Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers: Asian Potstickers

I stumbled upon these Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers and decided to try it out.

The "steamer" is a little steam basket that holds the potstickers, veggies, and rice above the sauce while the dish is microwaved. Then you mix the food with the sauce when done. It worked pretty well in my work microwave, but I could see the potential to overheat the potstickers.

I was disappointed that the rice was not brown rice - I rarely eat white rice and much prefer brown. The sauce was similar to a thick, gooey Americanized sweet & sour sauce. I added both soy sauce and sriracha to this dish.

Overall, this dish was not great, but not terrible. It was about $2.50 at Super Target, which is not a bad price, though I could get an Amy's frozen burrito for less than that and they would have a little better nutrition than this dish. However, if I just really need something quick and convenient and am in a different city or town, at least there is this option out there.

Vegan Cuts: March 2014

Here is the Vegan Cuts box I got for March! It came just in time - I was about to make a run to the corner store for snacks, and lo and behold, my doorstep was holding a box filled with yummy snacks.

Review:

The OCHO Mini Coconut Candy Bar was definitely the favorite of the box - so sad to only have one bite each for Mr. Coconut and me. But, oh, what a bite it was! Basically a vegan Mounds Bar. Yum!

We also enjoyed the Salt and Vinegar flavored Tortatos -- a corn/potato hybrid chip. The texture was really interesting - hard like a tortilla chip, but had some softness like a potato chip. Yum!

Vigilant Eats cereal was delicious and made for a really great, filling hot breakfast at work.

Explore Asian Soybean noodle soup sounded promising, but Mr. Coconut did not care for it at all. I thought the noodles themselves were pretty good, specially for being gluten-free. I didn't care for the broth too much, but would not be opposed to trying a different variety.

LOCA Diet Root Beer from oogave was actually pretty great for a diet soda.

Earnest Eats Granola Bar was pretty tasty - soft, sweet, and was a filling small snack.

This morning I tried the Raw Protein Powder from Garden of Life -- I put a handful of strawberries & 8-12 ounces (so... 230-340ml) of coconut water and the packet of the protein powder. It was fine, definitely filled me up and kept me from being hungry until lunchtime - a good 4-5 hours.

I have not tried the Roots Superfood Powder yet, but when I do, I'll post a review!

I also got a gift card for Vega -- I wound up getting one single packet each of: Chocolate, French Vanilla, Vanilla Chai, and a Vega Sport electrolyte booster. So far, I've tried the chocolate - just some ricemilk blended with the powder. It was tasty and pretty filling, not chalky like some powders can be. I will also review the other flavors after I tasted them.

Here is a photo of the Vega gifts I received:

Product Review: Tofurky Pepperoni Pizza

Last night, I tried one of three frozen vegan pizzas offered by Tofurky, powered by Daiya. The pepperoni is in the Totino's Party Pizza style that I remember growing up: diced up pieces of pepperoni. The crust is thin and crisps easily. The cheese: not nearly enough -- we added some of our own Daiya cheddar to the pizza.

The other two varieties offered are Cheese and Sausage. I am really interested in getting a cheese and adding my own "meat" toppings, such as the regular pepperoni slices from Yves or some Gimme Lean sausage.

It's expensive (I believe $8.99 USD at my local Whole Foods) for a frozen pizza, BUT given that a mock duck/rinotta (or soy cheese - Follow Your Heart brand) medium pizza costs $16-17 USD to get delivered, it's comparable and still really tasty. I mean, we're coming along when I can go buy a frozen vegan pizza at a store not 50+ miles or mail ordered to me.

Product Review: Ian's Mac and NO Cheese (GF)

So I'll start my renewed commitment to the food blog with a product review. Ian's Mac and NO Cheese which is also gluten free. It uses nutritional yeast for the cheesy base, so it is a lot different than Amy's Mac and Cheese with Daiya. I like it, though.

I use a microwave to make this stuff, and the directions are: poke holes in plastic, then micro for 2min on high, then remove overwrap, stir, micro one more min, and let stand. After the first 2 minutes, during the first stir, this stuff is REALLY questionable: it's runny, the pasta is not done, and does not resemble any mac and cheese I know. Do not give up! After the next minute in the micro, the sauce thickens and the pasta becomes more al dente.

This stuff alone is not bad, but I have been really enjoying it with mixed vegetables and sliced veggie dogs along with some ketchup and hot sauce. Definitely not for everyone, but worth a try.