Product Review: Primal Strips

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Finally a vegan jerky that I love, PRIMAL STRIPS! This low calorie, non-gmo, no preservative, all natural snacks are great especially on the go, however don’t forget a napkin because they are sticky! Primal Strips sent me two of each of their jerky flavors a good thing because hubby gets his own to try.

The Primal Strips jerky flavors:

  • Thai Peanut: This jerky is made from seitan and has a great thai peanut flavor.  Hubz liked this one for me it wasn’t a favorite.
  • Mesquite Lime: This jerky is made from seitan and is my husband’s absolute favorite.  It has a great mesquite flavor with a nice light hint of lime.
  • Teriyaki: This jerky is also a seitan and is so delicious! Both hubby and I liked this one.
  • Hot & Spicy: This jerky is made from shiitake mushrooms and has a different texture than all of the others.  This one is much drier and has the most “jerky” texture.  It is spicy and  I really enjoyed this one.
  • Hickory Smoked:  Now this is one of my favorites; made from soy it has a great BBQ flavor and is finger lickin’ good!
  • Texas BBQ: this one is very similar to the hickory smoked but instead of being smokey it is a bit sweeter and just like the Hickory Smoked you’re going to wanna lick the package clean.
Disclaimer: Primal Strips provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

Institute for Integrative Nutrition & a Pizza Party

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Yesterday started out so nice and ended up with big clouds in the sky so instead of spending the remainder of our day outside we picked up some fixings for a pizza and relaxed around the house.  To my delight my iPod from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition came today however to my disappointment the iPod can not be reloaded with any other material.  Oh well I guess a new iPod stays on my list of desired items, especially since I haven’t gotten a new one since the Mini iPod back in 2005. Also many of you have inquired about whether I will be posting about my journey to become a Certified Health Counselor and I plan to.  Right now I am working on warm-up classes for my program which starts on May 1st.  These warm-up classes teach fundamentals that are helpful to understand prior to starting classes; such as Nutrition, Primary Foods, and Food Cravings. So far I am loving being back in school and learning new things, this will be an exciting year.

Isn't it pretty?

A few other fun things came in the mail yesterday as well:

These bags from ChicoBag are great for taking on the go.  They fold right up into their own little carrying case and have a clip on them so you can clip it on your key chain, purse, or bag.  I like to throw them in my hand bag so that whenever I am out whether it’s picking up a few groceries, books or other things I have a a reusable bag to throw everything in.  These are especially good when I travel because I hate when I go shopping and have to carry around a bunch of plastic/paper bags, with these you can throw anything in them and they are super cute!

These yummy cookies from Kookie Karma came yesterday and I can’t wait to try them, I will report back on how they are. Update: Hubby and my dad loved the Holsitic Chocolate Chip.  My dad wants to know where he can get more of these cookies!

After spending the afternoon relaxing i.e. Neil playing baseball on the Wii and I did some work on my Fundamentals #5 Nutrition 102: Vitamins and Minerals we finally sat down together and watched a show.  I then sent Neil off to the kitchen to make the pizza dough, we used Bob’s Red Mill GF Pizza Crust Mix.  The dough was kind of sticky and soft but we made it work and topped our pizza with jerusalem artichokes (aka sunchokes), mushrooms, roasted red peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, sauteed onions and tomato sauce.  Once it came out of the oven I finished it with some sunflower sprouts tossed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. The GF crust turned out to be delicious and we overindulged a bit on pizza.

Alright bloggies, hubz and I are off to hike/walk the loop and then will do The Breakfast Challenge Day 3 Day 2. Then we are off to spend some time with the ‘rents and G-Ma.

Also if you have any questions about Institute for Integrative Nutrition or myself you can ask anonymously on Ask me anything http://formspring.me/cookveganlover

Swings and Farmers Market Finds

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Neil and I were woken up this morning by the howling of our cat outside our door (don’t worry she was fine she just wanted us to wake up and give her attention).  We started off with some yummy tofu scramble (which I forgot to photograph) as part of my 7 day 6 day Breakfast Challenge for a warm up class for my Health Coach program.  Each morning we will eat something different and evaluate how we felt immediately after eating it and two hours later.  It is supposed to be 7 days but the first day was scrambled eggs so we skipped to the second day which was to our delight tofu scramble.  If you want more info you can check out hubbys blog.  After breakfast we decided to get out and take advantage of the beautiful day so we headed out to the playground because even big kids like to swing.


After we goofed around on the swings we took a nice 2.35 mile walk around Montpelier and up to the Saturday Farmers Market. We have missed every other Saturday Farmers Market because it seems to only be on the Saturdays that we aren’t in town. I’ll be glad when it’s May and the market is every Saturday not every other. When we arrived we stopped at and tried the sugar on snow because well it’s getting to be sugaring time in Vermont!

Then we went inside to see what produce/items that we could pick up this week.  We found Jerusalem Artichokes and Sunflower Shoots.

Since we were feeling kind of hungry we decided to pick up a snack of Butterfly Bakery Raspberry Almond Cookies and a cup of Lavender Rose Kombucha.  This Kombucha was really tasty, some of the best I have ever had!

Now I’m off to shower, make some lunch and then I think it’s time to get back out in this glorious sun! I also need to figure out a recipe for these Jerusalem Artichokes. Do you have a favorite Jerusalem Artichoke recipe?

Also don’t forget to enter to win the Namaste Foods giveaway! They are generously giving away a bag full of gluten free goodies.

It’s Spring! Beers, BBQing and Blueberry Pie

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Spring has finally sprung and that means BBQing, hiking, camping and lots of SUN! Last night was such a beautiful night we couldn’t pass up doing our 3.25 mile hike/walk at Hubbard Park.  After that we came back for some BBQing and beers. I decided to prep our meal ahead of time so that when we got back from our hike/walk we could get right to grilling and I wouldn’t be in the kitchen getting things ready while Neil was out doing the manly grilling.  We stood around and grilled up some yummy skewers of mushrooms and peppers, onion and sweet potato rounds and some Korean BBQ marinated tempeh. I love smelling like smoke after grilling on our charcoal grill….oh dreaming of camping.

We had a little Ezekiel Pita Bread on the side to catch all the yummy sauce drippings and a nice cold glass To Unibroue Trios Pistoles-SO GOOD! To end our yummy meal we shared a piece of Blueberry Crumble Pie

Blueberry Crumble Pie

You will need a whole wheat or spelt pie crust for this recipe.

Preheat oven to 350F

Filling:

  • 3 cups frozen blueberries
  • 1 T lemon juice
  • 1 T arrowroot (you can also use cornstarch)
  • 2 T palm sugar (you could also use sucant)
  • pinch of cinnamon

Place all ingredients in a medium pot over medium heat and cook until bubbly.  The pour into a prepared whole wheat pie crust.

Topping:

  • 1/4 cup almond meal (you could use flour)
  • 1/4 cup rolled oats
  • 2 T brown sugar
  • 2 T vegan shortening

Using your fingers mix all of this together until it is crumbly.  Then sprinkle over the blueberry filling. Place the pie in the oven and bake for 40 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly. Set to the side and let cool.  While it is cooling make the Lemon Glaze.

Lemon Glaze:

  • 2 Cups powdered Sugar
  • 1 T lemon juice
  • 1 t vanilla
  • 2 T soy milk

Drizzle this on top of the cooled Blueberry Crumble Pie, save any remaining glaze to drizzle over slices when serving.

Product Review: The Tea Spot

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The Tea Spot has “modernized the loose tea experience. Infusing tea traditions with modern design, our eco-ethical STEEPWARE® offers unique loose tea steepers that make tea brewing simple & stylish. Our full leaf teas include organic and Fair-Trade Certified™ estate teas & signature blends. Committed to giving as we grow, 10% of each sale is donated in-kind to cancer wellness & community programs. So drink up & feel good about it!” (source)

The Tea Spot sent me a great steeper called the Tuffy Steeper.  It is a collapsible silicone steeping basket.  I love that it folds right up and I can take it anywhere.


They also sent me some teas to test out in my Tuffy Steeper:

  • Green Roasted Mint: I loved this tea! This tea is warming and not just because it was hot.  The mint is delicious and so much better than those other mint teas.

  • Monkey-Picked White: This tea has a great hint of apricot and a light buttery taste.  It is great in the morning with some toast and jam.  I bet it would be great iced as well.

  • Boulder Blues: I really enjoyed this as a dessert tea.  This green tea is combined with strawberry and rhubarb flavors.  This would be great in the summer warm for breakfast or a nice refreshing iced tea on a hot afternoon.

  • Meditative Mind: This is the The Tea Spots best seller.  I really wanted to like this tea but the hint of rosebuds was a bit too floral for me, however it did smell great!

Disclaimer: The Tea Spot provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

Product Review: Danielle Crispy Fruit Chip

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Danielle Crispy Fruit Chips are my new obsession.  I recently saw these at Whole Foods and was tempted to try them but talked myself out of it.  So when Neherbal Foods said they world send me samples I was delight to try them.  Now that I have tried them I am addicted and can’t wait to get my hands on more.

Danielle Crispy Fruit Chips have a number of flavors and I tried 5 of them:

  • Wild Taro Chips
  • Sweet Jackfruit Chips
  • Roasted Coconut Chips
  • Sweet Mango Chips
  • Tangy Pineapple Chips

All of these chips were amazing and are a great snack when you are looking for something sweet and crunchy.  The Sweet Mango Chips and the Sweet Jackfruit where my two favorites, however I enjoyed all of them.  I was pleasantly surprise to find that the Roasted Coconut Chips were creamy and sweet.

They are All Natural, have No Preservatives and No Trans Fat; the fruits and veggies are then sprayed with nonhydrogenated palm oil and “vacuum fried,” a method that, according to the company, allows the products to retain their flavor and absorb little oil. A 28 gram serving there are about (depending on fruit/veggie you get) 120 calories, 3.5 grams of fat, 5 grams of fiber, and 2 grams of protein.

Disclaimer: Neherbal Foods provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

Pantry Challenge Week 1 Update

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Here is my update on what we have been eating this week for our pantry challenge.  So far this whole pantry challenge thing has been easy and we have been enjoying ourselves.  It feels great to just get in the kitchen and try and put things together to make a healthy, filling and nutritious dish.  My husband also makes it even more of a challenge because if it were just me I’d eat rice and beans with steamed veggies or veggie chili but he just isn’t in to that all the time so I am forced to come up with new ideas. I am thinking that next week will be challenging once the supply of frozen veggies starts to deplete but we are still going to go strong!

Day 1- Sunday:

  • Breakfast: Cornmeal Pancakes with berry sauce (made from frozen berries)
  • Lunch: Leftovers from our dinner party- chickpea romanesco, saffron-garlic rice and roasted asparagus
  • Snacks: Hubby and I split a Lucy’s Cinnamon Cookies Sample and a package of Daneille Crispy Fruit Chips- Pineapple;  I also had a Texas BBQ Primal Strip Sample
  • Dinner: Homemade WW bread with sauteed cabbage, Italian Field Roast sausage, onions, mushrooms and 1 heaping tablespoon of Tofutti cream cheese and hubby and I split and orange for dessert

Day 2- Monday:

  • Breakfast: 2 slices of WW Homemade Bread with Tofutti cream cheese and a cup of decaf coffee for me and some maple brown sugar instant oatmeal for the hubby
  • Lunch: Hubby’s lunch was homemade WW bread with a huge salad of romaine, carrot, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sliced almonds and raisins with a homemade balsamic raspberry dressing
  • Snacks: Danielle Mango Crispy Fruit Chips
  • Dinner: Beans and cabbage with mexi spices in a big chili wrap with some reduced fat salt and pepper chips and a glass…or 2 of red wine

Day 3- Tuesday:

  • Breakfast: Coach’s Oats with chia seeds, stevia, banana, cinnamon, coconut PB and a few mini chocolate chips for me and instant maple brown sugar oats for the hubz
  • Lunch: neil had leftovers from dinner last night and I had a big wrap with romaine, BBQ sauce and Gardin Buffalo Chicken
  • Snacks: Baked Salt and Pepper Lentil Chips, orange
  • Dinner: BBQ Dinner- Veggie Dogs with mushrooms and onions and BBQ potatoes

Day 4- Wednesday:

  • Breakfast: refried black beans and tortillas and a coffee
  • Lunch: Leftover BBQ potatoes and hot dogs
  • Snacks: Nugo Dark Chocolate Pomegranate Bar, Trader Joes Fruit Strips
  • Dinner: Homemade refried black beans, sauteed cabbage and southwest corn in GF tortillas that weren’t great so we each only ate one and we had some beers

Day 5- Thursday:

  • Breakfast: leftover black beans with cabbage and corn for me and oatmeal for hubby
  • Lunch: low carb tortillas with black beans, romaine, hot sauce and scallions for me and leftover black beans with cabbage and corn for hubby
  • Snack: Baked BBQ chips, teriyaki primal strip, Sensible Foods Dried Corn Snack, Coconut Water
  • Dinner: Field Roast Italian Sausage, Sauteed Cabbage and Potatoes (we ended up eating a like 3 bites of potatoes and were done.)
  • Dessert: Blueberry Crisp Pie

Note today I picked up 3lbs more of cabbage at $0.25/lb  so that makes my weekly total: $19.44