Breakfast Sausage Style Links by Lightlife

When it comes to Lightlife brand of products sometimes I love them and sometimes I hate them. The Organic Smokey Tempeh Strips were on the hate them side but I have to say that I actually like the Lightlife’s breakfast sausage style links. Although my favorite vegan sausage of all time is the now discontinued Publix brand sausage this is a pretty good compromise. It has a great little bite to it and a wonderful mix of spices. It has been decades since I had pork or beef sausage but my instincts tell me that if you’re looking for either of those flavors to be duplicated you won’t find them here, but they are delicious on their own and a wonderful protein boost to your breakfast.

Although they are technically breakfast links the taste is closer to that of the type of sausage you would find on a pizza so that’s exactly how I like to use it. After trying it once as a side to some tofu scramble and sweet potato waffles I decided to use a little left over teese and make sausage mini pizzas. It was 1000 times better as a pizza topping than as a breakfast sausage. It’s also pretty pliable so you can just pinch off pieces of it add it to pizzas, make a breakfast burrito with a little tofu scramble or just eat it as is.

Organic Smokey Tempeh Strips by Lightlife

I have tried for years, 3 years to be exact, to like Lightlife’s Smokey Tempeh Strips but to no avail. I keep on buying them thinking that this time things will be different but they never are. In my mind I’m imagining a rich smokey thin slice of tempeh with a hint of sweetness but it never turns out that way. For some reason all I taste is the smoke, and a tart smoke at that. Someone out there obviously likes them since they keep on showing up in my grocer’s refrigerated section time and time again. As for me, I just can’t stomach them and I’m done wasting my money trying.

Note: If anyone has a good way to doctor these things up and make them halfway edible I’d love to try it since I still have about 9 strips left and don’t want to waste them.

Trader Joe’s Barley Soup with Vegetables

A while back while stocking my vegan pantry with non perishables I decide to throw in a can of Trader Joe’s Barley Soup with Vegetables. It was less than $2 a can and weighed in at over 28 ounces so I was clearly getting a deal. As an added plus there were no mystery ingredients on the label; just water, barley, vegetable and spices. Now that we are reaching record low temperatures here in Georgia I thought it would be a perfect time to breakout the soup from the back of my pantry.

No need to add water, just heat and serve. Simple enough. This soup had so many things going right for it that I didn’t anticipate the one thing that could go wrong – way too much salt. So much salt that I could freeze it and turn it into a salt lick for my goats. I tried to dilute it with ¼ cup of water and add some freshly ground pepper. When that didn’t work I added a couple more tablespoons of water. Then I just gave up and began to eat it. I tried to keep happy thoughts in my head and remember all the things that drew me to this soup: wholesome ingredients, low in calories, great price and high in fiber. But eventually, after managing to eat half a bowl I just couldn’t go on any further and immediately went upstairs to rinse the salt out of my mouth before it crystallized and I had a deep sea adventure on my tongue.

If you are used to eating a diet high in salt then the taste probably won’t bother you. But mind you, 1 servings (which is 1 cup) of this soup has almost 40% worth of your daily salt intake and that’s if you eat a 2000 calories diet. For someone like me it’s nearly 50% of my daily salt intake per serving. Had I paid attention to that little nugget of information on the label I would have most likely steered clear from the beginning.

Gingerbread Donut Holes

When December roles around I always get a craving for all things gingerbread. Gingerbread cookies, gingerbread cake and now gingerbread donut holes. The makers of these delectable treats, Nutrilicious Natural Bakery, have a line of donuts and donut holes that never disappoint. Although there standard flavors of yogurt glazed, cinnamon spelt and chocolate/carob are all amazing it’s their seasonal flavors that make me do a little happy dance.

For the thanksgiving holiday it was pumpkin, which tasted like little bites of sugary heaven. For the Christmas season they have unveiled their gingerbread flavor. After winning a box of these treats in the trivia round at Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppes 2nd Annual Bake-Off I couldn’t wait to get home and try them. I warmed them in the microwave for about 10 seconds to soften them up a bit and then took my first bite. Celestial! So sweet, so rich, so perfect. Most of the gingerbread taste is in the icing so, if you’re like me and like them a little warm, make sure you heat them until they are just soft but the icing doesn’t begin to melt (about 7-10 seconds).

To find a retailer in your area that carries these mouth-watering treats head to the Nutrilcious website http://www.nutrilicious.com/retail_outlets.htm or order online at Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe.

Vegan White Chocolate Chips By Oppenheimer

Oh how I love love love white chocolate! However, for the last 3 years I have been without this luscious treat. White chocolate is just one of those treats that I had to part with forever when going vegan, I accepted it and moved on. But it looks like I moved on too soon and thanks to Oppenheimer white chocolate has come back into my life.

The taste, the texture, the sweetness, the creaminess it is all there. Oppenheimer’s vegan white chocolate chips taste even better than I remember white chocolate to be. At first I was afraid to try the chips alone so I whipped up some white chocolate macadamia nuts cookies (pictured below). Heaven! Pure bliss! I was on cloud nine. I decided to try a couple chips alone and well, by now you can guess my reaction. This is the best $3.99 I have spent this month thus far. I’m not a huge sweets person but I will be keeping a bag of these delicious vegan treats on hand as a permanent part of my vegan pantry.

To get your own bag head over to Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe