coconut water

On the 3rd Day…

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Enjoy this special guest post by the Hubz!

To say that I am a coconut juice addict would be somewhat of an understatement. While I initially wasn’t a fan of it, I’ve grown to love it and just can’t get enough. I’m sure Lindsay has grown tired of me getting excited and wanting to try any new brand I see at the grocery store. If there’s a sale, I need to stock up, if I see a new brand, I need to buy it. I love that it is sweet enough without any extra added sugars or other junk and that it is light enough to be refreshing and not make you feel bloated. It’s also super hydrating and full of electrolytes (which makes it a much better choice than all those *-ade sport drinks)

After trying out many different brands, my “go-to” has definitely become Amy and Brian All Natural Coconut Juice (in the tall cans of course!). So, naturally, I was pretty excited when they sent Lindsay samples of each of their flavors.

I’ll give my review of each below:

  • Amy & Brian All Natural Coconut Juice – This is the plain, pulp-free version and was definitely my favorite. As I mentioned, it’s additive and preservative free with just one ingredient…young coconut juice. This is a light, refreshing drink. Sweet enough, but not too sweet.
  • Amy & Brian All Natural Coconut Juice w/ Pulp – Flavor wise, this drink is the exact same as the regular coconut juice. If you are not uncomfortable at the thought of pulp in your drinks, then by all means give this one a shot. The coconut pieces are small enough that you can swallow them with the drink without worrying about choking, but big enough that if you wanted to eat the coconut, you could. The one complaint I have about the pulp is that a few of the pieces towards the bottom of the cans were kind of woody.
  • Amy & Brian All Natural Coconut Juice w/ Lime – Again, this drink keeps with the very pure nature of these drinks with the only added ingredient being lime juice. I wasn’t a huge fan of the flavour that the lime brought to the drink. It was a little too tart and overpowering for me. That said, if a strong lime flavor is something you like, I would definitely give this a try.

For more information on Amy & Brian Natural Products where you can find nutritional information on their products and more information about their company.

The winner of this giveaway will receive One mixed case of Amy & Brian all natural coconut juice.

TO ENTER: This giveaway is open until December 13th at 6pm. This giveaway is open to Continental U.S..

1. Visit the Amy & Brian  site and tell me something interesting that you learned. (required)

Additional Chances to win (PLEASE LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT FOR EACH ENTRY; also if you already do any of these ie. follow me on twitter/facebook, ect it counts so leave a comment).

  1. Like Amy & Brian on Facebook
  2. Follow Amy & Brian on Twitter.
  3. Follow me on Twitter.
  4. Tweet about this giveaway “I want to win @cookveganlover @amybriannatural Giveaway http://wp.me/pFVWo-1kK”
  5. Like Cook.Vegan.Lover. on Facebook.
Disclaimer: Amy & Brian’s provided me with a free sample for a  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.

Don’t forget to enter the Oh Nuts Giveaway going on until December 7th! – Enter Here.

The winner of the coconut juice is Bob, with comment #10.

Mochi Wraps, Vita Coco and a Poll

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I recently decided to purchase a package of mochi (pronounced mo-chee) to try but have been having a hard time figuring out what I wanted to do with it. Finally last night I made a savory version of it but heating a small amount of sesame oil in my cast iron pan putting in the mochi (making sure they didn’t touch) and then turning the heat down to low and covered for 4 minutes. After 4 minutes I flipped them and sprinkled with soy sauce then put the cover back on for another 4 minutes. At this point the mochi gets nice a gooey almost like cheese and I wrapped them in nori and served along some colorful stirfried veggies. (I apologize now for iPhone pics I can’t seem to find the charger for my digital camera battery).

This morning I forced myself up after a few too many Wolaver’s Pat Leavy’s All-American Ale and jumped on the elliptical for a quick sesh.  I have a hard time waking up and just drinking a glass of water especially when I go to work out when my eyes are barely open so I usually turn to coconut water.  It is great for hydration and a healthy alternative to those sugary sports drinks. I have tried a number of different kinds of coconut water and currently I have been sipping on some samples of Vita Coco.  Vita Coco has a number of different flavors of their coconut water which include: acai & pomegranate, pineapple, peach & mango, tangerine and regular.  My favorites were the regular and peach & mango; as for the others I didn’t care for them the flavor just wasn’t right for me.  I did really enjoy the regular coconut water though.  My husband who is not crazy about coconut water decided that the regular one of these is his favorite kind, success!

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Disclaimer: Vita Coco 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.

Let Me Introduce You to My Blendtec and My Day

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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.