Nature's Path Envirokidz Lightly Frosted Amazon Flakes

Welcome to day one of Vegan MoFo VII! This is my fourth Vegan MoFo, but in some ways I still feel like a newbie. If you've never been to my blog before, it's all about pre-packaged Vegan foods. Once in awhile I'll talk about trips I take (like my forthcoming Vida Vegan Con post) or spotlight prominent Vegans in The Laziest Vegans Top Ten. But anyway, that's what I'm all about... now let's talk about some Vegan cereal!

If you look at any one of my cereal blog posts, a common complaint of mine is the lack of fun Vegan cereals. Yeah, I know there is every kind of whole grain, super healthy, vitamin fortified cereal out there, but I just want some damn Vegan Lucky Charms. With that said, one of my favorite brands is Nature's Path. Everything is organic and a majority of their products are Vegan. And they even have a cereal line aimed at kids like me called Envirokidz. So you could say the Envirokidz Lightly Frosted Amazon Flakes jumped out at me when I saw them.

There's not a whole lot to them honestly! Very simple ingredients: corn meal, evaporated cane juice and sea salt. I thought they had great flavor and sweetness. And if for some strange reason they aren't sweet enough for you, I'd add some strawberries or blueberries. In closing, I think kids and adults would enjoy Amazon Flakes since they are sweet but not cloyingly so.

What kind of Vegan cereal would you like to see?

Nature's Path Organic Coconut Chia Granola

I remember the first time I saw Nature's Path Hemp Plus Granola cereal, my mind was blown. A.) How do you eat hemp? and B.) How do you make it taste good? Ultimately I discovered that it's an awesome cereal and really put Nature's Gate on the map for me. So you can say my eyes widened a bit when I saw this new Coconut Chia Granola the other day. Actual flakes of coconut in the cereal? Too cool! You know I gotta try that.

From the first spoonful, I was in love. It's like you're eating a rich coconut cookie. Amazing crunch and sweetness. Not low fat by any means, but it's good fat. A great source of Omega-3's and whole grains. And of course, it's Non-GMO and Organic. In fact, it's worth noting that Nature's Path is the only certified Non-GMO cereal brand on the market right now. So it's an all-around healthy and nutritious cereal that you can feel comfortable eating.

The best part of course is that it says VEGAN on the box. You make my job so easy, Nature's Path! I love it. So go out and get a box of Coconut Chai Granola and tell me what you think!

Nature's Path Organic Corn Flakes

It seems the older I get, the more conservative I get...with my cereal. Don't get me wrong, If someone finally came up with a crazy Vegan marshmallow cereal (a la Lucky Charms) I'd be the first in line. But for the most part, I've been avoiding super sweet cereals. Enter Nature's Path Organic Fruit Juice Sweetened Corn Flakes. A great basic cereal that is lightly sweetened and has uncomplicated ingredients. Corn meal and/or yellow corn flour, grape and/or pear juice concentrate, sea salt. That's it. All while being Organic and Gluten Free.  

The cereal by itself does have a slight sweetness, but nothing that's going to blow you away and make you say "this was sweetened by a pear!" I tried the cereal by itself with unsweetened almond milk and it was tatsy. If you like a bit more sweetness, try some banana or strawberries to liven things up. Either way, it's a great way to start your morning!

Nature's Path Organic Sunrise Cereals

These two new cereals from Nature's Path recently caught my eye and I thought I would see what they're all about. Both cereals are organic, gluten-free and have a wide spectrum of ingredients. Corn, rice flax, quinoa, buckwheat and amaranth. If you read my blog regularly, you probably noticed that I'm not a big breakfast person. But if I wake up in the middle of the night and need something to eat, is there anything better than a bowl of cereal?

First up is the Crunchy Maple Sunrise. I hope you like maple cause that's what you're gonna get. Strong maple flavor throughout the mixture of flakes, puffed rice and corn balls. It's a fun cereal to eat because of all the different textures. Like some crazy combo of Kix, Rice Crispies and Corn Flakes!

The Crunchy Vanilla Sunrise is the same texture wise as the Crunchy Maple but obviously it's vanilla. I'm gonna say this was my favorite of the two because the vanilla flavor was a little bit more low key. For the record, I used my favorite non-dairy beverage, Unsweetened Original Almond Breeze. I would suggest using something unsweetened so as not to muddle the flavors. So if you like your cereal with bold flavors and lots of different shapes, I think you'll enjoy Nature's Path Organic Sunrise Cereals!

Lazy Vegan Breakfast

I'm going to be completely honest and tell you that I hate breakfast. For some reason I have no appetite in the morning (or whenever I choose to wake up). But that doesn't mean I don't like breakfast foods! Pancakes and waffles are wonderful and I love to eat them at all other times of the day. Here are a couple breakfast foods that fill a void if you are a lazy one.

I was pretty excited the first time I saw Ian's French Toast Sticks. I love the way French Toast tastes plus it's kind of a pain in the butt to make from scratch. Last week I bought my first box and gave 'em a shot. The French Toast sticks were good but they didn't blow me away. Perhaps I set my expectations too high. I felt the taste was a bit muted and the oven-only cooking directions were tedious. If you are Gluten Free and Vegan, give them a shot...you might appreciate them more than I.

Nature's Path Hemp Waffles are like tradition waffles except for the whole hemp thing. Odds are you won't notice the hemp in the waffle but you'll enjoy the nutritional benefits. Super easy to make via toaster or toaster oven. Just don't forget the maple syrup and Earth Balance!!!

Remember when these were 6 in a pack? The good old days. Amy's Toaster Pops have been in my freezer for eons. The way I like to do it, is to buy one flavor for awhile until I get sick of it, then I switch to the other flavor. Right now I'm in apple mode. The toaster pop is full of fruit and sweet filling, great for when you are on the go. Maybe Amy's can come up with some new flavors? Maybe blueberry? Banana? Raspberry?

Nature's Path Granola Bars

Sometimes revamping and changing a product is for the best...and sometimes it's not. One of my standby snacks for the last 5 years has been Nature's Path Granola Bars. Anytime I would fly or take a road trip I would have a couple of bars with me in case I get the hungries. Not that long ago Nature's Path decided to reformulate the the bars, make the bars smaller and totally change the packaging.

My three favorites are Sunny Hemp (oooh, I'm eating weed!), Peanut Choco and Pumpkin-N-Spice. Sunny Hemp is a sweet bar with raisins and hemp. Peanut Choco is super chocolaty with bits of peanuts. Pumpkin-N-Spice is sweet and spicy (shocker) with pumpkin seeds.

Taste-wise they are still pretty similar, maybe even a little too sweet. I'd take the old bars in a heartbeat but that's not likely to happen anytime soon. I notice they are moister then the old bars, which is great unless you can't wash your hands right away (air travel). Size-wise I think the bars are at least a 1/3rd smaller then the old ones. I assume they shrunk the size of the bars to keep the price competitive. Nature's Path does use all organic ingredients so I'm sure they can't be cheap to produce. That said, I guess I'm one of the rare customers that would pay a little extra for larger bar. I guess it's no big deal, just buy more boxes right?

Cereal Love

Everyone likes cereal! There are so many Vegan and organic options out there, from cereal with real fruit, sweet cereals, chocolaty cereals, whole wheat cereals, gluten free cereals...the list goes on. Below are some of my faves, let me know which ones you like!

Kashi has a wide variety of natural and organic cereals. Strawberry Fields is without a doubt my favorite. I can eat this stuff dry. Cinnamon Harvest is a great shredded wheat cereal and Heart to Heart Blueberry is delicious!

Around the time I went Vegetarian I started to eat less sugary cereals. Puffins and Gorilla Munch (aka Monkey Munch) were two of my favorites. Puffins has a wonderful peanut butter flavor and Gorilla Munch is lightly sweetened. Not only did they taste good, they were still fun to to eat. Annie's Fruity Bunnies follows that trend.

As some of you know, I've been baking in Vegan bakes sales recently. The one thing I make every time is organic rice crispy treats using Nature's Path Whole Grain Brown Rice - it's worked well so far! My other Nature's Path favorite is the Hemp Plus Granola. The peanut version is great too, extra peanuts!

And last but not least, the milk! The Blue Diamond Unsweetened Almond Breeze is by far the greatest thing I've ever had with cereal. If you've never had it before please give it a shot because it's creamy and delicious. I think you'll love it.