GoodBelly (Plus!)

I've been finding myself in poor health this last month or so, with various ailments coming and going. I've always considered myself to be "healthy as a horse" (wtf kind of phrase is that??) and have never been to the hospital, just urgent care for a 4 wheeler accident and the normal chicken pox crap. Oh, and I have back problems, but, really, I rarely get sick.

So for one ailment or another, I decided I wanted to take some probiotics. I haven't been eating a lot of (vegan) yogurt, so a supplement seemed necessary. I got some vegetarian cap Acidophilus, but decided to also buy some GoodBelly Plus, which is found with yogurts and the like in the fridge at your local grocer (though if they don't even carry soy yogurt at your local grocer, you're probably shit outta luck). I've tried GoodBelly before and I really enjoy their packaging and interesting flavors. This time I picked the Pomegranate Blackberry (looking online I realize I now have tried them all but the Strawberry). The "Plus" is the added vitamins and minerals, which includes 100% of both your B12 and Vit C. Flavorwise, I don't think this one was my favorite. The two flavors with berries kinda taste the same to me. I think the Mango may be my favorite. I wish they were less sweet, but you can't complain they taste gross. They're fruity and drinkable.

My favorite part about this product is the container. I think it's very Europeanesque. And, really, how can you resist a container that is smiling at you???

These little guys are about $1 a piece, so as a multi-vitamin with probiotics (20 billion "at time of manufacture"...so perhaps some are dead by consumption?), it's not that pricey, but I think I would prefer a pill for everyday.

I would like to try some of their other products, such as GoodBelly Splash and their family sized quarts. The quart sized have about 21 grms of sugar per serving, so a little more than I'd like in my juice, but not as much as I get when I'm guzzling the sweet nectar of the gods.

Just an FYI, this wasn't free. I did this product review of my own volition and money.

Nature's Path Gluten Free Cereals

Vanilla to the max!

I was given two samples of Nature's Path's new gluten free cereals. I have an on and off love affair with breakfast cereals. I'll eat it everyday for weeks and then I'll get sick of it and not eat it for at least a few weeks, if not months. I have been dabbling with eating less gluten and so this offer of free gluten free cereal excited me.

My first taste of both was a dry run, if you will. It was in my car when I picked up my salmonella-poisoned sister from Urgent Care and she thought she should eat something, so we opened them both up. Kim's opinion: Gross. My first, initial, opinion: Meh. But they grew on me! The Whole O's practically have no sweetness to them (actual nutrition facts: 4gm sugar per 2/3 cup...is that much?) and the taste is...off. But the more I ate them, the more I wanted to pop the little spheres in my piehole.

The Crunchy Vanilla Sunrise was a bit better initially. Again, it grew on me. I think I've mentioned before that I am suspicious of vanilla flavor in cereals. It usually comes off as too vanilla-y to me. I ate some of this with plain soymilk and thought it was good but that the vanilla flavor could be kicked down a notch...so I took the flavorless Whole O's and added them to the mix and it was good! It just evened out the vanillaness a bit. I've enjoyed bowls of the merry mix now, it makes a lovely snack or breakfast!

Thank you to Nature's Path for the free boxes of cereal! Thank you for making gluten free products for my celiac friends and for those trying to eat less of gluten!

Pizza Time!

Pizza!

Hey, y'all! I'm back with a review of Tofurkey's new pizzas. I got a coupon for a free one and so I picked up the Italian Sausage & Fire Roasted Veggie. People rave about Daiya cheese, but I'm one of those nonravers. I don't hate it, but I don't see how it's better than Teese or Follow Your Heart. I also think they should do thicker shreds because, normally, it has such a weird thin look when I see it on pizzas. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but perhaps you've seen what I'm talking about...

Anyways, the pizza was good. Not great. Not something I would spend $9, usually. I can see myself splurging on this in certain situations. It does have a lot of toppings and I think it's a bit bigger than your average small frozen pizza (But my memory could be wrong).

I dislike pizzas where the toppings and sauce go to the edge of the pie, which Tofurkey has done. It's a bit of a pet peeve of mine. I used to work at Hot Lips Pizza and the owner insisted on doing that. Personally, I like having a place to grip where my hands won't get messy. I also like pizza bones, you know, the crust, nice and plain. If I didn't want pizza bones I would order it Sicilian style or something!

Final Thoughts: Good in a pinch, but my homemade pizzas (made with the fantastic dough from Hot Lips here in Portland) kinda kick their ass...But when have you thought otherwise about a frozen pizza? I do love using Tofurkey's sausages on my pie, so they're still getting my money! :o)

Vega Shake & Go Smoothie

I was given a free sample of Vega's new line of Shake & Go Smoothie. Or should I say, "smoothie"? I'm just not able to call something a smoothie if it's not a frozen treat where ice or frozen fruit is involved. Shake, yes, smoothie, nah. Out of the 4 flavors (Bodacious Berry, Tropical Tango, Choc-o-lot, Vanilla Almondilla), I chose Tropical Tango. The 300gr pouches of the product retails at $23.95 and are available online.

Forewarning: I have never had a protein/supplement powder that I have actually liked and used continually.

It took me awhile to finally try the product. I love the idea that I can just shake it up with some water and go, especially when I haven't felt like cooking in the a.m. as of late, but these types of products don't get me excited. I don't have a lot of luck with them tasting great and something needs to taste great (or my life has to depend on it) for me to continue using something. I tried this product twice and I couldn't get over the texture. The flavor wasn't bad, it was totally doable, but there was a bit of grittiness to the smoothie. Perhaps I didn't shake it enough? What I did learn was that it gets really gross looking if you let it sit around for awhile, this is because it consists of xanthan gum.

I did give the Tropical Tango to a friend who was really interested in trying it. She had this to say:

It is great in yogurt with a banana, but it is not great w/ soy/rice/almond milk b/c it is too sweet. I haven't tried it w/ water but the sour quality of plain yogurt seems to cut down on some of the 'starburst-sweet' quality. I like it, the bag style is convenient, and I keep it in my lunch sack and when my blood sugar starts to drop at work I mix a little into a container of yogurt and it stabilizes the blood sugar much better than using just yogurt alone, actually almost as well as a high protein animal source like cheese. I would recommend it for anyone with blood sugar issues who needs pick me ups through out the day and doesn't want to use protein bars (I think this would be healthier and cheaper). anyway, thanks for the sample, it is great to have at work!

I think it's a great idea to put it in some yogurt, much better than plain water. Have you tried it? What do you think?

Thanks to the Vega people for the sample! I appreciate you guys making healthy vegan products!

French Meadow Woman's Bread Review

I was given a coupon for one free French Meadow product. I have had a couple of their products in the past. If you're looking for good soft, fluffy bread for sandwiches, such as your childhood favorite, the peanut butter and jelly, you will want to look elsewhere. For dense, healthy-tasting bread, French Meadow's your best friend. Previously, i had tried their Hemp Bread and their Hemp Bagels. Neither was horrible tasting, but they're definitely not for the faint of heart. Dense, y'all!

I was at Whole Foods when I remembered I had their coupon. The selection at this Whole Foods was actually not that great. I looked in both the fridge and the freezer and they seemed to only have 4 varieties, 2 of which had just come in that day. I guess 4 isn't a bad number, I was just hoping to have a pick of pretty much everything French Meadow sells. Anyways, I chose the Woman's Bread, since Men's Bread seemed silly to get (since I'm a woman and all) and the other options were of the hemp variety.

So, the Woman's Bread...I toasted slices for breakfast and snack times and smeared with jam or Earth Balance. This bread isn't very sweet, even with it's inclusion of cranberries (actually, now that I think about it, cranberries are only sweet once you add sugar to them and I'm pretty sure these were straight up cranberries, with no sugar added.) and then it's also not savory enough for me to want to put veggies on it, like cucumber or tomato slices on it. This bread was formulated when the owner of the bakery didn't want to take hormone replacement therapy after a hysterectomy and decided to get phytoestrogen from soy isoflavones. This is what I don't like about the bread: soy that I don't want. I already think I eat plenty of soy as it is. I've actually been trying to eat less of it by switching to a different kind of nondairy milk. I feel like this bread is for nonvegetarian women whose diets don't tend to include much tofu and tempeh.

As I've said previously, this isn't sandwich bread. I think it's an all right bread, but I doubt I'll ever buy it. I'm still going to stick with Dave's Killer Bread, which is made locally and is perfect for sandwiches and toast alike. Oh, and cheaper.

Owl Necklace Giveaway!

Not on my blog, but this one!

Fingers crossed, y'all!!

Helen's Kitchen, Part One

A few months back I noticed Helen's Kitchen products in the freezer of a grocery store I was at and I was intrigued. So I was happy when I heard that they (or a PR person) wanted to send me coupons to try out a couple products. I picked up GardenSteak TofuSteaks and the entree Thai Red Curry. Not all of their products are vegan, so keep that in my mind when purchasing.

The first item I tried was the Thai Red Curry. It's a small entree so, thankfully, I was not completely famished and this filled me up just right. It's all organic, gluten free, gmo free and has 13 grams of protein in it. The red curry sauce was the perfect amount of spice for me (I'm just a bit on the wussy side of spicy). The TofuSteak chunks are extra extra firm and have a nice slight chicken-y flavor (the TofuSteaks come in both regular and "chicken"). The peas and butternut squash in this are tasty as well. I actually really enjoyed this meal, but, honestly, I'm unsure if I'd buy this if choosing a frozen meal. It's mainly because if I'm going to get Thai food, I'm going to head over and pick some awesome to-go at Pad Thai Kitchen. When eating frozen, I tend to go for nonAsian dishes. Just my preference, I guess.

Have any of you tried their stuff? I look forward to trying the TofuSteaks! I love love love firm tofu!