My Many Mason Jars & The Vineyard is GREEN

 I will be doubling and tripling up on posts today to try and catch up from my wild week or weeks lately.  One of the many things I have been working on - it's a constant battle - but I couldn't be more proud of it as petty as it seems - is my Mason Jar Kitchen Cabinets!

My original post happened almost a year ago and I have been tweaking it ever since.  I'm not the most organized person but I try.  Mason Jar are the way to go for me!  It's what has helped me the longest and I have stuck with it!  I have been getting more and more grains, sprouting items, powders, and more and these are PERFECT for them!  Not only have I been using Mason Jars I have been reusing other glass jars that I have come across as you can see in the 2nd photo. 

The one with the Green Lid is a reused Tahini Glass Jar.  I believe I bought these sprouting seeds over at VitaCost.  Take a look at the right hand side bar for the refer a friend program.  I LOVE this online store!  Anyhow...back to the Jars!  You can see in the first photo I have Marrowfat Peas.  I haven't used them yet but I hope to soon!  On either side are some of my Wildtree items.  In the 2nd photo I have Arugula and Sunflower Seeds.  I sprouted Sunflower Seeds before but didn't blog about it.  I wanted to get a 2nd attempt under my belt first.  Yesterday I started my first attempt at Arugula and I will blog about that later today, too.

In my 3rd photo - you can see the glass jars I bought FIRST even before buying the Mason Jars.  I bought those from my local herb store where I buy bulk often.  I started using those for 'meals' and alternative flours but I also use them for sprouting beans, seeds, etc now, too!

In this last photo - I have some Quinoa but also some Farro.  I have to admit I am still new at using Farro but will be posting about this, soon, too!

In another section of my cupboards I have recently added Maca Powder containers and a Maca-Hemp-Cacao Powder. 


I have been running out of a few of my rices - wild rice, long grain rice, and various brown rices that I had from Lundberg as well as a few other brands.  I have also just finished up my Rice Crumbs and one of my Vegan Panko Bread Crumbs.  Lucky for me I found a box hiding and replenished my stock.

In other news - we went back to Noble Winery in Westfield, NY, on Saturday with our Wildtree set-up and did pretty well!  We LOVE the Noble Winery Crew!  They are beautiful people!  The last time I blogged about Noble - it was cold!!!  This time around it was gorgeous!  The grounds and vineyard were MUCH MORE GREEN!  Afterwards we went to Quagliana's Bark Grill - as we did the last time - it's becoming a favorite!  It has a neat set-up as well as SUPER FRIENDLY people!  They have an awesome cheese-less Bruchetta I had as well as something similar but with Eggplant and Red Peppers!  YUM!

I was wondering what the 4th would have been like on the hill of the winery!  You can see for MILES.  I bet you could see various fireworks that night.  We only stayed until about 7pm so it wasn't dark yet.

We have a party this Wednesday in Little Valley, NY, and we are expecting quite a few so we are looking forward to that and we have a few shows in the works, too!

Convenience Foods with a Twist, Product Reviews, Happenings

I left the last couple of days without a new post so I have a lot to catch up on today!  I have been cheating with some convenience foods lately but have been trying my best to increase the nutritional value of the foods even if they are convenience foods.  For example...I found store-bought vegetarian Stir Fry.  It was oddly low in sodium for a stirfry as well as a store bought item it was gently flavored but lacked a good a mount of veggies.  So I added a little bit of Coconut Aminos (which I will be doing a review for soon!) and added a few more veggies to it!  It turned out pretty well!  The 3 reasons I am posting about these couple of 'convenience' foods is ONE - the produce - for the most part - in my area is LACKING.  I can find it but the quality is not very good.  TWO - time!  I hate to use that as an excuse but between the ice storms, our work schedule, and medical issues between my husband and now my father - it's been a little crazy lately!  THREE - I have been starting to coupon a little bit - nothing extreme - but - the coupons I have been finding are for things I enjoy and/or haven't tried before and am getting good deals on them - PLUS - my VitaCost and VeganEssentials orders came in over the past week!

Speaking of VitaCost...here is a photo of my order!  I removed some of the packaging, tho.  There are some other items in there that were not necessarily part of my order but I received in the mail and will be blogging about them soon!  I'm VERY excited about it!

I ended up getting $10 off my VitaCost Order AND got FREE SHIPPING!  As far as the coupons go - I saves $21 this past weekend and the weekend before saved about $20.  I wasn't able to find everything I had coupons for either and I need to use them before the end of the month! 

One of the MANY things I got in my VitaCost Shipping was a different new-to-me kind of Kale Chips!  They were tasty but the crumbed quite a bit.  The flavor was Sweet Mustard.  I am going to do this flavor at home myself once I find some good Kale!

Speaking of crumbled Kale Chips...here is what I did with them!  I got Pacific Foods Cashew Carrot Ginger Soup for a good price so I had this for lunch yesterday.  I sprinkled a generous amount of Kale Chips/Crumbs on top!  I LOVE these two colors together!  It added nicely to the overall flavor, too!  Actually I ended up getting two Kale Chips, now that I think of it!  The ones I used on the soup were from Rhythm SuperFoods and were Zesty Nacho Flavored!

Just another convenience food with a little more added nutrition!

 I need to use an open bag of Daiya "Cheese" so one evening over the weekend I made these snack bagels.  I know that Daiya Cheese does contain added oils but I had not been using as much Grapeseed Oil in the foods I have been making the past week or so.  I wanted to increase this comfort and convenience food with a bit more nutritional value so I squirted a little bit of FoodsAlive Flax Oil SuperDressings on it - you can see the little bit of orange color under the 'cheese'.  They were really tasty!  I have to admit!

I asked my husband to pick this week's country for my Foods Around The World.  He picked Mexico!  I LOVES it when I make Tacos!  He's not a vegetarian - far from it - so he had his and I had mine!  This is a photo of mine!  I had Organic No Fat Vegetarian Refried Beans, a small amount of Avocado, Lettuce, Tomato, Onion, a very little bit of Daiya Cheese, and a little bit of Hot Sauce. 

For Breakfast I had this Mom's Best Organic Cinnamon Plum Oatmeal.  I just added water and a small teaspoon size packet of Wholesome Sweeteners Blue Agave.  I plan on doing some reviews for these products down the road, too!

Speaking of Cinnamon...recently I tried the Apple Cinnamon Bar from Raw Revolution.  It was fantastic! 

At first bite it was like eating dehydrated Apple Chips and Cinnamon!  Then the textures came in to play!  The powders and seeds contribute to the texture as well as the hardiness and chewiness!  Both the flavor and the texture were satisfying!  As I continued to munch on this bar of delight it continued to be sweet - super sweet - but in a good way!  Apple, Cinnamon, Seeds, and Grainy-goodness from the powders - all played a part!

Here is what's inside of it!

Organic Dates, Organic Dried Apples, Organic Sunflower Seed Kernels, Organic Cinnamon, Organic Hemp Protein, Organic Agave Nectar, Organic Sprouted Flax Seed Powder, Organic Wheat Grass Powder, Organic Spirulina Powder, Organic Spinach Powder, Organic Oat Grass Powder, Organic Kale Powder, Organic Broccoli Powder, Organic Barley Grass Powder, Organic Broken Cell Wall Chlorella Powder.
Nutrition Facts Serv. Size: 1 Bar 1.6 oz. (46g) Amount Per Serving: Calories 150. Fat Cal. 45. Total Fat 5g (8%DV), Sat. Fat 0.5g (3%DV), Trans Fat 0g, Cholest. 0mg (0%DV), Sodium 0 mg (0%DV), Total carb. 27g (9%DV), Fiber 6g (23%DV), Sugars 20g. Protein 3g, Vitamin A (6%DV), Vitamin C (8%DV), Calcium (4%DV), Iron (10%DV). Percent Daily Values (DV) are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

 Have you found any new-to-you products lately that have interested you!?  Share in comments! 

Midweek Munchies Collage & Green for Irish Week

For Midweek Munchies this week I figured I would just post a Collage of some of the items I purchased online!  I did a SMALL order over at VeganEssentials...and I needed more of my beloved Five Star Artichoke and Cashew Veggie Burgers!  I ended up picking up a few more items like the first 4 things in the collage!  BUT...the brunt of my 'buyings" were over at VitaCost.  I noticed over at CarrieOnVegan a $10 off for new customers.  It's a Refer a Friend type program.  I couldn't resist once I saw all of the things they had on there and at wonderful prices, too!  So I ended up getting my $10 off PLUS Free Shipping.

I then figured out...WHY NOT...sign up for the referral program, too!?  So I did!

If you want $10 off your first purchase click on the $10 Off Your VitaCost Purchase Banned on the right hand side of your screen at the top!  OR simply CLICK HERE.

A few of these are re-purchases for me but most of these products are new-to-me-purchases!  I'm excited!

I know I have posted VERY LITTLE thus far for Irish Foods Week and I do apologize about that!  Sure I did a Veggie Wrap earlier in the week but I will be doing more!  Probably tonight, actually!

I also did a wrap I didn't take a photo of!  It was a Guacamole with Sprouts Wrap...a Spinach Wrap...can't get more GREEN than that, eh!?

OH!!!!!!  By-the-way!  Nell is the winner of the Fearless Chocolate!  Congrats Nell!  I'll be contacting you for your snail mail addy, soon!

If you didn't win...you might next time...I have 4 more contests on tap!  Stay Tuned!

I've been rather obsessed with Lush Gourmet Foods' NUTS lately!  The flavor I would like to talk about today is their Cinnamon Spice!  It's a SWEETER Cinnamon and not a real spicy or hot cinnamon and I like that for this flavored nut!  Sure, I like HOT, but this is perfect and I wouldn't change a thing about it!  It's VERY GOOD...very tasty!  It's a sweet, subtle cinnamon spice and it lingers semi-sweet, too!  It has a slight aftertaste but the after taste is a pleasant one...not a funky one!  YAY!  It has a wonderful crunch without "cracking" your teeth!  It's  like a candied-nut with a sweet cinnamon flavor...it's REALLY wonderful!