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.

Vegan & Raw Vegan Food Hauls - Wegman's & The Raw Food World

I've been backed-up with posts lately but I wanted to share with you my online shopping and Wegman's hauls! 

First up was my last few shipments from The Raw Food World.  I am waiting on a few other items from them but they should be on their way soon!  Including my new SlowStar Juicer!  Woot! 

I decided to grab some heavy-duty Spirulina Tablets - they were on sale a while back!  I think I ended up getting 500 or so and I want to try and ground them and use in recipes.

I had to re-order Nutritional Yeast and they started getting CGF Organic & Freeze Dried items back in stock!  YAY!  My mother LOVES the Mangosteen!  So I got her some and I wanted to try Durian because we can't get fresh Durian where I live so this will probably be the closest I come to it for a while!  Then I grabbed some dried Pineapple and Mango for my father - he loves both and I wanted to try some dried pitted prunes for myself.

Oh yeah!  Almost forgot!  If you got back up to that first photo you will see I splurged a bit and scored some Ojio Vanilla Powder!  I have been wanting to try this for a while.  I don't usually trust grocery-store vanilla extract and powders but this is organic and Ojio and they pride themselves in quality products so I thought I would try them.  Plus the other products I have gotten from Ojio have been fantastic!

To the left...YUP!  I bought another Spirooli Spiralizer - I already have one and love it and bought this one for my sister.  I did save the one on top for myself tho and that slices ribbons - a bit different from the one I have!

Now...on to the Wegman's run I made WEEKS ago!  I grabbed some of their Organic Applesauce - it looked too good to pass up - and the price was right, too!  I have been a little low on lentils lately and really craving them since that lovely lentil dish while in Florida so I decided to get the sprouted green lentils I found at Wegman's.  PLUS...I had been out of Farro for the LONGEST time so I well passed due to get some more of that, too!  The prices were fair on all three of these products!  I did grab some Daiya Cheese, too, I only get it when it's on sale for 2 reasons...it IS expensive...but I also don't want to eat too much of it because it is a processed food.

In their deli area I found wonderful chickpea salad!  One of the MAIN reasons I LOVE Wegman's is because their label ALMOST everything with the V if it's VEGAN.  Yay!  The flavor of the bean salad was great and I also wanted to try it because of the tri-colored chickpea factor.  Of course the default is your regular chickpeas that you see everyday but there were brown and black ones in this salad, too, and they were pretty tasty, too!  Then I grabbed some of the Wegman's brand Tofu for some Egg Trick Muffins I made (shout out to The Vegan Zombie and Strong Hearts Cafe)

I was running low on mustard - and still am - didn't realize I was also out of yellow mustard, too, but I was able to purchase some of their Dijon and it's GOOD.

I was happy to see that they came out with some flavored beans that also happened to be vegan including these Chana Masala Garbanzo's!  I couldn't resist the Artichoke Hearts - I hope to be making my favorite Farro Dish with them soon and some yellow wax beans!  Yum!

Last but not least I finally broke down and bought some of Eat Pastry's Cookie Dough and let me tell you it's everything I was dreaming of and more!  I have been hearing The Vegan Zombie go on and on about this line for a while and now I finally see what all the hype is about! 

Again, I don't want to get too used to it and over indulge but it is a tasty treat on occasion and in moderation.

Below you can see some of the cookies I made with the dough...but it is certainly tempting to eat prior to baking, too!

Nom, Nom, Nom!

I'm not going to lie...YUM!

So there you have it!  My hauls from Wegman's and The Raw Foods World!

I have LOTS more to share with you so stay tuned!  It's been so busy as of late but things are going fairly well!  How are you and what have you been up to lately!?

Fickle Pickle on Possible Purchases...

One of my FAVORITE Blogging Buddies OPAL and I have been chatting a bit about possible purchases and either not being able to make up our minds on which to purchase or wait for a better price on those items that are on our wishlists.  I thought I would do a little bit of a blog post of my own with some of the things I have been going back and forth on as of late.

I've had a juicer for a few years and it was great when I first got it and it still work well, however, I was left 'wanting' and have grown a little bored with it.  After much reflecting on the juicer topic I really FEEL like it's time for an UPGRADE and maybe that will make me what to get back into it more.  The one I have now was about $90 a Walmart when I did purchase it a while back.  It's a Jack LaLanne Juicer.  The main complaint I had with it was there was still a lot of pulp in the 'already juiced juice'.  I was looking at the Juicers available over at The Raw Food World and there are probably 3 to 5 of them I want for different reasons but don't want to buy more than 1 at this time.  So far I think this Breville Juice Fountain Elite 800JEXL might be the way to go for my wants and needs at the moment.  These two parts are what opened my eyes on THIS specific juicer...

Cutter and Filter

The Italian-made, stainless steel cutter’s diagonal knife blades first grind the fruit into pulp. Then, 115 surrounding, conical knives grate the pulp into minute particles and propel them against the micro-mesh filter’s 40,000 strainer pores. Smaller particles, combined with superior filtration, maximizes yield.

Speed

There are two settings: a whisper-quiet 6,500 RPM for juicing leafy vegetables and softer fruits such as watermelon and oranges

Does anyone reading have this juicer or a comparable one that you would like to share feedback on?

 Another appliance I have been pondering a purchase on is this EasyGreen Sprouter EQMV but I'm afraid it might be more involved that I am used to when it comes to sprouting.  I really like the 'soak, set, and go' idea of this product but after doing some research it sure looks like it has a lot of different parts.  This - like the juicer - takes up space - space I don't have a lot of left in my kitchen.  I'm the type of person where I have to have things out - and looking at me - to use them often.  That's why I always have my Vitamix and Excalibur out where I can see them.  Another option would be for me to purchase this and set it up at work.  Since we started doing Container Gardening at work - why couldn't we do this, too, right?  PLUS...that would encourage me to eat more sprouts and salads at work during lunch!  I'm still considering this.  I just haven't taken that step, YET!

Another thing I can't seem to make up my mind on is a Blendtec.  Yes...I have a Vitamix and I LOVE it but sometimes getting some of the dips and spreads our from under the blades drives me batty!  (See more on this on my Spatty Daddy post).  That and I kind of have this THING for Blenders, I guess.  I can't seem to get enough of using blenders!  But the thing that has been eating away at me about the Blendtec is which one to get.  Just when I think I have it pinned down to the 4Side or the WildSide I read about the Twister Jar!  Oye!  I'm so confused!  And THIS is one thing I don't want to mis-purchase because of the expense...like over $450 expense!  I heard from a few people that the 4Side was harder to reach everything so I am leaning toward the WildSide instead.  BUT...the Twister Jar's side scrapers really intrigue me, too!  Does anyone reading have these blenders?  If so...what are your thoughts!?

And regardless of which and what all of these items are higher ticket prices items and I really don't want to make the wrong choice.  PLUS...it's NOT like I will be buying all of them at once - it will be over time - when I am able to.

My New Excalibur 2900 ECB 9 Tray Dehydrator

Christmas came early for me this year!  Here's my My New Excalibur 2900 ECB 9 Tray Dehydrator!  It was delivered yesterday.  I'm so excited.  I think I will call her Guinevere. 

I set it up on top of my Freezer.  It weighs about 22 pounds so I shouldn't have a problem moving it when I need to get into my freezer.  It is my secondary freezer, after all.  We store larger items in there things we don't need access to on a daily basis, really.  All of my frozen fruit and veggies are in my other freezer above my frig.


I will have more write-ups on this new addition to my kitchen very soon!  I just couldn't wait to announce it's arrival!  The very first thing I made were little Protein Balls and I will be posting more about that very soon! 
 

Some of the features include:

• 9-tray dehydrator, 15 square feet of drying space
• Built in on off switch
• Great for large familes and gardens
• Includes adjustable thermostat
• Easy to clean polyscreen tray inserts