Easter Comes Early!

I don't really celebrate Easter in a religious sense, but I'm all about bunnies and chickens and baskets stuffed with goodies. For me, Easter is sort of an extension of the Spring Equinox, a celebration of our fertile Earth. After all, fertility is the reason behind the bunny and egg symbolism this time of year.

Since the actual Easter holiday doesn't matter that much to me, I had no problem accepting the Easter basket from my parents a few weeks early. Yes, I'm 30 years old. Yes, my parents still give me an Easter basket. My parents are pretty awesome like that. My dad let me pick out a few goodies from Cosmo's Vegan Shoppe. Here's what I got:

Dandies Lemon Tweets, Leahey Gardens Macaroni & Cheese (which I blogged about on Monday), a bag of Leahey Gardens Cheese Flavored Sauce Mix (the same cheese used in the macaroni but by itself), Kookie Karma Cheesy Kale Krackers, and Eco-planet Non-Dairy Cheddar Crackers.

I've already raved on and on about the Leahey Gardens macaroni (best stuff on Earth!). I haven't tried the cheese sauce mix yet, but I know it will be perfect for topping steamed broccoli, nachos, or chili cheese fries.

I'm on a vegan marshmallow kick right now. So I HAD to try these Dandies Tweets. They're vegan versions of the hot pink and lemon yellow Peeps!

I guess they don't look all that much like chickens, but they taste delicious. Not as sweet as Peeps, but that's a good thing. Same fluffy marshmallow texture.

Eco-Planet Non-Dairy Cheddar Crackers are a long-time fave that I can only find online. I always stock up when I get the chance. They're like Goldfish crackers, but vegan. And the Cheesy Kale Krackers sounded irresistable. But at nearly $7 for a bag of two servings, I would have been too cheap to order them with my own money. But when Daddy is paying ...

Well, these crunchy raw crackers were worth every penny. The cheesy coating is made from cashews, red pepper, and miso, and it's better than any kale chip I've ever made at home:

I stashed them on my desk at work to ease mid-morning hunger. But since a certain co-worker likes to help himself to my desk snacks (you know who you are, Mark Plumlee), I left this friendly note:

I wouldn't pay the $7 again, but now that I've seen the ingredients and tasted these yummy dehydrated chips, I can probably recreate them from scratch. When I do, I'll be sure and share the recipe.

Thanks Mama and Daddy for the awesome Easter basket!