Upton's Naturals Vegan Chipotle Wrap

Earlier this year, my local Whole Foods in Omaha got a whole lot cooler by carrying Upton's Naturals Wraps and Sandwiches. It's great to have to-go Vegan food for lunches, make-shift picnics or even a snack before you shop (don't go grocery shopping when you are hungry, take my word for it!) My favorite wrap varies, right now it's the Chipotle. Other wrap flavors are Chicken Bacon Ranch and Sesame. The sandwich choices are BBQ Slaw and Focaccia Sandwich.

As you can see, Upton's is generous with their seitan! A Chipotle Wrap is pretty filling, with 22 grams of protein per wrap. That's what I call a power lunch. Flavor wise, the Chipotle sauce has a little kick but it's nothing you can't handle. Now for the bad news... it looks like the wraps are only available in Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin. So what this means is that you need to come visit the Midwest and see how we get down!

GoodBelly Probiotic Juice Drinks

GoodBelly is one of those products that's been on my radar for awhile, but I just never felt it was something I would need or enjoy. That all changed sometime last year, when I was at an outdoor market in Boulder, Colorado. One of the vendors was GoodBelly, and they were handing out free samples. Normally I'm not one to rush for a sample, but I really wanted to try it because I didn't see myself buying GoodBelly any time soon. I drank my little sample and was pleasantly surprised. I'm not sure what I expected but it tasted like smooth fruit juice, pretty delicious! Ever since then, I wanted to try more of their products so I could blog about them.  

GoodBelly + Strawberry Flavor Probiotic Juice Drink. I didn't realize it when I bought this, but GoodBelly+ (plus) is fortified with vitamins (hence the plus). Which I guess make sense considering it's a tiny shot. I enjoyed the strawberry flavor, fruity and smooth. It goes down real easy, so you might not notice you are drinking a probiotic/vitamin drink. A great breakfast supplement. Love the smiley face packaging too! 

GoodBelly Cranberry Watermelon Flavor Probiotic Juice Drink. This is the straight up GoodBelly, no extra vitamins. Same thing, great juice flavor. I enjoyed the sweet and tart mixture on this one. This is a great all day beverage. I'm no expert on probiotics, but from what I know, they're supposed to help your digestive systems along. Check out the science on probiotics and even if you have no interest in the benefits, I think GoodBelly is a great Vegan beverage that everyone can enjoy!

Somersaults Salty Pepper Snacks

Last April, I went to Austin to attend the Texas VegFest. It was my first time in Austin and I really enjoyed it. So if you've never been to Austin, do that! Anyway, what I'm getting to is that inside one of the Texas VegFest swag bags were these things called Somersaults. I was surprised that I'd never come across them. The flavor was Salty Pepper, which is right up my alley. I'm a life long snackie, so I was pretty intrigued with what these little round things were all about.

I opened up one of the bags at the hotel and started snacking. My first reaction was "Holy crap these are good!" Tons of sunflower and sesame seeds mixed into a wheat flour nugget with lots of spices. The flavor was really hearty and satisfying and the peppery taste was so addictive. Needless to say, by the time I got back to Omaha, I was all out of Somersaults. Of course, I couldn't find them in my area, so I did what any rational person would do, I ordered them online!

If you are looking for a different kind of snack, I think you'll find Somersaults fascinating. And if you aren't a Salty Pepper fan, the other Vegan flavor is Pacific Sea Salt, which I'm sure is delicious.

Dr. Cow Aged Cashew and Macadamia Nut Cheese

Earlier this year, I had Dr. Cow Aged Cashew Cheese for the first time. I'm not much of a hard cheese connoisseur, but I was seriously blown away! The Aged Cashew Cheese is so delicious, I knew I had to buy some more so I could blog about it. To up the ante, I also purchased some Dr. Cow Macadamia Nut Cheese to compare. Dr. Cow promotes their cheese as Tree Nut Cheese, which is a cute way of saying it's Vegan without scaring off non-Vegans. Dr. Cow Tree Nut Cheese is also organic, raw, unpasteurized and gluten-free.  

I could probably eat the cheese by itself very easily, but I decided to pair it with some Late July Classic Rich Crackers. Classic Rich Crackers are very buttery, just like Ritz. A great organic cracker that I find myself buying all the time.

The Aged Cashew Cheese has some salty ranch notes. I can taste the cashew flavor, but it's so refined, you might not notice. Comparing it to real cheese, I would say it has a smoked Swiss flavor. I'm in love with Aged Cashew and will go on the record as saying it's (presently) my favorite cheese. Aged Macadamia Cheese has some fruity notes. I got a strong macadaminan flavor. Very tangy and a little mustardy. I found it a little softer than the Cashew Cheese, which isn't a bad thing.

So if you love hard cheese or cracker cheese, I think you'll really enjoy Dr. Cow. I can recommend the Cashew and Macadamia for sure, and I hope to try the other varieties soon! If you can't find it in your area, Vegan Essentials is having a 10% off sale for the entire month of October, using coupon code "mofo!"

Late July Vanilla Bean With Green Tea Cookies

Cookies are the best dessert! No, I'm not going to argue with you. One thing about being a Vegan, is that there is no shortage of cookies to choose from. My new cookie love is for the Late July Vanilla Bean Green Tea Sandwich Cookies. I used to be a big green tea drinker back in the day, so I was intrigued with how the flavor would represent in a cookie.

If you are expecting a crazy herbal cookie, you are out of luck. The green tea is just a minor note in a delicious sweet sandwich cookie, and I enjoyed it! The mixture of the vanilla bean, the chocolate cookie and the green tea extract is the perfect symphony of flavors. As you can see in the pic, I got a little almond milk to dunk the cookies in and they were sooo good soft. If you love the typical chocolate and vanilla sandwich cookies, give these green tea laced cookies a try. It's a flavor that you might not even know you like, but end up loving!

Dr. McDougall's Spring Onion Noodle Soup

For some reason Dr. McDougall's Soups have never been on my radar. Not sure why? They're all Vegan, and widely available. A couple weeks ago I saw them on the shelf at Whole Foods and with Vegan MoFo on my mind, I grabbed a couple to review. The Spring Onion really caught my eye as it is usually one of my favorite soup flavors. Quarrygirl raved about Dr. McDougall's Soups in the past, so I was fairly confident that I would enjoy them. Anytime you can just add water and have a delicious meal, that's my kind of cooking.
  

So, all you do is open the the cup, dump in the flavor packet, fill the cup with water up to the line, microwave for 1 minute & 45 seconds and let sit for 5 minutes. Super easy! I was really impressed by the flavor. This isn't you typical instant meal. In fact, Spring Onion was DELICIOUS. It has a brothy onion flavor that had me wanting more. The noodles were the perfect tenderness. Honestly, it was way better than I ever expected. A perfect emergency meal that you could leave in your lunch bag or at work. I'm happy I finally tried Dr. McDougall's Soup and I can't wait to try all the other flavors!

Sambazon Organic Acai Berry Sorbet

I'm new to the whole acai berry thing. Honestly, I've never gone out of my way to try anything with acai. It always seemed so gimicky and snake oilish. That changed a couple months ago when my friend Chris suggested I try a Sambazon Protein Smoothie. I ended up really liking it and I was surprised it contained acai berries. So the other day, I noticed this Samazon Acai Berry Sorbet and was pretty excited about trying it out.

So what does acai taste like? I would have to say a mix between blueberry and cranberry. If you like either of those, I would think you'd be down with acai. The sorbet was tangy and fruity. It was sweet without being over the top cloying. There's a little grit from the acai berries, but I've become accustomed to that by now. I'd say the Acai Berry Sorbet is a solid choice for someone who like sorbets and wants a healthier, less sugary alternative with loads of antioxidants. If you've never had any acai berry products before, this might be a good gateway to take you all the way to level 7 acai berry lover (that's when you're able to pronounce it.)