Is there any reason not to freeze hummus?

[wildeyed]

There is a complete nut ban at my daughter's school. Then, to complicate matters, her best friend is a vegetarian who is grossed out even by hard-boiled eggs, so I can't send obvious meat or animal products because then she can't sit next to her friend at lunch. I am thinking about convenient alternatives for her lunch box. Hummus is great, but I don't want to make it every week. So can I freeze half a double recipe, or will it separate or do something else weird?

Any other suggestions?

[The empressof all]

1. Based purely on my instinct only

I wouldn't freeze the hummus. :shrug:

[Lucinda]

2. Yes. It can be frozen. The texture will change a bit, but if you thaw it in the fridge

and then stir it to mix, it will work. You might want to make a small test batch to see if the change is acceptable to you though.

[grasswire]

3. cheese and veggie sandwiches

That would be my solution. Sprouts, cucumbers, red bell pepper, lettuce, tomato, and some kind of sliced cheese or herbed cream cheese on whole grain bread. Yummy.

Or perhaps a side salad and a bagel with cream cheese.

I'm thinking that hummus smells pretty garlicky and the friends might object to that, too.

[wildeyed]

5. Won't eat cheese sandwich.

I don't know why not, she generally likes cheese. I blame her father's DNA for that. The cream cheese with sprouts is a good idea. I will give that a go. Her friend's parents are both from India so I am hoping the spiciness doesn't bother him. In his defense, he didn't mind the turkey sandwich where he couldn't see the meat. It was just the very eggy looking hard boiled eggs that weirded him out.

[Warpy]

7. Vegan cheese has gotten quite a bit better

and would be fine used cold in a sandwich. They just haven't gotten it to melt properly. You can't tell the difference by the looks, so it's possible to fib about if the cheese isn't vegan and the prissy best friend tries to cop a superior moral attitude.

"Better than Cream Cheese" is actually better than the real thing. It's expensive, though, so it's a rare treat for me. You can fib about that, too.

Good hummus is garlicky but kid hummus can be pretty mild. Yes, it will separate on thawing, but it can be recombined.

[wildeyed]

8. I don't think the friend minds if he doesn't see the meat/egg up close.

In a sandwich is fine. His parents are from India so I think the diet is religious or cultural. I was also under the impression that dairy is ok, just not meat or eggs. They are not super-strict about it either, but never cook meat or eggs at home or order it in a restaurant. They do allow their son to eat baked goods with egg in it in a group situation.

I should try egg salad. If the egg is diced and disguised by bread and lettuce, it might pass the friend test. I love egg salad, too. DD loves hummus, even when it is garlicky. Kid's likes and dislikes mostly depend on what they are used to. I cook with a lot of garlic, so they don't even notice it.

[hippywife]

15. Egg salad might pass the sight test

but the real question is will it pass the sniff test. Will he respond to the strong smell of a boiled egg? :hi:

[The empressof all]

4. Slice up a hunk of tofu

Add some sprouts to whole grain bread and your daughter may well be on her way to branching out her social group. Jeeze, I don't even know this "friend" but she's irritating me. :rofl:

[wildeyed]

6. I could do an herbed tofu spread.

But that involves effort. I miss the ease of peanut butter sandwiches. Sigh. Also, sunflower seed butter is acceptable to the school. Seeds, not nuts, so they are not an allergen. The problem there is that it tastes slightly different than the peanut butter and the children object. But I am going to put my foot down and say eat it occasionally or go hungry.

[grasswire]

9. in the new economy....

....many more American children will find that the need to fill an empty tummy trumps these capricious "tastes" that we have allowed them to develop. A little backing off indulgence may not be bad for American kids.

There's one of those in this house, too, although I didn't raise her so I'm not to *blame* -- to the contrary, I worked on improving her diet for a couple of years with some minimal progress. This year, she was cut loose to manage her own food without restrictions. At 16, she still is addicted to sugar, simple white carbs and processed foods. She's overweight, her psoriasis is getting worse, and she's a lot of work to shop and cook for. She'll only eat one brand and one flavor of yogurt: Key lime pie -- that's an example of the pickyness. She makes full boxes of instant pudding mix or double size boxes of mac&cheese and eats the whole thing. Huge bags of candy. Etc.

Two weeks ago she decided she would also be a vegetarian, so her diet is even more limited than before. Huge amounts of cheese, sour cream, cream cheese, chocolate milk, yada yada.

I find it very sad, because it can only lead to illness.

[wildeyed]

10. I don't remember being given a choice about food.

There wasn't much in the way of snacks in the house either, so you ate what was served or went hungry. I have tried to institute the same system in my house, but it is hard. One of mine is pickier that the other. My husband is picky, too, so maybe it is partially genetic.

[grasswire]

12. sure it's hard....

...and the whole culture is working against the parent these days. I think it's very hard for middle-class parents and lower-middle class parents to raise children who accept a modest or plain but perfectly adequate lifestyle. Consumerism is just integral now.

[hippywife]

14. That's the way it was in our house.

If my mom heard that fridge door open at any time during the day, she'd yell for it to be closed. We weren't allowed pop/soda. Not because of any heatlth reasons on her part, it was hers. We got Kool-aid when she wanted us to have it, otherwise it was also hers. We had milk or water with meals and you ate what was served or sat there until everyone was long gone and it was congealed on your plate.

I think grasswire is right about the consumerism and I know companies specifically target kids in their advertising. How many parents truly do not eventually wear down under the pressure of the insane whining of children who MUST have what they saw on TV or the shelves at the checkout line in any store you name?

[wildeyed]

18. My mom was the same way.

She had cokes for herself, but we never got any. I remember I would dart into the fridge, unscrew the coke, take a hit and quick put it back. But I never got the top on tight and mom was always pissed that her soda was flat. :rofl:

[Retrograde]

17. real allergies vs "tastes" vs "false" allergies

This is a loaded topic, I admit, but there's some evidence that food allergies are overdiagnosed: this article claims the most commonly used tests for food allergies return a lot of false positives. I think a lot (not all - I know there are real, potentially fatal reactions to some foods in some people) of what are called food allergies these days are a combination of overprotective parents and picky children supported by not very good testing.

White sugar and highly processed grains are addictive, and they're a lot less effort to chew and digest than whole grains. They keep better than whole, so they benefit manufacturers of food products. I don't have any good suggestions for turning your household member around, but I notice you don't mention any fruits - it would at least be a first step.

[wildeyed]

19. Will she take pills?

Omega 3 seems to help my mild psoriasis, plus some vitamins to help with the nutritional imbalance.

[grasswire]

20. yeah.....omega 3 capsules, flaxseed oil...

....and I'm trying to encourage some turmeric.

The research I have been reading about diet for psoriasis says no meat, no dairy, no wheat. We haven't dared to bring that up.

[Le Taz Hot]

11. Hummus has nuts.

Actually, it's a nut-based ingredient called Tahini. Tahini is roasted sesame seed paste. Any hummus recipe I've ever seen has at least some Tahini.

To answer your question, yes, you can freeze hummus.

[hippywife]

13. Sesame seeds aren't nuts.

They are seeds so the tahini paste should be okay since the school is also allowing sunflower seed butter in lieu of peanut butter.

[Le Taz Hot]

16. Okay. This would be one of my infamous

"duh" moments. (In my best Emily Latilla voice) "nevermiiiind." :blush:

[eleny]

21. Cream cheese on raisin bread with thin carrot sticks on the side

That was a fave of a vegan guy I worked with. It's become one of mine, too.