Spring rolls

It's been hot here. My 5 year old loves munching on salads. We had a big salad for dinner last night. She suggested spring rolls for lunch because of the heat. It's basically a salad in a rice paper wrap. Actually, we put anything in them from rice and lentils, to cut up fruit and yogurt. They are fun to eat too. 

Today I made rice paper wraps with black beans, tofu, arugula with a homemade vinaigrette. You can get the rice paper from any asian market. I go to an Asian market called Ranch 99. They come in square or circle and many different sizes. I find the small square size is easiest to wrap. 

Black beans, tofu, arugula and vinaigrette on a soaked rice paper.

First, you wet one sheet of the dried rice paper by soaking in a big bowl of water for about 10 seconds. Remove and put on a plate. It will start to soften by itself. Add your ingredients to one corner. Try not to over fill or you won't be able to wrap it. Next, you fold the bottom corner onto the ingredients. Then fold over the 2 side corners to the center of the ingredients. Roll until you get to the top corner and voila, a spring roll! 

my 3 year old couldn't wait until lunch to eat her spring rolls!

Once you make them, they have a tendency to stick together so make sure you add something to prevent them from sticking to each other or it will break when you try to separate them. I used some celery sticks to keep them from sticking. In the top tier, I added strawberries and peaches. In her cloth baggie she has some gluten free cheese crunchies. 

Her lunch is not completely zero-waste because she has a mango gel cup and a yogurt stick. I went to volunteer at her school for snack time and she already ate one! :-)

First Day of Kindergarten!

Today I dropped my 5 1/2 year old daughter to her first day of kindergarten. I'm excited and melancholy at the same time. Being a natural foods chef and holistic health counselor, I wanted to make something fun and different for her. Alas, she insisted on a sandwich, boring for me but exciting for her. She has gluten sensitivity so we rarely make sandwiches. Luckily there are a lot of gluten free breads on the market. We like the Trader Joe's brand multi-grain, gluten free bread but it is a little firmer/dryer than regular bread.

The school instructed us to pack a snack that is separate from her lunch and easy for her to get to. Snack time is at 10 am.

For her snack, she wanted yogurt and fruit. So I used the smallest container from the nesting food containers. The night before, I put some plain yogurt in the container and popped it in the freezer. In the morning I put chopped strawberries and  drizzled grade b maple syrup on top. I'm assuming it will be nicely chilled but thawed when she is ready to eat it. I really love these bamboo sporks!

You can see the frozen yogurt below the maple syrup:

For lunch (11:30 am) she requested 1/2 a cheese sandwich and 1/2 a peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich. In her cheese sandwich, I used shredded raw cheddar cheese, grapeseed veganaise and arugula on gluten-free bread. I used a two-tier tiffin. 

I packed the other half sandwiches in my 3 year old's tiffin while we are out and about today. 

On the lower container, I put white peaches, celery sticks, red grapes and half of a cheese string. Again, this was all her idea. 

I made these cloth baggies, similar to the fold over sandwich baggies in the 70's, remember them? I put some some cashews and rice crackers it it. Something a little more crunchy and savory for her. 

I froze 1/2 cup of water in her kleen kanteen overnight and filled up the rest with water so it stays cold when she's ready to drink. One of her (too small for her) pink socks work really well to absorb condensation on the water bottle.


Here is her lunch with snack before I packed it in her tiffin bag. Her nesting container fits perfectly on top of her tiffin and I'm still able to tighten the drawstrings. 

Hopefully she'll let me get more creative with her lunches as she gets used to going to school! 

*not shown is the weelife lunch note I added to her tiffin bag that says: Have a good day! I <3 U!

The Kitchn review by Emily Ho

Excited about a review by Apartment Therapy's, The Kitchn section by Emily Ho. Check it out!

Plastic-Free Lunch Containers (and More!) from OM Goods

Gluten free lunch!

I've been gluten free and vegan for about a year now and loving it! My daughter's digestion has improved and no longer complains of tummy issues.

Here is a gluten free lunch that we had at the zoo.

My 3 year old is carrying her pink OM Goods bag with a 2 tier tiffin, utensils, cloth napkin and drink!

Shown below is the 2 tier tiffin with: 1st tier: hummus, apple slices, rice crackers and guacamole. I used the apple slices and to keep the rice crackers from getting soggy from the hummus and guac. I must say it held up nicely! 2nd tier: a clementine and almond butter and fruit preserve roll ups using blue corn tortillas. Really nice combo. The girls loved it! 

Cute lunch ideas for Kids

 Jackie at Weelife just posted two adorable lunch ideas for the tiffin.

See her blog post for more pictures!
Wee Life - 2 Tiered Tiffin

OM Goods Photoshoot - by Julie Prichard

Some beautiful pictures of our OM Goods tiffins and bags done by artist and professional photographer, Julie Prichard of the Land of Lost Luggage. Thanks again Julie!

Here are the 3 sizes we carry, 2 tier, 3 tier and 4 tier tiffins

A shot of my 2 year old with her almond butter and raw honey sandwich, crusted of course!

My 4 year old, loves her fruits and veggies!

 

 The tulips remind me of spring!

The 2 sizes we carry, Small for the 2 and 3 tier and Large for the 3 and 4 tier. Not shown is the large tiffin bag in Parrot Green

 A 3 tier tiffin with a small Parrot Green tiffin bag

 3 tier tiffin closed with the small tiffin bag in Parrot Green

Veggie Spring Rolls

Inspired by my good friend, I made these veggie spring rolls. They are perfect for tiffin lunches and just as easy as making a sandwich and delicious! Shown is OM Goods small tiffin bag with our 2-tier tiffin.

How to make veggie spring rolls.

Rice paper (you can pick them up in a Thai Asian food market)
Any vegetables you want!
I used:
Anoki mushrooms as is, they are long and thin
Carrots shredded
Cucumbers shredded
Daikon shredded
Tofu thinly sliced
Avocado thinly sliced
Spring onions chopped
Any nut/seed butter you like.
I used Sunflower seed butter

I used a food processor to shred the carrots, cucumbers and diakon. I shredded them each separately.

Dip the rice paper in warm water for 2-3 seconds and lay out on a flat surface. Arrange veggies and tofu on one side of the rice paper. Drizzle nut/seed butter. Roll like a burrito tucking in both sides. Voila spring rolls! If you make these let me know what you think!

Get Ready for Back to School!

They have been selling like hot cakes at the Hillcrest Farmer's Market. Introducing our newest addition, 100% cotton quilted tiffin bags. Shown is the tiffin bag that fits the 2-tier or 3-tier tiffin. Using the 2-tier in the bag leaves enough room on the top for a whole apple, orange, pear, nectarine etc. The pocket is perfect for you child's Klean Kanteen or Sigg waterbottle. They all come with a matching cloth napkin to lessen the use of paper napkins! The bag colors come in Parrot Green or Hot Pink. We also have shoulder strap bags for our 3 or 4 tier tiffins...more to come!

The lunch shown below has rajma and chawal (kidney beans and rice), an apple and my daughter's klean kanteen.

Power Packed Snacks

Clementine cuties, raw cheese, apple slices, blueberries, cashews, and tofurky roll-ups...all in a 2 tier tiffin! Some chocolate covered sunflower seeds and animal crackers for the sweet tooth afterward.

OM Goods Photo Shoot

We were asked to take more pictures for a review of OM Goods. Here are some picture of the 2 tier tiffin.

Leisure bike ride

My 3 year old insisted carrying her stainless steel lunch tiffin while she rode her bike. The 2-tier tiffin actually fit quite nicely on her handles.

Close-up shot of the 2-tier tiffin.
3 clementines in the top tier and organic raspberries, blueberries and blackberries in the bottom tier.

Lots of errands to do today

I have a lot of errands to do today. Being a stay at home mom means toting my darlings along with me. Instead of spending money on "Mama, I want this!", "Mama, I want that!", I carry my girls snacks in a tiffin so they can eat yummy food that makes me happy too. I change up the tier size depending on how I feel their appetite will be that day. Since we were going to target, I know that we are going to have to get popcorn for my 3 year old and she won't be as hungry, it's a snack-y day. I used the 2 tier tiffin.


I packed cheese strings, chips, to-go packet of mixed nuts from Trader Joe's, orange slices and organic raspberries.

Samuel's Lunch!

One of OM Goods customers sent me a picture of her 3 year old's lunch for preschool. I wanted to share. Samuel's lunch shown is veggie seaweed roll, sliced beets, a peach and some pieces of waffle)



Send me your pictures and I'll post them for all to see. Come on, show us your tiffin pride!

Healthy and Tasty Lunch

My 3 year old's favorite thing, mac-n-cheese. It isn't hard to get her to eat with the 2 tier tiffin, it makes her feel independent. Luckily for me, she loves broccoli too. For lunch she had rice Mac-n-Cheese, Steamed broccoli drizzled with olive oil and organic orange slices. Since she is a small eater, I was able to pack the mac-n-cheese and broccoli in the same tier. These tiffins really make my life so much easier and simpliler to pack meals. The fact that she is eating more, makes me feel better too...


Here is my 3 year old holding her lunch:

Bring Your Own "Takeout Tiffin" Containers

When we are not at home for lunch...I love toting around my lunch tiffins and getting takeout in them. I love promoting zero-waste lunches and take-out. I encourage you all to bring your own containers next time you order take-out from your favorite place to eat for lunch or dinner. Bring your own cloth napkin and silverware too. Let's see if we can reduce waste one take-out meal at a time!!

The girls and I decided to the zoo. I went to our local Mexican take-out restaurant to pick up some rice and beans as a light meal. I asked them to fill my 2-tiered lunchbox with beans and cheese and rice. Packed my handy bamboo spork and cloth napkin and off we went.


I love the little plate for serving. My 3 year old loves it even more. My 1 year old and I ate the beans and rice straight out of the tins.

Perfect breakfast for work

My husband had to go to LA for work and didn't have time to eat at home. I quickly packed him a breakfast with the 2-tier tiffin. One tier has yogurt, granola drissled with some grade B maple syrup and the other tier is bananas, strawberries and grapes. I love the handy bamboo spork, it's so small it fits in the tiffin and you don't need to pack any other utensils!


This is my 3 year old's hand, trying to sneak a bite!


Furoshiki of course! Here my 3 year old is holding his breakfast.