I Can't Say It's Cheese

Another order from Vegan Essentials, this time I got a couple of cheese alternatives. Yeah we all know about Daiya, Teese and Follow Your Heart but do you know about Parmazano and We Can't Say It's Cheese? Both of these are hard to get in Omaha as of now but so were Daiya and Teese. It's just a matter of time...

I've had the Hickory Smoked Cheddar flavor of We Can't Say It's Cheese from Wayfare before in Portland and it was pretty damn good. The texture is creamy and spreadable. The neat thing is that it's made from oats but you would never guess that. Honestly it tastes like it shouldn't be Vegan, almost bacony. It's great on crackers and even veggie burgers!

This is Parmazano, which was imported from the U.K. This is some good stuff! In the last couple days I've had it on pizza and lasagna. Someone mentioned it tastes real aged cheese and I have to agree. If you miss your old green shaker parmesan cheese give Parmazano a try.

C.H.I.P.S.

Some random trivia about me: I take my lunch to work everyday and I always have chips. Ever since I can remember I've been around chips. Growing up I loved Fritos, Bugles and Cheetos and as a teenager I worshiped Funyuns and Chili Cheese Fritos. Nowadays I try to buy natural and (obviously) Vegan snacks. I complied a little list of my favorites, I hope you enjoy. Let me know what you like!

Pirate Brands: Tings

I remember Whoa Wren told be about Tings. I've been waiting for a Vegan Cheeto for the longest time and this is the closet I've seen.

Food Should Taste Good: The Works

In the last year I've been tearing these things up! The Olive flavor was my first love but The Works is the new lick. I think of them as half cracker/half chip and all good!

Lundburg Bean & Rice Chips: Pico de Gallo

Normally I would stay away from chips like this because I just assume they aren't Vegan. BUT they say Vegan right on the back! Pretty awesome. These are some spicy tangy chips...I'm making my mouth water!

Popchips: Sea Salt & Vinegar Potato

These are pretty new on my radar. I love the vinegar ones and the salt and pepper ones.

Newman's Own Organic: Pretzels

A lot of Newman's stuff is Vegan which is great because you can find the stuff at normal grocery stores. I think the pretzels are great and I'll give my Aunt Julie credit for buying them like 15 years ago. Ahead of her time!

Kettle Baked Potato Chips: Salt & Pepper

A long time fan of the Salt & Pepper Chips, I'm giving the Baked Salt & Pepper the spotlight since they are 65% less fat and my girlfriend likes them.

Garden of Eden: Blue Chips

I always talk about O.G. stuff and these blue chip are definitely one of the first things I ever bought at Wild Oats. I was intrigued by a "blue" chip and overnight they became my replacement for the normal yellow supermarket nacho chip.

Amy's Proof of Purchase

Probably the greatest question of our time is what the heck do you use the Amy's Proof of Purchase for? I wake up in the middle of the night and think about it, then I go back to sleep. Do Amy's parents know what anguish they cause me? Probably not. Anyways, if you are calling into Amy's customer service about a product wouldn't you use the product codes, expiration date and UPC to identify your product? Why the need for a Proof of Purchase?

Are you going to save 10 Proofs of Purchase and send them in to Youngstown, Ohio with $1.50 to get an Amy action figure? Can you save a hundred of them to get a ten dollar gift card? Just think how many Amy's Points I could have by now...a thousand? I think so. Would that put me into the Amy's Hall of Fame? Hopefully. Perhaps we will never know what the the Proof of Purchase is for, but I will always love Amy's.

*UPDATE (11/11/10) Amy's answers back!*

Organica Vegan Chocolate Bars

I know it's crazy but I'm not the biggest chocolate fan. I've always been a vanilla fan as boring as that may be. For the sake of chocolate fans everywhere, I ordered these bars from Vegan Essentials to test them out. Right off the bat I love that they say that they are Vegan and have the Vegan logo right on the front. Nice touch!

I opened both of them up and went right for the White Bar. I have to tell you that this is the best white chocolate I've ever had, Vegan or not. At first the white chocolate is hard but once it gets in your mouth it melts.

Next was the Chocolate Couverture Bar. Honestly, since I love vanilla so much I can't help but feel a little let down by the Chocolate Couverture Bar. I enjoyed it and there was nothing wrong with it but I'm in love with the White Bar. They are a tad pricey so they would be an occasional treat but if you are Vegan and love chocolate you should at least try them once!

The Silk Nog Laziest Vegans Taste Test!

Which of the three of Silk Holiday Soymilks is the best? Nog? Pumpkin Spice? The new and wildly anticipated Mint Chocolate? Joining me is an esteemed panel of colleagues consisting of Princess Lasertron, Mr. Lasertron, Pookie Pie and Whoa Wren. We will determine which Silk Holiday Soymilk is right for you.

Original Nog:

Princess Lasertron- I want that with Baileys.

Mr. Lasertron- Not as thick as regular egg nog, like the taste, the texture is a let down.

Me- I love this stuff. Hook me up to an IV of it.

Pookie Pie- Good nog, I'd drink it straight from the carton. Nice nutmeg taste.

Chocolate Mint:

Princess Lasertron- York Peppermint Patty.

Me- Decent, but I probably wouldn't buy it again. Although I will come to your house and drink it.

Whoa Wren- Somewhere between the [now gone] Vitasoy and WestSoy. I like it.

Pookie Pie- Not enough peppermint.

Pumpkin Spice:

Mr. Lasertron- Nothing original. I mean, I like it, but..., most likely to drink warm.

Princess Lasertron- Subtle with a nice aftertaste, want to use to make milkshakes, it would taste like a muffin.

Me- I'm not really feeling this one.

Pookie Pie- It tastes like pumpkin pie in a cup.

The winners are:

Whoa Wren: Chocolate Mint

Princess Lasertron: Chocolate Mint

Mr. Lasertron: Pumpkin Spice

Me: Original Nog

Pookie Pie: Pumpkin Spice

So Pumpkin Spice and Chocolate Mint tied but the overall consensus is that everyone likes the idea of different seasonal soy milk flavors. Thank you to everyone that participated in the taste test!

Amy's Pizza Time

Tonight is frozen pizza night and two of my favorites are from Amy's! The Roasted Vegetable No Cheese Pizza and the Gluten Free Spinach Rice Crust Pizza are up for review...yum.

The O.G. is the Roasted Vegetable No Cheese. On paper it sounds boring but it's actually a delicious sweet tasting pizza. The topping include Organic Shiitake Mushrooms, Sweet Onions and Roasted Red Peppers.

The Gluten Free Spinach Rice Crust Pizza has been around for 4 years or so. I remember how big of a deal it was because it had Vegan cheese. I had my Wild Oats order it when it first came out. When they finally stocked it I made sure to buy 4 at a time so they would keep buying more. In 2010 there are quite a few Vegan cheese pizzas but this one is still good. The rice crust in nice change from a normal wheat crust. With the spinach and tangy tomato sauce it makes an unique frozen pizza. BURP!

All Hallow's Eve

Halloween is definitely my favorite holiday. I have so many great memories attached to Halloween such as dressing up in my costume for school, going door to door for candy with my brother, watching lots of scary movies and carving the pumpkin with my Mom. I can trace back my childhood by what costume I wore that year, ie: Chewbacca/1982, Admiral Ackbar/1983, Fake Voltron/1984, Real Voltron/1985, Rambo/1986+1987, Darth Vader 1988, ect. I miss those Ben Cooper costumes even though they were safety hazards and everything.

Well now I'm the old fart handing out treats to kids! On a recent trip to Whole Foods I picked up some candy. Most importantly I wanted the candy to be Vegan, but I also wanted it to be good. The worst thing in the world would be for a kid to throw the candy back at me.

The Yummy Earth Organic Lollipops are making a return appearance. They really are some delicious lollipops. By the end of the night, all of the candy bags were gone and tiny goblins were happy .

So this was my first Vegan MoFo post! As you can tell I'm pretty much a once a month blogger but I'll try my best to do 20 posts this month. I'm excited to see other people's blogs! Check out http://veganmofo.wordpress.com/ for more info.