Vegan MoFo ~ Kitchen Tour Time!

Today is Kitchen Tour Time but I'm embarrassed at the sight of my kitchen at the moment so I thought I would take this time to blog about some of the things I HAVE in my kitchen.  This may be a lengthy post.  I have a feeling it will be!

Before I get to the appliances I have in and around my kitchen I have been getting a lot of questions about certain ingredients and products I have been using as of late.  I thought I would combine many of these into one post.

First up...one of the most asked about products as of late is this Kelp with Cayenne.  I've also LINKED to the specific product for you in case you wanted to check it out over at The Raw Food World which is where I got it to begin with.  It's part of a line of sea seasonings.  The one I have been referring to a lot lately is the Organic Kelp with Cayenne.  It gives you the benefits of a sea veggie and gives you a little bit of natural saltiness without adding actual salt to your foods.


They have other flavors, too, including a Trio Blend of Dulse, Laver, and Sea Lettuce which I have yet to try...one with Sea Salt, Kelp, and Dulse...another being Dulse with Garlic...on that is straight-up Dulse...you get the idea.  I've had a couple of these in my pantry for a while and they keep well in a cool dry place.  Right now they are only $4.10 each and are TOTALLY worth it!.

I usually make my own dressings but there is a new-to-me line that I am REALLY stoked about!  And it's from a company that I have adored in the past!  Foods Alive!  Check out THESE dressings!  They are AMAZING!  And right now the individuals are priced at-cost!

If you take a look at my sidebar you will see a search button and if you type in Foods Alive you will see the others posts on my blog containing some of their products that I have enjoyed and blogged about in the past.  But these dressing are in a class of their own!  Take a look at the link above and let me know which ones appeal to you most!  Oh...and of course WILDTREE is my favorite brand of many products and I am a Rep if you are interested!

Salad Booster from Living Intentions is another product I keep in my frig as often as possible.  It's a great product to have on hand.

There are TWO flavors...the original and the Vegan Cheesy!  Both are excellent!

The original contains: Seeds, Wild White Chia Seeds, Spirulina, Himalayan Crystal Salt, Chlorella, Organic Dulse, Organic Kelp, Organic Dill Weed, Organic Spices, Organic Lemon Peel and Organic Cayenne.

The Vegan Cheesy contains: Organic Sprouted Pumpkni Seeds, Organic Sprouted Sunflower Seeds, Organic Sprouted Sesame Seeds, Wild White Chia Seeds, Spirulina, Organic Red Bell Pepper, Himalayan Crystal Salt, Nutritional Yeast, Chlorella, Organic Dulse, Organic Kelp, Organic Dill Weed, Organic Spices, Organic Tumeric and Organic Chilies.

SunRoot Sweetener is something I JUST started using.  I need a little bit more time with it before I completely make up my mind but so far so good!  It's an alternative to Agave and other natural sweeteners.

It's made from Jerusalem Artichokes - also known as - Sun Chokes.

It's sweet but I don't think it's AS sweet as some of the Agave's I have tried.  It's VERY dark in color, too.  I made a two layered RAW Freezer Fudge that I will be posting about in the near future and used this as the sweetener.  The flavor of fudge was Pistachio Cacao in case you were wondering.

Of course other things you will find in my kitchen are various Nut Butters, Garden of Life products, raw nuts and seeds, more recently Cacao products, and Super Food Powders among other things.

Now...when it comes to certain appliances I have throughout my kitchen there are a few.  I started with Ninja Blenders before I was able to get a high speed blender.  Once I got my high speed blender I saved all of my Ninjas.  Yes...I have several.  I still use them for food processing, mostly.  I have many different sizes and I also have these containers that I store in the frig at times, too!

Once I finally got a high speed blender I went with a Vitamix...actually the Vitamix went with me, actually!  I was lucky enough to win one.  I'm so grateful I was able to win one.  The only down fall is now I will ALWAYS have to have one.  I hate to say I have a 'prized possession' because that sounds so material but I would have to say my high speed blender is one of the things I just may have to guard with my life.  Is that too dramatic?  Meh.

I use my Vitamix EVERYDAY at least once.  However, I have  often wondered the differences between the Vitamix and the BlendTec.  I'll get to that in a moment.  But first I would like to jabber about my Vitamix.  I supposed I should name her, shouldn't I?  Anyways, I LOVE my Vitamix as I have said but there are only a few things I wish were better about it.  One being I wish it was glass and not plastic but that isn't a 'make it or break it' for me.  When making thicker dips and spreads like nut butters and hummus for example it is hard to get all of the 'good stuff' from under the blade.  I feel like I am wasting a lot when this happens.  Also...it's not the easiest to clean when doing a lot with nuts...they tend to cause a build-up under the blade.

Enter the BlendTec WildSide Rebel Jar and XR Vitamix Fit Jar.  These jars make it so that you can have a BlendTec and a Vitamix at the same time, basically.  I wanted to try this prior to possibly purchasing a BlendTec, too.  I'm glad I did.  Yes, I know...I'm a bit of a blender freak now.  I have noticed a few things with this WildSide Jar.  I LOVE the jar.  It fixes the problems I was having!  It's so much easier to clean and under the blade stays cleaner with little effort.  I also get nearly everything out of the jar with little effort - that was the other concern I had with the Vitamix Jar in the first place.  There are 2 things I'm not overly thrilled about, tho.  One being it's MUCH louder than the stand alone Vitamix and the other is I don't think the BlendTec gets 'chunks' as smooth as the Vitamix.  I think the BlendTec breaks them down better but I like the textures of the Vitamix better.

This could be because I'm using a BlendTec blade and Jar on the motor of the Vitamix that is yet to be determined.  There are pros and cons of each but I have a love for both of them because of their pros.

Next up...yes...I have an Excalibur Dehydrator.  I love it and I need to use it more than I have been as of late.  I think that will be a goal of the upcoming season.  If you want to search for my past recipes feel free in the search box on the side just type "Excalibur" in there.  I will be gearing up for snacks and breakfast bars and cookies with this soon I have a feeling!  I'll tell you it was one of the BEST Christmas presents I even got (thanks Hubby!)

More recently I added this to my kitchen...it's the Tribest SlowStar Juicer.  I'm ashamed to say that I haven't put it to the test YET but will very soon!  Prior to this one I had a Jack LaLanne Juicer.  I liked it but it didn't get the juice as 'juicy' and 'clear' as I wanted so I decided to get this one.  I almost purchased a different brand and made a last minute switch-a-roo because of the Instagram photos that Chris from The Vegan Zombie posted.  It seemed like he was getting the results I was looking for and that is what switched my mind at the very last moment.

Another thing I should mention is that I have a SLEW of Mason Jars throughout my kitchen!  Dozens!  I store everything in them.  You can read more about that HERE as to why I started that when I did.  It has just grown since.  HERE is another post and HERE is another post - both with pictures!  I guess in a way you can see my kitchen in those photos and posts, too, when it was a little more 'put together'.  Another example would be HERE.