To my delight after my awkward interview I returned home to find a package waiting for me from Golden Moon Tea. They sent me six samples of their tea which I just can’t wait to try. They have a variety of really interesting flavors such as:
Sugar Caramel Oolong
Sencha
Coconut Pouchong
Rose
Tippy Earl Grey
Honey Pear (not vegan so I will give this one to my mum to try)
Tonight I tried the Sugar Caramel Oolong- it's pretty good and not too sweet!
This review has been a long time coming and I apologize for how long it too me to write this review. I don’t know about you but I love nuts and Sahale Snacks makes a yummy variety of glazed nuts and nut blends. The thing that is great about these nuts is that there are no added fats, no trans fats and no preservatives. My favorite of the nut blends that I was able to try was the “Soledad Almonds with Apple, Flax Seeds, Date, Balsamic Vinegar + Red Pepper”. It is such a yummy blend because it’s sweet and savory at the same time. Sahale snacks has a number of other really interesting flavor combinations as well as yummy PB&J Almonds!
Since receiving these samples I have picked up a few of the other flavors:
Sing Buri with Pineapple, Peanuts, Lemongrass + Mild Chinese Chili – so good loved the lemongrass flavor on these and Ksar Pistachios with Sesame Seeds, Pepitas, Fig + Moroccan Harissa- great flavors sweet, savory and a little spicy. However my favorite is still the Soledad Almonds.
Blogger Disclosure: Cooking For A Vegan Lover received these products at no cost from the company for review.
The winner is:tanyaviola “We always have chocolate in our household! My husband has a small piece everyday and I have one about every 3 days…I must eat up my one lone vegan chocolate bar very slowly. So it’d be great to get more chocolate ”
I know I have been M.I.A. for the past few days with my blogging and I apologize. I spent all yesterday afternoon working on soup recipes for my upcoming interview at the Cafe at my husbands work. I am lucky that my husband has the weekly menus for the cafe so I can see what sorts of things they make- mostly soups, salads, sandwiches and then “entree” sort of dish. Anyways I have been super busy with that- but now back to what this post is all about and that is CHOCOLATE!
Theo Chocolate sent me some of their bars a little while back and I have slowly been trying all of them (except one). They make really great dark chocolate bars and my hubby and I like treating ourselves once and awhile with a small piece (or 2) of dark chocolate and this hits the spot. Theo’s entire “Classic Combination Bars” (with the exception of one) are all VEGAN/DAIRY-FREE (except for the milk chocolate bar) AND SOY-FREE.
Click to View Theo Chocolate Website
Now I know how much you all like chocolate and so I saved my last bar to share with you. If you would like a chance to win this bar then please leave a comment by January 25th at 8am.
For a second chance to win tweet about this giveaway directing it @cookveganlover AND remember to post another comment letting me know you tweeted.
Blogger Disclosure: Cooking For A Vegan Lover received these products at no cost from the company for review.
This morning I was lazy and stayed in bed a little later and by later I mean like 6:30 am. Once I finally dragged myself out of bed I decided to make a green smoothie in my new Blendtec Total Blender. Let me tell you how excited I was when I came home to this a few weeks ago. The good people at Blendtec sent me my own red Blendtec Total Blender and I am just loving it. I have mostly made smoothies and vegan ice cream it in it so far but I am dying to try my hand at making soup in it. This morning was a yummy green…er brown smoothie (1.5 cups water, 1 cup frozen raspberries, 1 small apple diced, 1 small banana diced, 2 handfuls of spinach). The best part about this blender is that I only have to push one button for my smoothie to be made (the button that says smoothie) and it does all the work for me!
I did some yoga this morning and then an elliptical session where I finally finished reading The China Study – I read a good chunk of it when I was on vacation back at Christmas but just haven’t taken the time to do much reading lately but I told myself I HAD TO finish it this week. Now I am on to working on a blog post about this amazing informative book.
For lunch I made up some of Kristen Suzanne’s “Twilight Pecan Shallot Pate” from her Entrees book. I served it up on some romaine pieces and let me tell you this stuff is sooo good I will be making it again!
After lunch I did some yoga for abs with Rodney Yee and then headed to the co-op to pick up a couple of things. To my delight there was a package on our steps from Tropical Traditions when I returned home. Once I got things put away I decided it was to make my Kitchen Sink Cookies since my husband has been asking for about a month for me to make them.
Coconut Oil from Tropical Traditions
Kitchen Sink Cookies
So Kitchen Sink Cookies are crazy easy to make the base is:
1/2 cup nut butter (I used PB today)
2 T water
2 T agave
1t vanilla
1/2 t cinnamon
Mix this all together and to this add whatever nuts, dried fruit or chocolate you’d like to it.
Today I used: 1/2 cup raw trail mix (goji berries, pistachios, cashews and a few other dried things), 2 T raisins, 1t shredded unsweetened coconut, 1 T pumpkin seeds, 2T sunflower seeds, and 1 T mini chocolate chips
These are best after they have set in the refrigerator for about 2 hours.
Blogger Disclosure: Cooking For A Vegan Lover received these products at no cost from the company for review.
I recently was able to try all the flavors of Oogave – agave sweetened soda. I love that these soda’s are sweetened with agave and only have around 5 ingredients! There are 6 flavors- Esteban’s Cola, Mandarin-Key-Lime, Watermelon Cream, Grapefruit, Esteban’s Rootbeer and Ginger Ale. My favorites were the rootbeer and the grapefruit; I expected the grapefruit to be much more tart but it was a good balance of sweet and tart and was refreshing. My husband really like the cola it had great flavor with out the HFCS that normal colas have. The Mandarin Key Lime and Gingerale were pretty good not our favorites but still good. I really didn’t care for the watermelon cream it tasted like well bubble gum- I’d like to note that I am not a bubble gum or watermelon flavor fan so others might enjoy it.
Overall loved this product and wish I could get my hands on some more of the grapefruit and root beer however these aren’t available in Vermont yet- but I am going to ask my Co-op to try and carry it.
Blogger Disclosure: Cooking For A Vegan Lover received this product at no cost from the company for review.
I recently was sent a few bars of delicious NibMor chocolates to try. These chocolates are organic, vegan, raw, dairy & gluten free, all natural, diabetic friendly, no refined sugars and non GMO. With all this said there is a ton of goodness going for these chocolates.
Click To View Website
I received the original, almond and crispy bars- all of which were great. My husband and my favorite was the crispy bar because it reminded us of a Crunch bar, which we haven’t had in years. This chocolate is great because it is raw and you would have no idea that it was had it not said on the package.
I love this chocolate and it’s a great treat so I am giving you the opportunity to try it yourself. For a chance to win one Original NibMor bar please leave me a comment by 12pm EST on January 15, 2009. Sorry US residence only please.
For an extra chance to win tweet @cookveganlover about this giveaway and leave another comment.
Blogger Disclosure: Cooking For A Vegan Lover received this product at no cost from the company for review.
My first introduction to Himalayan salt was when I started making raw food recipes many of which call for pink Himalayan salt. During my research I came across HimalaSalt which is ” the only Ethically Sourced, Artisan Made Pink Himalayan Sea Salt that is Kosher Certified, Green-e Certified (made by 100% renewable wind and solar energy), sustainably packaged, with 5% of profits going to the environment and back to the source community (source).”
HimalaSalt sent me a great package of their products which included a shaker of the HimalaSalt, salt grinder, garlic salt, salt and pepper (great travel size ones) and my favorite the HimalaSalt Zen Cube. You’re probably wondering ‘what do you do with this giant cube of salt?’; I wondered the same thing and HimalaSalt has a page on their website devoted just to answering this:
“What I’ve Used It For…
Grating finely over edamame, ice cream, caramel, salads, finishing off grilled fish, watermelon, chocolate ganache, grilled vegetables, rice, beans, cucumbers and raw veggies with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, it’s like a meditation or a moment to pause and be grateful for the abundance and blessings I have, to be able to eat the best organic natural foods available, and especially to be able to feed those to my children and friends. (source)“
I haven’t yet tried the Zen Cube but I am looking forward to trying it on my next batch of edamame that I steam up.
I honestly can’t say enough how much I love this salt and since trying it there is no way I am going back to any other salt. The flavor is so distinct and tasty as well the product is eco-friendly.
Blogger Disclosure: Cooking For A Vegan Lover received these products at no cost from the company for review.
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