Here's another new vegan product I picked up while on vacation: Road's End Shells & Chreese.

Sighting One: I have just been informed that there are 5 new copies of the original, self-published edition of Vegan Lunch Box available for sale in the UK and Europe. You can find the book along with Laptop Lunch Boxes and more at Becky and Lolo.

A Vegan Lunch Box reader named Melissa emailed me a few months ago suggesting that this recipe for pupusas would make a tasty vegan lunch. Pupusas are traditional El Salvadorian corn masa "cakes" filled with meat, cheese, or beans that are patted flat and fried. They are often sold by street vendors in El Salvador and Honduras.

There are refreshing signs of spring in my latest lunch box: two beautiful vegetables from my first trip to the local Farmer's Market.

It was exciting to be back at the market after a long, cold winter, and I was especially thrilled to find bags of fresh, green watercress there for the first time ever. Raw watercress greens are much, much too bitter for my taste, like trying to eat paint chips. But stir-fried in a touch of toasted sesame oil and drizzled with miso dressing and almonds? Heaven and a half! I found this luscious recipe at watercress.com (click on recipes, then on "Stir fried Watercress with Ginger and Almonds in Miso Dressing").

Next to the cup of watercress is lightly steamed asparagus, another springtime favorite from the market.

Sometimes readers ask to see what we eat for other meals around here, like breakfast. So, leaving lunch boxes aside for now, here's a picture of one of my son's favorite weekend breakfast treats: waffles and eggs. That's right. In fact, he likes a fried egg placed directly on top of his waffle, just like this, so he can eat them both together. Yes, indeedy.

APRIL FOOLS!

Were you fooled? Did I getcha? Oh my gosh, I'm so bad at pranks it was hard to even write that paragraph!

Lately my favorite non-dairy frozen treat is a simple frozen fruit sorbet: I push frozen bananas, pineapple, and strawberries through my Champion Juicer, and out comes perfect, creamy sorbet with no added sugar.

On a recent trip out of town I was finally able to pick up some Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Cheese. I've been hearing about this stuff for years and couldn't wait to try it for myself. Today I took a bit of the mozzarella-style cheese and turned it into a lunch box pizza with tomato sauce, broccoli, and capers.

You know how I mentioned below that the new issue of Vegan Lunch Box would be out in March? Well, as so often happens in the world of professional publishing, there’s been a change of plans. The publisher has decided that it will be much more exciting to bring the book out in late July/early August, in order to generate lots of excitement at back-to-school time. I can see the logic there, but I’m still sad to have to tell you all that the book won’t be available for several more months. Doh!

Yes, yes, I know Easter is still a week away, but I've been looking forward to this lunch box for months, and besides, next week is Spring Break. Anyway, maybe this advance posting will give some of you time to join me in making adorable Musubi Eggs this Easter!

Here's another new lunch toy! I came across Wrap-N-Mats a few months ago and was interested in trying one out. Wrap-N-Mats are a reusable plastic bag alternative that fold around a sandwich and close with velcro. The PEVA or PVC lining keeps the sandwich fresh, then at lunchtime the mat unfolds into a placemat. Nifty!

After we got over the fact that the brand new mat smelled like a stinky shower curtain, we decided to wipe it down and stick a sandwich in it.

Here's one of my lunches for a change, photographed in a colorful Melamine 3-Layer Tiffin from Pearl River. I actually bought the lunch box as a gift for a friend who collects melamine (shh, don't tell!) but couldn't resist posing a lunch in it before passing it on.

On the upper right is a big serving of Asian Salad made with baby lettuces, cucumber, edamame, carrot, and daikon.

Although I dearly love the kid-friendly Laptop Lunch System I use for shmoo, I still like to keep my eye out for larger, plastic-free lunch boxes that fit us big people and our big, plant-based appetites. Yes, sometimes even my To Go Ware doesn't hold enough salad to satisfy my veggie-lovin' tummy. It's time to Super Size It!

Shmoo recently hosted a clown workshop for his friends, where they tried their hands at juggling, tumbling, acting in skits, plate spinning, and more.

Here's my shmoo in his graduation nose, hair still a bit damp from the pie fight. He took to clowning like a natural, who would have guessed? Actually, I've been calling him a clown most of his life.

As promised, here's the first lunch in Daddy Shmoo's new bento box.

A grilled portabello mushroom fish with baby cucumber scales and snow pea eyes is set adrift on a bed of somen noodles with blanched snow peas and parsley "seaweed".

I really wanted to include a Lotus Root Salad next to the somen -- wouldn't that have looked lovely? But alas, I can't find fresh or even canned lotus root here, so I settled on roasting a red pepper and cutting it into sand dollars and little fish shapes, with fresh basil tucked here and there.

1. The drive is often the best thing about traveling.
2. I love a good snuggle with my husband when I'm cold.
3. I often use pasta when I am cooking.
4. I'm reading Little Women right now; I love it.

We've gone BANANAS! First I went ape for this monkey bento container from Japan. Then when Mr. Monkey arrived he needed his very own banana napkin. You can see how things went from there...

The top container holds two Tofu Lettuce Cups -- gingery tofu, peanuts, coconut and lime juice wrapped in buttercrunch lettuce leaves.

After seeing my recent pea-filled St. Patty's Sandwich, Vegan Lunch Box reader Roxy shared this tip: "I like to blend peas into guacamole--it adds more nutrition to the already nutritious dip and you really can't tell the peas are in there. I use about 1/4 cup of peas to every large avocado. Yum!" Thanks, Roxy, I love it! In fact, it inspired me to make a post especially for sharing these kinds of ideas.

1. My favorite song of 2007 was "The Face of Love" by Sanctus Real.
2. I'm most tempted not to do housework by reading a book.
3. Today I want to stay home and relax.
4. The last thing I took a picture of was my daughter.

Friday Fill-In #49
1. I love the nostalgia surrounding Christmas.
2. Blue is/are my favorite color(s) for the Christmas tree lights.
3. The non-existent candles in the window have non-existent bulbs.
4. A Christmas Story (You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!) is one of my most favorite Christmas movies.
5. My favorite Christmas lyric(s) is/are

1. The last compliment I got was from my husband; he/she said I was doing great on a project I have undertaken.
2. I'm reading The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer.
3. I woke up today and thought T.G.I.F!!!!!!!

St. Patrick's Day (coming up on March 17th) is quite the event in the McCann household, with lots of wearin' and eatin' o' the green. Well, we eat green every day, but on St. Pat's lots of things start turning green! Case in point: these St. Patty's Peanut Butter sandwiches from Disease-Proof Your Child. Cooked peas are blended with peanut butter to make a stunning green spread.

UPDATE: Please note that this sale expired August 1st.

That's right! We're crazy, crazy, crazy for slashing prices this low -- must be the heat! Visit VeganLunchBox.com to take advantage of my Summer Clearance Blow Out Sale: from now until August 1st buy TWO COPIES FOR $30.00! You heard right: two copies of Vegan Lunch Box for just $30.00! *

It's that time of the year again when Major League Baseball hands out its annual awards. On Monday, the first two awards will be announced, and that is the AL and NL Rookie of the Year awards.
Here are my choices for the awards and the days they will be announced:

Nov. 12: AL Rookie of the Year: Dustin Pedroia
NL Rookie of the Year: Ryan Braun

Reviewed by special guest blogger Shmoo.

Those of you who read my picnic posts last summer might remember my love for Wild Garden Hummus. It's my favorite hummus for camping, traveling, and picnics; the flavor is mild and not too garlicky for kids, it's oil-free, and best of all the jars are shelf-stable and don't need refrigeration. Yes, I've packed many a glass jar of Wild Garden for lunch on a long train or car trip.

Worms

We went worm-hunting, we did, me and you, we did.
Thing is, when a man is to go fishing, he needs the worms.
And so, my great God, I dug ‘em as though my last three lives
Depended on a damn-good basketfull right now.

I dug, and scraped, and so did you.
Until we found a few, curling and lost. Disoriented worms,

Happy New Year, Lunch Box Fans! Will you be eating Vegan Hoppin' John tomorrow, for good luck in the new year? I hope so!

Well, look what Santa brought me: my very own Borsa Bella Bag (sitting in front of the beautiful white roses my husband brought me for Christmas. Take that, Santa.)

For most of us with school- age children, summer vacation is finally here. That calls for either a "Hooray!" or a "Dear Lord, when does school start again?" depending on how you look at it. Now that the kids are home, it’s time to totally VEG OUT.

No, I’m not talking about lazing around on the couch watching daytime television. I’m talking about revamping the kitchen to get the junk out and bring the healthy foods in. It’s time to tackle the problem of what to feed the kids during these long, hot summer days at home. My suggestion: fresh, healthy vegetables, and cool, refreshing fruits (along with whole grains, beans, nuts, seeds, and treats in moderation, of course).

But how, you ask? Well, I thought it would be fun this summer to put together a collection of posts focusing on how to make vegetables and fruits easy, attractive, and affordable for families.