Love me or hate me, I’ve never claimed to be anything other than myself. Messy and confused and trying my best. . . but always keeping it real. So this is what I did this morning.

I don’t think there’s any one right way to parent; I truly believe in parenting to the individual child. So this post isn’t meant to be instructive or prescriptive in any way. I’m just sharing our journey, trying to be honest about all of our ups and downs. And the funny thing is, I think some of you will see this story as an “up”, and others of you will see it as a “down.”

And that’s okay. In fact, I love that. Let’s talk about it!

♥ ♥ ♥

Aaaaaaand it’s come to my attention that after all that, McDonalds hash browns *in America* are not even vegan!! Apparently when I checked I didn’t realize I was looking at the Canadian website. Oh my goodness. Okay well our mistake is already made, whoops, but please don’t go make the same one! Geeze . . .

Last week Waits turned SEVEN, which meant that it was once again time for our annual, full-family pilgrimage to the Mouse House, for an exciting, exhausting, fun-filled adventure at the Happiest Place On Earth™.

We came. We saw. We held onto our hats for the wildest ride in the wilderness!

This year, for the first time, we had another kiddo with us. Waits brought his best friend Weston (“the two double yoos”, they say), and wow it was so super awesome! They got along great and kept each other company and the whole day was so amazingly and unexpectedly smooth and easy and huzzah! A success!

Alas, our favorite ride (Pirates of the Caribbean) was closed for repairs, and The Matterhorn was closed as well. But otherwise we hit all the important stuff — Star Tours and Splash Mountain and Haunted Mansion and Thunder Mountain and Indiana Jones and Jungle Cruise (cringe) and even that little roller coaster in Toon Town.

It also rained (briefly), and that was a first. Not that it put a damper on our fun. If anything, the weather kept the lines short!

And we’ve definitely got the “being-vegan-at-Disneyland” thing down, with the perfect mix of not-too-heavy staples that we bring in our back packs, and knowing all the delicious vegan eats around the park. We did most of our eating on park-bought food this year, and it was great! I think after next year’s 5th trip, I’ll finally be ready to write my *comprehensive* Vegan Guide To Disneyland post.

Disneyland is a place that’s made for escapism, but this trip always feels like the opposite of that, for our family. Our little, but not-so-little, family, which looks so very different from the other families there at the park. This trip is about connection, and celebration of us. And mostly, of that one little person who keeps us four adults bound to one another with unbreakable love-glue. It’s a celebration of Waits, and a recommitting of the pledge we made to him: To always be a family. To give him stability and support and a strong foundation, in spite of our strange circumstances.

So as always, as I write this post, I am feeling full to my top with gratitude. For my open-minded and open-hearted co-parents. For Damian and for Danielle and for Jeremy. Waits sure is a lucky kid, to have so many people who love him so very much.

So *cheers*, Disney. Until next year!

♥

A few weeks back I posted that picture ^^ on Instagram, with the following caption:

A picture of wee Waits the last time we went to the dentist, age 6. I recently read an article about a healthy lifestyle blogger who was raising her son vegan until he suffered from terrible tooth decay. She blamed the veganism. It’s an argument I’ve heard over and over: vegan/vegetarian children have teeth issues. I cannot say for sure whether there’s any truth to that, since all the “data” is anecdotal (not experimental), but I can say this . . . I know that it is 100% *possible* to raise vegan kids with perfectly healthy, perfectly perfect teeth. I know this because I’m raising one! And I’ve written before about the food and supplements we take for optimal health, but I’m wondering if there’s interest in a post specifically addressing this? On optimizing teeth (and bone) health when raising vegan kids. Yay? Nay? Lemme know!

And the overwhelming response I got was — “YES! Please write about vegan kids and their teeth!”

So okay, let’s talk about that.

The first thing I want to say, though, is that so much of dental health, and whether or not a kid will develop cavities, is determined by factors that are out of our control. I do believe that dental health can be mitigated, augmented, and even at times corrected, by changes in diet, lifestyle/hygiene, and supplementation. But ultimately, there are forces at work that are totally out of a parent’s control. Genetics, environment and exposure, maternal physical and mental health during fetal development, etc, all play a role in the dental outcomes of children. And although I do strongly believe that my commitment to Waits’s dental regimen has aided in his excellent oral health, I will not claim complete credit for his success, because I don’t know what DNA he was dealt, and what environmental influences he did (or more importantly, did not) encounter, and so on.

As well, I would never want to implicate the parents of children who have had dental issues. I have known so many mamas (both vegan and omni) who did all the right things, and still their kids ended up with dental carries. It happens, and sometimes it’s completely out of our control. So I’m not taking credit, and more importantly, I’m certainly not casting blame.

With all that said, word on the street is that vegan and vegetarian children have crappy teeth.

The root of these rumors can be traced back to the good folks at the Weston A Price Foundation (WAPF). They really do have it out for vegans and vegetarians, and they’ve had a lot of influence in the natural living/healthy eating community over the past decade or so. But the interesting thing to me, is that Dr. Price really was an awesome dude, who made some incredible discoveries and was able to connect nutritional threads that no one else was aware of back when he was alive (he did his work in the 1930s). So I actually have mad respect for Weston Price, which is why I’ve invested a whole lot of time into investigating his ideas. I’ve spent a lot of hours hanging out in online WAPF forums, and reading WAPF literature. And dang those people hate vegans!

Weston Price was a dentist, so it makes sense that his followers are really focused on dentition as a marker of overall health. And although I disagree with many of the conclusions that his namesake foundation has drawn, and now promotes, I do think he was onto something. I do think there’s a lot that can be learned about optimal health – especially in the dental realm – from that old dude, and his 80 year old work.

So this is the plan that I’ve pieced together, after years of extensive research. It’s a combination of knowing what is optimal, and accepting what is practical (pretty much the same as my overall approach towards nutrition and wellness). It’s a three-pronged approach combining diet, hygiene habits, and supplements.

1) Diet: We all know that a diet low in sugar is a diet that makes for happy teeth. Sugar, especially processed and refined sugars, but also including natural sugars from fresh fruits and dried fruits, creates a perfect habitat for growth of the bad bacteria that causes cavities. So firstly and foremostly, we eat a diet that’s low in sugar. We do eat fruit, dried fruit, and fresh green (fruit juice sweetened) juices, but not all day every day. And we keep the refined sugar intake to a great minimum — maybe once a week at most.

Less obvious than sugar though, are a few other macronutrient groups that play an important role in dental health success. Primarily: protein and fat.

I make a concerted effort to guarantee that Waits eats a significant amount of protein. And I know, I know, it’s a touchy subject with vegans. But hear me out. Sufficient dietary protein is essential for the normal development of bones and teeth. Protein is high in phosphorous, which is an integral component in the protective outer enamel of our teeth. But more importantly, protein is intimately linked to proper calcium absorption. Your body needs protein to be able to use the calcium necessary for building strong bones and teeth. You can read a more thorough analysis of the science surrounding calcium, protein, and bone health, from The Vegan RD. But suffice it to say, make sure your kiddos are getting enough concentrated sources of plant-based protein (these include buckwheat, chia, flax, hemp, oats, quinoa, amaranth, peanuts/peanut butter, pistachios, soy/tofu/tempeh, seitan and other wheat meats, and nutritional yeast).

Okay, moving on from protein . . . parents, please do not fear fat! In fact, embrace it. FAT IS YOUR VEGAN KIDS BEST FRIEND.

Fat is essential. A growing body needs it. I know in this wacky vegan community where fat-phobia runs rampant, this might actually be the most controversial thing I’ve ever said (and that’s really saying something!). But seriously, aside from the fact that vegan diets are naturally calorie-light, and wee growing bodies burn through calories in a flash, making concentrated calorie-boosters like fat an excellent energy source for vegan kiddos . . . aside from that . . . fats are literally a requirement in order to properly absorb a number of essential vitamins.

There are two kinds of vitamins: water soluble, and fat soluble. Water soluble vitamins are the ones you can’t OD on. B12 for example — have you ever noticed that the dosage of B12 tablets is like, thousands of times higher than the “recommended daily intake”? That’s because B12 is water soluble, so you can’t get “too much”. If your body gets more than it needs, it simply passes the excess in your urine. Easy peasy.

Other vitamins are fat soluble. This means that in order for your body to absorb them, they requires fat as a binder. The fat soluble vitamins are A, D, E, and K. Coincidentally, three of these are key players in building healthy teeth!

Vitamin A (vegans eat carotene and our bodies are good at converting it into retinol, the usable form of vitamin A), Vitamin D (the only vegan sources are certain mushrooms and fortified plant milks and faux meats), and Vitamin K (K1 is abundant in plant foods, K2 is not. Our body converts K1 (which helps blood to clot) into K2 (the one used for building bones and teeth), but conversion from K1 to K2 can be very very low — more on this later!) are the three key fat soluble vitamins that work in congruence with calcium and phosphorous (among others) to build strong bones and healthy teeth. Vegan children who are raised on low-fat diets are at risk of malabsorption of these critical vitamins. This is one of the primary reasons I do not advocate a low-fat diet for vegan kids.

So, I make sure that Waits eats plenty of fat. In whole food forms, like coconut and nuts and seeds and avocados, but also in concentrated forms like olive, coconut, and hemp oil. We love Magic Beans!

And the last component of diet, in addition to those important macronutrients, is the dietary micronutrient calcium, which should always be at the fore of your thinking when feeding your kiddos with optimal dental health in mind. Calcium is abundant in vegan diets as long as the diet includes lots of leafy greens . . . which of course, can be tough for picky kids! So if your kids won’t eat their greens, make sure they’re drinking them! Get on those green smoothies and green juices.

Other than greens, some awesome dietary sources of calcium include: almonds and almond butter, beans, blackstrap molasses, calcium-set tofu (the package will say, or look at the calcium content on the nutrition label), fresh or dried figs, sesame seeds and tahini, and seaweed.

Age 3 months – 2 years: Spry Tooth Gel (vegan, all natural, fluoride-free, sweetened with xylitol which is scientifically proven to strengthen teeth, made in America)

Age 2 years – 5 years: Jason Kids Only! Toothpaste (vegan, all natural, fluoride-free)

Age 5 years – current: Tom’s Anticavity Children’s Toothpaste (vegan, all natural)

Aside from careful and consistent brushing, we try to floss as often as possible. Ideally we would floss every day, but yeah right. We do our best. And we also make sure to go to bed with clean teeth. Only water after brushing, no bedtime snacks or milks, or else we brush again before sleep.

At this age, those are the main health hygiene habits that we make sure to do. When Waits is older I’ll introduce him to tongue scraping and oil pulling, but for now, this is working just fine.

*** A Note On Fluoride: Don’t ask me about fluoride! I don’t have the answers. I wholeheartedly believe it shouldn’t be added to our water, but beyond that, I just don’t know. I haven’t spent enough time with the research, really digging in the way I like to do before I share my thoughts with all of you. So, I can’t give a definitive opinion on fluoride. Sorry!

3) Supplements: There are two primary supplements associated with building and maintaining healthy teeth in growing kids — Vitamin D and Vitamin K2. Calcium, phosphorous, and the other micronutrients should be obtainable through diet alone. But D and K2 are not sufficiently present in plant foods, and therefor should be supplemented.

Weston Price identified something that he called “Factor X”, an elusive dietary component that allowed traditional populations to develop healthy dentition. Traditional populations of people tend to have wide dental arches — plenty of room in the mouth for teeth to grow — and this is a marker of optimal health. As traditional populations moved away from eating their native diets, and moved towards more modern processed foods, Price observed that their jaw configuration would change, literally in just one generation. Parents eating traditional diets would have wide dental arches, while their children eating primarily processed and refined foods would have narrow arches and crowded mouths. He noticed this phenomenon in multiple populations across the world.

Modern science has now identified “Factor X” . . . as Vitamin K2. Vitamin K2 works with Vitamins A and D to help bone minerals deposit themselves in the right place. If there’s not enough A, D or K2, then bone and tooth problems will occur. It doesn’t matter how much calcium and phosphorous your kid is eating. If they don’t have the fat soluble vitamins to help the minerals know where to go, they won’t be able to build teeth and bones.

K2 is only present in a select few plant foods, mainly natto which is stinky fermented soy slime and a pretty hard sell for kids. And as noted earlier, our body can convert the abundant K1 that we eat in leafy greens, and make K2 inside our bodies. The problem is that conversion efficiency is very low, and it’s hard to know if you’re meeting the minimum requirements (fats can aide in conversion of K1 to K2 — another reason to not be afraid of healthy fats!). But inadequate conversion is not a risk I’m willing to take with my kiddo, so I’m happy to hedge our bets and give him a little extra help, in the form of a supplement.

D is also rare in plant foods, found only in some mushrooms that are irradiated during growth. It’s often added to plant milks and faux meats, and of course our bodies synthesize it when our skin is exposed to the sun. But again, it’s hard to know how much you’re successfully making and how much of what you eat is absorbed and stored. The vast majority of people who live outside of the equatorial range are deficient in vitamin D. So for me, again, this is a no-brainer. It’s not a risk I’m willing to take, and I’m more than happy to supplement my kiddo.

These are the supplements I’ve used for Waits:

Vitamin K2
Now Foods Vitamin K2 (MK-7): I love these vegan capsules because I can empty the powder into the blender when I’m making our daily smoothies. This is such an easy way to get supplements into kids! You could also mix the powder into hummus, soups, or other foods, if your kid is not a smoothie kid. MK-7 is the best form of K2.

Vitamin D
MRM Vegan Vitamin D3: This is my favorite vegan D3. Again, I empty the capsules into our daily smoothies. D3 is the most bioavailable form of vitamin D, and 5,000 IU is a good dosage.

Global Health Trax Vegan D3 Spray: Some parents prefer a spray for ease of administration, and this is my favorite spray that’s D3 (not D2) and vegan.

Bone-Builder Multi
If your kiddo is a picky eater who only lives off of vegan mac n cheese, then maybe you want a well-rounded bone-building multi-vitamin that includes an array of minerals along with the D and K2, such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, and boron.

I love Ortho Bone Vegan, which I used when Waits was younger and pickier. The Jarrow Bone Up Veg Formula is also great.

Because he’s living proof.

♥

This time of year, when the fresh food is finally flowing again, it can be easy to rely on that abundance of produce to comprise the bulk of our childrens’ school lunches. And it makes sense! Fresh fruits are full of easily-assimilated energy (simple carbs), healthy vitamins, and of course, hydration hydration hydration. And vegetables are an excellent source of so many nutritious minerals and micronutrients, not to mention fiber. I mean, what’s not to love?

Well, my fellow veg parents, this is your friendly mom-to-mom reminder, from my kitchen to yours. Because I see veg parents making this mistake a lot, both online and in real life. Fruits and veggies are healthy, and delicious, and kids love them, and they are just so pretty! A rainbow lunch is beautiful, and it makes us feel like we’re giving our kids the very best. Especially since we know that most American children do not meet their minimum requirements for fruits and vegetables.

But . . . most vegan children? Well, they don’t need to load up on more fruits and veggies. They’re already getting plenty! So before you pack on the extra produce, please keep in mind that there are other macronutrients which are equally essential: protein and fat! Growing bodies need both of these, and while fruits and veggies are super high in micronutrients, they tend to be very low (*too* low) in calories, and almost entirely lacking in these oh-so-essential macronutrients.

So, make sure your weegan school lunch packs a super protein punch, with concentrated sources of plant-based protein like tofu, beans, lentils, seitan, peanut butter, and pistachios.

And ensure your weegans are getting healthy fats for long-lasting energy and satiating calorie density, with delicious favorites like avocados, nuts and seeds, coconut, and healthy oils like olive, hemp, or flax.

Around our house, we tend to eat very dense dinners, so as you’ll see in the following lunches, I often rely on leftovers to provide the protein and fat that I know my growing vegan needs. Here’s a few examples of what our lunches have looked like lately, as we’ve moved through spring and started to glimpse the abundance of the coming summer bounty:

• Leftover spaghetti! Organic brown rice pasta with organic marinara and Beyond Meat crumbles.
• Trail mix with almonds, cashews, dried pineapple and dried cranberry.
• Organic apple slices.
• Organic corn chips.
• His treat — a few chlorella tablets which he pops like candy. Those vegan kids, man!
• Strawberry + peanut butter + kale protein smoothie, in the Panda Squooshi reusable squeeze pouch.
• The lunch box is our new absolute fave! It’s the Planet Box Rover and we use it almost every day. Waits adores it and I love that it’s reusable, long-lasting, and it’s super easy to clean. Two enthusiastic thumbs up!

• Leftover chia pudding! I like to make it in large batches. It’s high in protein as well as omega-3 fatty acids, and Waits just loves it. This one was made with oat milk and blueberries.
• A small hand full of organic shredded wheat cereal.
• A wee tin of organic cinnamon almonds from our local farmer’s market.
• Organic carrots and sugar snap peas from the CSA.
• Local organic blood oranges, also from the CSA.
• His treat — 2 locally grown dates. They taste just like carmel!
• Same amazing Planet Box lunch box.

• Leftover burrito! Simple refried beans, brown rice, and cheeze.
• Organic strawberries from our CSA (I use these adorable picks).
• A slice of homemade zucchini bread. SO good!
• Local organic snap peas and tangerines from our farm box.
• His treat — cinnamon & sugar almonds from the farmer’s market.
• Strawberry & kale protein smoothie, in the Penguin Squooshi reusable squeeze pouch.
• Same super fly stainless steel Planet Box Rover.

• Leftover lentils, made Magic Beans style, sent in the smallest of the Kids Conserve nesting trio containers.
• Tofurkey and cheeze sammie on whole grain bread, sent in the Lunchskins reusable snack bag.
• Raspberry + peanut butter + spinach + protein smoothie, in the Penguin Squooshi reusable squeeze pouch.
• Local cucumbers and celery, both from our CSA box, and organic corn chips. All packed in the Lunchbots Duo stainless steel bento.
• That same amazing Planet Box lunch box. Oh how we love it so!

• Leftover spaghetti bolognese. Organic brown rice pasta with organic marinara, vegan cheese, and Beyond Meat crumbles.
• Organic strawberries from our farm box, sprinkled with hemp seeds.
• Leftover savory baked tofu strips.
• Organic carrots, cucumbers, and celery.
• His treat — dried wild blueberries.

And there you have it — another round of healthy, seasonal, plant-powered and eco-friendly lunches. Each including a miniature rainbow, but also centered around a calorie-dense, protein-packed main staple, to keep my little vegan going long and strong till dinner time.

So don’t forget those leftovers! ♥

//

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This March, for Waits’s sixth birthday (AHEM WHAT!!!?) and for the third year in a row, our little vegan family went adventuring to worship at the altar of the Mouse. And this time, it wasn’t just Waits and Damian and I. No, we are a thoroughly modern family these days, and our little family has grown, and lucky wee Waits Rebhal is just completely surrounded by grown-ups who love him. And each other.




And would you believe that this was Jeremy’s very first Disneyland adventure, ever?? I know!

So for me, it was a double whammy of Disney glee: watching Waits bask in the absolute joy that is Disneyland-through-the-eyes-of-a-six-year-old, and also, finally sharing this incredibly nostalgic piece of my history with the man I love. I grew up going to Disneyland and I have a memory for every inch of that theme park. And getting to share all that with Jeremy — Pirates Of The Caribbean and The Haunted mansion and Star Tours and all the sights and sounds and fun — well that was just extra magical.

And it was also such a treasure for us to get to share this day with Damian and Danielle. We see them pretty often, but always in the passing chaos and daily life. We hadn’t spent any real quality time with them since Christmas day, so it was really lovely, and of course always so special for Waits, that we were all able to be together.

That kiddo had one heck of an adventure-filled, excitement-filled, and love-filled day!

And I fully recognize that it’s something worth acknowledging. Worth stopping, and taking a breath, and feeling grateful. I am so thankful that we have achieved this happy, healthy, non-traditional-but-totally-functional, thoroughly modern family. So thankful.





And, as always, we should talk about the food. Being vegan at Disney is actually pretty easy (although being gluten-free vegan is considerably harder), and every year I learn a little bit more. I think next year my goal will be to bring zero food along with us, and solely rely on the park’s offerings to provide us with our meals.

But for this year, I took the easy way out and packed a back-up plan. We still ate plenty of park food mind you, because when in Rome. But I did bring the old stand-bys: hummus and crackers and carrot sticks and apples and Larabars.

Oh, and I brought baked tofu. LOTS of baked tofu.




But despite my healthy and wholesome snack-packing, we also managed to procure a selection of delectable vegan treats. As it should be.

Damian and Waits and Jeremy each got a Mickey pretzel, for example (all of the Mickey pretzels sold throughout the park are vegan):





And as far as I’m concerned, no trip to Disney is complete without a giant Kosher dill pickle (why are they sooooo good??):




That got us through the afternoon with plenty of energy for adventuring!





Later that day I finally got my Dole Whip, after 3 years of waiting and wanting (the lines were always so long). Totally vegan, guys! A super-sized spiral of frozen pineapple glory:




And Damian and Danielle finally tried some of the real “hot meal” vegan options: Vegetarian Gumbo in a sourdough bread bowl. “Accidentally vegan” and according to them, it was really good!




The truth is, Disneyland offers lots of hot food vegan – and even gluten-free vegan – options, like chili, and veggie/tofu skewers, and pancakes (gluten-free!) and more. I just mostly hate waiting in lines and paying out the nose for potentially-mediocre food. But next year? Next year I’m going to take the gamble. Mark my words!

But really, that’s not what this trip is about. I couldn’t care less about what we’re eating, when it really comes down to it. Because this annual adventure is so much more than a vegan food tour.

This is about our family. It’s about a commitment to our child, and to giving him the cohesive, supportive, and integrated family that he deserves. A chance to re-connect, and remind ourselves of that promise we made 4 year ago, when we told him, “We’re still a family. It just looks different now.”

And we are. And I am proud of us, for that.




So cheers – to many more Disney years!

♥

And who knew that packing up lunches would become such a pure little pleasure for me? It may sound strange, but I truly do enjoy those quiet moments in the kitchen, late at night after Waits has gone to bed, with a podcast on and alone in my thoughts, preparing a nutritious and delicious little lunch for my weegan. It only takes me a short time, probably 10 minutes or less, and I try to use as much fresh local/seasonal food as possible (easier to do here in California, I know).

I also make sure to include a healthy dose of plant-based protein. Overall my lunches usually follow the formula: plant protein/main dish + veggie side + fruit side + and some sort of energy-dense side, like carby chips or pretzels, or fatty nuts or seeds. It’s a solid equation that seems to be working well so far, and having those loose guidelines really helps me to be able to crank out lunches on the quick, which is important for a busy working mama like myself.

So anyway, here’s what a handful of our lunches have looked like over this past winter:

• “Pizza bread” with tofu, marinara, cheese, and olives on whole grain bread, sent in the “Tangerine Orange” Lunch Skins full-size sandwich bag.
• A simple salad of shredded romaine and kalamata olives, with an olive oil dressing, sent int he largest of the Kids Konserve stainless steel nesting trio.
• Carrot sticks and cuties, both from our local organic CSA box, sent in the middle-sized Kids Konserve stainless steel nesting trio.
• Cinnamon-covered almonds sent in the smallest of the Kids Konserve stainless steel nesting trio.
• I’m sure I sent him a beverage of some sort, but it’s not pictured. Oops!

• A peanut butter, strawberry, and kale smoothie in our adorable Penguin Squooshi reusable squeeze pouch. True story: I am in LOVE with these pouches!
• Whole wheat crackers in the half-size “Aqua Elephant” Lunch Skins reusable baggie.
• Three local organic tangerines from our CSA box.
• Leftover pasta bake (rice noodles, marinara, spinach, beyond meat crumbles, and vegan cheese on top) in the Steeltainer compact container.

• Cinnamon almonds in an inherited plastic mini container (brand unknown).
• Snap peas from our local organic CSA, washed and trimmed and sent in the smallest Kids Konserve stainless steel nesting trio.
• Leftover baked tofu cubes and oven-baked potato “chips”, in the Thinkbaby bento.
• Oat milk in the pretty blue Klean Kanteen 12-ounce stainless steel sport top.

• Organic “corn puffs” (Waits begged me for these and I caved. They tasted pretty meh and I won’t buy them again) in the large “Tangerine Orange” Lunch Skins full-size sandwich bag.
• The inimitable Magic Beans, in the large-sized Kids Konserve stainless steel nesting trio.
• Organic tangerines and red bell peppers in the Lunchbots Duo divided steel container.
• Leftover homemade mac ‘n “cheese” in the small-sized Kids Konserve stainless steel nesting trio (you can see I get a lot of use out of this trio!).
• I’m sure I sent a drink, but again – unpictured.

• Leftover pizza (yes, we do a lot of leftovers! sometimes I specifically make extra dinner so I’ll have some to send in lunch the next day) in the Thinkbaby bento.
• More tangerines (like I said – California winter) as well as star fruit, in the Steeltainer compact container.
• Olive Oil popcorn in the large Kids Konserve stainless steel nesting trio.
• Oat milk in the Klean Kanteen 12-ounce stainless steel sport top.

• Peach smoothie with protein powder and spinach, probiotics and vitamins, in the Panda Squooshi reusable squeeze pouch.
• Dried coconut strips and dehydrated mango in the Lunchbots Duo two-compartment container.
• Boxed mac ‘n cheese (don’t hate the player, just hate the game) in the medium Kids Konserve stainless steel nesting trio.
• Magic Beans in the smallest Kids Konserve stainless steel nesting trio.

And there you have it — another round of healthy, seasonal, plant-powered and eco-friendly lunches. Winter is finally over, spring has sprung, and just this week we received the very first strawberries of the season in our CSA box! Waits was pretty stoked, and I’m also looking forward to the coming bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables. Viva la spring!

Until next time. ♥

//

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Okay so it’s not quite acting like autumn around here. We’re still getting temps in the high 80s and even into the 90s, and our local produce is still pouring in like it’s midsummer. I’m not complaining though. Farmer’s Market strawberries in October? Yes please!

So here’s what our weather-crazy California lunches have been looking like lately:

• Tofu shapes! Waits loves these – Jeremy makes a nooch-battered pan-fried tofu recipe, and cuts the pieces in star wars themed shapes. These were left over from a beach dinner picnic the night before. ♥ Sent in the Steeltainer compact container.
• Organic cucumbers and local CSA carrots, in our super-cute “Aqua Elephant” Lunch Skins reusable baggie.
• A gluten-free blueberry muffin from our favorite gluten-free vegan bakery in LA. We were able to stock up recently when Jeremy picked me up at LAX, so now we have a freezer stockpiled with all the gluten-free goodness!
• Local organic CSA strawberries with organic hemp seeds, sent in the ECOlunchbox Eco Dipper.
• Oat milk in the Klean Kanteen 12-ounce stainless steel sport top.

• Organic cucumbers and kalamata olives (two of his favorites) in the Steeltainer compact container, with the rarely-used divider insert.
• Local organic CSA grapes in the ECOlunchbox Eco Dipper.
• The new Daiya yogurt! Cherry flavor. We’ve tried all the flavors and Waits loves them all. I’m so-so on my feelings about these yogurts — I like that they have probiotics and that he likes them, and I like that they are higher in protein than other vegan yogurts. But, they are essentially just starch and gums and fillers with flavoring, and not much actual real food. So I’ll buy them occasionally, but they’re not my first choice for vegan yogurts.
• Sandwich time. This one was grilled tofu with Vegenaise and red leaf lettuce, sent in the Lunch Skins full-size sandwich bag in “Tangerine Orange”.
• Oat milk as always, in the Klean Kanteen 12-ounce stainless steel sport top.

• Burrrrito, made with Taco Tuesday leftovers (refried pinto beans, grilled peppers + onions, black olives) sent in the ECOlunchbox oval.
• Small container of Magic Beans leftover from dinner with my godparents, in the little tupperware they sent us home with.
• Gluten-free blueberry muffin.
• Organic cucumbers and organic CSA strawberries in the Steeltainer compact container, again with the divider insert.
• Water in his Klean Kanteen 12-ounce stainless steel sport top.

• Peanut butter filled pretzels in our Steeltainer compact container.
• Taco! Blue corn taco with refried beans and vegan cheese, cut in half and sent in the small-size Lunch Skins in “Aqua Elephant”.
• Sliced kiwi fruit in the ECOlunchbox Eco Dipper.
• Another Daiya yogurt, strawberry I think it was.
• Water in his Klean Kanteen 12-ounce stainless steel sport top. We switched to water mid-week because he wasn’t drinking the oat milk and I felt like too much was being wasted. It’s better for hydrating in this crazy heat, anyways.

• Ahhh, the new Kite Hill yogurt. Now this stuff is great. Delicious, rich, and REAL. Almond-based but with much more protein than other almond milk yogurts (I think because they use the whole almonds and not just the milk). The ingredients list is quite short, so yeah — this is my new fave vegan yogurt!
• Magic Beans with kidney beans this time, in the Steeltainer compact container.
• Herbed popcorn in the extra-large ECOlunchbox oval.
• Local organic CSA grapes in the ECOlunchbox Eco Dipper.
• Water in the Klean Kanteen 12-ounce stainless steel sport top.

And there it is, another week of healthy, vegan, eco-friendly lunches. As I finish this post up, I am sitting on my couch and it is 90 degrees in my living room. Autumn? Any time now. Please?

Until next time. ♥

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It’s a lot to ask of a tiny guy.

Here in California we’ve been having a heat wave (a little rain very recently, which is so welcome, but mostly it’s been sweltering), and so one day after school, maybe the second week of school, the teachers all passed out popsicles to the kiddos, right at dismissal. And I was standing outside of his classroom, waiting for him, and I watched all these wee people come streaming out, already excitedly slurping down their icy little sugar bombs.

And then out walked Waits, a look of intense determination on his face. His popsicle, unopened, clenched firmly in his little fist. His eyes scanned the schoolyard and zeroed in on his kindergarten teacher, and he was off. “Miss Anne! Miss Anne! I need to know if this is veeeeegan!!”

I followed along behind him (he hadn’t seen me yet, so set on his task he was) and approached as his teacher was trying to explain that she didn’t know. “Do you have the box??” he offered hopefully.

And she did, she fished it out of the trash and handed it to me so that I could confirm. And yes – they were vegan!

Then, and only then, did Waits tear into that popsicle. And the look of joy on his face was just priceless. He was beaming.

And I was just so proud of him. I told him that I was impressed with his restraint, and I told him how much I appreciated his conviction. How wonderful it was that he went to find his teacher, to confirm that his popsicle was vegan. And on the way home we talked about it some more, and instead of saying, “Weren’t you lucky that your popsicle was vegan so that you could eat it?” I reframed the issue and said to him :

“Aren’t your classmates lucky that all of their popsicles were vegan, and they didn’t even have to hurt any animals in order to enjoy their treat? What lucky kids they were to get vegan popsicles today!”

And he agreed that they were very lucky, indeed.

Being a kid growing up outside the mainstream can be so hard, and raising a kid outside the mainstream means sometimes living with a sense of self-doubt, and often living with a sense of isolation. So, I hope that this little series I’m starting will help us all to feel more connected. None of us are perfect parents, so although I’ll be sharing my happy moments like this one here today, I’ll also be sharing my struggles, so we can all commiserate together. I’d love it if you share as well, down in the comments.

Have you had any “Vegan Parenting Moments” recently?

** And yes, I absolutely allow Waits to eat the occasional sugar bomb. It’s important to me that he grows up feeling like veganism means you get to have everything that other kids have — just minus the cruelty. I want his veganism to last with him into adulthood, which means I don’t ever want him to associate it with deprivation. This kiddo eats an incredibly healthy diet so for me, an occasional sugar bomb is totally worth the trade-off in the larger context of him developing a lasting relationship with his veganism. I know that other parents may feel differently, but this is what works for our family. Maybe this approach is something I should write more about in the future? You tell me!

Waits eats almost everything I send, but it’s all throughout the day. These “lunches” cover his morning snack (during recess) at school, as well as his actual sit-down lunch at school. I pick him up in the early afternoon, and we usually go through his lunch and see what he ate. After that I drop him off at his afternoon child care provider, and I usually send him with an additional snack to share with the other children. So he eats the rest of his un-eaten lunch in the afternoon, plus an additional little something, which he’s sharing with the other kiddos.

So yes, mostly it all gets eaten, but not all at one big meal. And now — onto the lunches!

• Organic strawberries and organic heirloom melon, both from our weekly CSA box. Sent in the trusty LunchBots Duo stainless steel container that we’ve been using for almost 5 years.
• Oven-baked french fries (leftover from the night before) in our super-cute “Aqua Elephant” Lunch Skins snack bag.
• Sandwich! Tofurkey and Follow Your Heart cheddar-style slices on whole wheat sourdough. Packed in our “Green Pear” Lunch Skins full-size sandwich bag. I’m really loving these reusable bags — they are durable, practical, and super easy to clean. I’m a big fan of stainless steel, but man these bags are awesome!
• Oat milk in his Klean Kanteen 12-ounce stainless steel sport top.

• Oat milk! I’ve said before that I feel bad using these little single-serving cartons, but man they come in handy for days like this one, when the dishes had piled up and the Klean Kanteen wasn’t so, ahem . . . Klean.
• Local organic CSA strawberries in the ECOlunchbox Eco Dipper.
• Magic Beans (recipe here) in the Steeltainer compact container. I love this bento even though I’m a bit torn on it. I prefer to be 100% plastic-free, but the snap down lid is so convenient!
• “Pizza bread” is one of Waits’s absolute favorite lunches. This one is topped with kalamata olives, cut to look like the Millennium Falcon, and sent in the Lunch Skins “Green Pear” sandwich bag.
• A Mama Chia chia squeeze pouch – another big favorite around here.

• Baguette mini sammies, with Tofurkey slices and Follow Your Heart cheddar. Held together with a toothpick, with a black olive on top. Served in our Steeltainer compact container.
• Snapea Crisps in the ECOlunchbox Eco Dipper. I love this little steel container – it’s the perfect lunch box size. And y’all know how much we loooove our Snapea Crisps around here!
• Kite Hill yogurt! This is a new product and I was so excited to try it. Vegan yogurts can be pretty hit-or-miss, but this new almond-based offering is rich and creamy, high in protein, and relatively low in gums/starches/thickeners. Waits loved it and I did too. It’s a bit pricier, which is a downside, but other than that I’d say this is my new favorite vegan yogurt.
• Organic strawberries and organic red bell peppers from our CSA box, in the LunchBots Duo stainless steel container.
• Oat milk in his Klean Kanteen 12-ounce stainless steel sport top.

• Oat milk in the ever-present Klean Kanteen 12-ounce stainless steel sport top.
• Two Tofurkey roll-ups and a handful of kalamata olives, in some old plastic tupperware of Jeremy’s. This day made me realize I needed a few much smaller steel containers.
• Herbed popcorn in the extra-large ECOlunchbox oval.
• Two slices of leftover pizza from a local vegan-friendly pizza parlor. This was a simple pie with vegan cheese and marinated tofu cubes. The two pieces were a tight fit, but they worked out quite nicely in the “Tangerine Orange” “Lunch Skins full-size sandwich bag“
• Chia pudding made the night before with oat milk, maple syrup, and frozen blueberries, left to gel up in the fridge over night, and sent in the ECOlunchbox Eco Dipper.

• Peanut butter filled pretzels in our Steeltainer compact container. These pretzels are the Trader Joe’s brand, not the healthiest thing, but they’re filling and he loves them. Plus peanut butter = protein which is so important for growing kiddos!
• Almond butter and sugar-free raspberry jam sandwich pocket on multigrain “power seed” bread. I used a cookie cutter to create the flower shape. Packed in the Lunch Skins “Green Pear” sandwich bag.
• Organic persian cucumber slices and organic CSA strawberries packed in the LunchBots Duo steel bento.
• Oat milk in his Klean Kanteen 12-ounce stainless steel sport top.

And that, my friends, is that! Another week of healthy, vegan, eco-friendly lunches. I have to say, I’m excited to see how the foods I’ll be packing will evolve through early fall, late fall, and into winter . . . then into spring, and summer again. So much of my lunch inspiration comes directly from our weekly CSA box, which means of course that the lunches will change with the seasons. A fun challenge for me, and one that I really look forward to sharing!

Until next time. ♥

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• Vegan cheesy crackers (special occasion for the first week of school because he loves them! we buy these ones) and green olives, in the Steeltainer compact container. I love this little bento; the snap-on lid is a great fit and it never leaks. However the divider piece is removable, and it doesn’t really stay put. I’ve mostly taken to using this container for single-items. And for that, I love it.
• Hummus + cucumber pinwheels on whole wheat flatbread in the Eco Lunch Box oval.
• Homemade blueberry kombucha in his Klean Kanteen 12-ounce stainless steel sport top.
• Two gluten-free blueberry mini muffins. I sent these in the LunchBots Rounds leak-proof containers, but a word of warning – this is a set of 2 and BOTH of them came to me with broken seals. I’ve since returned them and won’t be buying them again. So – I don’t recommend LunchBots Rounds!
• Local organic grapes from my CSA box. These are literally the crispest, juiciest grapes I have ever tasted. They are soooo good!

• Oat milk! Our fave, and I try not to use the single-serving cartons very often for lunches, but they sure are handy to have around. I try keep a few in our snack box in the car, since they’re shelf stable. Life savers, they are!
• Half an apple with almond butter, in the Steeltainer compact container. The almond butter did not stay where it was supposed to, which is my one and only gripe with this container (and if you need it to separate foods, that’s a pretty big gripe!)
• Local strawberries from our CSA box and organic cucumbers, in the LunchBots Duo stainless steel container. I have had this bento for a loooong time, since way back in Portland, and it has held up so well. And definitely keeps food separate — so if you’re looking for a split container, this one is ace!
• Homemade blueberry kombucha in his Klean Kanteen 12-ounce stainless steel sport top.
• A taco! Leftover refried beans + grilled peppers taco, in an adorable Lunch Skins snack bag. I love these reusable baggies THEY ARE SO CUTE.

• Herbed popcorn in the trusty Eco Lunch Box oval. I like this container because it has the snap-down lid, but a word of warning – it’s really big. So if you use it *for* a lunch box, it’s great. If you want to put it *in* your lunch box, it takes up too much space. But I usually just put it in Waits’s back pack alongside his lunch box, and that works well for us. I’ve had this thing for years and its held up great!
• Tofu shapes! Flowers and leaves and acorns, pan-sautéed in olive oil, Braggs, and nutritional yeast. Sent in a Lunch Skins sandwich bag.
• Oat milk, in his Klean Kanteen 12-ounce stainless steel sport top.
• Olive hummus with celery + bell pepper + cucumber sticks, in the Steeltainer compact container. This was the last time I used it with the divider. Now I use it as a singles container and I like it so much better that way.
• Them amazing grapes.

• Still working through those local strawberries from our CSA, plus organic cucumbers, in the LunchBots Duo stainless steel container.
• Chocolate smoothie! Oat milk + banana + cashew butter + kale + chocolate protein powder, with vitamins and probiotics added (zinc, K2, D3, bone-builder complex — see this post for why and how I supplement the way I do for vegan kiddos) sent in the Little Green Pouch reusable squeeze pouch. Our school is glass-free for lunches, so I love sending his smoothie in this reusable squeezey pouch. It’s a perfect “snack-size” smoothie, it’s dishwasher safe for easier clean-up, and so far no leaks!
• Peanut butter and banana roll-ups on whole wheat flat bread. These were a hit, especially since I added a drizzle of his absolute favorite – Bee-Free Honee! (vegan “honey” made from apples) I used the Steeltainer compact container without the divider, and it was perfect.
• Herbed popcorn in the trusty Eco Lunch Box oval. This is popcorn from Whole Foods, non-GMO, super inexpensive, and the seasoning contains powdered mushrooms. We LOVE this stuff and I always keep a big bag in our car snack box for emergency transit munching.

• Chia pudding made with oat milk, maple syrup, and strawberries, sent in the ECOlunchbox Eco Dipper. This one doesn’t have a snap lid and I was a little worried about spillage, but it stayed perfectly sealed. Chia pudding was a big lunch hit!
• Oat milk in the Klean Kanteen 12-ounce stainless steel sport top.
• His first school lunch sammie. ♥ With Tofurkey smoked “turkey” and Follow Your Heart cheddar slices, on whole-wheat sourdough. I wasn’t sure how this would be received, but he really liked it. Sent in the oh-so-adorable Lunch Skins “Green Pear” sandwich bag.
• Half a local heirloom mini melon from our CSA box, cubed, sent in the Steeltainer compact container, sans divider.
• Homemade “cheesy chips”. Jeremy and I came up with this late at night brainstorming something fun for lunch. Corn chips by themselves are boring . . . but corn chips sprayed with a light misting of coconut oil, then dusted with salt and nutritional yeast? YUMMY! He loved these. (Also sent in a Lunch Skins sandwich bag – the “Tangerine Orange” pattern this time.

And that, my friends, is that! A whole week’s worth of lunches. I hope that you enjoyed this new series, because I sure am having fun putting together these little lunches!

Until next time. ♥

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This post contains affiliate links. If you like my blog and want to support what I do here, using my affiliate links is a great way to do that. But, if affiliate link squick you out, no problemo. Just use my word descriptions to locate the item of interest via a search engine of your choice. ♥