Thanksgiving Turkey
This Thanksgiving rather than eating a turkey why not adopt one? You can do so through Farm Sanctuary’s Adopt-A-Turkey Project.
We adopted Gideon!
Review: Xan Confections
Xan Confections was kind enough to send me some wonderful chocolate treats from their Jewels Collection and Saintly Sins. I was delighted when I opened the box to these fancy chocolates – the kind you see in chocolatier shops but are never vegan.
The Jewel Collection includes 5 non-dairy, gluten free caramels and are delicious. The flavors include Coconut Pecan Caramel, Espresso Almond, Butterscotch Caramel, Ancho Chili Caramel and Chocolate Caramel; all of which are delicious. I have to say my favorite was the Anch Chili Caramel though it has as nice spice that hits the back of your throat.
The Saintly Sin Collection are chocolates that have only 29 calories, 1 gram of fat and 5 grams of carbohydrates per piece and are diabetic friendly, gluten free and vegan friendly. How can you not love a piece of chocolate that is only 29 calories and comes in Raspberry Sin, Strawberry Sin and Pineapple sin? I have to strawberry was my favorite and my husband and I didn’t feel bad about sharing all 3 of them in one sitting.
Now you can just jump online and order these delicious treats and don’t forget to check out their Ladybug Truffles, Signature Collection and BigMouth Collections as well. Oh yeah and if you are lucky enough to live in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Michigan or Nevada check out the Xan Confections site for the retail locations near you.
Review: Kathy's Krackers
Kathy’s Krackers – Kracker’s You Krave
Yummy yummy raw crackers!
This summer, Lindsay and I made an effort to eat a high raw diet. Part of the fun was experiencing different raw products. From raw cookies to raw crackers and raw nut mixes, there was so many different things to try.
Kathy’s Krackers are a healthy snack made of flaxseed and are raw and gluten free as well.
Kathy’s Kracker’s was kind enough to send us a sample of all three of the flavours they offer:
- Salsa – The salsa crakers were my favourite by far. They captured the typical flavours of salsa perfectly. They had a very good spice level as well. They were spicy, but not unbearable by any means. We ate them plain, but website suggests adding avocado and other vegetables and I think this would compliment the flavours found in the cracker perfectly, I wish I had thought of that!
- Savoury – These crackers are flavoured with bell pepper, tomatoes and garlic and have a very well balanced taste. I enjoyed these quite a bit. We ate these on their own, but I imagine they would be very good with hummus or a raw dip.
- Apple & Cinnamon – If you are looking for a sweet snack, this is a great choice. They are sweetened with Stevia and have a very natural apple taste. It’s refreshing to have something that’s supposed to be apple flavoured that isn’t overly tart or artificial tasting. I think these would be a hit in school lunches as well.
These are a great snack for when you are on the go or when you are looking to build a more complete snack (as in the avacado and vegetables combo with the salsa crackers) as well. I would definitely recommend picking up a pack if you can!
Being made of all natural, raw ingredients there are plenty of health benefits that come along with eating Kathy’s Krackers. These can be found on the Kathy’s Krackers website. Health Benifits
You can also view where these snacks are available here or order online
Boston & Veg Fest 2009
This past weekend my husband and I headed south to Lowell & Boston for the weekend. We stayed in Chelmsford and decided that we just had to go to Life Alive for dinner in Lowell. We visited the cafe the same weekend last year and they actually had a booth at Boston Veg Fest 2008 (they didn’t have one this year though.)
I enjoyed The Swami which had a- (as described on the menu)- “Miso Curried Sauce sweetening a masterfully-tasty mix of tamari roasted almonds, flame raisins, pearl onions, dark greens, broccoli flowerrs, and shredded carrots, served over brown rice with a sprinkle of nutritional yeast.”
Neil enjoyed The Emperor- (as described on the menu)- “Sweet and nutty short grain brown rice, melted cheddar cheese, sundried tomatoes, steamed greens, sweet yellow corn, shredded carrots, tofu and sunflower sprouts crowned by our Satisfying Sesame Miso sauce.” He got it without the cheese obviously and subsituted with raisins and nutritional yeast.
Neil loved his dinner so much that he just had to hug about it.
For breakfast Saturday morning we went to our old standby Bagel Rising– inside the Espresso Royale on Newbury Street. We both got the ‘Joy of Soy’ on a whole wheat everything bagel; mine with jalapeno tofu spread and Neil’s with veggie tofu spread. I enjoyed a double espresso and Neil a soy chai.
We love Life Alive so much that we went back again for dinner Saturday night. We started out with a shot of wheatgrass.
I’m boring and got The Swami again- this time with squash.
Neil got The Rebel – (as described on the menu)- “Sesame ginger nama dressing with flax oil and Braggs, tofu, carrots, beets, dark greens, broccoli and hijiki steamed over quino and short grain brown rice”- They were all out of quinoa so he just had brown rice and I gave him half my squash.
For breakfast Sunday we went to Newton Center to Prana Cafe– a mostly raw cafe that serves it’s full menu from 7am-4pm.
I ordered the Burrito – (as described on the menu)-“Wrapped in chard leaves with refried beans, avocado, marinated vegetables, and sour cream.” I have to say this was the best thing that I had all weekend and was a ridiculous amount of food.
My husband decided that he would be nice and take a picture of me eating the biggest bite ever.
Neil had the Prana Burger – (as described on the menu) -“Taylor grew up in Chicago eating deep fried hamburgers at a favorite family restaurant. This tastes so much better and actually fills your body with the best vitamins, minerals, and enzymes ever so you feel satisfied but not slowed-down. Served on our homemade-n-hearty onion bread.” This came with yummy crispy kale chips and Neil ordered cashew cheese on top. It was delicious!
We finally made our way to the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival where we enjoyed trying the different samples and meeting various vendors. We are excited though because we met the owners of a new vegan B&B on Cape Cod and we are excited to check them out. The owner told us that the vegetarian one we had visited last year is now closing so they are opening to fill the need.
We stopped up to the noon demo but were really disappointed with it and decided to leave about 10 minutes in. It drove me nuts that they guy kept calling omnivores carnivores …..seriously??
Anyways the fest was fun but after two years of visiting I don’t think we would go again unless we happened to be in Boston the same weekend it was going to be happening.
We did leave the fest with a wonderfully sinfull treat from Vegan Treats– the Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Bomb- which was incredible.
Pacific Naturals Giveaway Winners
True Random Number Generator
Min: Max:
Result:4
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Grand Prize Winner is Melissa! Melissa won 1 box of Pacific Naturals Almond Milk, 1 Pacific Naturals Tea and 1 Coupon for a free Pacific Naturals product
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True Random Number Generator
Min: Max:
Result:12
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2nd Prize goes to Amanda- who wins 1 coupon for a free Pacific Naturals product
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True Random Number Generator
Min: Max:
Result:14
Powered by RANDOM.ORG
3rd Prize goes to Nick- who wins 1 coupon for a free Pacific Naturals product
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I will be e-mailing you soon to get your addresses- or if you don’t hear from me first you can e-mail me at lindsay[at]cookingforaveganlover[dot]com
The last Vegan Mofo Post: Boston Veg Fest 2009
My hubz and I decided that we are going to Boston Veg Fest again this year. Last year besides getting to hear Sarah Kramer speak I wasn’t overly impressed. I was hopping for more information about vegetarianism and not just tons of products (and there weren’t as many samples as I expected). However I’m open to trying it again and seeing what is there this year.
I am also excited because we have decided to stay in Lowell again this year (Boston was just too expensive for the night…..Lowell=1/4 of the price and only 30min away). Also Lowell has Life Alive which has delicious, healthy food and is amazing. Also planning on hitting up Prana Cafe in Newton Corners, Grezzo and our favorite Bagel Rising.
Alright I’m out blog Monday!
Vegan Mofo #14: Vegan Care Package Swap
UPDATE: ALL PARTNERS HAVE BEEN PICKED AND E-MAILED OUT. PLEASE MAKE SURE TO CHECK YOUR E-MAIL AND CONTACT YOUR PARTNER IMMEDIATELY. IF YOU HAVE NOT HEARD FROM YOUR PARTNER BY MONDAY 11/2/09 PLEASE CONTACT ME.
It’s time to do another Vegan Care Package swap! Last year around this time I organized a swap and it went over really well. I am hoping that this year will bring on an even better turn out.
If you are a blogger and are interested please comment here and send me a note to Lindsay (at) cookingforaveganlover dot com with an e-mail address that you would like to be contacted by. Please in include the following in your note as well: Name, Location, blog URL, and whether you are will to ship internationally or not.
Please do not send me your address. I will match people together, give each other your e-mail addresses and then you can go on to exchange mailing addresses.
Please expect to spend around $20-25 on VEGAN goods, if you would like to spend more than do so, however, do not be disappointed if your partner does not do the same.
Please enter to participate by October 29th, 2009 Closed. I will match people up and let them know their pairs by October 30th, 2009. You will have one month to gather your items and mail them out- so all packages should be mailed by November 31st, 2009. Once you receive your package please photograph the contents and make a post to your blog detailing what is in your package, link to your partners blog and a link to this posting.
I am excited to see how many of you are interested out there. Like I said this went very well last year and it’s a great way to meet people and try new products.
My husband’s Vegan Care Package
from the care package swap of 2008
*Please note that this exchange is based on trust that whoever is participating will follow through, so if you don’t feel like you can participate to the full extent then please do not respond to this.
