Wednesday, April 12, 2006

An Easter Lunch Box

This lunch box is a cheerful celebration of springtime (and the fact that we gave up giving up sugar for Lent, ha!)! Here's an English muffin masquarading as a sunflower (vegan cream cheese and dried pineapple with currants and sunflower seeds in the middle). The lovely flower has attracted a following of Honeybee No-Bakes that can’t wait to take a taste (follow the link to get the recipe -- you could even shape them into eggs for Easter).
On the side is a sprout salad with shredded carrot, mandarin orange segments, and a tiny container of orange vinaigrette. And what would an Easter lunch box be without a plastic egg filled with vegan candy? Watch out when choosing jelly beans, as many contain gelatin and/or beeswax. These Starburst Jelly Beans are vegan and easy to find in most supermarkets.
Verdict: Shmoo likes helping me grow sprouts more than he likes eating them. He wolfed down the no-bakes almost as fast as I could shape them. 4 stars.

30 comments:

Everyday Superhero said...

Beautiful!

Ana said...

What is the yellow stuff underneath the sunflower and egg? Is it just easter-type grass? something edible?

Jennifershmoo said...

Yes, it's just easter grass. :-)

Jennifershmoo said...

>>is that the whole starburst range?

No, just the jellybeans.

Heather said...

Wow...that is a beautiful lunch. I'm hanging my head in shame remembering what I used to pack my kids. LOL

Will you please come make my lunch for me? :)

Stephanie said...

amazing!!!

Shananigans said...

I never used to particularly like jellybeans (especially the black ones, gross!) but I love the Starburst ones. Does anyone know about the vegan status of Jelly Belly? I love this whole lunch, it’s so festive :)

Bryanna Clark Grogan said...

This is so charming, Jennifer! Be assured that Schmoo will remember this fondly. My 35 year-old daughter told me the other day that she remembers fondly all the treats I used to make for Easter (especially an idea I got from sunset magazine-- blown-out egg shells, colored and filled with chocolate truffle mixture so that you peeled the egg and had chocolate inside [we weren't vegan then]-- a big hit!). She wants to make sure that her son has some good holiday food memories, too!

Molly said...

I think it's a keen idea to disable the annoymous posts. It's so easy to register for Blogger, and you don't even have to have a blog. When annon. folks come and ask multiple questions, it will be much easier to say, for example, "Hi Sara! Brussels sprouts are neat when you blanch them and toss with Earth Balance!" instead of having some annonymouses wondering why on earth they're being told about Brussels sprouts when the asked whether maraschino cherries are vegan.

This is an adorable lunch box, and although I loathe jelly beans with the fire of a thousand suns, it's cool to know that those Starburst ones are vegan, as my partner likes them.

Alexandra said...

I think that all Jelly Bellys contain beeswax, so I don't think any of them are vegan.

SassyTortuga said...

Jelly Bellys do have beeswax in them, and some have shellac and other such nastiness in them. Which is a shame, because I remember them being so delicious!

VeggieLawyer said...

I think this is the best box presentation so far. I love the theme.

sarchan said...

how imaginative!

Jennifershmoo said...

>>How come you changed it where only Bloggers can post?

Mainly because some of us (vegan and not vegan) seem to be having a hard time getting along and being respectful of each other. Most of the nastier comments seem to be coming from anonymous posters.

I do believe in open debate about the larger issues of veganism, but I don't have the time, interest, or thick skin that it would take to become a forum moderator. There are some great discussion boards out there (I hope to put together a post with links to some of them soon) for those that want that type of debate.

In the meantime, I really do like all the comments and helpful suggestions and respectful questions people post, so I don't want to have to moderate all comments or turn them off completely. I decided to disallow anonymous posters and see if that takes care of the rude, hurtful comments.

Anonymous said...

I couldn't help but run to my kitchen and make those *adorable* bumble bees. OMG! They are so incredibly tasty! I added some ground flaxseed, and substituted peanut butter for the ground almonds. These treats are really wonderful and easy to make! I can't wait to try making these with other kinds of ground nuts. :) Thank you for the fabulous recipe!

Eat Peace Please said...

This looks amazing. I love your holiday boxes!

Those almond-no-bakes (balls) look awfully familiar! Great idea by shaping them. I just found a sprouting book because I am more excited to 1: grow them and 2: feed them to my cat, not necessarily eat ALL of them myself.

Great lunch, as always, but I love the added flare.

Elizabeth said...

Hee! Yeah, we're about ready to do away with Lent around here, too. We're all way ready for Lent to be over.

Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

This is a treat for the mouth & eyes. Will Shmoo get an Easter basket? If so...could we have a peek at it?!

Nicole said...

The sign-up is rather confusing, but I managed it!

Yaay for eliminating the rude people and the party poopers who would rain on a little boy's awesome lunchbox!

I remember homemade fruit leather and roasted pumpkin seeds in mine, but litte Shmoo's make me really jealous!

Flo @ Yielded Heart said...

This is truly amazing!

I am totally with you on disabling anonymous postings. This way, everyone can still visit the blog, but people could take accountability or responsility with their comments and such.

My oldest likes growing sprouts more than eating them, too.

I, on the other hand, likes eating them more than growing them.

Flo @ Yielded Heart said...

I mean like, not likes...oops.

High Power Rocketry said...

Kinda sad how many days are made just to give kids tons of candy and junk food. When picking up my class, they all came in with tons of candy and they were out of control. Honey, we are killing the kids.

R2K

Anonymous said...

BeautifuLL

Daily Depeche said...

starburst jellybeans are DANGEROUS. they're so yummy that i often find myself eating WAY too many :)

Jennifershmoo said...

>>How do you keep this beautiful lunch from getting all over the place?

Covering it with plastic and crumpled up parchment paper seems to do the trick -- it acts just like packing paper to take up the extra space and keep things stable. I also sometimes cover the individual containers with plastic wrap. You can also hold the plastic wrap in place with rubber bands if it's really small or liquidy.

>>Was that a sarcastic "ha" on giving up sugar?

I would say it was a rueful "ha". Spring break came and it just went right out the window. I had never tried no sugar before, and it turns out I'm more of an addict than I realized.

So then I decided to put together the Easter lunch box early so people had time to use the ideas, and so I could do it on a day when I had time to set up a good shot (I should pose the box on astroturf every morning -- so green!). So we broke out the jellybeans! Most of them got hidden away again, though...

Meeta K. Wolff said...

Nice one Jennifer. Really sweet!

Nicki Baker said...

cute cute cute cute cute! I love the overall presentation of it!

Catherine said...

This is perhaps the cutest lunch I've ever seen. Bravo.

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commercial-loan said...

How big is that box? I want one