First things first: they call these ‘sausages’ but they’re actually closer to not-dogs than sausages. I don’t know why they don’t just call them spicy not-dogs, but don’t get confused. If you want sausages do not reach for these! If you want spicy not-dogs however, feel free to stock up.
I first tried this product at the 2018 Vegandale Festival, it was the very last thing I ate before leaving, it came in a little cup on a toothpick. It was… well it tasted pretty much how I remember hot dogs tasting, but had a bit of a kick to it. (I assume that’s why they call it ‘spicy’) It was also big. They don’t call them ‘jumbo’, but these were pretty thick. Not overtly, but they’re definitely thicker than their regular not-dogs.
Only 4 come in a pack, which again, is one of the downsides to buying these premade vegan foods – though their regular sized not-dogs come in a pack of 5, so I suppose it makes sense that these thicker ones have less. They’re also $5.99 at Loblaws, which isn’t that expensive when talking about vegan substitutes.
One thing I like about both these spicy not-dogs and their non-spicy ones, are that you can eat them cold or cooked, and their taste doesn’t change all that much. Also, again, like the non-spicy not-dogs, you can freeze these ones as well without a noticeable texture/flavour change. This is a great option, because that means you can buy them on sale, and then keep a few ‘extra’ packs in your freezer. Their FAQ even says their products can last 1-3 months in the freezer!
Another good thing about these? They have a recyclable packaging program! This is something I actually didn’t know about, but am so glad I found! The cardboard sleeve can be regular recycled, but then they also have a TerraCycle program for the plastic part.
Unfortunately, the link provided on their website to TerraCycle brought me to a 404 Error page, but once I hear back from the company, I’ll be sure to update this post with the specifics of the recycling program.
All in all, these spicy not-dogs are just that: spicy not-dogs. They’re nothing fancy, but you should definitely make space for them in your summer recipes!
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Now, I’m not gonna lie, I haven’t really paid attention to my Omega-3 intake as much as say, my B12 or protein. Which is actually really bad, because it turns out that Omega-3’s are really good for our bodies – getting enough Omega-3’s can help prevent plaque build-up in arteries, and can help reduce the likelihood of having a heart attack or stroke – and our bodies can’t produce Omega-3’s by themselves, which means we have to get them from an external source.
Like most other things I don’t have knowledge of, I blame school. Honestly, school teaches you a lot of stuff, but as I keep getting older, I keep finding it didn’t teach me very many practical things. (Such as how to do taxes, or how to budget – even though I took both a business and ‘family studies’ class)
In school, I learned Omega-3’s were in fish, but there wasn’t really a big emphasis on them being important – we focused more on The 4 Food Groups (Grains, Dairy, Fruits and Vegetables, and Meat + Alternatives). Now, don’t get me wrong, teaching little kids that eating from all those food groups everyday is good for your health is a great starting point, I just think that as I got older (read: in high school) we could’ve went a little more in depth to the why eating the food groups are important.
Luckily though, we live in a world where I can find an answer to almost anything I desire right from the comfort of my own home, so I’ve also done my own research into all the things I’ve always wondered about.
Also luckily, I wasn’t raised on processed sugar, so I didn’t have too many bad eating habits to unlearn. (For example, I am perfectly happy eating raw broccoli [or cauliflower, carrots, cucumbers, etc.] as a snack)
Also, doing this nutrient series has opened my eyes to the (apparently) minimal info I was given growing up about nutrition. This is also a big reason of why I’m so happy to share what I’ve learned – there’s no way I’m the only person on the planet who doesn’t know this stuff, and I want to make things easier for others to find. I think knowledge should be shared.
And on that note, time to share what you came for:
Starting in the top-left corner, going clockwise:
Hemp Hearts (1oz = 6g)
Chia Seeds (1oz = 5g)
Flax Seeds (1Tbsp = 6.7g)
Cauliflower (1C = 37mg)
Edamame (1/2C = .28g)
Blueberries (1oz = 12.6g)
Walnuts (1oz = 2.5g)
Spinach (3.5oz = .37g)
Avocado Oil (1 Tbsp = 136mg)
Kidney Beans (1/2C = 10g)
Spirulina (1C = 922mg)
Nori/Seaweed (1/2C = 79mg)
Canola Oil (1Tbsp = 1.28g)
Perilla Oil (1Tbsp = 9g)
Thankfully for us non-meat eaters, Omega-3’s aren’t just in fish, and the foods that do contain them aren’t that hard to find. Another good thing? We only need 1.1g-1.6g a day, so fitting Omega-3 rich foods into our routines shouldn’t be that hard.
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I finally got my hands on this ‘new’ Tim Horton’s sandwich Dec. 2nd, 2019. I was going to post this review last year, but I figured it would be kind of mean/unfair of me to post a review of a food you couldn’t go immediately try. Now though, that doesn’t really matter, since Tim Horton’s (apparently) stopped selling the sandwich in early 2020. So I figure it’s fair game now. Also, I’m glad I was able to try this sandwich before they stopped selling them.
The first thing I want to let you know about this sandwich (and what you can tell from the above picture) is the fact that the English muffin it came on was a hexagon. I wasn’t expecting that, and was mildly surprised when I unwrapped it and saw the shape. For a minute, I actually thought they gave me the wrong sandwich. (I mean, c’mon, how often do non-vegan restaurants make vegan options cool shapes?)
After I got over the shape, the second thing I noticed was how much shredded lettuce they put on it. I know it’s called a Beyond Meat, Lettuce and Tomato sandwich, but seriously? There was so much lettuce! Half of it fell out when I picked it up, and the rest of it almost fell out after each bite.
(Also, look at the difference between the one I got, and the promo pic – that’s bordering on ridiculous!)
Another thing about this sandwich I wish I knew/they said on the website before I bought it, was the fact it was spicy Beyond Meat. It tasted like the type of sausage you get on pizza – it was a very similar heat to the Chorizo sausage crumble that’s on PizzaPizza pizza. Aside from being blindsided, it actually tasted pretty good. I mean, it still mildly freaks me out how close to non-vegan meat Beyond Meat tastes, but it was still good. And even better I imagine for meat eaters who are looking for a close substitute.
While we’re talking about taste, the English muffin was also very bland, and was oddly enough pretty hard, as well. It was a lot more ‘tasteless’ than the English muffins I usually buy. Which sucked, because I thought the hexagon shape would make it taste better than usual. The sandwich was also quite small. My mom got a bagel something-or-other sandwich, and this one was half the size! Very disappointing.
Overall, the sandwich was pretty ‘meh’, and I hate to say it, but I’m actually kind of glad it got discontinued. Don’t get me wrong, I was over the moon to discover Tim Horton’s wanted to try getting on the vegan bandwagon – I just think they missed the mark with this one. Hopefully though, they won’t give up! Get back to the drawing board and see if you can come up with something better! Which I’m sure you can, because my mom was pretty happy with her (non-vegan) sandwich, so I know you guys don’t totally suck in that department.
And hey, if you ever need suggestions, I’ll be right here.
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What can I say about cheesy crackers? They’re amazing? I wish I didn’t put off trying them for so long? I wish I could order a case and just always have them in my house?
I could say all that, but that doesn’t really make for a good review. Doesn’t really tell you much other than that I like them. And while I’m sure there’s some of you out there who value my opinion, I don’t think I’m quite popular/famous enough to have you flock to stores to go buy something just because I said so.
So, until that day comes (and mark my words, it will come!) I guess I’m stuck writing an entire article. But that’s also okay, because I talk a lot, sooo, let’s get started, shall we?
These Earth Balance were actually hard to find. I had spotted them for the first time a few years ago at Good Rebel but at the time, I was on a mission looking for one of the other foods I’ve done for a different review, so I had to pass them by, but I made a mental note to go back and try them.
Well as we all know, life likes to get in the way of things, and by the time I remembered I wanted to try them (and was back at Good Rebel), they weren’t available anymore. So I started doing some online digging, and I came across something that said Earth Balance was actually discontinuing the crackers. I basically gave up hope after that, until I finally found VeganSupply. They’re a Canada-wide vegan only online grocer, and I was super excited to find them! Until I saw the shipping price.
I understand they’re in B.C., and I’m in Toronto, but there’s a reason ‘starving artist’ is a phrase. So I perused the site, and built up a list of what I’d get once I saved up enough to actually place an order.
Flash forward to last October (Oct. 2020), the stars had somewhat aligned, and I decided the time was right to finally place the order. And boy am I glad I did! Most of the stuff in that order (which can be seen here) I’m actually using as product reviews for this and next year, which is how I justified spending so much money on non-essential foods. (My order total for those 7 items was $59.74)
After all that, I finally had my hands on the box of crackers! (Although it was a slightly wet from me washing it. Important tip: don’t wash things that come in cardboard) Now, I haven’t had cheesy crackers since… well I don’t actually remember, but I do remember I was little, like, early-grade-school-little. (Before we learned of my dairy allergy)
That said, I loved these! They taste like what I remember Goldfish crackers tasting like, but they are firmer than I remember. (I remember Goldfish being not very ‘cracker-y’ and being more ‘stiff bread-y’) They were quite ‘cheesy’ – not in the way nooch is cheesy, but in a similar way to how Skinny Pop White Cheddar is cheesy – and they were actually crunchy as well. (Unlike my distant memory of Goldfish crackers)
They also got a little too salty after eating a bunch of them, though that was probably my bad. If you plan on eating half the box in one go, you’re definitely gonna need water! After the initial hype wore off and I was more in control of how many I was shoving in my face (for some reason my brain came up with ’10 is a good snack amount’) the saltiness was no longer an issue.
Another kind of downside to these crackers is that they get stuck in your teeth. Similar to what happens when you eat Vegetable Thins, there is some soft-like cracker residue that you need to pick out of your teeth when you’re done. (Oh don’t give me that look, I know it’s a universal human thing) So depending on how gross that sounds, you may want to try one to start, and then see how it goes.
And of course, my always complaint to most vegan foods: there could’ve been more crackers in the box! The crackers were in what looked like a foil bag inside the box, and there was a good amount of air space in them. Now, I’m no expert, but I know certain chip brands need the air in the bag to prevent the contents from breaking, so maybe that’s what’s going on here, but to that I say: make a bigger box! Or have a special or something where you sell them in a three pack or something, because seriously, trying to make that one box last longer than a week was a struggle.
All in all, these crackers are a great snack and I wish I could order them more often, and I highly recommend you try them, too. If you like cheesy things, and you like crackers, there’s really no downside.
This article was written 20.11.12, when COVID was still running rampant/wasn’t under control. (At least in Toronto) Please excuse any reference/joke that’s no longer applicable.
Disclaimer: This article contains links to graphic videos of animal slaughter. If you have issues with watching, I recommend not clicking the video links, but I implore you to ask yourself: if you can’t watch, should you really continue to fund it?
I’m gonna be honest, when I started doing this series, I didn’t really have a plan other than making pretty-ish collages of vegan alternatives. However, after giving it some thought, I realized that I should be taking this time to educate the non-vegan, and new vegans, to show them what options there are, so they don’t have to freak out and go through that ‘wait… what am I gonna eat?’ phase.
Hopefully if you’ve stumbled upon this article on the vegan section of a website, you already know what’s wrong with eating meat, but just in case, here’s a quick refresher:
As you hopefully already know, you have to kill an animal to be able to eat it’s dead body. Sooo, not to be ‘that’ vegan, but yes meat is murder! (There’s a reason why it’s a popular chant!) And, as we (hopefully) all know, murder is wrong.
Slaughterhouses are giant murder factories. Animals go in alive, and come out chopped into pieces wrapped in plastic. As if murdering them wasn’t enough, the animals are also often traumatized, by either being abused, or by hearing their friends and family (yes, animals have friends and family!) being killed in the next room, or both. ‘Oh, Ater’ you say, ‘but animals don’t know what’s happening! They’re not that self-aware.’
Well, how about you look at this picture, and I mean really look at it. Are you still gonna try to tell me that’s not fear and sadness in that animal’s eyes? Does that expression look like the expression of someone who doesn’t know what’s going on? What if I told you this is a picture from a video that was shot in 2015, and this animal has been dead for 5 years. Now do you care? What if this was a picture of a dog, instead of a pig – would you care then? Why?
If you believe dogs have souls and deserve to live, so should other animals. Not all animals are as smart as dogs, but does that mean they deserve to die? What if we did that with people? Dogs on average are about as smart as 2 year olds, so what if we just killed everyone not as smart as that. Does that sound even remotely like an okay thing to do?
And, while we’re on the subject of intelligence, pigs have actually been shown to be more intelligent than dogs. So… why is it okay to eat one, but not the other? Tell me, truly, what’s the difference?
2. Humans as a whole are so overly murdering animals, it’s crazy. Seriously, the shear number of animals that are being killed every minute is insane to think about. In fact, why don’t you check out this site, and watch the numbers go up. That is a lot of lives that are being lost. On average, humans kill 3 billion animals every day. Yes, you read that correctly 3 billion animals die every day!
To put this into perspective, on 9/11, roughly 2,900 people died. That was enough to change basically the world as a whole, and there were many changes enacted to make sure something like that never happened again.
That is only 0.0000966% of 3 billion. But for animals, nobody cares? What if we killed that many people everyday? At the time of writing this article (20.11.12), there are 7.8 billion humans on Earth. If we were to kill humans at the same rate we killed animals, the human race would be extinct in 17 days.
17 days!
And this isn’t even mentioning all the terrible environmental factors that slaughterhouses, and needless breeding of animals has on the planet.
But, in the interest of keeping this short, let’s move on.
So, now you know meat is terrible, and you’ve agreed to stop funding murder – awesome! But, now you may be wondering, what else is there to eat?
Well, thankfully, there have been amazing strides in the vegan movement in the past couple of years, and it’s easier than ever to stop eating meat!
Starting from the top left corner, going clockwise:
Beyond Meat Beyond Burgers
Gardein Beefless Strips
Gardein Beefless Ground
Gardein Chick’N Patties
Gardein Chick’N Scallopini
Gardein Turk’y Cutlets
Gardein Stuffed Turk’y
Tofurky Veggie Roast
Gardein Porkless Bites
Beyond Meat Beyond Sausage
Tofurky Italian Sausage
Yves Veggie Dogs
Yves Veggie Ham
Yves Veggie Bologna
Gardein Fishless Filets
Gardein Crabless Cakes
Seitan
This collage show only a small sample of all the different vegan friendly ‘replacement’ meats currently available. Basically any meat you want to eat has a substitute. And, these are just some of the convenience foods available. There’s also tofu, tempeh, or heck, even vegetables, such as mushrooms or jackfruit can be used as a meat substitute. (Depending on the dish, of course)
All it takes is a little know-how to make kick-ass faux meat dishes. Or, instead of trying to replace meat directly with substitutes, you could also try making different dishes. Expand your meals from being meat-centric, to include ones that put veggies in the spotlight.
Instead of trying to replicate steak and potatoes, why don’t you try making stuffed bell peppers? You can replace the ground beef or chicken (or whatever meat you’d usually put in the rice) with lentils, or mushrooms. Add in some of the usual suspects (corn, broccoli, carrot, etc.) and BAM! You’ll have one seriously hearty dish on your hands. I guarantee you that you won’t even notice the lack of meat in the dish.
There are tons of veg-centric meals just waiting for you to try them. So why not give it a whirl? And if you need some help? No worries! There are tons of vegan cookbooks, blogs, Youtube channels and even Instagram accounts out there for you to draw inspiration from. One of my all time favourite Youtube channels is HotforFood. Lauren is a master in the kitchen, and makes all kinds of breaking-vegan-stereotype dishes. She has recipes for burgers, mac n cheese, gravy, and even a vegan ranch dip! In a lot of her videos, she also explains why she uses certain ingredients, instead of keeping you guessing.
When I first went vegan, I watched a lot of her videos, and learned a lot from her videos about combining certain ingredients to get certain flavours. So go ahead and give it a try! There’s never been a better time to test out new recipes. (Not like you’re leaving the house, anyway)
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I don’t think there has been a product from Gardein I’ve tried that I haven’t liked. I don’t know how, but they keep coming up with awesome new foods to try, and I’m always game!
So, Gardein actually has 2 kinds of these breakfast sausage patties, they have these plain/original ones, and they have maple ones. They taste exactly the same, but the maple one has maple syrup on it, so this is going to be like a combined 2-in-1 review.
These sausage patties are pretty small, which I like, because they fit perfectly on an English muffin. They have what I believe would be a ‘classic’ sausage taste, and have a good consistency, as well. They aren’t too squishy, and have a good bite to them. Pan frying them with some oil gives them a nice ‘crust’ on the outside, so they get a bit more crunch to them. I don’t know if you’d be able to tell by the consistency if they weren’t meat, but from what I remember, they’re pretty close. (Though I’m at 5 years vegan now, so my memory may be fading)
The only problem with these – as with most vegan products – is the amount that comes in the bag. 1 pack only comes with 5, which leads to disappointment when you open it, because they’re so small, so it makes the bag look even emptier. You could easily fit at least 2 more patties in the bag. Or, if you don’t want to add more patties to the bag, you could use a smaller bag! The bag is the same size as all the other products, and honestly I think that’s just a waste of packaging. Either add more product, or make a smaller bag.
I wish they had these, or the maple ones, as actual breakfast sausages (the round kind), that would be even more perfect. Because while these patties are great, if you don’t have English muffins on hand, they look so sad in a regular bread sandwich, or even on a bagel. If they made ‘real’ sausages, then you could have them on the side, instead of turning them into a sandwich, and that would lend itself well to not feeling like you need to make a sandwich for breakfast. And yes, I know you could have these patties on the side, but I feel like they look weird being ‘on the side’ instead of in a sandwich.
If you’ve been looking for something to elevate your breakfast sandwiches, you definitely have to try these. Either the plain or maple ones. They make great breakfast sandwiches, especially with some black salt and nooch on a toasted English muffin. Which is funny, because that’s one of those things I didn’t realize I missed until I had it again, and then I was like, ‘oh, yeah….’
I don’t often eat breakfast type foods, but these are definitely going on my regular shopping list.
In keeping with my theme of last year, I decided for this years’ Valentines’ review, that I’d do another cheese. Because even though I’ve yet to try it, fondue just seems very romantic. And you can’t do fondue without cheese, right?
This cheese is by a company called Culcherd, and honestly I’d never heard of them before. Credit to this review goes to my friend Blair, he got his hands on some and was kind enough to share it with me. (This was back before COVID broke the world)
I was slightly hesitant to try it, as I am with most companies I’m unfamiliar with, but I’m glad I did. Also, it came in a hexagon box, so how bad could it have been? I was mildly disappointed that the block wasn’t also a hexagon, but I guess some things are still out of reach.
Aside from my disappointment that the block wasn’t a hexagon, it was also actually quite small, even for a vegan cheese. The base was just smaller than my palm. (The widest part is just under 3in, or about 7.5cm – and yes, I just measure that for you. You’re welcome) So, it didn’t come with very much cheese.
Up until now, I’ve tried to steer away from reviewing products I didn’t really like, because I don’t want to be shit talking what I’m sure is a great company. However, this cheese just wasn’t my jam. (No pun intended)
I tried it first by itself – as I think you should with any new food – and I have to say, I didn’t really like it. It was quite tangy. Like, over-powering-ly so, and was definitely not the taste I was expecting when I think of ‘cheese’. (Though, to be fair, I mostly ate goat cheese before being vegan, which is quite game-y, so maybe I just don’t know what ‘real’ cheese tastes like?)
It reminded me more of pasta salad sauce than cheese. It had that very tangy/vinegar-y taste. The consistency was soft, making it very spreadable. It was a little firmer than hummus, actually. It’s also one of the very few cashew based cheeses I’ve tried, so I’m not sure if that’s just a thing with turning cashews into cheese, I did notice the other cashew based cheeses I tried had a slight tang to them as well. (Definitely not as strong as this one does, though)
It didn’t go to waste though! I ended up using it as a spread in a wrap, and that made it way better. I used maybe a teaspoons worth, and it was just the right amount for one of those big (12 inch) wraps. My non-vegan brother had some of it on a burger he made, and although he didn’t outright complain about the taste, I could tell it wasn’t his favourite. (Though he’s usually just happy if there’s any cheese he’s ‘allowed’ to eat)
Another thing that surprised me was the price. Even though my block was free, I took the liberty of price comparing it at Good Rebel. (If you haven’t checked them out yet, you should, they’re an awesome vegan grocer here in Toronto) There, the block was $11.99, and on the official Culcherd website, it was about the same ($11.47, but that was marked as the ‘on sale’ price). For reference, on Good Rebel, the Daiya blocks are 6.75, and bigger. So, while I’m glad mine was free, this cheese definitely counts as expensive.
All in all, I don’t think I’ll be buying this cheese again anytime soon, definitely not unless it’s on sale. I do want to try the other blocks and products from this company, because I don’t want to write them off after just trying one product.
I’ve finally reached the 5 year mark, and I couldn’t be more excited!
Well, technically it won’t be a full 5 years until Saturday (Feb. 6th), but I’m still excited! Each year, I get more excited, because I’ve been vegan longer, and it’s always crazy for me to write down the actual number of years, because in my day-to-day, it’s just how I live now. It feels like it’s been a long time, and I suppose you could argue that 5 years is a long time, but relatively speaking, it’s actually not.
The majority of my life lived up until this point is still non-vegan, and I think that’s the weird part to me. 5 years vegan is amazing, but it’s not even close to half my lifetime. Since going vegan, and learning about all the bad things that happen to animals, I’ve just wanted to erase my non-vegan years, because I’m ashamed of them. I was so ignorant, and even used to make fun of my vegetarian aunt (along with my siblings), and I just look back and cringe so hard that I used to act like that.
And yes, I know that me looking back and cringing at how I used to be is actually a great sign of growth and learning, but it’s still embarrassing for me to think about. It does also help put into perspective how those close to me must see my veganism. A little while ago, one of my closest friends asked me if I was ‘ready to stop this vegan thing’ now that I had been doing it so long. They seemed to be kidding, but that really threw me through a loop. It’s been 5 years, and in the grand scheme of my over-all life, that’s still short enough to be considered a ‘phase’ by some.
It’s sad to me that something that changed my life so radically can be viewed so dismissively by those around me, but it helps me see things through their eyes. Not everyone views this 5 years as a good thing, or even as a big deal, and that’s pretty sad to think about. That someone close to me could be waiting for me to ‘snap out of it’ or something similar is just crazy. ‘Oh yeah, sorry I’ve stopped murdering for 5 years, guess I should get back to it, huh?’ Come on.
If (and this is a big ass if) I was ever going to stop being vegan, it definitely wouldn’t be so soon! I would wait at least until I saved as many animals as I’d previously eaten, so that my scale could be ‘balanced’.
And I know that it won’t ever truly be balanced – just because I saved the same amount of animals I had a hand in killing, doesn’t make it okay. Those animals still died for a stupid reason, and there is nothing I can do that will ever truly make up for that. I’m just letting you know that would be my rationale.
That said, that won’t happen until I’ve been vegan for 20 years, and by that point, my life would be so much more changed, it’d be even more crazy to ‘stop’.
Even now at 5 years, being vegan is just part of who I am. I can’t stop being vegan any easier than I could stop being left-handed, or stop being short – it’s just part of me. I can’t force myself to start eating dead bodies any more than I can force myself to grow another foot.
It’s just not gonna happen.
I find it especially funny for me to stop being vegan, because I’ve tried so many new foods I never would’ve been able to eat had I not gone vegan. With my food allergies, it was really hard to find non-vegan food I could eat. Like I explain in my Vegandale Festival articles, it still trips me out that I’m able to go to certain places and order whatever I want, and not order the only thing on the menu that wouldn’t make me sick.
I love all the new foods I’ve been exposed to, and being vegan has made me a better chef. I’ve had to learn how ingredients interact with each other, and learn how to build flavour profiles with spices and condiments. For example, when I’m making seitan, I have to mix 12 different ingredients together, just to get the ‘base’ taste of chicken. That takes a whole day to make, and then if I want to use it in something, I have to cook it ‘normally’ on top of that.
It takes longer sometimes to cook vegan, but it’s definitely worth it.
I love being vegan, and I’m hoping I’ve been able to share some of that love and have sparked curiosity for some of you, but I feel like I’ve just been repeating the same thing each year. And while it’s all true – I do think it’s crazy and amazing that I’ve been opened up to basically a whole new world – I don’t want to sound like a broken record, so I think I may just start doing these Veganversary posts every 5 years instead of every year.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m still gonna celebrate it myself every year, but I don’t think I need to make a dedicated post each year, either. I think waiting to make a new post will be better, because a lot can change in 5 years, and I’ll be able to share with you all that I’ve learned. (Unless you like hearing me be amazed each year, in which case leave a comment! Lol)
I’m also still going to be posting veganism articles, so don’t worry. I just realized these Veganversary posts are kind of… I don’t know, maybe dull to read every single year, so I’m gonna cool it. If you want to keep up with what I do on my Veganversary, you can check out my Instagram, as I’m sure I’ll continue to post a picture of my celebratory food.
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This product review was written 20.06.12, while COVID lock down restrictions were just beginning to ease. Please excuse any reference/joke that’s no longer relevant.
This is the last post of 2020!
As per last year, I will be taking the last half of December, and first half of January off from posting.
Posting will resume on January 15th, which will be the 1st Throw Away Fic of the new year!
I hope you all enjoy your holiday festivities, and get some much needed rest after what a crazy year this has been.
I’ll see you guys in the new year!
Now that we’ve made it to the end of the year, I thought it fitting to make the last product review a celebratory one. Because let’s be honest, 2020 was not what anyone expected, and we definitely deserve to have a (socially-distanced) party.
And what better way to say ‘party’ than to booze-it-up?
I’ve never had ‘real’ Baileys before, so I wasn’t too sure what to expect from this. Some of the Youtube reviews I saw said it just tasted like almond milk. I figured how bad could it be?
Baileys Almond is 13% alcohol, which is way above my usual 5-7% Smirnoff Ice and Blackflys. I tried it by itself initially, to see if it really needed to be added to something else. Immediately, I tasted regular almond milk, but when I swallowed, I got that familiar burn-in-your-throat ‘this is alcohol’ taste. It was a lot stronger than what I was expecting.
To actually drink it, I mixed it 2 shots of it into a regular cup (500ml) of Silk Chocolate Almond, and after mixing it with the drink, that burning alcohol taste completely disappeared. It just tasted like a regular glass of Silk.
Buzz wise, it was pretty good but it did end up giving me a headache. (Maybe I just drank it too fast/have a low tolerance?)
All in all, I would say that if you like almond milk, you’ll definitely enjoy it, and if you need a boozy vegan creamer, I think this would work pretty well.
They don’t make small bottles of it, though, which kind of sucks, because the 750ml bottle is $33, so if you don’t end up liking it, you’ll be stuck with a lot.
Or at least, you’ll have to throw another party so you’re not stuck with it.
Important Note:Aside from Decembers’ product review, and the End of Year post, this is the last article for 2020!
I’m going to be taking the last half of December, and the first half of January off, so I will be back with a short story Jan. 15th, meaning the first post will go up the following Monday. (Jan. 17th)
Keep an eye on my social media for the announcement or if anything changes. (Or if you just want to say ‘hey’)
This article was written 20.06.23, when COVID-19 lock down restrictions were just beginning to ease in Toronto/Canada. Please excuse any joke, comment, etc. that is no longer applicable.
With the end of the year fast approaching, and the holidays coming up, I figured now would be the perfect time to do the next Surprising Vegan post.
Whether you’re hosting a circle-of-10 approved party, or want to eat a box while you sit alone watching holiday movies, the below list of surprising vegan cookies – along with the candy and chocolate collages – you now have the snack trifecta of perfect vegan approved stocking stuffers.
Starting from the top left corner, and going clockwise:
Original Oreo
Golden Oreo
Birthday Cake Oreo (Red 40, Yellow 5+6, Blue 1)
Chocolate Creme Oreo
Dark Chocolate Oreo
Chocolate and Peanut Butter Pie Oreo
Mint Oreo (Yellow 5, Blue 1)
Double Stuffed Original Oreo
Double Stuffed Golden Oreo
Original Thins Oreo
Golden Thins Oreo
Oreo Mini Originals
Dad’s Original Oatmeal
Dad’s Oatmeal Chocolate Chip
Dad’s Oatmeal Raisin
Dad’s Chocolatey Coating Oatmeal
Pirate Cookies
Fudgee-O Original
Christie Maple Leaf Cookies
I was actually surprised that not more of the Oreo flavours used food dyes. This also isn’t a complete Oreo vegan-friendly list. There were some flavours I found that were only available in the US, and while they technically aren’t vegan in the US (due to bone char being used in sugar processing), I was also (only midly) surprised that some of the more… fun flavours – like Mega Stuffed and Heads or Tails – were US only.
As always, the following are based on the Canadian ingredients I could find. I was also quite disappointed to learn that Mondelez International owned the Dad’s and Oreo brands, which made finding the ingredients much harder than it needed to be. I ended up having to e-mail them, only to get a generic ‘check the package’ answer.
The way their websites are set up is just not user friendly. Every time I do one of these collages and I see that they’re the parent company of a brand, I just know it’s going to be a headache to deal with. You’d think if they didn’t want to take the time to answer e-mails with ingredient questions, they would put it in part of their FAQ or make it readily available on their website, but alas…
Anyway, due to their less-than-helpful response, I had to rely on grocery store ingredients for the above, instead of the actual companies ingredients. This means that the ingredients I found may be wrong, or may change, and I recommend checking the ingredients each time you buy a product, along with checking for your specific country.
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