Cookie Sale and Caribbean Vegan Giveaway!

Hey y'all. No food photos tonight. On the last night of Vegan Mofo, I want to tell y'all about some awesome discounts on magical vegan cookies. And then we're givin' away a copy of Taymer Mason's fabulous Caribbean Vegan cookbook.

First the cookies — Last year, I was lucky enough to receive a sample pack of some giant, all-natural vegan Intention Cookies by Bountiful Vegan. Not only are these cookies delicious, they're also said to possess a little mojo magic. Each cookie is supposed to bring about positive qualities — love, determination, success, courage, happiness, or prosperity — as you eat it. I don't know about y'all, but I totally believe in magic and the power of positive thinking. But I'm a little airy-fairy sometimes....

I received an e-mail from Bountiful Vegan a few days ago to let me know that they've eliminated two flavors from their line, but they've added four more — Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter, Oatmeal Raisin, and Chocolate Chip. Those are in addition to the flavors they kept — Chocolate Chocolate Chip and Chocolate Chip Orange. Each cookie is named for the quality it's supposed to impart in you as you eat it. For example, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip is "Happiness." Um, duh. I would totally get happy with a PB Chip cookie! See, totally magic.

They're also offering holiday gift baskets with 12 Intention Cookies, a choice of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate (they make the hot chocolate mix themselves!), and a personalized card. Check out the baskets here.

Anyway, Bountiful Vegan is offering a very special deal to Vegan Crunk readers! They're extending their Cyber Monday sale of 30 percent off all gift items through Wednesday, Dec. 1st at midnight. All you have to do is email info@bountifulvegan.com and ask for the "Cyber Monday Extension."

Now for the Caribbean Vegan giveaway! Yesterday, I reviewed Taymer Mason's newly-released cookbook filled with 125 recipes for native foods of Barbados, Saint Lucia, Trinidad, Tobago, Jamaica, Grenada, the French West Indies, and Guyana.

In case you missed the review, you can read it here. Or you can just drool over the photo of Taymer's Hearts of Palm & Tofu Scramble from Caribbean Vegan.

One lucky commenter will win a copy of Taymer's book. Just leave a comment about your favorite exotic dish. Doesn't have to be Caribbean since I'm sure many of you (like me until I got this book) haven't tried that cuisine yet.

For an extra chance to win, tweet about the giveaway and leave an additional comment letting me know you did. For an extra, extra chance, link back to the contest from Facebook and leave yet another comment to let me know. And finally, for a fourth chance, link back to this contest on your blog (if you have one), and leave yet another comment to fill me in. That's four chances to win!

If you don't have a Blogger account with a listed email, please leave your email address so I can contact you if you win. Good luck! I'll randomly select one winner on Sunday night (Dec. 5th).

To Health and Wealth!

Last month, I received an awesome sample box of Intention Cookies from the folks at Bountiful Vegan. I've been reviewing each cookie as I try them out. Today I sampled the Prosperity Cookie:

These gigantic all-natural, all-vegan cookies are laced with love and good intentions. Each flavor is said to bring a different positive aspect into your life, and as the name implies, this Choco-Choco Chip Prosperity Cookie is supposed to bring about a little extra moola.

I can always use extra cash, so I ate half of this fudgey cookie with a glass of soymilk and repeated the phrase "I appreciate my increasingly growing wealth" over and over. Each cookie comes with a magic phrase to recite while you nosh. We'll see if it works!

As for taste, this cookie reminded me of a cross between a brownie and a milk chocolate Easter bunny! It had a super fudgey taste, but there was something about it that seemed reminescent of milk chocolate ... and that's a great thing for a vegan that misses decent candy bars. There were a few small nut pieces in the cookie, and I would have liked to see a few more of those.

Overall verdict — Delicious, comforting, and indulgent. I feel a bit wealthier already!

Order your own Intention Cookies (or enter their variety pack giveway) on the Bountiful Vegan website. These would make awesome gifts!

Wednesday morning update: Entry is now closed for the MixMyGranola contest. I've just used a Random Number Generator to select a winner (ha, I know who it is, but I'm keeping it a secret!!!), and I'll announce when I post tonight. Stay tuned!

Cookies and Cuppies! Oh My!

A few weeks ago, I received an sample package of Intention Cookies from Bountiful Vegan. These gigantuan treats are totally vegan and their little packages contain special mantras that are said to bring positive qualities into one's life (so long as you repeat the magic mantra while noshing on the cookies). I'm reviewing them one cookie at a time. Today, I sampled this Harmony Cookie — a sugary Lemon Snickerdoodle:

Let me just tell ya. I ate this thing and I totally felt some inner harmony goin' on. Yep. That's because lemon and snickerdoodle are two of my favorite flavors and when you put them together, well, it created a bit of a harmonious party in my mouth. The texture was spot on for a snickerdoodle — chewy with a hint of crunch. And the natural lemon oil didn't overpower the cinnamon 'doodle taste.

By the way, you can get your own Intention Cookies on the Bountiful Vegan website. Or head over to The Urban Housewife and get in on Melisser's Intention Cookie giveaway.

Speaking of cookies, I FINALLY made those Cookies 'n' Cream Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World:

I don't know what I was holding out for, but I think these may be my favorite from the whole book. I've always LOVED Oreos, and I'm so thankful that Paul Newman's folks offer the non-scary ingredient version in Newman-O's (which I used for these babies).

I made the cupcakes for my buddy Wes, who celebrated his 49th birthday yesterday!

Wes used to be my next door neighbor, but now we live one street apart from one another. He's like a second mom to me — cooking me dinner, babysitting my pets, and just being there whenever I need some conversation. Happy Birthday Wes!

You Mochi Me Crazy!

First things first — we have a winner in the Vegan Essentials gift certificate giveaway! A random number generator picked Jeni Treehugger of Heathen Vegan! Wooo! Thank you all for participating. I think I got more comments on that contest than any other in the past. Folks love 'em some Vegan Essentials.

Secondly, I must share this week's amazing breakfast — Mochi Waffles with Lemon-Walnut-Rice Syrup from The Kind Diet:

I love, love, love me some mochi. I'm a sucker for chewy foods, and food doesn't really get chewier than mochi. This microbiotic recipe from Alicia Silverstone calls for only four ingredients — mochi, fresh lemon juice, chopped walnuts, and brown rice syrup.

In case you don't know, mochi is a Japanese rice cake made of glutinous rice pounded into a paste and molded into a large flat square. I buy mine at Whole Foods in the cold section. You can do all sorts of stuff with it — bake it into puffy squares, fry it, or in this case, place strips in your waffle maker for the world's chewiest (and most satisfying) waffles.

The syrup is simply brown rice syrup mixed with fresh-squeezed lemon juice and toasted, chopped walnuts. It tastes sinful, but it's actually so, so healthy.

I served the waffles with two slices of my own recipe Tempeh Bacon:

This is another cookbook recipe, and I promise it's a little different from other tempeh bacon recipes out there. A secret, surprise ingredient really sets this bacon apart.

Finally, I need to mention an important fund-raising campaign for an awesome vegan small business. Last year, I reviewed Intention Cookies from Bountiful Vegan, a line of lick-your-lips, oversized vegan cookies. These cookies come in four flavors — Choco-Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Chip Orange, Lemon Snickerdoodle, and Coconut Pineapple — and each is said to contain a little mojo magic. Depending on the flavor, the cookies are said to bring about love, prosperity, harmony, and well-being.

The cookies were launched last year, and now the company (a small business run by two awesome people — Mary and Terry — who only make vegan cookies) is embarking on its next stage of growth. They hope to increase production, and they're trying to raise $10,000 to do so. If you'd like to donate, go here. No amount is too small.

Have a great weekend. And if you have The Kind Diet, please try the mochi waffles. Perfect Valentine's Day breakfast!

Good Intentions!

About a week ago, I got a surprising e-mail from a nice lady at Bountiful Vegan, the bakery behind the new Intention Cookies. She offered to send me a box of samples to review, and I gratefully accepted (who says no to free cookies, right?). Today that bountiful box arrived at my office stuffed with these lovely goodies:

There's Well-Being (a coconut pineapple cookie), Prosperity (choco-choco chip), Love (chocolate chip orange), and Harmony (lemon snickerdoodle).

Besides the fantastic flavors, these cookies also come with a promise of good mojo. Each cookie is named for the positive characteristic it can bring into your life if you believe. On the inside of the cookie package, there's a corresponding phrase that you're supposed to repeat while eating the cookie. It works with the Law of Attraction — think positive thoughts and positive things will come your way.

Hokey as it might sound, I believe in all that new age airy-fairy stuff. So these cookies were especially fun for me. Since I can't eat four giant cookies in one day without gaining five million pounds (and suffering from major food guilt), I decided to sample the Love Cookie today:

I don't really need more love in my life, but it can't hurt to have more, right? Plus, this humungous cookie is Chocolate Chip Orange, a combo that sounds like a match made in heaven.

The verdict: If this cookie is Love, consider me head over heels! I cut the cookie in half and heated it in the microwave for 10 seconds so the chocolate chips got all melty. A hint of orange flavor (from natural orange oil, not artificial flavors) accented the creamy chocolate bits. And the cookie had that perfect chewy bakery-fresh texture. I enjoyed it with a cold glass of So Delicious Coconut Milk.

Do I feel more love now? Actually, yes since I've found a new love in Intention Cookies! They're made with all-natural, all-vegan ingredients and they cater to my penchant for the Law of Attraction.

Look for more Intention Cookie reviews in the very near future. I'll let ya'll know what I think as I eat each cookie. In the meantime, order your own at the Bountiful Vegan website.

A Little Hard Work and Determination

Our power went out at the office this morning after a tractor-trailer ran into a utility pole down the block. This is bad news for a newspaper on deadline. Without lights, a wireless internet signal, or phone lines, we were all forced to go back home and work remotely. For some people, that might sound awesome, but I like to be at my desk when I'm working. Lucky for me, the lights came back on around 12:30 p.m., and I was able to go back into the office.

Unfortunately, all that driving back and forth meant losing valuable writing and editing time, and I needed a little encouragement to get through the afternoon. Thankfully, my sample box of the new Intention Cookie flavors from Bountiful Vegan arrived about an hour after I got back to my desk. Look at these yummy new flavors — Oatmeal Raisin, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip, and regular Chocolate Chip:

I've mentioned Bountiful Vegan in several posts (including this recent one about their holiday gift baskets!), but only because I love this company and their cookies! It's indie-owned and the big vegan cookies are made with all-natural ingredients. They're packaged in plant-based compostable materials, and they're magic. Seriously. They really are magic. Each cookie comes with an "intention statement" that you're supposed to repeat (or think) as you eat it and you'll attract positive qualities to your life.

Judging by the day I was having, I figured I could use a little Determination to make it until 5 p.m. The Oatmeal Raisin cookie promised just that:

Did it work? Well, sure. Eating cookies at your desk always makes the work seem less daunting! I was so determined after eating half of this cookie that I decided to eat the other half.

I washed my cookie down with a hot mug of Aveda's Comfort Tea. I'm not usually a fan of caffeine-free, herbal teas, but this licorice root-based tea is absolutely fabulous! My favorite tea in the world!


How do you prefer to work? At home or at the office? What are your favorite desk snacks?

Saved the Best for Last

Back in June (god, is it already almost September?!), the awesome folks at Bountiful Vegan sent me a sample package of their gigantic vegan Intention Cookies. Not only are these cookies delicious, they're also said to possess a little mojo magic. Each cookie is supposed to bring about positive qualities — love, prosperity, harmony, and well-being — as you eat it.

Over the last couple months, I tried the Love (Chocolate Chip Orange), the Prosperity (Chocolate Choco Chip), and the Harmony (Lemon Snickerdoodle). But today, I finally dug into the best cookie of all — the Well-Being Coconut Pineapple Cookie!

For some reason, I'd imagined that this would be my least favorite. I typically always choose chocolate over fruit flavors. But in this case, choosing chocolate first was just the crazy wrong thing to do. The Well-Being cookie's pineapple flavor is pretty mild. In fact, I didn't really taste it. But the coconut flavor is out-of-this-world. It lends a very buttery taste to the cookies that tastes so naughty, and so, so good!

My only complaint — the cookies don't list any nutritional information. While that's kind of a good thing (it's hard to feel guilty when you have no idea how many calories you're consuming), I might practice a little more restraint if I knew. They do, however, list the all-natural, whole food ingredients that go into the cookies.

Wanna try the cookies for yourself? The folks at Bountiful Vegan are holding a sample pack giveaway contest on their site. You still have time to enter, as the winner will be announced on September 15th.

Hey testers! There's a new recipe posted on the tester site. Check it out....

New Dole Vegan Bountiful Salad Kits!

Confession: I love bagged salad. I know it's more economical (and more zero waste) to opt for whole heads of lettuce, but there are few kitchen tasks I hate more than washing lettuce. I hate it so much that I've been known to skip that step and just eat the dirty lettuce right off the head. I'm sure that's not a good idea though, and it often results in me getting a mouthful of grit!

I've come to accept that, if I'm going to get in my daily bowl of fresh greens, it has to be in bagged salad form. Even more convenient is when the salad toppings also come in the bag, but so many salad kits contain cheese or non-vegan dressings. Sure, you can leave some toppings off, but I want the full experience! And now I can get that with Dole's New Vegan Bountiful Kits! There are two new vegan kits in their salad line — Lentil Cucumber and Triple Quinoa. They sent me a few bags to review.

The Lentil Cucumber kit features a salad mix with green leaf, iceberg, red cabbage, and radish, plus a little package of marinated green, black, and red lentils. The dressing is a tangy, cooling cucumber vinaigrette.

The bag says this makes several servings, but I ate the whole bag as one meal! You could dress this up with additional veggies, but I had it as is and it was filling (with a side of pita and hummus).

The Triple Quinoa was my fave! It's a kale salad with a kale-carrot blend, a topping made from red, white, and black quinoa and chickpeas, and a refreshing lemon-basil vinaigrette. I massaged the kale a bit and let it sit overnight, so it was perfect and tender the next day for lunch. Again, I ate the whole bag as one meal.

One tip: I try to limit my oil intake, so I used half of the dressing on both of these salads, and it was PLENTY to add flavor. You could use the whole thing, but I don't think that's necessary.

These salads are GREAT! And I will definitely buy them when I see them in the store. Anything to make my salad-eating habit easier!

Endless Crunk Summer

Summer is filled with potlucks, picnics, and bountiful trips to the farmer's markets. Even though we're trying to stay in shape for our bathing suits, we're also indulging in delicious summer fare.

Many of the recipes in Cookin' Crunk are perfect for summer! I have lots of recipes that call for seasonal summer produce and others that are meant to be served at picnics and summer potlucks. I've made two of those dishes this week!

Today my office held our annual summer party. Work let out at noon, and we headed downstairs for a cookout on the loading dock, where we typically load newspapers into delivery trucks. There were coolers of beer, burgers (and yes, they grilled some vegan Boca burgers), grilled veggies, and lots of potluck-style sides. I brought the Dillweed Potato Salad from Cookin' Crunk:

This cool, vegan, mayo-based salad is loaded with tender red potatoes (I recommend cooking them a little al dente so they don't get mushy), fresh dill, celery, red onion, and green olives.

Also this week, I made the Harvest Crowder Pea Soup from Cookin' Crunk:

Every year about this time, our farmer's markets are stocked with all sorts of fresh peas — black-eyed peas, purple-hull peas, lady peas, and my fave, crowder peas. Crowders are like bigger, not-as-mushy black-eyed peas. They're perfect in this soup made with fresh basil, carrots, celery, onions, and veggie broth.

I hate to think that summer is almost over. So I won't. I'll just keep living it up with summery meals for as long as possible and pretend like fall and winter will never come.