Upton's Naturals VeganChicken Salad Sandwich

I made my normal walk to the wall of the refrigerated prepared foods at Whole Foods, because I'm always looking for something new. To my surprise, there was an unfamiliar Upton's Natural sandwich. It's called the VeganChicken Salad Sandwich and it knocked my socks off! Hands down my favorite Upton's sandwich so far. Let's talk a little bit more about this delight stuffed within a pretzel roll.

First off, the bread is completely different. It's labeled as a pretzel roll and I can't think of a better decription. It really tastes like you are biting into a soft pretzel! Absolutely delicious. The "VeganChicken Salad" is Upton's famous seitan mixed with a little mayo, mustard, cranberry and more. Such great flavors; everything from herbiness, sweetness, zestiness and back. The Upton's VeganChicken Salad Sandwich is my new go to sandwich and I hope you get to try one soon!

The Laziest Vegans Top Ten Asks Angela Gossow

I've always been a metalhead at heart. You know, that kid you made fun of in 1993 for wearing an Iron Maiden t-shirt in high school? Yeah, that was me. One of my favorite groups at the time was Carcass. I thought it was cool that they used gross/disturbing imagery and lyrics, yet they were self professed Vegetarians. Well, Carcass disbanded a couple years later and I was pretty bummed.

Fast forward to the early 2000's. One of Carcass's former guitarists, Michael Amott, was looking for a new singer for his band, Arch Enemy. Angela Gossow stepped into the role and helped create the classic album Wages of Sin. From that album on, I've been a huge Arch Enemy fan. I finally got to see them live a couple years ago in Denver and they blew the stage away! On their last album, Khaos Legions, Angela penned a song about animal experiments and torture called Cruelty Without Beauty. It has a great message and it's a wicked tune. But what I really wanna know is what kind of cookies does Angela like?

What is your favorite store bought veggie burger? 
I don’t eat veggie burgers. Too industrialized and over processed. I don’t eat any soy products to begin with.. Soy disrupts the natural hormone balance in the body due to its high content of soy-isoflavonoides which are natural estrogen triggers.

What is your favorite frozen dinner?
I love frozen veggies on tour. Easy to heat up and with a few spices you got a healthy, lean dinner.

What is your favorite ice cream?
I don’t eat ice cream as its either made from milk or soy milk and got a lot of sugar in it.

What is your favorite chip or cracker?
I love the veggie chips made from beetroot, parsnip, yakon, etc.. and plain kettle cooked potato chips. Only in small quantities though as chips have a crazy amount of fat!

What is your favorite cereal?
Plain oat meal. I add pumpkin seeds, raisins and a fresh cut apple to it.. and a dash of cinnamon - total comfort food! Great when you are stoned, haha.

What is your favorite candy?
I don’t eat candy.. If any, 80%-90% dark chocolate with no sugar added. Best are raw cocoa nibs.

What is your favorite cookie?
I only eat self-baked space cookies, haha.

What three pre-packaged food items would you take to a desert island?
There, I'd go for high calorie food items in case I get stranded on that island.. I am hoping the island got plenty of wild growing fruits, roots and veggies! I'd bring Nuts, oatmeal and dark chocolate.

Name a product you would like Veganized?
I am not really into processed and artificially created foods. I eat 90% of my food in the raw, untreated state. I think there is already enough food creations out there.. too many actually. People forget how great a simple apple tastes or a mango or grapes. Nature is the best cook! The more natural, the better for the body and for the environment.. The more manufacturing processes a product has to run through, the bigger its CO2 footprint! And we really need to reduce carbon emissions - so start with the food you eat!

What are your favorite local and/or online stores for Vegan products?
I love Whole Foods Market.. A fantastic choice of fresh produce plus a fantastic salad bar. A real treat on tour!

And that concludes The Laziest Vegans Top Ten. Thanks Angela!

So Delicious Coconut Milk & Barista Style Creamers

So Delicious has a couple of new shelf-stable coconut milks out and they've asked me to give them a whirl. Two of the milks are creamers, which puts me in an interesting position because I don't drink coffee. Thankfully, my girlfriend does! Even So Delicious can't get me to drink coffee, crazy huh? So here is what I did with the new coconut milks...   

So I knew I could use one of the creamers for coffee, but what about the other one? I made a vanilla shake! Or technically Isa made the shake and I took the picture. It worked wonderfully using the Barista Style French Vanilla and Creamy Vanilla Ice Cream. The only caveat is that the creamer is pretty sweet, so you don't want to use the same amount as you would a plain milk. Or better yet, mix milks for a unique taste. Or you can just use it for coffee :)

Coffee. I don't know what it is about coffee, it just messes me up. Isa tried the Barista Style Original Creamer in her coffee and liked it. Nuff said. I mean, this stuff is made to be put into coffee.

And last but not least is the Unsweetened Vanilla Coconut Milk. I put some into a bowl of Erewhon Strawberry Crisp Cereal. Being a non-sweetened milk was nice because the Strawberry Crisp is pretty sweet on its own.

Having shelf stable milks is convenient because you can hang on to them until you really need them. Having more options out there is great for everyone and you can't go wrong with coconut milk. So Delicious sent me a couple of free coupons to give away! Write below in the comments which of the milks you would like to try. And leave an email so I can contact you if you win. Contest ends 4/2/13 at 6pm CST. Don't forget to like So Delicious on Facebook or follow them on Twitter!

The Original SuperPretzel

One of our local supermarket chains, Hy-Vee, has a "Health Market" in the corner of the store where they sell Vegan and Vegetarian-friendly stuff. So usually when I shop there, I go straight to the Health Market and produce isle and then I jet. On my last shopping Hy-Vee trip, I ventured to the normal part of the store for the hell of it. When I got to the frozen section I noticed a box that was super familiar and instantly brought me back to my teenage years. It was a box of SuperPretzels.

I loved SuperPretzels so much growing up it was unreal. I still knew the instructions by heart: Damp the pretzel with a tiny bit of water, coat with salt and microwave for one minute. It's not that I ever fell out of favor with SuperPretzels, more that I never go to that part of the store anymore and totally forgot about them. So when I looked at the box and all of the ingredients looked legit, I knew....this box was coming home with me!

Right off the bat I notice the pretzel is smaller than the one I remember. After 20 years, I can't be too surprised that it shrunk, what hasn't? But I'm happy to report the flavor of your favorite pretzels is the same. Soft, doughy, pretzely goodness. I like that it still has the salt pack so you can choose you how much or how little salt you want. The best part is where as before I NEVER put anything on my pretzel, now I can put Food For Lovers Queso or something equally as awesome on it. Long live the SuperPretzel!

No Whey! Chocolates Cookies and Cream Truffles

Every once in a while I eat something and it just blows my mind. Well that happened on Christmas of last year when I got a No Whey! Chocolates Holiday Assortment Box as a gift. No Whey! is a little Vegan company out of Cleveland, Ohio. They make super cute chocolates and confections. Everything in the Holiday Box was exceptional, but one thing that really stood out was the Cookies and Cream Truffle.  I'm a sucker for cookies and cream anything. The mixture of chocolate cookie and white frosting always gets me.

Can you imagine an Oreo truffle that melts in your mouth? Because it totally does. The Cookies and Cream Truffle has a homemade filling, dipped in ganache and rolled in cookie crumbles. The truffles were gone minutes after I took these pictures. I'm afraid to see how many of these I could eat at a time. Unlike the Holiday Box, the truffles are available all year round. Enjoy!

Whole Foods 365 Breaded Chickenless Nuggets

Recently, Whole Foods has introduced quite a few new 365 Vegan frozen items. One of them that really caught my eye was the 365 Breaded Chickenless Nuggets. I really loved chicken nuggets growing up and I have been sampling different Vegan chicken nuggets for the last 13 years. These ended up being some of the best nuggets I've ever had! I'm willing to bet most meat eaters won't know the difference.   

As you can see, I like a little fry action with my nuggets. The 365 Nuggets are nice and crisp out of the oven. In the past, I've had nuggets that were just a soggy mess and that isn't the case here. Taste-wise, they reminded me of my elementary school chicken nuggets. That's not a diss by any means! If you liked chicken nuggets at any point in your life, I think you'll love these 365 Breaded Chickenless Nuggets.

Barbara's Puffin Puffs Fruit Medley Cereal

I'm always on the lookout for food that reminds me of my childhood. I was an 80's baby, so you know I was brought up on some awesome cereal. Yeah, most of it was sugary and unhealthy, but whatever. When you look at a lot of natural cereals now days, honestly, they're just boring and lame. So that brings us to Barbara's Puffin Puffs Fruit Medley. It looks fun and yummy on the box, but is it really?  

The first spoonful had me thinking Trix, but not watered down natural Trix, like full flavored fruity Trix. Kids will love this stuff! It even has the cute fruit flavored shapes for banana, orange and grape (reminds me of Runts.) It's the kind of cereal that you can't wait to finish so you can drink the leftover milk (almond, of course.) If only it came with a toy in the box, my 80's time-warp would be complete. In conclusion, the next time you're looking for a fun, kid-friendly cereal that adults can enjoy too, Puffin Puffs Fruit Medley is the one!