Show & Tell Sunday: Earnest Eats Hot & Fit Cereal

Hey everyone! I'm back for a Show & Tell Sunday post. Today I have a review on a product that I bought a while back called Earnest Eats Hot & Fit Cereal. The cute little individual serving cups caught my eye in Whole Foods so I stopped to check them out. I don't even typically go down the cereal aisle since I rarely eat cereal but I'm glad I passed by! They had the individual serving cups which are fantastic for a meal on the go. And I love that they actually have a lid on them rather than just a peel back top for easy transport. They come in three different flavors: American Blend (cranberry and almond), Mayan Blend (cocoa, pepita and cashew) and Asian Blend (mango and green tea). I purchased one each of the American Blend and the Mayan Blend. Today's review is of the Mayan Blend flavor.

This is the sturdy lid I was talking about. It boasts a vegan label along with the nutritious grain blend that makes up the cereal. It's hard to pass up a hot cereal that has ingredients like these!

Here is the front of the container. It's a really cute container and I'm sure you can see why it caught my eye.

It works like an instant oatmeal. You fill the container with boiling water up to the fill line on the outside of the container (my only complaint: I wish the fill line was inside so it is easier to line up), stir and wait until it thickens up. If you are like me you'll use almond milk instead of water for a delicious, rich flavor ;) It almost tasted like hot cocoa with grains in it!

Here is my final bowl! I topped mine with banana and shredded coconut because why not? The cereal took a few minutes to thicken but ended up being really creamy and warming. The chocolate flavor is so rich and there is a really nice nutty flavor from the grains, the seeds and the cashews. It's such a nice alternative to plain oatmeal. This is a very hearty meal (especially with the toppings) and would be perfect for a cozy breakfast on a brisk morning.

Here is a closer look. Sorry my pictures are so terrible, I took them with my phone and this new tablecloth is driving me crazy. Anyway, I really enjoyed this meal and this product and I'm looking forward to trying the American Blend. I definitely recommend trying this cereal if you enjoy hot cereal and are interested in branching out.

Earnest Eats has other products as well that I have tried including energy bars and granola bars/planks. I used to enjoy bringing them with me when I worked weddings because they were really delicious and packed a nutritional punch in a compact serving. They are perfect snacks to bring with you on the go.

As with all of my reviews, the opinions in this post are my own and solely based on how I felt about the product. I purchased the products myself and I have never had contact with the company. 

So there you have it! Tomorrow I'll be celebrating the first night of Passover so I'll have to hold off on trying the other blend until the week after. I hope you have all had a good week and are enjoying the beautiful weekend. I'll see you tomorrow with some Instagram pictures!

Show & Tell Sunday: Go Brooklyn Munchies! Review

Hey everyone! Hope you are all having a great weekend. I'm so glad you seemed to enjoy my first Nerd Alert! post. I am so excited about starting that series, it has definitely given me something to look forward to in the spring. Today's Show & Tell post is another review, this time for Go Brooklyn Munchies! I was so excited to try this product and got a little carried away taking pics. It should make up for the lack of pictures in yesterday's post.

So as you may recall, I purchased the lemon flavor from Whole Foods in my last shopping trip. I had actually put off trying them for about a week but then I was in the mood for something fun and new but also healthy so I tore into the bag.

Look how cute these little flavor packed nuggets are. Especially in my adorable little panda bowl gifted to me by my dear friend Laura. I seriously couldn't wait to dig in.

Before I tell you how it tastes let me just fill you in on the amazing stats for this product. They are gluten free and certified organic. Seven pieces contain only 146 calories and boasts 4 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber. Not too bad! The real question is how do they taste?

(I was playing with focusing on these two pics... cheap photography trick, ha!)

Well, these things taste AMAZING!! The oat flavor comes through pretty prominently and I love oats so that is ok with me! It is not overly sweet and has a nice lemony tang to it. They have a great texture to them as well. They are crispy but not quite like biscotti. They have a bit of chew and give to them (as opposed to be totally crunchy). I guess my only wish is that the lemon flavor would come from lemon juice and lemon zest instead of lemon oil. I find that provides a fresher taste but even so, the flavor in these little bites is fantastic. I highly recommend them and I'm looking forward to trying their almond cookie flavor as well!

Here is the ingredient list and nutrition information in case you are curious. You can go to the website for info on all of their products as well.

So there you have it! There is no disclosure for this review since I paid for the product and have never been in contact with the company. I love finding new products and reviewing them for all of you and I can't wait to do it again next week!

Hope you are all doing well and hopefully this next round of snow won't be too bad. As of right now I have no Instagram pics this week (I know, I know... so lazy!) but maybe I'll be inspired by the snow tomorrow.

Show & Tell Sunday: Nature Box Review

It seems as though monthly subscriptions boxes are the newest trend. They have them in just about everything including fashion, beauty, beer, food, etc. Vegan Cuts even introduced two options for strictly vegan monthly subscription boxes: the beauty box and the snack box. I had subscribed to these before and enjoyed them but ended up having a growing pile of products and snacks that I either would not end up using or were not my taste foodwise. I loved that everything was guaranteed to be vegan, especially in the beauty box but in the end I decided to cancel after a few months.

Fast forward a few months to me sitting at work listening to one of my favorite podcasts. They have advertisers and at this particular time they decided to do a live read for their new advertiser. They began to speak about a new subscription service that boasts healthy snacks straight to your doorstep. They then proceed to joke and make fun of everything in their normal fashion... even stating that the people that would eat this stuff are douchebags anyway (you would have to hear it in context of the ad). I laughed so hard tears streamed down my face and after an eventual glowing recommendation of the products I couldn't wait to check out the Nature Box website.

First of all, let me start off by saying that this company is clearly awesome because not only did they take the commercial in stride, they freely referred to it in their twitter hashtags with the podcast fans. I LOVE that they don't take themselves so seriously and were able to laugh at comedians joking around at their expense. I tweeted them when I first received my box with the hashtag #notjustfordouchebags and they got a kick out of it.

So after checking out the website and utilizing the generous discount code offered on the podcast, I decided that I would sign up. They have different options but for just $19.95 a month they will send you 5 full sized bags of healthy snacks (you can opt for more snacks if you have a larger family). With the discount code my first month was just $9.95

The first thing that I loved about this box was that you have the option for the company to surprise you by sending snacks of their choice or to select your own snacks:

As you can see in this screen shot, they let you narrow your search to best fit your dietary needs, making it easy to choose your vegan snacks. It's this attention to details that set companies apart in my opinion. After selecting my 5 snacks (make sure you do it when you sign up since you have limited time to select) all I had to do was wait for delivery.

My cute Nature Box!

Here it is all snuggled in it's box. You'll notice that there are 6 snacks instead of 5! They surprised me with an extra bag and hooray, it was one of the vegan snacks!

My snack choices: Cranberry Macaroon Granola, Harvest Nut Mix (my surprise snack!), Everything Bagel Stix...

... dried Fuji Apples, Sunshine Chips (Veggie Chips), Praline Pumpkin Seeds (!!!).

I have not tried all of the snacks... mainly because I know what dried apples taste like and the Sunshine Chips are sold in stores under another name and I've had them before. But I did try a few of them.

The Praline Pumpkin Seeds! This was the snack I was most excited to try and HOLY CRAP!! They are incredible. Sweet and nutty with some spice, they are absolute perfection. I could kick myself for not getting an extra bag because they don't seem to be on the list of snack options this month. I'll be eating these sparingly because I want them to last! Yum!

This is the Everything Bagel Stix. I heard rave reviews of this snack and it was vegan so I had to give it a try. This snack is crunchy and savory with all of the best flavors of an Everything Bagel. It is a great snack and I imagine it will taste even better dipped in some hummus.

This is the Cranberry Macaroon Granola. Again, this stuff is incredible. I heard rave reviews of other (non-vegan) granolas so I decided I really wanted a granola in my box. There are several vegan options and I decided to go for this one first. It is so good guys! It is not overly sweet and it has some tartness with the cranberries... definitely a great choice.

As I mentioned before, the thing that drew me in was the claim of healthy snacks.  

As seen in these two screen shots from the Nature Box website, they boast wholesome snacks that have no yucky ingredients and certain snacks are minimally processed (including 4 of my 6 snacks).

Something else that is cool about this company is that they provide food for Americans that are currently going hungry. Very cool of them to do (this picture was also a screen shot from the website).

As you can see, I'm very happy with this subscription thus far. I would definitely recommend it to anyone that is interested in trying new snacks without having to worry without yucky ingredients. This review is coming 100% from me as a consumer, I've had zero contact with the company about reviews or anything other than me tweeting them in my excitement upon its arrival. I purchased this box on my own (at a discount thanks to the promo code from the podcast, yay!) so the review has not been influenced by the company.

So there you have it! Sorry I missed my first Nerd Alert post... I finally came up with an idea for it yesterday but the nature of those posts means it will take a lot more time to write them as research will be involved. I do have a post that I think will be interesting lined up for next week though!

I hope you all enjoyed this review! I'll be back with Instagram pics tomorrow :) Have a great Sunday!

A Review, A Recipe and a Giveaway!

A few weeks ago I was contacted by the amazing people at Alter Eco to try some more of their products as well as some California Olive Ranch Olive Oil. If you recall, I was fortunate enough to review a lot of their products about a year and a half ago and I've been hooked ever since! I'm a little obsessed with their Quinoa Chocolate Bar too ;) Think of a crunch bar with beautiful, high quality chocolate and nutritious crunchy quinoa. It's SO GOOD.

Anyway, back to the task at hand. To refresh your memory, Alter Eco is a San Francisco based company that focuses on working with farmers to bring consumers high quality, sustainable and fair trade foods. The products include varieties of rice, quinoa, chocolate, and sugar. They work with small farmers to bring us fair trade and organic food and to help the farmers improve the quality of the food and their lives. Alter Eco works to provide a mutually beneficial relationship for everyone involved.

The products I am reviewing today are the Organic Royal Rainbow Quinoa and the California Olive Ranch Olive Oil. The quinoa is a blend of red, black and white quinoa and is as beautiful as it is nutritious. These little seeds (yes it is a seed and not a grain!) pack a protein punch with 6 grams of complete protein per quarter cup serving and is a versatile ingredient that can be enjoyed in sweet and savory recipes alike.

The California Olive Ranch Olive Oil comes in a beautiful green glass bottle that helps keep the oil fresh longer. According to their website, the olive oil has a "Floral aroma. Smooth flavor with hints of green apple."It really does have a beautiful floral scent and is very smooth and again, very versatile. It is cold pressed from organically grown California olives and packaged within hours of pressing, thus preserving freshness and flavor. It is smooth, light and affordable, a winning combination in my book.

When I was asked to create a recipe using these products my mind raced with a lot of different ideas. Most of them were complicated and didn't test well which made me think... why would I complicate such beautiful, simple ingredients? I decided to stick with what I know and love and really just highlight the flavor of the star ingredients. I created a fresh, light salad to take a break from the heavy, warm foods that dominate a winter diet in the Northeast.

Check out my beautiful, fresh, Mediterranean inspired Quinoa With Fresh Veggie Salad. It is simply dressed with the California Olive Ranch Olive Oil, a squeeze of lemon juice and some spices. It is beautiful, fresh and light.

Quinoa with Fresh Vegetable Salad

Ingredients:

1/2 cup cooked Alter Eco Organic Royal Rainbow Quinoa

1/2 large English Cucumber, cut into half moons

1 large tomato of choice, diced (I used a vine tomato, I'm sure an heirloom tomato would be delicious as would a generous portion of cherry tomatoes)

1/2 large carrot, cut into half moons

1-2 tbsp California Olive Ranch Olive Oil

Juice of 1/4 lemon

pinch salt and pepper

small pinch of cumin

Directions:

1. Combine cooked quinoa with chopped vegetables. Mix thoroughly.

2. Drizzle olive oil over mixture, followed by lemon juice and spices. Mix thoroughly and enjoy!

*I served my salad with some stuffed grape leaves. Other delicious toppings could be falafel, hummus, eggplant spread, or chickpeas. Be creative!

I know the recipe is really simple but I felt that this was the best way to highlight the beautiful ingredients I received. 

I definitely recommend Alter Eco and California Olive Ranch products with full confidence. Everything I've tried has been incredible and the work that they are doing for farmers and consumers alike. They have even been generous enough to give one of my readers an amazing prize pack of 4 bags of quinoa, some olive oil and their AMAZING Dark Quinoa Chocolate. All you have to do to enter this giveaway is comment on this post with your favorite quinoa dish by 9:00 pm (Eastern Time) Sunday, February 9, 2014.

Thanks again to Alter Eco and California Olive Ranch for sending me these amazing products to review and for asking me to create a recipe. I definitely recommend you check out their products and the companies. The work they do is truly inspiring.