My Vegan Cuts Snack Box Review...

Hey guys!  I'm so excited to participate in reviewing the March Snack Box from Vegan Cuts.  For $19.95 a month, they will send you a snack box chock full of vegan snacks.  They sent me this box in March and I've finally eaten my way through it.  Here's my unboxing video and my review of each item below that.

Beyond Eggs: Unfortunately we haven't used these yet, despite my excitement during the video.

Earth Balance Aged White Cheddar Puffs:  The cheese flavor was exactly what I was hoping for, but as I suspected, I would rather have the cheese flavor on the popcorn since puffs always remind me of eating styrofoam.

Vbar: Delicious!  Reminded me of a very dense rice crispy treat with coconut flakes and chocolate chips.  A great treat, but definitely not healthy.

Ultima Replenisher: Flavor was great, but the powder never completely dissolved.  It has many vitamins and minerals and only 10 calories.  Would like to try this again after Zumba to see if I recover faster.

Sjaak's Organic Chocolate:  Delicious!  These were the foil covered eggs that were in the box.  They are solid milk chocolate.  Will definitely be checking out their other products.

Barre: This one is weird, there's no ingredient list so you have no idea what to expect. The bar is green, I'm not sure if it's a snack bar or meal replacement bar.  Either way, it wasn't very enjoyable.

Equal Exchange: More yummy chocolate!

Cocomo Joe Cocomocorn: This was pretty good, however I think it had a burnt taste.  Regardless, I ate the whole bag in one sitting.

nyl skincare:  Smells great, unfortunately I haven't used it yet.

Flamous Falafel Chips: This one is probably geared towards a more adventurous eater.  I think I ate one chip, not my favorite.

 All in all it was a really good experience!  It was fun stalking the mailman and then digging in to see what goodies I got to try.  

Ellen is not giving vegans a bad name, vegans are...

Okay, I can't bite my tongue anymore.  This whole 'Ellen DeGeneres eats eggs' thing makes me feel like my head is going to explode, but not because Ellen "gets eggs from a neighbor" but for all the negative backlash from the vegan community.  I'm totally disappointed by my fellow vegans.

I've been following it on twitter and here are some of the headlines:  "Ellen admits eating eggs", "Ellen is a closeted vegetarian", "Ellen not vegan as she claims".  They go on and on.  It is repulsive.

If you actually watched the clip (below) you will hear that she doesn't say she eats eggs.  She says "We get our eggs from our neighbor.  They have happy chickens."  She never says the eggs are used by her or that she eats them.



















Many of us live in omnivorous households.  My family still eats cheese, so if you see me at the grocery store you will probably find cheese in my cart.  Does this mean I'm not vegan?  Absolutely not.  I'm sure Ellen has a housekeeper/s, chef, and many guests.  Those eggs can be for anyone.

I feel some vegans just sit and wait for a fellow vegan (especially a famous one) to slip up so they can pounce.  That is not what veganism is about!  It's a loving community full of people that care about animals, the environment and their health.  How quickly we forgot all the amazing things Ellen DeGeneres has done for the animals and for the vegan movement.  Even if she does eat eggs, I still don't think she deserves that kind of abuse, no one does.

Vegans are giving vegans a bad name.  When I went to my first vegan meet-up, I stressed out about everything I wore.  I wanted to make sure everything I had on was vegan so I wouldn't be judged for not being vegan enough.  I was newly vegan and all my clothes, shoes, etc. were things I'd purchased before I was vegan.  I shouldn't have to feel like that.  I should be accepted for the shear fact that I don't want animals to be harmed and want them to have a better life.  We are all in this together, one should not be excommunicated and all their good deeds forgotten because of one detail that probably is being completely taken out of context.

If I were someone that was just dipping their toe in vegan waters, I'd be scared it would be too hard.  Vegans are making it seem like veganism is about perfection, and it's not.  No one is 100% vegan.  It's impossible.  You don't know if everything on a food label is accurate or that the food you are being served at a restaurant is really completely vegan like the menu says.

I love Ellen DeGeneres.  I look forward to watching her show everyday while I cook dinner.  She makes me laugh and laughter is like medicine.  It keeps me happy.   Her being vegan is an added bonus.  

Why the chicken crossed the road...

My daughter spotted this in our local paper. She is nine and knows an example of veganism when she sees it!

(click to enlarge)

The Perfect Snack...

Hey y'all!  October is apparently VeganMoFo, which is Vegan Month of Food.  A lot of people on twitter are sharing what they eat as vegans.  I thought I'd share what has been my go-to snack for the past few months.  These are the brands I use, but you can use whatever you want.  

Here's what I do.  I like WASA Crackers because they are full of whole grains and this particular kind only has 3 ingredients (if you don't include water).  The whole grain is really what keeps you filled up.   So, take a cracker and smear some hummus on it.  My favorite is Fountain of Health Roasted Garlic Hummus.  Yum!  I used to be a Sabra girl, but this hummus has ruined me for any other brand.   Top the hummus with some of your favorite salsa.  I've been buying Wholly Salsa like crazy, not just because it tastes good, but because I've been buying them for 50 cents each!  Since they are new there are a lot of coupons floating around (my store doubles coupons) and they have been on sale for $1.50 each.  Since this salsa is "fresh" there aren't any preservatives or chemicals I can't pronounce.  Actually, all the ingredients are vegetables or spices plus lime juice.  

I hope you all give this snack a try!  It's great anytime, a good source of whole grain, protein, and a little vegetables.  This would also be  a good snack when you are traveling since you could pick up all the ingredients at any store.  

Pumpkin Muffins...

Hey Y'all! Fall is here and I found myself craving pumpkin everything. I'm running low on a lot of things, so Happy Herbivore's Single Serving Pumpkin Muffin was a natural choice. The recipe says it makes one, but I was somehow able to squeeze out two. If I would have had more flour, I would have doubled or even tripled this recipe. I will admit that I felt kinda bad heating up my oven for just two muffins, but I justified it by sticking some homemade sourdough bread in there to rise after the muffins were finished.

I gotta tell ya, these pumpkin muffins were pretty great.  I did have to resist the urge to put a little Earth Balance butter on them though, but not because they weren't delicious, but because I love Earth Balance.

Lots of green tomatoes...

I've wanted to have my own garden for years.  Once I went vegan, it seemed like a must-have.  My husband built me an 8'x4' raised bed.  Growing your own vegetables is definitely a learning experience.  I can't wait to put what I learned into action next year.  First of all I need to stake my tomato plants.  There are only three of them, but they are huge and they spread out everywhere.  I won't be growing carrots again, much cheaper to buy them (even the organic kind).   I will definitely plant kale, lots of kale!

The weather here in NKY is pretty chilly.  It's starting to frost in the morning and I still have a ton of green tomatoes growing in my garden.  Jenn's grandma told her that I should pick them all, wrap them in tissue paper and put them in a cool, dark place.  They will turn red.  So, that's what I'm going to do.  

Just look at all those tomatoes!  Check out my crazy garden in the background!!!

Now, I don't even like raw tomatoes that much, but I love marinara!  There is a recipe in The Sexy Vegan Cookbook for The Tomato Killer (pg. 200), which is basically a marinara or pizza sauce.   The recipe calls for 2 pounds of roma tomatoes (will plant those next year) but I just use what I have and it always turns out great!

Off to make some Tomato Killer with some of my red tomatoes!

Being Vegan Has Changed Me...

Compassion is one of the best side effects of being vegan.  I first noticed this when I found a spider in my house after reading "Eating Animals" by Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer.  I was unable to kill the spider.  I've killed hundreds of spiders in my previous, non-vegan life.  In fact, I've even made fun of my husband for being afraid of these spiders because he didn't grow up in the country like I did.   I'm not afraid of spiders, but now I don't want to step on them.  Erin Red once said, "that spider is just  going about it's day being a spider doing spider things."

Now that I'm filled with all this compassion I find myself signing all sorts of petitions.  This morning on twitter I stumbled upon a picture of a dog with hooks in it's mouth.  That is bad enough, but then I read the caption "Live and dead dogs and cats are being used as shark bait.  They are thrown into the water, towed behind a boat until a shark bites."  Absolutely mortifying! I couldn't get the image of that poor dog out of my head.  You can read the full article here.  Please, please, please sign the petition here.  I can't believe I live in a world where this is happening.

On a lighter note, I also signed a petition for Starbucks not to charge extra for soy milk.  They are penalizing people that can't digest cow's milk as well as those that don't want to harm animals with our coffee fix.  You can sign the Starbucks petition here.   

I sign petitions of all kinds now, whether it be about animal rights, school lunches, vegan issues, etc.  I feel like I can make a difference, and if I share it on my FB page and Twitter and others sign, then I really can make a difference.  Be the change you want to see in the world.