Culinary Clips from the Past Few Days

I have been enjoying this salad several times in the past couple days. As you can see, my sprouts turned out beautifully and they make such a pretty and fun addition to this salad. To top it off I made Kristen’s Cayenne Tahini Dressing, which you can see in the background of the above picture. It is green because I threw in some fresh parsley. I love the color! This was a very tasty dressing, and one that I will definitely make again, though next time I will use a little less cayenne and a more lemon juice. For me, dressings make the salad and this was definitely one that encouraged me to devour my greens. I highly recommend making this!! It’s so easy, too.   

Yellow Split-Pea Soup with Sweet Potatoes and Kale
Last night I made a half batch of this flavorful winter soup from the FatFree Vegan Kitchen. I didn’t have any of the whole spices which it called for so I substituted dry ones. It turned out fine, though I added extra cumin and curry. This isn’t the most photogenic recipe, as you can see, but it was very filling and tasty with all those aromatic spices! (Susan has much prettier pictures with the original recipe.)
 
For dessert I made PINK banana softserve (bananas, coconut kefir, dash vanilla hemp milk, frozen strawberries, almond extract) all whirled in the food processor. It was delish…and so pretty. My little sister loved it!

The hemp milk that I used was the Tempt brand unsweetened vanilla from Living Harvest. I definitely prefer the unsweetened to the sweetened, which I reviewed here. Although I love my sugar, I just find the unsweetened to be more versatile and less cloying. As I mentioned previously, this milk does have a bit of a taste that takes some getting used to. I don’t think I would drink it straight up, but I love it in smoothies, baking, cooking, and on cereals. As long as it is with something, it should be fine. It’s also lusciously creamy, which really perks up sauces or blended concoctions.

DO try this at home!
Another thing I have been loving lately is toast (I’ve been using DKB Good Seed Bread, which I reviewed here) spread  with coconut oil and jam. I use the Tropical Traditions coconut oil (which I reviewed here) and I find that it spreads really well on warm toast. Eating this reminds me of the buttered toast with jam that my mom would make me  as a treat when I was little. She had all kinds of variations of this: orange marmalade and butter on pumpernickel bread, homemade strawberry jam and butter on fresh baked bread…mmm! The coconut oil is just as rich and decadent as the butter, but with the added plus of just a hint of coconut aroma (not to mention that it’s cruelty free and more nutritious with those medium chain fatty acids!). The coconut isn’t overpowering, though, and the finished result is surprisingly reminiscent of that childhood treat. Yum!

Yesterday I received a package of these cute little “Chunks of Energy”. They sent me three kinds to review. Click on the title to read nutrition facts, ingredients, and purchasing information.
 Carob Supergreens: this was soft and chewy, with just the right amounts of nuts to balance the sweetness of the carob. There was also something crispy in this (like a puffed grain of some sort) which caught me off guard. This wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t what I was expecting. Also, don’t let the “supergreens” in the name scare you; this had no green color or taste whatsoever…but they are in there! According to their website, this flavor contains “14 organic mega greens”. (Umm, whatever that means. Lol.)
 Carob Joy: definitely reminiscent of an Almond Joy…but different. I detected a slightly fruity flavor in this. Could it  be the carob? I’ve never had carob and I noticed this flavor in both carob-flavored chunks, so that could be it. This taste wasn’t bad, by any means, just prominent and a bit unexpected. This was probably my favorite flavor. (P.S. I just went on the website and they call this flavor: “Carob Joy with Banana”. So I guess the banana explains that fruity taste. :P)

Raw Cacao Goji: sweet and rich, with that distinctive chocolate flavor balanced by goji berries. I liked that it wasn’t bitter, like some raw chocolate. According to the website, this flavor is only sweetened with dates, contains no salt, and has 100% raw ingredients.

These bites are small, but I love that about them. You only need a little to satisfy a sweet tooth and they taste so decadent. I would definitely recommend trying these. Check out all the other delightful flavors here. Don’t they sound good? (P.S. Sorry about the crummy photos.)

I also got this in the mail yesterday:
 
[Click to enlarge, if you wish.]

It’s a SodaStream soda maker.

It came with 9 bottles of soda mix, each one of them making the equivalent of 33 12 oz. cans (see photo at right). And all of them contain Splenda. I find this particularly disconcerting considering the back of the SodaStream box (see above picture) brags that this is a healthier option for your family because it doesn’t have HFCS or aspartame in it. Umm…Splenda still equals CHEMICALS! And man-made chemicals are not meant to be ingested by the body. Okay, now that I have that little rant out, I realize that I can still make plain sparkling water or add in some of the fruit extracts they also sent (see photo at left). But I still  have to figure out what to do with all these bottles of stuff. I’m not going to drink it, and I sure don’t want any of my family consuming something that is bad for them (not to mention, 4 of my brothers don’t drink anything with carbonation because their coach told them it is bad for their muscle contractions and thus hampers their athletic performance.)

I did use this thing. It is a bit intimidating, what with the carbonator and all. My mom and I were both scared that something would blow up. It’s also kind of hard to use. You have to screw everything on just right and press the button while holding out the container full of water…it’s just a lot of hassle. Also, the “loud noise” never went off alerting me that the water was fizzy enough, so how do I know when it’s done? I don’t.

I am always hesitant to downplay something that I test, because I feel that if the company is nice enough to send me something to review I should at least try to think of something good about it. But I also believe in being honest. So, frankly, I prefer my Zevia. It doesn’t have aspartame or Splenda, it’s all natural, it’s a heck-of-a-lot easier, and it tastes better than plain sparkling water, in my opinion. The only drawbacks with Zevia are that it’s pricey and that it comes in aluminum cans (aluminum=not that great for the body, and added waste of empty cans). At least those cans can be recycled, though.

I know a lot of people like this, so I don’t want to discourage anyone from trying it if they think they would like it. For me, though, I just don’t think it fits my needs.

On a more positive note, I absolutely love the products I received from Kaia Foods.
 
Cocoa Bliss Buckwheat Granola, Garlic & Sea Salt Sprouted Sunflower Seeds, Teriyaki Sprouted Sunflower Seeds, Vanilla Pear Fruit Leather, Spiced Apple Fruit Leather, Lime Ginger Fruit Leather.

First of all, isn’t the packaging cute? I always notice colors and stuff, and I found their marketing to be very attractive. All of these products are raw, vegan…and MINIMALLY PROCESSED! Yay! I love everything about this company—what they stand for and the delicious food they create.

The Garlic & Sea Salt Sprouted Sunflower Seeds were my favorite product that they sent. These things are GOOD! They taste yummy eaten plain, sprinkled on salads (like the one at the top of this page; I tried that and it was tasty) or sprinkled on anything, really! The Teriyaki flavor was also great—and very unique!—and would be good in any of those ways as well. I would love to try the other flavors of seeds! Seriously, I never would’ve thought it from humble sunflower seeds, but are SO GOOD!

The Cocoa Bliss Buckwheat Granola was a different kind of cereal than I am used to. I’ve never had buckwheat before, so it was kind of a new taste for me. Overall, it was good for a raw granola. Not great, though.

I thought the fruit leathers were all tasty. They weren’t very sweet, though, which surprised me. They had a delicious fruit flavor and the ingredients were very pure. Basically, these are a healthy fruit roll-up. I thought they were fun to try but I don’t think I would buy them. I’m sure kids would love these, though.

For more info about these products and even more varieties of buckwheat granola, sprouted sunflower seeds, and fruit leathers visit kaiafoods.com.

Also, check out Aimee’s, Sophia’s, or Katie’s reviews of Kaia food products to see what they thought!

Have you tried any new or fun foods lately?

  
Disclaimer: The products from Dancing Star Natural Energy Products, SodaStream, Living Harvest, Dave's Killer Bread, Tropical Traditions, and Kaia Foods were all sent to me, free of charge, for the purpose of reviewing on this blog. Despite this, however, I have attempted to present an unbiased analysis. Also, as I didn’t buy these items, I did not consider cost in my evaluation. I was not paid for writing these reviews.
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“Spring shows what God can do with a drab and dirty world.”  ~Virgil A. Kraft