Breathing Fire

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My husband and I are both hot sauce enthusiast so when I was given the opportunity to sample, I couldn’t resist.  I made us some yummy chickpea and cabbage tacos served with Sour Supreme and homemade guacamole and of course hot sauce on the side.  We prepared ourselves with our Zevia Colas and then it was time to test them out.

First we tried the Pain 100%  (categorized as “Melt Down” on Original Juan’s website) both of our mouths were on fire, 2nd was the Jamaican Jerk Hot Sauce  (“Zesty” category) which was actually really good and I would cook with it next time.  Our third try was the Garlic Style Hot Sauce (“Firey” category) this was really spicy, but not too bad, however a little too vinergary for me.  Lastly we tried Da’Bomb Beyond Insanity  Hot Sauce which is categorized as “Melt Down” hot on the website. 

After all of these tastings my entire mouth was on fire I practically could breathe fire.  My husband was also in pain but he tried much smaller samples of all of the hot sauces.  We only tired hot sauces up to the “Melt Down” category, I can’t even imagine what the ones in the “Off the Chart” catagory taste like.

You can also check out Original Juan on Facebook.

12 Days of Giveaways!

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The holidays are just around the corner and that means spending time with friends, family and eating way too much (and spending lots of time at the gym)!  This holiday season I am doing a 12 Days of Giveaways  where starting December  there will be a giveaway every 2 days.  So keep your eyes peeled for great products that you could win this holiday season. 

(we’re celebrating the holidays at Disney this year!)

Once a giveaway is posted you will have around 24 hours to enter.  All winners will be chosen using the Random Integer Generator.  Make sure to check back frequently for new giveaways! 

 

Carrots ‘N’ Cake is also getting into the holiday spirit so make sure to check out her holiday giveaways starting December 1st. 

CSA Week 2

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Food Basket Winter News

November 23, 2009

WHAT’S IN YOUR SHARE
Veggie Share: mesclun (Screamin Ridge) – kale OR collards, garlic (Maple Wind) – brussels sprouts (ValleyDream) – rutabaga (Arethusa) – broccoli, carrots, beets, turnips (Riverberry) – cabbage (Maplewood) – potatoes,
shallots (Jericho Settlers) – pie pumpkin, kabocha squash (Hazendale) – onions, cider (Champlain Orchards) – cranberries (Vermont Cranberry)

Vegan Thanksgiving & Cookie Baking

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.  Since Neil is heading north to New Brunswick next week we won’t be having vegan Thanksgiving so we enjoyed it yesterday with two of my girlfriends, Monica and Laura. After we shared vegan Thanksgiving we spent the remainder of the afternoon in the kitchen baking cookies from Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. 
 

Celebration Roast, Cumin Caramelized Onion Mashed Potatoes and Green Bean Casserole

Already to bake!

We made the Blackstrap Gingersnaps first; I received a sample NuNuaturals NuStevia Baking Blend and we decided to try it out with these cookies instead of sugar.

 

Yeah! Gingersnaps!

Look mom greasy hands!

City Girl Snickerdoodles

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows


All of these cookies enjoyed with a nice cup of Boulevards Organics Dairy-Free Hot Chocolate

We also made some Lazy Samoas (not photographed) which were delicious and just like the caramel delights I enjoyed as a girl scout.  The girls and I really loved this cookbook and found that all the recipes were fun and yet easy.  A few things we really loved were that all the cookies were baked at 350F and that all took 8min to 12min which was great especially when baking 4 different kinds. I really loved all the cookies I have to say it’s a toss up between the Chocolate PB and the Snickerdoodles for my favorite.

Vegan Brunch Review and Giveaway

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The first vegan cookbook I ever bought as Vegan with a Vengeance I have used it so much over the years that it is stained with food and worn to pieces.  Over the years I picked up Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World which I loved and actually used 2 of the cupcake recipes for my wedding cupcakes. Then I was given a copy of Veganomicon by my loving husband for Christmas 2007 – I honestly haven’t used this book as much as VWAV & VCTOTW and was actually disappointed with it compared to Isa’s two earlier books.  However Isa Chandra Moskowitz  has redeemed herself with Vegan Brunch which features a number of great vegan brunch recipes.  

Vegan Brunch features savory recipes such as tofu scramble, frittatas, polenta ranchers, Tofu Benny and perogies.  Of the savory dishes I tried the tofu scramble which was delicious, the texture was almost creamy which I loved and really had the texture of scrambled eggs (or at least what I remember-it’s been awhile).  I also made the Cornbread Waffles which I loved because some days you just don’t want to have a sweet waffle and this was a great savory waffle. Lastly I made the Tofu Benny which I loved! The hollandaise was delicious and the Diner Homefries were nice and crispy. 

To be honest I have yet to try any of the sweet brunch options and am actually much more of a savory breakfast person. I actually did have plans to make the Banana Rabanada (Brazilian French Toast) this morning but my husband forgot the baguette on his desk at work. I guess I’ll make it another day!

Some other dishes I have made and loved where the Samosa Mashed Potato Pancakes, Chesapeake Tempeh Cakes and the Mushroom Gravy.  I made the Cheaspeake Tempeh Cakes for some of my omni friends and they couldn’t get enough of them.  I ate the mushroom gravy this morning with my scramble and am using the leftovers in my greenbean casserole.  

Over all this is a great book that I would recommend to anyone who loves breakfast.  This book is great because although many cookbooks have breakfast sections none have the focus and devotion to breakfast items like Vegan Brunch.

You can pick up your copy of Vegan Brunch on Amazon.

Now that you have read what I have to say about this book I am going to give you a chance to win a copy yourself. If you would like to win please leave a comment letting me know what your favorite brunch dish is by November 24th, 2009.

For extra chances to win:

  1. RT @cookveganlover (leave me a comment)
  2. Follow me on Twitter  (leave me a comment)
  3. Become a fan on Facebook (leave me a comment)

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Winner: Christina- “blueberry pancakes with a side of homefries and vegan sausage. yums!”

 

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I will be contacting you shortly to get your information.  Congrats! Thanks for to all of you that participated.  Look out for 12 Days of Giveaways in December!

 

 

Vega

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If you are vegan then you probably know about Vega, by Sequel Naturals which makes plant-based whole food products, if you haven’t heard of Vega yet then it is time to jump online read all about them and then head out to your local natural foods store and pick some items up.

I was given the opportunity to try Vega’s Complete Whole Food Health Optimizers and Vega’s new Whole Food Vibrancy Bars.  The Complete Whole Food Health Optimizers are great in smoothies- I like the chocolate with 1 sliced frozen banana and 1 cup of nondairy milk (usually almond).  

The Whole Food Vibrancy Bars are great I loved Green Synergy.  I enjoyed it at the end of my work day when I need a pick me up before I went home to use the elliptical and it was great and kept me energized and satisfied through my workout until dinner.

There are a number of other products by vega that I have not tried yet but hear great things about; these include:

  • Whole Food Smoothie Fusion
  • Vega Antioxidant EFA Oil Blend
  • Vega Sport Performance Optimizer
  • Vega Energy Bars

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Green Monster

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At the beginning of the week I was reading Sarah’s blog from SeeSarahEat and was inspired by her post on Green Monsters. Now I had very little knowledge as to what exactly this at first but after some searching I found the Green Monsters Movement website  .  

This morning I made hubby and I our own Green Monsters:

Recipe (almost raw):

1 cup oat milk

1 T Sun Warrior Vanilla Protein Powder

1 T Rejuvenative Raw Almond 

1 sliced frozen banana

3 cups spinach

 

Place in a blender. Blend until smooth.