Not easy and not easy to find the time, but soon, soon, promise...

Waverley Kitchens contacted me and offered to send me a sample of their new WK Pacs for me to taste test. The pacs contain spices for authentic Indian dishes and detailed cooking instructions that were very easy to follow. You have to shop for the rest of the ingredients yourself. They have vegan alternatives for all their WK Pac recipies. WK Pacs are packaged together as a meal and include a curry, sabji (dry vegetable dish), and raita (yogurt based dish).

I tried the Masala Paneer Curry, Green Beans Sabji, Mixed Vegetable Raita using their instructions for the vegan alternative - firm tofu in place of paneer cheese, soy instead of cow's milk, soy yogurt, etc..

It was very tasty, a bit spicy, and very authentic tasting.

If you like to cook and want to make some authentic Indian dishes, but the complex spices elude you, then these are the pacs for you.

They have a nice website, here's the page with all the different meals they offer. They even have videos on how to make the meals on their website as well as online ordering.

Take a look -- http://waverleykitchens.ning.com/page/meals-1

The folks at Sjaak's sent me an incredible assortment of their vegan chocolates this week, about 2-3 days ago. THANK YOU SO MUCH! Now while there were a great number of small bite-size pieces in one bag, and all their vegan chocolates bars in another... all of it is gone.

I ate them all!!!

These are good chocolates. They even have vegan caramel, which was really good. So were the peanut butter and the almond butter creams, as well as the really tasty acai bites (try these). They have beautiful vegan assortments in boxes, tubs, and pretty gift packages.

For vegans, can you believe it?

And we're talking real vegan chocolates. Organic, and fair trade too. Read the text at the top of Sjaak's vegan chocolates webpage: They even state that the sugar they use is non bone char. Do visit their website, you can purchase all of their amazing vegan chocolates online.

-- PURCHASE VEGAN CHOCOLATES at Sjaak's

I'm gonna buy some more...

http://baconsalt.com/ourstory.php

I did, and while only the Hickory flavor is vegan, (all the flavors are vegetarian, but there's some milk in the other 2) they are interesting.

I am not the best one to ask about this, though. Mostly because I do not think that "Everything Should Taste Like Bacon", as their slogan suggests. But if you do, give Bacon Salt™ a try.

Thanks for the taste, guys!

Unfortunately this is the only vegan offering from Kashi frozen meals so far, and be warned, some have meat in them...

http://www.kashi.com/products/kashi_entrees_black_bean_mango

Black Bean Mango is sweet and spicy and quite tasty, so I forgive them.

I just happened upon this news flash about the new, So Delicious Dairy Free Yogurt, online on the Turtle Mountain Website. I have not seen it in stores, even my really good health food store in Kalamazoo that rivals Whole Foods, but I gotta get me some.

Soy yogurt from the Turtle Mountain folks... I am so excited!!!

First a note from me... I read on the GreanPeace site that they "kinda" saved the whales. It seems the Japanese gov. decided to not allow the hunting of humpbacks so Mr. Splashy Pants (GreenPeace name this whale campaign) is safe for now. GreanPeace has a cool Google Maps "Great Whale Trail" mashup:

Amy S Quinn sent me a link to this article --
Top 50 Vegan and Vegetarian Restaurants in the World

I don't know if you are looking for veg/vegan love, but these folks want to help you... Green Friends

Rene River from Ohio is so excited about the cheesecake she found that she had to tell me about it, here's her email:

I don't know what state you are in but please let the vegans of Northeast Ohio know that there is some very delicious vegan cheesecake in Cleveland Ohio. Quantum Cakes, Cookies & More! has their vegan cheesecake at the Phoenix coffee shops and it is also at Johnny Mango World Cafe & Bar. OH yeah, the Mustard Seed Market Cafe in Montrose Ohio has it too! There are no caseins, totally vegan and mainly organic ingredients. Scrumptious!

Here's a vegan ecommerce website in Toronto that the owner, or "Chief Executive Activist", Adam Wilson, wanted me to tell you about a really long time ago and I am just getting around to it now, (sorry Adam) take a look:

downBOUND.com
down the corporate ladder
down the food chain
down to earth

A safe and healthy 2008 to all of you...

Today, Treehugger's name a whale newsletter item led me to GreenPeace and then to this really funny story of how GreenPeace activists tried to make their point when the Prime Minister of Japan came to the White House. Here are a couple of the pictures in the slideshow --

Here's a link to the rest of the slideshow >>

I was about to cry, and then I did cry from laughter when I saw this...
Save the Whales!

I found these Gardenburger BBQ Riblets at Village Market -- they make up for their lack of soy yogurt with their vegan frozen food selection.

These are incredibly tasty... a must try!

This is the only soy yogurt my local Village Market carries. I wish they had a few more brands.

They were all so good. Cookie Dough was evil good, the Coconut Craze was incredible and the So Very Strawberry was fresh and yummy.

Thanks so much, Gail.

She also sent a link to dollar off coupons for all Purely Decadent products:

Purely Decadent Coupons

Enjoy...

I received some Smart Strips Chick'n Strips in my package from Lightlife and was standing in front of the fridge wondering what to do with them. I was (and still am) going to make Chick'n pot pie, and had been planning on it, but I could not afford the time investment. So, getting a chill standing in front of the refrigerator I thought about soup.

Oh man, was that a good idea.

I sauted the strips in a little olive oil along with some onions, mushrooms, carrots, and whatever I have on hand at the time that sounds like it will be good in soup. When that's a little brown I pour in water and add soup mix. You can either use Dixie Dinner Chick'n soup mix or Korr vegetable broth cubes. Bring to a boil, and then simmer for at least 15 minutes.

That's it and it's great!

But Lightlife may be saving me from myself. First, I tried the Organic Tempeh - Flax, I made a nice stir-fry over plain rice and it was great, not to mention how healthy I felt because of the 1,000mg of Omega 3 in there, which is hard to get in a vegan diet. Even though this stuff is really good for you it is tasty and for me, very different. At this point I like different a lot. I find myself eating the same things over and over just because it's easy not to think about it when I get busy at work. But it is fun to think about food and makes it an art form instead of a drudgery.

Then I made some "bacon" lettuce and tomato sandwiches with the Organic Tempeh Fakin Bacon on some really good fresh bread for myself and a carnivore friend. Great stuff, I hardly got much to eat because my friend loved the sandwich(es) so much.

If you see it in the store, this stuff is a must try.

I usually make my own chili and it is all beans and vegetables, but this Smart Chili from Lightlife (that they sent me in my goodies cooler - see prev. post, thank you Lightlife!) was such a new kinda treat because Lightlife puts their own very good vegan "ground meat" in it. I haven't tasted "meat" in chili for some time, so it was really good.

This would be an excellent thing to take to the office and have for lunch, it takes 2.5 minutes in the microwave and it is great.

Here's a $1.00 off coupon for Lightlife products good till 5/31/2007.

CLICK HERE for a LIGHTLIFE $1.00 OFF Coupon

The link above will take you to the Lightlife site where a popup window will auto-open containing instructions on printing your coupon. They make you install a "coupon printer" (I did it, it's nothing - you can say yes with no worries), and then your coupon prints. The coupon expires 5/31/2007, for those of you who find this page years from now and want your $1.00 off Lightlife coupon, sorry.

Did I just happen upon these coupons? No, they happened upon me. I am a lucky vegan. AlmostVegan.com is a lot of work, you should see the spam comments I have to sort through to find the real ones (1000 to 2), and they are disgusting -- "Tall hairless blond..." -- you get the picture, I'm sure. But, there are certainly perks. Eat your hearts out, I get free vegan food.

Lightlife, already one of my very favorite vegan food companies, somehow found Almost Vegan and wanted me to get a chance to sample some of their products that I don't usually find at my local Wal-Mart. That's right Wal-Mart. You gotta hand it to a vegan food company that have gotten their products in that store. Talk about reaching the masses, no matter what you think of Wal-Mart.

I love Lightlife and I have for some time. Proof below:

Search Almost Vegan for Lightlife >>

That link above turns up 6 posts, 7 if you count this one.

Well, Lightlife (bless them) sent me a huge box (actually a refrigerated cooler!) of their vegan food products. YEEEEUM! Most all of them I have never seen before. I have tried a few already and they are incredible...I mean really, really good, and they also sent a couple old favorites -- Gimme Lean and Chick'n Strips. Out of my gratefulness to Lightlife I am going to do a series of posts on the products they sent me, thanks Lightlife.

Oh man. I am in vegan heaven...

And believe it or not, that's not all. Amy's noticed all the entries I had about their incredible vegan food products and sent me some coupons as a thank you. 5 of them are actually for totally free products, any kind I want, and some $0.55 and $1.00 off coupons too.

Thank you so much Amy's!

Some days it's great to be a vegan blogger.