Sep 19, 2015

veganmofo - to-go lunch + savory cream cheese

Day 19 #vgnmf15 is about lunch on the go.

I have three teenagers (one having just left for college) and a hubby and I have been around the inside of a lunch box many a time. Since we also homeschooled, there were lunches on the go for the four of us an equal amount of times.

Simple, fast and balanced is the key to lunch on the go -- and, of course, the person being packed for. I wouldn't pack the very same thing for my husband as I would for my oldest daughter; they simply have different tastes.

In addition, access to a microwave also needs to be taken into consideration. Packing leftovers that need to be reheated is possible when there is a microwave in the lunch room.

Let's take, for instance, lunch for a student without access to a microwave. Here is my daughter's lunch tomorrow:

An apple, sea vegetable, roasted almonds and a bagel with Savory Vegetable Cream Cheese with lettuce, tomato and slivers of onion.



Naturally, she won't eat all of this at once. My girls experience migraines and we've been following the advice in the "Migraine Brain" which recommends eating at a very consistent time.

For my youngest, that is every two hours (otherwise she gets very hungry and it triggers her migraine). She'll have the above lunch throughout her time away from home.




Let's focus on that cream cheese.

That cream cheese is really awesome and we have it for breakfast and snacks, as well. It really only depends on how long it lasts; not long at our house since this is a fast-moving spread. It is a store-bought tub of cream cheese with a few stir-ins that change it into something very tasty.

We've experienced other people bringing flavored cream cheeses to outings and we weren't about to be left in the dust. This cream cheese trumps their cream cheese any day!

I am hosting an International giveaway of the Kindle edition of my new cookbook, Vegan Bowls. Enter HERE. Contest ends Monday night, September 21.









Savory Vegetable Cream Cheese
Makes 12 ounces


8 ounces nondairy cream cheese
¼ cup minced scallions (about 4 or 5)
1 small carrot, finely grated
¼ teaspoon paprika
Sea salt and black pepper

1. Soften the cream cheese in a medium bowl using a fork.
2. Stir in the scallions, carrot and paprika. Season with salt and black pepper.
3. Transfer to an air-tight container and store in the refrigerator, where it will keep up to a week.



 © 2015 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

10 comments:

  1. we homeschool too but I get a thrill out of lunchboxes :D

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    1. I know what you mean. We still homeschool the youngest (15) but the oldest daughter (18) is in community college (still needing lunch :) and oldest of the bunch, our son, is away at school. Our youngest is a figure skater and works to pay for it, so she's away long enough during the day that she, too, needs lunch. My kids tend not to be around a lot anymore.

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  2. Savoury cream cheese sounds great - pretty much paprika and anything are friends of mine. I love your lunch box - I have a stainless steel one which I am obsessed with but want to get some of the smaller dip sized ones too. They are so amazing - I took a brothy soup in mine one day fully expecting it to leak and not a drop got free!

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  3. I like the addition of carrot and paprika and the apple container. Thanks for the tip on migraines, my mom and little sister suffer from them too, I'll pass that on to them :)

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    1. Have them read "The Migraine Brain." It helped my girls and might help your mom and sis. Those things are nasty!

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  4. I love that apple holder! I've not seen one of those before just the banana ones. The idea of flavouring cream cheese is a great one.

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    1. I get most of the lunch stuff and other pretty nifty things from reuseit.com

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  5. That apple holder is adorable! I need one of those, mine always get all bruised in my purse.
    I rarely have cream cheese, but I like it. I never liked it in my pre-vegan days, but have loved it since I've gone vegan. I like this savoury version. Have you tried the Daiya versions? They have sweet ones like strawberry flavoured.

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    1. Thanks! www.reuseit.com is my place for acquiring them. If you look around the site you might discover that you "need" other things as well.

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Thanks for your comment! I'll check if it's spam and post if it is not. I appreciate your time and effort for commenting! ~ Zsu