MidWeek Munchies is BACK (LINK UP)

Well HELLO everyone!  It's Wednesday!  And I'm bringing back MidWeek Munchies!  It's just another way to keep all of us blogging and networking and spreading the vegan word!

How it works is...

blog about your VEGAN shopping experiences and LINK UP!

Visit other participants and link back to this blog post to help spread the word!

We will be posting this each Wednesday and it will remain open until the following Tuesday.  The next day we will start another one!

Special THANKS to the "Off Season" Community Welcome Wagon and Co-Hosts:

Mary Ellen @ V Nutrition

Kyra @ Vie De La Vegan

Vegan Power/Vegan Peace @ My Cat Loves Daiya

Deborah @ Urban Naturale

Jennifer @ MyBlissfulJourney

Here's MY post for TODAY for MidWeek Munchies!

First up...Laughing Giraffe is jumping on the Pumpkin Spice Band Wagon and I'm ok with that.  All of the items you see today I'm waiting on in the mail from The Raw Food World.  Don't these Pumpkin Spice Snackaroons look AWESOME?

Divine Organics Coconut Blossom Sugar sounded interesting and I can't wait to try it!

I went a little crazy or should I say NUTTY and bought a slew of Living Nutz NEW flavors!  I can't wait to try them!  One of the new flavors is their Old World Italian Herb Almonds!

Then...check out these bad boys!  Apple Krisp Karma Walnuts AND pecans?  Are you serious!?  Gosh!  Can't wait to gnaw on these!

Let's NOT forget about the Zesty Almonds!  I bet their GREAT on just about anything but I will probably just eat them as a snack while at work and/or traveling!

And I couldn't pass these up!  Galactic Garlic Onion Pistachios?  I'm GAME!

Tell us about your Vegan Grocery Haul this week!

LINK UP BELOW!!!!

Smooth Chocolate Organic Plant Protein - First Impression

This is a blog post about Garden of Life's new Organic Plant Protein - specifically - their Smooth Chocolate Flavor.  This is also a FIRST IMPRESSION post - therefore - I tried this as a single serving - straight up with Almond Milk - nothing more and nothing less.  My first encounter was last week when I mixed the dry powder in with the Almond Milk and used a Blender Bottle to shake it well.

I will completely agree that this new Organic Plant Protein (OPP) is VERY smooth.  It's NOT grainy like some other powders.  The Smooth Chocolate Flavor was tasty but I will say the aroma is what got me hooked up front!

Overall I really did enjoy sipping on this smooth chocolate flavor!  There was an undertone of 'green-ness' to it...similar to that of a pea or spinach.  I can't wait to start playing with this brand new line from Garden of Life!

Grain Free

We source clean, pure ingredients from organic family farms to bring you the best nutritional products in the world.

• 15g of complete protein
• Smooth, with no gritty texture
• Tasty and flavorful
• Includes essential fatty acids, probiotics and enzymes
• Gluten Free, with no allergenic ingredients like soy, wheat and dairy.

Super SMOOTH and delicious, our family friendly Grain Free Organic Plant Protein is packed with energy-giving protein and wholesome fiber.

Directions

Mix 1 level scoop in 8 ounces of water (scoop included). Delicious with unsweetened almond or rice milk.

Warning

Store in a cool, dry place. Do not use if seal is damaged or missing.

Does Not Contain:

Contains No dairy, soy, tree nuts, added sugars, filler ingredients, artificial flavorings, colors, sweeteners or preservatives. Grain Free

Where Did This Week Go & Happy Mail

This week has been CRAZY with work and that's the main reason I haven't blogged!  I won't get into all of the busy-body-ness that I have been involved in this week...instead I will look forward and share with you some Happy Mail I received this week!

Starting things off is the shipment I received from Adagio Tea at the beginning of the week.  I decided to cash in a bunch of my credits on Cyber Monday and with their free shipping incentive that day I received all of this at no cost.  Since I have already tried almost all of their cataloged teas I only ordered a few of the black teas and black tea flavors and then they sent me a few samples such as the mango which I have already tried, too.

What I am really interested in from Adagio is the tea blending feature they have on their website.  I've created over 20 blends the past several years.  I finally ordered a few of them including the Love Spell one I blended which was inspired by Victoria Secret's Body Wash.  I know that might sound weird but it's true.  I think the tea aroma smells just like the body wash!  It's a pretty good floral flavored green with a bit of fruit and other natural sweetness in there.  I also grabbed the Mulled Cranberry Apple Cider which was a neat mix of flavors as well.  A 3rd Blend of mine I finally purchased was the one I named Dragon's Palm Tree.  It's mostly a white base tea with a hint of strawberry.  Since I am a Sci Fi Freak I decided to get a few other blends from other tea blenders including two from their FANDOMS.  One was the Dr. Daniel Jackson Blend from the Stargate Series and the other is the Darryl Dixon Blend from The Walking Dead Series.

One thing I forgot to take a photo of was a reusable bag I received from NBC Universal.  You can see it in the background of this photo from their site.  It's pretty awesome.  I received this because I participated in their website One Small Act.

In this 2nd photo - as well as the next 3 photos - you will see the last shipment I received from The Raw Food World.  I decided to stock up on raw snacks for work. 

I got 4 different flavors of Kale Chips from Love Force.  The American, Indian, Mexican, and Italian flavors. 

You will see one of two Nutritional Yeasts, a POUND of Raw Organic Mesquite Powder, and  Mung Bean Pasta.  Oh!  Yeah!  There is a small loaf of Apricot Bread in there, too!  I can't wait to try that!

Pardon the pun...but I went a little NUTS with the Cashews!  Yes...I got 6 pounds of Raw Cashews!  They were having a crazy awesome sale on them!  I couldn't resist!  I also bought some Organic Walnuts.  You will see that I scored some Cashew Cacao Hemp Nut Butter, too! 

I took advantage of their At-Cost Pricing on the Hurraw Vegan Lip Balm and grabbed a mint that was at regular price, too!

I've totally been getting into Bamboo more lately and I LOVE wooden spoons so I decided to grab a 2nd set of the Bamboo Kitchen Tools you will see in the netting.  I also decided to get another set of the Bamboo "silver" ware...a spoon, knife, and folk.  I LOVE these.  And I finally broke down and bought the "Edward" Salad Hands.  I just LOVED the name and never had anything for large salads or tossing so I figured WHY NOT?

More snacks for the office!  GO RAW Flax Snacks - spicy and pizza flavors as well as two cookie flavors - Chocolate and Ginger Snaps!

And let's not forget about the books!  This time around I picked up a Vice Cream Book and the Simply Dehydrated Book which I have been wanting for the last several months!

I have been wanting one of Cherie Soria's books for a while now and I decided to get Angel Foods.  I've been a fan of T. Colin Campbell and added The China Study Cookbook that his daughter Leanne Campbell wrote.

I have been wanting to get into and educate myself more on Micro Greens so I bought one of the many Micro Greens books that the Raw Food World has for sale on their website.  Another book I threw in was Go Further by Actor Woody Harrelson and Friends.  It's a book about 'being greener'.  The photos aren't that wonderful but I think it will be a good read and a good book to refer back on from time to time.

One of my goals for the new week SHOULD BE to dive into some of these books, eh!?  What do you think!?  Anything you have and LOVE or anything you see that you might like in my recent Happy Mail photos?