Thursday, August 30, 2012

Morels Vegan Jerky

Stanley from Morels the Vegan Butcher contacted me about trying their some of their products. I said yes but, honestly, I had no idea what he would send. To my surprise, they sent me some Vegan jerky! Obviously, I never heard of Morels the Vegan Butcher, but I'm always excited to review new, up and coming Vegan products. Morels is located in Louisville, Kentucky and has a kick ass catering business that has expanded into retail products.

As you avid readers will recall, I did a Vegan Jerky blog post where I reviewed four different brands of jerky. If Morels was in that blog post, I believe they would have conquered the competition. First off, the jerky is so moist and easy to chew. No breaking your teeth or struggling to tear the jerky. The packaging is wonderful and easy to seal back up, unless you eat it all at once, in which case it doesn't matter.

The two flavors I got to sample were Ned's Spicy Chipotle and Judas' Original Jerky. The Spicy Chipotle had a little kick that wasn't too hot, I was digging it. The chipotle and ancho powders give the jerky some punch. But the Original was my favorite. It has a nice, smoky flavor, authentically beef jerky-ish. The hint of garlic almost makes it sweet. I confess to eating both of these packages the night I took this picture, they're that good!

As far as I'm concerned, Morels is now my jerky of choice. It looks like the easiest way to get a hold of it is through their website, but hopefully all the Vegan online stores have it soon!

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Organic Gluten-Free Bumble Bars

A couple of months ago, Bumble Bar asked me if I was interested in trying some of their sesame bars. I've seen them in the store before but for whatever reason I never bought them. Of course I said yes. And as you will see, they send me a ton!

The Bumble Bar is organic, gluten-free and primarily made out of sesame seeds. One of the things I like about Bumble Bars is that the bars themselves aren't hard. A lot of bars on the market are kind of a difficult to eat, but the Bumble Bar is very fun to eat with its sesame seed texture. It's pliable but it doesn't fall apart on you. You have two size choices and over a dozen different flavors. I didn't get too deep into the individual flavors because you know what flavors you will gravitate too. Let's just say I didn't have a flavor I didn't like! 

Chocolate Crisp

Original Peanut

Amazing Almond
The junior sized bars seemed to be my favorite. The smaller portion was perfect... not too little, not too big. This one would be great for kids. All three flavors really hit the spot too: Chocolate Crisp, Original Peanut and Amazing Almond.    

Chocolate Mint

Lushus Lemon

Awesome Apricot

Chocolate Peanut Butter

Cherry Chocolate

Chai Almond
There are a lot more flavor choices in the bigger size! One of these bars will definitely soothe an appetite for an hour or two. I was putting them in my lunch box and they were excellent for snack break. The Cherry Chocolate, Lushus Lemon and Chai Almond were really calling my name.

So if you are looking for a healthy, nutritional snack bar, Bumble Bar is an excellent choice. I love the texture and the fact that there are so many flavors. Thanks again to Bumble Bar for pointing out despite the name, that they are all Vegan. Shows what I know!

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Nooch Vegan Market

Last week I was in Denver, Colorado to see one of my favorite bands, the mighty Iron Maiden. Coincidentally, while I was in Denver, Nooch Vegan Market decided to open to the public! I had heard a bit about Nooch from Whoa Wren and was excited to be able to get my shop on during their opening day. The owners, Joshua LaBure and Vanessa Gochnour, were super nice and are more than ready to serve the growing Denver Vegan population.

Nooch has a nice variety of food, cookbooks, beauty products, clothing and cute Vegan paraphernalia. 

Tons of Vegan staples! I can't get Cleo's or Snap Bars in Omaha, so you know I stocked up.

I love that there are so many refrigerated products. I snagged one of the new packages of Tofurky Pepperoni Slices, I haven't seen them in the stores yet.

You gotta get a kick out of a shopping basket that says "vegan as fuck." 

So if you are ever in the Denver area, make sure you stop in and say hi. I'm not sure how many All-Vegan grocery stores exist, but they are few and far between. Make sure you support them when you can!

Oh yeah, here's a shot from the Maiden show. Good seats, huh?
Up The Irons \m/

Sunday, August 19, 2012

EatPastry Cookie Dough

Finally, after years of hearing how glorious EatPastry Cookie Dough is, I was finally able procure some! The two flavors I tried were Chocolate Chip and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip. If that isn't enough, Eat Pastry also makes Chocoholic Chip (that's double chocolate), Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip, Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip, Gluten-Free Snickerdoodle and Gluten-Free Sugar Momma. A flavor for every person!    

I really love the little tub it comes in, it'd cute like a little ice cream pint. Both doughs are yummy as advertised. Chocolate Chip tastes just like the stuff you grew up with. Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip satisfied my PB sweet tooth. As you can see, the dough is very scoopable and fun. In fact, I challenge you to not eat the dough...it's impossible. There is no way humanly possible to not eat the dough. In fact, I think you will eat more dough than cookies. Well, maybe that's just me, but you get the point.

The end product! You don't have to be a natural born baker to bang these bad boys out (obviously). Is it blasphemy to say I enjoyed the dough more than the cookie? The cookies are good, and very delicious, but that dough is just so damn addictive. So maybe it's a win-win. Eat a lot of cookie dough and then make a couple of cookies. Either way, I'm thrilled there is pre-made Vegan cookie dough with every flavor you could want.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Obsessive Confection Disorder Fundraiser!

Earlier this month, Melodi Brooke Donahue from Obsessive Confection Disorder started a fundraiser to help fund new equipment to automate her candy making process. Melodi will be able quadruple her candy output and meet the demand for her delicious Vegan treats. For example, Melodi has an amazing Vegan "Twix" which I have sampled. She would love to offer this item on her website, but without automation, it would be impossible to fill all of the orders. I'm sure some of you have tried O.C.D.'s mouth watering caramels (which includes new flavors, apple and balsamic tomato) but there is more to O.C.D. then just caramel. Melodi gave me a couple of her new items to sample, which I hope you will be able try soon!

This is the Play Date, the Vegan version of a PayDay bar (mine a got a little melty due to this end of the world 150 degree heat outside). It's a yummy caramel peanut bar with ingredients such as coconut milk and fresh lemon juice. It also has some Vegan Bee Free Honee for you honey lovers out there. I'd love for Melodi to recreate every candy bar that others have ignored or passed over. 
 
This is something that isn't even on the website yet: Apricot Tequila Pate de Fruit. These little squares of fresh fruit are some chewy goodness. Melodi told me that the apricots are from her garden! I really thought these were divine. The only problem is there were only four and I ate them like there was no tomorrow.

Please check out the O.C.D. website for other goodies and better yet, consider donating to the Vegan caramel cause!

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