Saturday, May 5, 2012

Its official, we have moved!

Please visit us at www.vegetarianmamma.com


Lots of fun and exciting posts are going up!  See you there!

Friday, May 4, 2012

Favorite Recipes Finds - Week of 4/30/12


Each week I see so many awesome recipes that I add to my "try list." So I thought it might be fun to start sharing those that I find so you can try them too! Let me know what fun recipes you find that you are adding to your "try list." :) You can click on the blog name to see the recipes.


Over at Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom, I found a recipe for GF Vegan French Onion Dip.  YUM, this will be perfect for some late night snacking and sporting games :) 


Over at Pumped Pumpkin, I found a recipe for homemade Dairy Free ice cream.  YUMO! I can't want to order the attachment for my kitchen aid!


Over at Yummy Mummy, I found a great looking recipe for California Caprese Sandwiches!  This screams summer!  




Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Cornbread Muffins


I am a pretty big fan of these muffins!  They are easy to make and taste wonderful!  I did try freezing them, but I felt that they dried out quite a bit.  So I would recommend making them fresh each time!  I found the recipe, here.

1/4 cup canola
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour (I use gluten free Better Batter)
2 T sugar
1 T plus 1 t baking powder (I use GF baking powder)
3/4 t sea salt
2 T white vinegar
1 1/4 cup of milk (we use oat milk)

Preheat oven to 425.  Oil your muffin tins.  Mix dry ingredients.  Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients.  Mix until it is not lumpy.  Pour into sprayed muffin tins or liners and bake for about 20 minutes. 

Monday, April 30, 2012

April Foodie Penpals Reveal! #foodiepenpals


The Lean Green Bean

This was my second month participating in the Foodie Penpals exchange and I am so excited with my box!


For my package this month, I asked for local products!  Andrea, my awesome foodie penpal sent me two YUMMY local chocolates.  I was excited because of the CD, those are my maiden initials!  I also got some yummy dipping oil and seasonings as well as some pumpkin butter.  I LOVE pumpkin!  Thanks, Andrea!!


I sent my package this month to Tayla.  Check out what I sent her by visiting she'll be free!

And now it's time for some details about Foodie Penpals.  In case you’re a new reader, here’s a reminder of what the program is all about:
-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal! 
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month. 
-Foodie Penplas is open to US & Canadian residents.  Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We've determined things might get too slow and backed up if we're trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa. So, I'm going to keep two separate lists and match US w/ US and Canada w/ Canada!
If you’re interested in participating for April, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions. 
You must submit your information by May 4th as pairings will be emailed on May 5th!

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Are you ready for some change? A .com maybe?

Just wanted to let you  know that we will be doing some construction on our site in the next couple of days! Specifically Monday and Tuesday of this week.  So if the site looks a bit different, be patient we are working hard to make it better for you!  We are moving to www.vegetarianmamma.com  When you visit the blogspot site it will automatically direct you to our new site.

Here is a sneak peak at our new logo!


More to come, thanks for being understanding and patient during our transition!  Continue to follow us on facebook and twitter! :)

Review: Allergen Free Ener-G Products



Ener-G Products

I have seen a few of these products in Whole Foods before but had never tried them. I reached out to Ener-G to try a few of their products and they happily sent some for my review!  The items were at no cost to me, the opinions are mine.


Let me tell you a little about the company!  From their site: "Our mission at Ener-G Foods, as one of the country's foremost producers of foods for diet-restrictive individuals, is to provide a wide range of ready-made foods and mixes that are wholesome, nutritious, risk-free and great tasting. We are constantly responding to the demand for special diets with research, innovative products, and convenience foods."
This company has been  making good food for restrictive diets since 1962! I am amazed at their dedication and selection of food items.  One of the best features of their website is the 'search by allergen'.  This section is amazing.  I was able to search for gluten free, peanut free, tree nut free, dairy free and soy free all in one search.  How wonderful is that, that you don't have to read though each thing individually?  I still read each ingredient list, but that narrowed my search time tremendously. Their website is very easy to use! I just bought several items and because I spent $50 I was able to get free ground shipping.  Also, this month I saw that if you spend $40 you get a free pack of sunflower cookies!

On to my review...


We loved the Chocolate Chip Snack Bars!  In fact, I just ordered us a case this week :)  Here are their ingredients: Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Crisp Rice Cereal (rice flour, rice bran, honey, calcium carbonate), Corn Starch, Ener-G Chocolate Chips (evaporated cane juice, unsweetened chocolate, tapioca syrup), Organic Tapioca Syrup, Plum Puree (prune juice concentrate, dried plums), Organic Palm Fruit Oil, Filtered Water, Ener-G Egg Replacer (tapioca flour, potato starch, leavening [calcium lactate, calcium carbonate, glucono delta lactone], cellulose gum), Vanilla Powder (vanilla bean extractive & dextrose from corn), Salt.



EVERYone in the family gave this product two GIANT thumbs up :)  They were super good!  They were the perfect combination of sweet and filling.  Sometimes I would even eat a half of one and be so satisfied :)


We have been searching for pretzels that are free of dairy, soy, wheat, peanut/nuts.  We found that within the Puzzle Pretzels.  They were in fun puzzle shapes, which the kids really enjoyed. Ingredients: Potato Flour, Corn Starch, Rice Flour, Organic Palm Fruit Oil, Hi Maize Corn Starch, Corn Glucose, Ener-G Baking Powder (Sodium Pyrophosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate, Potato Starch, Monocalcium Phosphate), Cellulose Gum, Bamboo Fiber, Salt, Yeast.


Review Results:
Mamma Veg: liked it!
Papa Veg: liked it!
Preschool Veg: liked it!
Toddler Veg: liked it!

We would definitely eat these again!


I was very excited to try the Tapioca Hot Dog Buns!  We just love tofu pups and are always looking for a good bun to accompany them!  This bun did the trick.  It was soft and complimented the tofu pup just as a wheat bun would. Ingredients: Filtered Water, Rice Flour, Tapioca Starch, High Oleic Safflower Oil, Pear Juice Concentrate, Bamboo Fiber, Yeast, Methylcellulose, Tapioca Syrup, Guar Gum, Organic Palm Fruit Oil, Salt, Orange Citrus Fiber, Calcium Phosphate, Baking Powder (Glucono Delta Lactone, Calcium Carbonate & Magnesium Carbonate). Enriched with Thiamin (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Niacin, Iron ,Folic Acid and Vitamin D.


I really liked that these buns has a longer shelf life.  I have been thinking about making up some tubs of allergy friendly food for emergencies.  These would last allot longer than other brands! (And they taste GREAT) We plan to eat them fresh and also put them in our emergency kits! Just ordered more this week.




Review Results:
Mamma Veg: liked it!
Papa Veg: liked it!
Preschool Veg: liked it!
Toddler Veg: liked it!



Overall, I am SUPER happy with all the Ener-G products and like I said earlier, I ordered a lot more this week :)  I can't wait to try my new products that I ordered!  To check out Ener-G's full catalog of products, visit HERE

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Review:Vegan Primal Strips


Recently my family was able to try the Vegan Primal Strips. The strips are a vegan jerky that is made with soy, seitan and shittake mushrooms.  The strips are all natural, non GMO, Vegan, Kosher, no cholesterol, no preservatives, no artificial colors and they are high energy and protein. Think beyond a snack!  You can use them in a salad or serve on a hot sandwhich!



Papa Veg and I tried these strips.  Papa was in love with all of them!  He couldn't believe the flavor.  The flavors were great in my opinion also.  Very strong and very tasty!  Papa Veg loved the chewy texture of the strips!  I was not a fan of the chewiness, but honestly I have some texture issues!  :) These were a total hit with Papa Veg and he will be buying some more very soon!


They do have a couple of gluten free strips as well!

To learn more about Primal Strips, please visit: www.primalspiritfoods.com/