Lunch Matters

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Welcome to Week 8 at Lunch Matters


Got a favorite photo or recipe to share?

Email it to us at lunchmatters@lunchmatters.com.au and we'll publish it here!

Click here to see this week's menu suggestions

NEWS

A very warm welcome to all those of you who are joining us for the first time after chatting with us at World Vegan Day today. It was a fantastic day for us as we had the chance to speak with so many people who already knew something about the Laptop Lunchboxes or who were fans of the Vegan Lunchbox blog. There were also a great number of others who we were able to talk to and introduce to the Lunch Matters concept. We hope that you find some of the information that is contained in this blog useful and relevant. The menu suggestions for the week are Vegan to celebrate World Vegan Day and as a way of welcoming our new subscribers.

The most exciting news of the week for me was the arrival of a sample copy of the Vegan Lunch Box cookbook. This is a resource that will keep me going with ideas for months if not years to come. Jennifer has put an enormous amount of work into this publication - it's nearly 300 pages long and there's something for everyone in there. Her chapters are cleverly organised so that you can find everything from the quick and easy to the more exotic. Jennifer very kindly sent us a copy of the book so that we would have it for show and tell today and I know many of you were as excited as I am about seeing the book.

We will be shipping in 30 copies for the end of November and if you are considering purchasing a lunchbox, then parcelling the two items together will be a great way to save on postage and the savings will be significant. If you are just interested in the book - the US$5 shipping deal that Jennifer is offering on International postage will mean that the savings that we will be able to pass on will not be significant, I'm sure that many of you will know that International shipping doesn't usually come that cheap! Just to give you an idea, we expect to be selling to book for AU$29.95 + $4.90 shipping if it is ordered as a stand alone item.

We'll enough about selling, let's get down to some cooking...

RECIPES

Blueberry Couscous
(adapted from Marie Claire Bruches by Jody Vassallo)

1 cup couscous
2 cups apple and cranberry juice
1 cinnamon stick
blueberries
zest of I orange
2 tablespoons golden syrup

Place the couscous in a bowl. Place the apple and cranberry juice in a saucepan with the cinnamon stick. Bring to the boil, then remove from the heat and pour over the couscous, cover with the saucepan lid and allow to stand for 5 minutes or until all the liquid has been absorbed. Remove and discard the cinnamon stick Separate the grains of couscous with a fork, add blueberries, (add raspberries and blackberries too if you have some - Summer’s coming!), and orange zest and stir through gently. Spoon the mix into your lunchbox container and place a small amount of golden syrup (or maple syrup if you prefer) into your dipper. When it’s lunchtime and you’re ready to eat – drizzle the syrup over the couscous before you eat. YUMMO!

INGREDIENTS

organic refried beans
avocado
lemon juice
Better than Sour Cream
Olives

METHOD

The other lunch of note is the one that I made to celebrate the Vegan Lunch Box cookbook release. Here's the original post.It is worth noting here that as a rule I won't be blogging Vegan Lunch Box meals as there are already so many great resources available at the site - so this is what you'd call a one off, WVD event :o)

It sounded a little out there when I saw it but when I made it, it was really delicious and super filling so a great lunch to pack for a day when you or your children are busy.

All you need to do is mix a little salsa with some organic refried beans (available from healthfood stores, organic stores, Macro) and then layer the avocado mashed with a little lemon juice on top, then another of bean/salsa mix and then on top of that put some Toffuti Better than Sour Cream (you can leave this out of course if you don't have access to a supplier) with some olives. Use the veggies and pita for dipping.

LINKS TO OTHER SITES OF INTEREST:

For the newcomers - don't forget to check out the Laptop Lunches Flickr site

WEEKLY SHOPPING LIST: Remember for optimum health the aim is to have 3 fruit and 5 veg a day...

Fruit:

oranges
apples
kiwi
mango
banana
lemons

Vegetables:

Garlic
peas
carrots
green pepper
yellow pepper
red pepper
corn
potatoes
avocado
cucumber
parsley

In the pantry:

organic chick peas
olive oil
wholemeal pita
cranberry and apple juice
Organic tinned refried beans
Smoked organic tofu
grissini
sushi rice (to make use your Laptop Lunchbox User Guide)
Organic museli for trail mix, includes puffed rice, nuts, sunflower seeds, dried fruit
dried bananas
dried nectaries

In the fridge:
Frozen blueberries from the Farmer's Market
Soygurt


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