I Hope You Have A Sweet-tooth

Because for this post, you’ll need it!

But first… Happy First Day of SPRING!!!

{All credit for this beautiful image goes to Hannah Kaminsky of the delightful BitterSweet blog (and accomplished author, may I add). You can get this picture as a wallpaper if you visit this post on her blog. Someday I hope I can take pictures even half as lovely as hers.}

Wouldn’t you know, it’s SNOWING here. Crazy.

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Okay,  now on to the sweet stuff: since I have a mucho-lotta (only I can butcher Spanglish) things to review, I thought I’d just do a post with a bunch of those reviews. I’ll probably be doing a couple more of these types of posts in the near future, as I have a habit of putting off reviews and now I have a TON of them to do. This one is particularly packed with sweet stuff.

So here we go. In this post I’ll be reviewing products from: Bora Bora Organic Foods, UliMana, the Alternative Baking Company, Kopali Organics, and Good Karma Foods.

Disclaimer: Please note that all products mentioned in this post were 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.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get started…
Bora Bora Organic Foods sent me a fun package including a cool tiki mug (it reminds me of something from Gilligan’s Island), a 100% organic cotton t-shirt (I love it!), and samples of some of the bars from their three existing lines:

• Get Going—Energy: Tribal Cinnamon Oatmeal, Island Brazil Nut Almond, Volcanic Chocolate Banana.
• Feel Great—Superfood: Tropical Sesame Cranberry, Wild Pomegranate Pecan, Exotic Coconut Almond.
• Live Long—Antioxidant: Paradise Walnut Pistachio, Tiki Blueberry Flax.

According to their website, they also have a few other new flavors that are coming soon.

These taste great!!! My only little issue was that some were a bit hard, and others were almost too sweet. But those qualities are really very minimal. The important thing is that these taste divine! The nuts are delicious and chunky and the dried fruit is moist and chewy. Some bars are more nutty and others have more puffed cereal (such as rice), as you will see in the photos below. The good news is that all the bars are organic, all-natural, gluten-free, kosher, non-GMO, and made with no refined sugar!!! (Please note that if you do not eat honey, two flavors—the Exotic Coconut Almond and Paradise Walnut Pistachio—do have that in them.)

 
Exotic Coconut Almond, Paradise Walnut Pistachio, Tiki Blueberry Flax

My absolute favorite was probably the Wild Pomegranate Pecan. When I first bit into it I was almost knocked over with the intense, chewy, fruity taste that exploded in my mouth. This bar had a pliable and toothsome consistency that was neither too squishy nor too hard. Every bite was delicious! With buttery pecans complementing plentiful dried fruit, you really can’t go wrong—BIG yum! My only issue was that it was a little too syrupy sweet; I can’t decide if I would like it better if it was less sweet, though.

I also want to just quickly mention how nice the people were at the company when I was corresponding with them. The marketing coordinator that I was in touch with was always especially cheerful and courteous in his emails. That always makes an impression on me, so I just thought I would mention it.

To search by ingredient, learn specific nutritional information, find out where to buy, or view a detailed picture and description of each bar, you can visit their super cool website at boraborafoods.com.
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UliMana Raw Chocolate recently sent me a package of their raw, organic, vegan, and handmade goodies.

First a little bit about these treats:

“Made with raw organic ingredients such as raw cacao powder, agave, cacao butter, vanilla beans and Celtic Sea Salt, these delectable raw treats are as healthy as they are delicious!” {From their website}

Included in this sampler was: a Chia Moon Drop, a Hemp Brownie, a Lemon Fig Pecan Bar, a Dark Cacao Truffle, a Goji Cherry Truffle, and a Chocolate Date Roll. All were delicious, but the fig bar was my favorite, even though I don’t recall it tasting particularly lemony. As for the chocolate, it was extremely smooth, dark, and bitter. I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether this is good or not, since everyone has different tastes and preferences when it comes to chocolate.

One thing to keep in mind is that this sampler is very small, only a couple inches in length. But a little is all you really need because this stuff is rich. As an aside, isn’t the presentation pretty? Each little treat is so lovely, I almost didn’t want to eat them. Almost. I was actually so eager to try these that I didn’t even snap a picture first! That’s why I am using others’ images. The source for the first image is here, and source for the second image is here.                                                         Photo source here.

Want a second opinion? Averie also recently reviewed this delicious chocolate. And remember to visist UliMana’s website at ulimana.com for more info or to order.
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Next up: vegan cookies!

The Alternative Baking Company claims to offer “the best cookie in the galaxy…baked with love!” They sent me three of those cookies: Colossal Chocolate Chip, Luscious Lemon Poppyseed, and a “cookie of the season” called Ginger Snappin’ Raisin. These are big cookies—larger than your regular two-bites-and-your-done variety. They also pack a lot of calories, and even though they are big, it’s all to easy too eat the whole thing at once. These cookies tasted pretty good, although kind of processed and “gummy” like store-bought cookies are. One thing is for sure: you could never tell that they’re vegan! They are definitely better for you than most premade cookies, yet they do have a rather long ingredient list. While my review is mixed, they were fun and make a great sweet vegan treat in a pinch. I would definitely try them out to see if you like them.
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 Kopali Organics sent me two items to try: dried mangos and chocolate-covered mulberries. According to their website, their products are fair trade, organic, and there are

“Never any sugar, oil, sulfites, anything added to our fruits, which are fully ripened, picked by hand and dried right on site at the farm.  Rich dark chocolate with just enough sweetness and rich flavor, dairy-free and lower sugar.”

They currently sell 5 varieties of dried fruit and 5 types of chocolate snacks.

These snacks were fun to try. I had never had dried mangoes or mulberries before so it was interesting to try something different. Of the two, I preferred the dried mangoes because they are sweet and fun to eat. Each bag also boasts a full serving of fruit!  The chocolate covered mulberries were okay; the mulberries were a bit seedy for me and seemed rather flavorless…but maybe that’s just me.

I love this company’s commitment to ethical practices and quality organic food. I would definitely like to try their other snacks and I think these would be a great choice to toss in a purse or tote for when you need a bite on the go or just want something different to munch on.
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I’ve covered vegan cookies, now it’s time to do vegan ice cream! With past experience of less-than-perfect soy ice creams behind me, I was a bit skeptical of trying another non-dairy ice cream. Yet, I had heard good things about Good Karma, and I was more than ready to give it a go. Let me tell you, this did NOT disappoint!!! I tried four flavors that I picked up with some coupons that they sent me:

Key Lime Pie: This flavor was strong (in the words of my little sister), yet very good! Imagine creamy lime flavored ice cream studded with graham cracker pieces and this is what you get! I love how it is a slightly unconventional flavor, too.

 Carrot Cake: Of any of the flavors, I was the most skeptical of this one. I just wasn’t sure how this bright orange ice cream would taste. Fake? Yucky? Neither! Just spicy (as in spices) ice cream with chunks of “cake”. Not bad. Not bad at all. Actually really, really good!

 Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge: Yum! This is everything you could ask for: chocolate ice cream swirled with peanut butter. “Nuff said.

 Mudd Pie: I wasn’t sure what this one would be like, as there was not a description on the label. I was surprised when I tried it that it tasted like coffee—more like mocha, I guess. I’m not a coffee drinker, but I like coffee flavored stuff so I was delighted to indulge in this mocha ice cream swirled with chocolate ribbon and studded with nuts and chocolate cookie pieces.

I just can’t get over how close this “rice cream”, as I call it, is to the dairy stuff  (without the icky-ness, of course!). After trying this, there is really no reason to ever eat that stuff again. You won’t even miss it! I also like the fact that Good Karma spreads good karma—they support green farming and, according to their website, donate “a percentage of all net proceeds […] to organizations focused on ending world hunger.” Did I mention this stuff is also organic, vegan, gluten-free, and kosher?

My only problem with it is that the ingredient list is kind of long on all the flavors I tried, including some stuff I’d rather do without—like soy lecithin.  But there’s nothing too scary, even if it is a long list, and let’s not forget that this is ice cream, after all. :)

Now they just need to make a moose tracks (my absolute fave), a berry cheesecake, and a caramel-ly flavor and my life would be complete. At ten flavors, they already have a good start on making over all the old favorites—and some new ones!

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Thank you to all the lovely companies that sent me things to review!

 
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Val is having a Coconut Bliss giveaway

Aimee is having a Vivapura giveaway
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“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.”  ~Anne Bradstreet