Review

Review: Oogave

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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.

Product Review: HimalaSalt

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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.

Cookbook Review: Vegan Fusion

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I have been doing some cooking from Vegan Fusion World Cuisine by Mark Reinfeld , who also wrote The 30 Minute Vegan and Bo Rinaldi.  This cookbook features recipes from the Blossoming Lotus Restaurants.  Recipes in this book are inspired by European, Asian and Middle Eastern cuisines. This cookbook features live recipes as well as cooked just like the Blossoming Lotus Restaurants.  Since I won’t be heading to Hawaii to visit Blossoming Lotus anytime soon I’m glad I can cook up their recipes at home.

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I made the Radical Roasted Red Pepper Hummus which was delicious.  I brought this to my work holiday potluck and served it up with some carrots and crackers.  We have been feasting on the leftovers at home with pretzels. My favorite recipe however is the Conquering Lion Cashew Cheez:

 

ChocAlive! Raw Chocolate

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ChocAlive! chocolate truffles are one of the best chocolates I have ever had and they are raw vegan which makes them even more exciting.  I tired the Dark Chocolate, Dark Chocolate Crunch and Coconut Truffles which were all delicious but I think my favorite was the Dark Chocolate Crunch, the crunch was a great addition.  The truffles are creamy and delicious just like the non-vegan ones I remember.  My husband was surprised that these creamy truffles could be raw, he didn’t believe me until I showed him the packaging.

Julie Glick the owner/president of ChocAlive! says it best “ChocAlive! Truffles make people so happy.  They are so undeniably healthy and incredibly delicious too.  That’s why I say that they are too good AND they’re true!  ChocAlive! Truffles were even featured on Colin Cowie’s website as one of his “Fantastic Finds!”  Quite an honor coming from Oprah’s Party and Event Planner… Here’s the link: http://colincowie.com/products/chocalive I don’t even know if he knew how super-food good for you they are!”

You can check out the ChocAlive! website to find out where you can find these yummy chocolates. *If you’d like to purchase ChocAlive! Truffles you can also do so at www.naturalzing.com and www.sunfood.com

Blogger Disclosure: Cooking For a Vegan Lover received this product free from ChocAlive!

12 Days of Giveaways: Day 1- Everyday Raw

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Winner of Everyday Raw: Kelly of http://www.trimommylife.blogspot.com/

Congrats! Everyone make sure to stop by later tonight to check out the next giveaway! This one is going to be edible!

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Today marks the first day of “12 Days of Giveaways” and my first giveaway will be one of my favorite Raw books Everyday Raw by Matthew Kenney.  I have been making a lot of recipes from this book lately and they are great.  Just this weekend I made Vanilla-Almond Macaroons which are so delicious.

I have also made some other great items from here such as the Eggplant Bacon, Sweet Green Juice, Baked Macaroni and Cheese and the Sweet Miso Dressing.  All of these dishes are easy and delicious and I can’t wait to try more.  This book is great but you will need a blender or food processor to make some of the more interesting dishes, a dehydrator is nice if you have one otherwise you will miss out on some of the recipes.

You can try some of Matthew Kenney’s recipes from his newest book Entertaining in the Raw on GLiving.com.

To learn more about Matthew Kenney you can visit his site here and you can also read his interview on Crazy Sexy Life.

If you would like to win your own copy of this great book leave a comment by December 2nd at 8am. Don’t forget to check back daily to see what the 11 other giveaways are.  You could also follow me on twitter @cookveganlover to find out when I post a new giveaway.

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.

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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