Lunch on 2/10/12 - Veggie delight!

I have to go out later so I made tomorrow's lunch this evening.  That means this is my third post in about 7 hours.  Can you tell I'm procrastinating today?

The falafel chips and edamame hummus were a hit today so I am repeating them tomorrow along with peas, strawberries, plums, cucumbers (shaped like hearts - I broke out the cookie cutters which means I am really avoiding doing work today!), edamame, and for dessert - chocolate cheese!!  Trader Joe's managed to combine two of my favorite things in this delicious blend of white cheddar and dark chocolate.  It is pretty amazing.

Save for the dessert, this is actually a vegan meal.  I know some of my readers are vegan or veg.  I hope this lunch inspires you.  I'm always looking for new ideas on how to make kids food vegan or veg friendly so please send me yours!

Have a great weekend.

Roasted eggplant spread

I promised the recipe for eggplant dip and I won't disappoint!  But, a few other things to get out of the way:

I'm sorry I didn't mention this earlier but SnackTaxi, the reusable snack bag company is offering a "back to school" sale of 20% off their snack and sandwich bags until tomorrow.  Use code SCHOOL20 at checkout.

Also, there was a great article in the New York Times yesterday about schools cooking from scratch (as opposed to reheating food and other edible food-like substances that were created elsewhere).  It's a great trend that I hope continues.

Onto my veggie dip.  Inspired by the eggplant and red peppers that showed up on my door yesterday, I looked up Ina Garten's roasted eggplant spread (I'm not sure how a spread differs from a dip - if you know please let me know, I'm assuming it has to do with texture).  I've made it before, following the recipe precisely but this time I made a few changes.  No matter how I make it, it always comes out delicious.  And, for what it's worth, it's totally vegan.  Ina's recipe is below but in a nutshell, you roast the veggies, then blend them in a food processor with some wet ingredients.

Here is a photo of my veggies while roasting:

I actually forgot to add the garlic while roasting so I threw it in during the the food processor phase and I don't think you can tell the difference.  Here is the finished product served with veggies for dipping.  It would also taste great spread on toasted pita (it is a spread after all and not really a dip. . .)

The problem with eating vegan meals all the time (or even vegetarian) is that there is a LOT of chopping involved.  It's really time consuming.  I'm still thinking about vegan week; I'll have to factor in a lot of time for prep work.

Lastly I should share that I purchased a set of Lunchbot containers in the recent Hautelook sale (yes, their shipping rocks and they are here already.  You could learn a lesson from them, Zulily!).  As you know I am not 100% satisfied with my current Lunchbot container (nor their customer service) but I can't find too many other stainless steel options.  I wonder what delicious lunches these will hold for the new school year!

  

Ingredients

• 2 medium eggplants, peeled
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded
• 1 red onion, peeled
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tablespoons good olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 3 tablespoons chopped parsley, plus extra for garnish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Cut the eggplant, bell pepper, and onion into 1-inch cubes. Toss them in a large bowl with the garlic, olive oil, cayenne and salt and pepper. Spread them on a baking sheet. Roast for 45 minutes, until the vegetables are lightly browned and soft, tossing once during cooking. Cool slightly.

Place the vegetables in a food processor fitted with a steel blade, add the lemon juice and tahini, and pulse 3 or 4 times to blend. Taste for salt and pepper. Transfer to a bowl and add the chopped parsley. Garnish with extra parsley.

Lunch on August 17 - balsamic chicken pasta salad take 2

School is out for summer but I am still packing lunches.  My friend had the brilliant idea to hire one of Juju's teachers from her school to do a "camp" at our houses for our kids for a couple of days this week and next.  Because we are not returning to school next year, Juju's fabulous teachers are fair game which is very exciting for both me and Juju (she could hardly believe herself when her former teacher showed up on our doorstep this morning!).  It's kind of funny to pack a lunch that Juju will eat in her own house but it just makes things easier.

I tried a pasta salad I made several months ago inspired by my friend Amy.  It is grilled chicken (marinated in balsamic vinegar) with fusilli, yellow peppers, and baby heirloom tomatoes.  I drizzled olive oil and more balsamic vinegar along with some salt and pepper and tossed it all together.  I made a lot so I will be eating this for a few lunches this week as will the King of All Media.  I am also serving cantaloupe and cucumber.

Speaking of tomatoes, I was at the Silver Lake farmer's market on Saturday and was overwhelmed by the number of heirloom tomatoes to choose from.  On the same day I also read about 4 friends around the country (some are blogreaders!) in my Facebook newsfeed who were enjoying tomatoes harvested from their own backyards.  I am so jealous.  We tried to grow tomatoes one year but the animal neighbors we share this canyon with ate almost everything we grew.  I'm inspired to try again though.  We have a lemon tree in our backyard and I love the idea of going outside to pick my own "organic" fruit.

Despite the fact that the pasta salad I mentioned above includes chicken, we've actually been eating a lot of vegetarian or pescetarian meals at home.  On Monday night our dinner was almost vegan save for the parmesan cheese we threw in the salad.  I think I've mentioned before that we are thinking about going vegan for a week (though I won't insist that Juju participate) and we are kind of working up to it by eating less meat and making some vegan meals here and there.  In fact on Monday I wasn't even trying to go vegan, I realized halfway through dinner that almost nothing we ate came from an animal.  I don't have photos but we ate quinoa that I tossed with sauted spinach and onion, farm stand okra roasted with oil, oregano, salt and pepper, and a salad filled with goodies from our CSA box.  I had some leftover parmesan cheese in the fridge that delegitimized the meal but I was pretty impressed that we were all (Juju included) completely satisfied with the meat/fish-less dinner.  As far as pescetarian meals go, I continue to coat a lot of fish in egg and almond meal (as I've blogged about before) with delicious results.  

Lastly I wanted to let you all know that Gilt Groupe is doing a sale on lunch containers today.  There aren't a ton of stainless steel offerings but if you missed the Hautelook sale on Lunchbots there are a few options to still grab that aren't sold out.  If you are not a member of Gilt click here for an invite.