happened. After 11 years of almost daily use, our old Vita-Mix container began showing signs of wear (that time I accidentally left a stainless steel spoon in the blender and turned it on probably didn’t help…but the spoon lost).
So we got a spiffy new one! The 5200 model we got has some nice new features — new lid, new handle, BPA-free container, and it’s quieter than our old one, too.
I’ve raved over and over about the Vita-Mix on my blog and in my books, but I hear what you’re saying: “It’s a blender, Jennifer. What on earth could make a flippin’ blender so special that you would spend that much money for it?” (At least, that’s what I think you’re saying, because that’s what I said to my husband when our old Vita-Mix first arrived.)
To give you some idea of why I love my Vita-Mix oooh so much, I present you with A Day in the Life of a Very Busy Vita-Mix:
5:30am: Our busy blender’s day begins at the crack of dawn with a smoothie for Hubby shmoo (his smoothies involve raw eggs, so I’m not even going into it).
7:00am: I’m finally awake and it’s time for my morning smoothie.
My breakfast smoothie is almost always the same: 1/2 cup pomegranate juice, 1/2 cup hemp milk, 1 tbs. flaxseed (whole, no need to grind them first), a banana, 2/3 cup frozen blueberries, 1/3 cup frozen pineapple, and about 2/3 cup chopped organic frozen spinach.
A quick blend and the flaxseed and spinach disappear without a trace. I pour the smoothie into my travel cup, take a couple sips, and head for the gym. When I’m done working out the smoothie is waiting for me in the car, still cold.
10:00am: I whir up a batch of creamy Nacho Cheese for our afternoon out with friends. My mom reports that her regular blender never gets these vegan cheese sauces as creamy and smooth as mine.
5:00pm: It’s time for dinner and one of my favorite Vita-Mix tricks: blending a portion of a vegetable soup and then stirring it back into the soup to make the soup “creamy” without using any cream.
This Indian Cabbage Soup is nice and spicy. I serve it with dahl and brown rice.
7:00pm: Dessert, our favorite! And here’s something a regular blender really can’t do: make sorbet. Tonight I go all-out and make Healthy Fruit Parfaits.
I start by bringing out the bins of frozen fruit I have in my freezer and washing a bowl of fresh (not frozen) blueberries. I blend frozen peaches with a bit of orange juice, using just enough liquid to get the blender going while keeping a thick consistency (I use the tamper to keep things moving). I put the peach sorbet in a bowl in the freezer for just a minute while I rinse out the container and blend frozen strawberries with a few pieces of frozen pineapple and just enough soymilk to get it going again.
I layer spoonfuls of peach sorbet, strawberry sorbet, and fresh blueberries in pretty parfait glasses garnished with slices of tangerine. Oooh, fancy shmancy! And no sugar!
08:00pm: After one last wash and rinse, our Vita-Mix is ready for a well-deserved rest. Good night, Vita-Mix! See you in the morning!
We’ve been stuck under gray skies so long, I can hardly remember what the sun looks like. It sure feels melancholy around here towards the end of winter. Time to get out of town and take a road trip! Yesterday we packed lunches and rode along with my dad and his sweet dog Libby, up into the pretty foothills of the Blue Mountains.
For shmoo’s lunch I packed a veggie dog in a whole wheat bun, two corn-on-the-cobs, and a Sunsweet Ones. What clever marketing is that? They’ve packaged individual pitted prunes in little wrappers to look like candy!! I saw these at the store and just had to give them a try. It seems like they would make the perfect, healthy treat to tuck into the corner of a kid’s lunchbox.
For myself I made a hummus, sprout, tomato, and lettuce sandwich on sprouted wheat bread packed in our Lunch Skin bag. I also packed a tiffin container of mini cucumber slices, baby carrots, celery, and green grapes, and two Golden Delicious apples.
We started out worried about the weather; the car was wrapped in dense fog and the cold was bitter. We guessed we wouldn’t be able to get too far into the hills and would probably have to turn back. But as the car headed up into Dayton we climbed out of the cloud cover and suddenly, there it was! The sun was shining down on us from a blue sky! We had a wonderful, warm tramp about in the hills. The snow was mostly melted away. The ground was mucky but mostly clear.
Verdict: Shmoo wolfed down the hot dog and an apple but wouldn’t eat the corn (“too mushy” – it was cooked frozen corn), then said “This is my treat? Nice try!” and handed me the prune. Oh well, I still think it’s a great idea. Maybe it will work better with younger children?
We nibbled on the veggies and grapes together on the drive back. I discovered that I love popping a slice of mini cucumber and a green grape into my mouth at the same time. Nice flavor combo!
Vege Island