Thursday, December 2, 2010

I Am Nacho Mom

I have three food weaknesses — chips, Ramen noodles, and vegan baked goods. No matter how much wholesome food I eat, these three foods find their way into my menu plan every single week. Thankfully, I've got enough discipline these days to only eat chips as part of a meal, not as a snack. For example, I almost always have tortilla chips with veggie burgers and sandwiches.

But chips are even better with dips. I keep several jars of salsa in the fridge at all times, and I often keep homemade vegan noochy cheeze dip on hand as well. That's why I was super-excited about Rick the Health Sleuth's recent Nacho Mom's Vegan Queso giveaway. He was offering some of this all-natural pre-made vegan queso to a lucky reader. I didn't win, but Rick had an extra jar so he sent me one anyway ... just out of the kindness of his heart! I sent Rick a bag of made-in-Memphis Groovy Foods granola in return. Vegan package swaps are the best!

Anyway, let's talk about this dip. Like I said, I usually make my own vegan cheeze dip, and it's tasty. But this Nacho Mom stuff tastes eerily close to the real thing. Granted, I haven't had dairy cheese dip in years, but this is how I remember it. It was the perfect topping for locally-made Las Delicia tortilla chips, but honestly I could just eat this stuff out of the jar with a spoon.

The Nacho Mom's is made with tomatoes, water, nutritional yeast, unbleached flour, green chilis, paprika, salt, garlic powder, and other spices. No weird ingredients. Just real food. The dip does contain citric acid (a natural preservative) and calcium chloride (a natural fining agent), but that it. So I might feel a little guilty about my chips, but at least the dip is healthy.

They sell this stuff on Cosmos Vegan Shoppe for $4.99 a jar, and I have a feeling I'll be buying more as soon as this runs out ... and that won't take long. I also see on their website that the Little Rock, Arkansas Whole Foods will begin carrying this stuff in January (Sheridan, are you reading this?), so I may be making a 2-hour road trip to stock up. Luckily, my BFF Sheridan also lives there so I have another excuse to visit. Not that I wouldn't drive 2 hours for this stuff without another excuse, but that's not very green, right?

One quick non-queso announcement: Ecolissa.com, a new online eco-friendly, vegan clothing shop is offering Vegan Crunk readers 20 percent off their purchase. They have some really cute tops and accessories, and you can even choose to shop by material (i.e. bamboo, soy, organic cotton, etc.). Use the coupon code "vegan20" for your discount.

And don't forget to enter my Caribbean Vegan cookbook giveaway. Click here for details.

What are your guilty vegan food pleasures?

15 comments:

T said...

I used to love queso, especialy when I worked at Mexican restaraurants. That jar looks mighty tasty.

My weakness is all things sweet, especially not-tella.

The Health Sensei said...

spectacular review, i'm glad you love it as much as we do. i said i wasn't gonna buy anymore for a while because i'm trying to totally avoid wheat, but i already got another jar :-/ lol

Chocolate-Covered Katie said...

Color me super-jealous! I've been looking at that stuff, wishfully, for a while now (ever since I saw it highlighted on Vegan Essentials).

Nacho Mom's, if you're reading this: come to Dallas! ;)

Jenny said...

Thanks for the heads up that Little Rock will be carrying it soon! Yay!

Sheridan said...

oh my gosh! Yayyyyyyy!!!! I'm so excited! About the queso & about you visiting more often! Haha! I was just thinking as I was reading this, "Man, that sounds good! Wish I could try it!"

Amey said...

great review, i'd love to try this stuff. Seems like there are a few vegan nacho cheeze products hitting the market, though I have yet to see any around here.

Brian said...

i've been resisting ordering this online, waiting for it to show up locally, but i think i just need to order some. i've heard nothing but good. :)

Jessica said...

You have so much control to not eat chips as a snack. I think of a few tortilla chips with copious salsa as a semi-healthy snack.

I've been eager to try this stuff, too, and I'm happy to see you like it. I was amazed by how much the Teese nacho sauce reminded me of ballpark nachos.

MeloMeals said...

I've heard great things about that dip...Yum!

re your comment: Thanks for sharing all of that! I am going to check out the apps on my phone.. ( I have an android )..

Courtney Ann Haberman said...

This looks amazing! If it comes to Chicago I'm totally buying some! My vegan guilty pleasure are Uncle Eddies Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies... They are unreal!

Leslie Richman said...

YUM!! My junky food favorite are Sweet & Sara's s'mores.

Tanya said...

I'm totally addicted to this stuff!! But I'm trying to slow down...I buy 2 jars at a time online (can't get it locally) and when it's done...I just have to wait awhile. It's a weakness.

The Vegan Snorkeler said...

I'm with you, baked goods are my guilty pleasure.

Jess - The Domestic Vegan said...

Ooh, this sounds awesome! I loooove nachos & I typically make a nutritional yeast sauce that's yummy - but it's so nice to know about the great storebought vegan products! I'll definitely have to try this when I see it!

My major food weakness is chocolate (but it's healthy in small amounts, right?!)... And also Veggie Booty.

Nacho Mom's said...

Aw thanks guys!
I am the Nacho Mom. And you are all talking about my baby.

So proud. Cyber hugs.
Rick, we are at Cupboard Natural Foods in Denton now. So that's close to Dallas. My distributor that Whole Foods buys from in the SW region is picking up their order tomorrow. I hope that means we might actually go into Whole Foods in the SW ahead of schedule. (Scheduled for January)And that means Dallas...and Arkansas, Jenny

We pick up more new stores all the time so keep checking the website if we aren't near you yet. Now that we have distribution, we should hopefully move faster into more stores across the US. At least our fingers are crossed for it!

THANK YOU for all the queso love. It makes waking up at 4:30am to go to work totally worth it.