Follow Your Heart Slices - Mozzarella

Some years back, during my early days as a vegan, Follow Your Heart came out with a legendary new vegan cheese. This cheese was legendary for its time only in that it actually "melted". Ah, vegan cheeses have certainly come a long way since then. With so many better options available, I haven't touched Follow Your Heart in many years, but lately I've heard that their new cheeses, such as the slices, are much better than their original product. Today, I will see for myself if this is true!

Tempt Hemp Tofu - Chorizo

What on earth is hemp tofu? Is it regular tofu that just has hemp in it, or is simply made purely from hemp? In this case, it is the later - I had no idea that such a thing was even possible. I only just recently discovered Burmese chickpea-based tofu, and now there's hemp tofu too?! I'm honestly very curious to see what it's like!

Grocery Haul - Safeway

I don't often go to Safeway, as every time I go there I look at everything and just complain about how over-priced it is. I feel much the same about New Seasons honestly, it just seems like their sale prices are the normal prices that I can find elsewhere, like Winco or Fred Meyer.

So what got me to go to Safeway on this day? I heard a rumor that they had the new non-dairy varieties of Ben & Jerry's ice creams. And sure enough they did! But as you can see, I ended up picking up a few other things as well.

Trader Joe's Scandinavian Swimmers

Scandinavian Swimmers? What exactly makes them "Scandinavian"? I can only guess that this is Trader Joe's way of letting you know that it's their take on those red Swedish Fish candies. Swedish Fish have a reputation for being vegan, but how does this version from Trader Joe's compare? Keep on reading to find out!

Miyoko's Creamery - Double Cream Sundried Tomato Garlic

Fancy vegan cheeses are all the rage these days! No longer are vegans relegated to eating gritty, gummy garbage or no cheese at all. Several months ago, I went to the Portland VegFest, where I got to sample a huge variety of vegan goodies, including many of the Miyoko's Creamery cheeses. These vegan cheeses comes in a handful of different flavors, but today I am just reviewing the Double Cream Sundried Tomato Garlic flavor. Keep reading to see my take on it!

Grocery Haul: Grocery Outlet

I've said it before, but I'll say it again, I love shopping at Grocery Outlet! It can be hit-and-miss, but it's fun when stumble across interesting vegan "treasures" for cheap. Everything you see here only set me back about $30. I do feel like I paid a little too much for the potatoes, but I needed potatoes and didn't feel like making another stop.

I'm usually hesitant to review Grocery Outlet finds, as it's likely stuff has found it's way there since it's been discontinued, but if you want to see anything here reviewed, let me know in the comments!

Tofurky Gourmet Sausages

Tofurky makes a fun variety of plant-based meats, including two lines of sausages: 'Artisan' and their original 'Gourmet'. Their original line includes three flavors: Italian, beer brats, and kielbasa. I've actually been eating these sausages for years now, but today I will be reviewing them for your reading pleasure! Read on to see my take of them...

Grocery Haul: Trader Joe's

Another fun trip to Trader Joe's! On this trip I picked up some stuff to make pizza, and some other staples I was needing. From this trip, I'm hoping to review the mini churros, brownie crisp, Tofurky sausage, thai sweet chili burgers, and the scandinavian swimmers.

Please let me know in the comments if there's anything in particular you want me to review ASAP!

Nature's Path Flax Plus Granola - Vanilla Almond

Crunchy and sweet, granola's such a treat! Today I'm looking at a Nature's Path Flax Plus granola in the vanilla almond flavor variety.

Sol Cuisine Veggie Breakfast Patties

I love a good breakfast sausage! Today I'm looking at an offering from a Canadian based company, Sol Cuisine. This is the first time I've ever had anything from this brand, so I'm curious to see what it's like. Read on to see my take on it!

Nana's Peanut Butter Cookie

Cookies! What's not to love about a big ol' peanut butter cookie? How about a cookie trying to pass itself off as a "healthy" option since it's made with fruit juice? I suppose there could be worse things to put in a cookie, but read on to see my take on this one.

Amy's Tamale Verde

Tamales are freakin' delicious, but finding vegan varieties can be challenging as they are traditionally made with chicken stock and often filled with meats and cheeses. Amy's Kitchen comes to the rescue once again filling this vegan void, but is it any good? Let's find out!

Snapps Green Bean Fries (Dollar Tree)

Ah yes, another of the interesting vegan finds from Dollar Tree. Like just about everything else I have acquired from there, I went into this having no idea what to expect. Green Bean Fries? Let's see how this goes....

Trader Joe's Pumpin O's

Here we have a review that I had intended to finish up and post before my holiday hiatus, but I never quite got around to it. Now I've been debating on whether or not to post it, since it's a seasonal item that you currently cannot buy, except maybe at a ridiculous price through third parties on sites like Amazon or eBay. Anyhoo, on to the review!

Bui Vegetarian Salad Roll

Here we go with my first review of the new year! Huzzah! And it's another grab & go item that's likely only found in the Portland, OR area - sorry! My local Whole Foods and New Seasons have such a yummy array of grab & go vegan goodies, it's often hard to pass up getting something if I'm shopping and it's meal time. Today's lunchtime treat is brought to you by Bui Tofu, a Vietnamese tofu shop located on the east side of Portland. How does it fare? Read on to find out!

Food Haul - New Seasons

So today I attempted yet again to find the Miyoko's Creamery cultured butter, this time at New Seasons. Still no luck, but I did find other goodies!

Not the butter, but I did pick up some cheese from Miyoko's Creamery! I also picked up some of the Follow Your Heart slices, I haven't any cheese from this brand in the longest time, probably because it's not that great, but I've heard good things about the slices.

I'm really curious to try the hemp tofu, that's definitely something I've never seen before! I love Amy's chili and it was on sale! And of course, some other interesting snacks I do intend on reviewing!

Hopefully I'll have some reviews ready for posting very soon, see ya!

Update & Double Grocery Haul

I am back! Many apologies for the unannounced hiatus, I did actually intend on mentioning that I was planning a hiatus around the holidays, but before I knew it I was swept up by the insanity that is the holiday season. I hope that everyone had a lovely holiday season, whatever you may celebrate! :)

There was also an incident involving my freezer, ruining many of the frozen goodies I had intended to review. I do have several backlogged partially written reviews that I will get around to finishing & posting shortly. Now on to some new stuff!

First grocery haul for this post: Grocery Outlet!

I was mostly going there to look for bar soap, I can often find huge bars for only $2 or so, which is awesome since finding cheap vegan bar soap can be so challenging. Sadly, their options for vegan bar soap was pretty paltry that day, I only found a small, 4.5 oz bar for $2. For other body care items there, I picked up some hand soap and conditioner.

I found some interesting snacks there, including naan chips, and bean based puffs & chips. There was also some Mexican TVP, which they had amongst Mexican spices. I also picked up some tea and a huge bag of flaxmeal - sure, I could probably buy whole flax in bulk for cheaper and grind it myself, but lazy, ya know? I also picked up a box of cereal and some almonds that I forgot to get in this pic, oops.

Next, I went to Whole Foods!

I primarily went to Whole Foods trying to find Miyoko's Creamery brand spankin' new cultured butter, but they did not have it! In fact, my local Whole Foods does not seem to carry any of the Miyoko's Creamery products - how dreadful! I should probably try my local New Seasons since they at least carry some of the cheeses. However, as you can see, I did find plenty of other goodies at Whole Foods!

For frozen goods, I found many interesting things, like single serve pizzas, a savory strudel, sausage patties, and Daiya cheesecake (they were on sale! Still kinda pricey and my limited freezer space means I only got one flavor). I also found a vegan Evol burrito that apparently includes a separate packet of guac, I have to admit I'm a bit wary about trying this.

In the cold case I found Tofurky sausages on sale for 50% off!! I'm tempted to go back for more and cram my freezer with more, the beer brat flavor is especially awesome. They also had Daiya shreds on sale, so I picked up a bag, I've heard rumors of a new recipe for these so I'm curious if these are the new ones. I also had to pick up a jar of Vegenaise since I'm almost out - sorry, I do love it so much better than Just Mayo!

For pantry goodies, I picked up some Not Chick'n bullion cubes, I love this stuff and it was on sale! I got some Koyo ramen in various flavors. Then there's the cereal - including some veganic stuff! I don't know that I've had any veganic food before. I picked up some on sale mac & cheeze too - Road's End and Daiya (speaking of which, I should update my Daiya mac & cheese post to reflect that I have tried the other two flavors, and in my opinion, the cheddar one is the only one worth buying again). Oh, and I grabbed a pb & pretzel flavored Clif Mojo bar (love those things!) and some tea.

For body care I discovered Whole Food's verve brand soap - it looks like a good, economical option! And some toothpaste. I would kill for a good, economical vegan toothpaste.

Hopefully I'll have some new reviews up soon, stay tuned!