Post # 7 Product Review: LARABAR

Today I will be reviewing possibly my favorite vegan product the extremely awesome and tasty LaraBar.

LARABAR Samples

The kind folk at LaraBar were nice enough to send a few samples of some their new flavors.

They sent over the classics, Apple Pie, Cherry Pie, and few that I had never tried Pecan Pie, Key Lime Pie, Carrot Cake, Peanut Butter and Jelly and my all time favorite flavor Blueberry Muffin.

Almost every flavor of Larabar is vegan and kosher. There are a few newer flavors that include dairy chocolate chips they are Chocolate Chip Brownie, Chocolate Chip Cherry Torte, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip.

What makes LaraBars so amazing besides their great taste is that they all made from whole food, a delecious blend of unsweetened fruits, nuts and spices and no flavor has more than nine ingredients. As it states are there packaging "Pure and simple, just as nature intended."

I love having a LaraBar for breakfast, or as a snack throughout the day. They are quite reasonable usually $1.25 and most months you can find a coupon to bring down the cost.

I believe the company has partenered with General Mills and now you thaknfully find LaraBar is a many more stores than they used to be. I've been getting them a my local Shoprite and they usually carry almost all of the flavors.

Speaking of flavors listed below are all of the kosher vegan flavors available.

Apple Pie - 

A classic. Tastes like the real thing. You can't go wrong with this flavor.

Banana Bread - 

Very tasty but not for those who don't have a love of banana.

Blueberry Muffin - 

This is my favorite flavor ever. I could eat these at every meal all day long. 

Cappuccino - 

I have not yet had this flavor.

Carrot Cake -

 Just tried Carrot Cake this week and I really liked, the pineapple flavor in it was a bit strong.

Cashew Cookie - 

 I have not yet had this flavor.

Cherry Pie - 

Tastes like real cherry pie. Heat it up for some delicious hot cherry pie.

Chocolate Coconut Chew - 

I have not yet had this flavor.

Coconut Cream Pie - 

 I have not yet had this flavor.

Ginger Snap - 

This is an interesting flavor, very good for those who love ginger.

Key Lime Pie - 

My wife really likes this flavor. I love Key Lime Pie but I don't really love this larabar.

Lemon Bar - 

My third favorite flavor. I love lemon. This bar does lemons justice.
Orange Float -
I have not yet had this flavor and am looking forward to finding it.

Peanut Butter & Jelly - 

Its really good, the jelly is the cherry pie flavor mixed with peanut butter cookie. 

Peanut Butter Cookie -

I can only have these once in a while because they are addicting.

Pecan Pie - 

Just had it this week for the first time and loved it. This is my # 2 go to bar now. It is so tasty.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake -  

 have not yet had this flavor.

Tropical Fruit Tart -  

I have not yet had this flavor.

I love larabars because they are made with simple ingredients & you can feel good about all of their delicious kosher vegan flavors.

Fun things to try with larabars:
Heat them up in your convection oven to get that warm pie taste.
Cut them up into pieces & reattach with different flavors, enjoy the rainbow.

I want to thank Lara for her wonderful products and hope they continue their tradition of creating amazing kosher vegan healthy flavors. My suggestion for your next flavor - Peach Cobbler

Post # 6 - Tasty Yam Burritos

Tasty Yam Burritos

Below is a recipe my wife created. It is a delicious nutritious vegan meal that is great for a large shabbot dinner or a few meals during the week. The recipe below is for 10 burritos.

Ingredients

Ingredients:

4 Yams

1 Bag Black Dry Beans 

1 Box of Brown Rice

10 Whole Wheat Tortilla Wraps

Steps:

1: Peel Yams and cut in half.

2: Place cut yams in boiling water for 35 minutes.

3: After Yams have boiled mash them up and add a bit of cinnamon spice.

4: Store in a large glass bowl.

5: Cook Brown Rice 

6: Add spices - garlic, onion powder, black pepper, and paprika.

6: Add cooked rice to large glass bowl with yams.

7: Place black beans in a glass bowl with water overnight 

8: Add to large glass bowl in the morning.

8: Mash all ingredients thoroughly.

9: Add additional spices if wanted.

0: Place the mixture in each tortilla.

1: Fill each tortilla with an even amount of the mixture.

2: To make extra spicy add hot sauce.

Additional add-ons.

Fried Mushrooms and Onions

Enjoy

Post # 5 - Slow Cooked Cholent

Vegan Cholent

A staple of shabbos meals is a slow cooked Cholent. Cholent is a delicious way to cook a hearty healthy meal that will fill your house with an awesome aroma for the entire weekend. The recipe below is my vegan cholent with beans, barley, yams, potato, onion, carrot, spices, and Jamaican jerk sauce.

Serves - 8

Ingredients:

1lb -  Carrots - peeled and chopped
2lb  - Yams - peeled and chopped
2lb -  Potato - peeled and chopped
2 -     Onions - peeled and chopped
2lb -  Beans - any kind dry
2 -    Cans of Corn

Peeled Sweet Potato, Potato, Onion and Carrots

Spices -

Pour in as much or as little spice as you like.
The more spices the more flavor will erupt during the slow cooking process.

Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Black Pepper
White Pepper
Paprika
Cinnamon

All Spice
Pumpkin Spice

Any kind of sweet or spicy sauce.
I found a Jamaican Jerk Sauce on sale that looked good and poured it in.
Add 2-3 Cups of water to help cook beans.

Below are some add-ons that go great with this cholent, i need to get a bigger slow cooker to fit everything next time.
add-ons
Rice
Quiona
Barley

Step 1 - Peel and Cut all vegetables
Step 2 - Put vegetables into slow cooker
Step 3 - Place beans and any add-ons into slow cooker
Step 4 - Pour spices into slow cooker over vegetables and beans
Step 5 - Pour bbq sauce (Jamican Jerk Sauce) over vegetables and beans
Step 6  - Mix items around in slow cooker with large spoon
Step 7- Add 2 -3 cups of water to help move spices around and cook beans
Step 8 - Leave slow cooker on low to cook before and throughout shabbos

Chopped Vegetables with Beans in Crock Pot ready for many hours of Slow Cooking 

Thanks and enjoy!

Post # 4 - Leafy Greens

Todays blog will have two recpies. For tonight's shabbos dinner we are making Collard Greens with Quinoa and White Beans, and Kale Chips. I bought a lot of greens at the end of last week and was planning to make them throughout the week for lunches and dinners but got too busy. So I now have a lot of greens that need to be eaten up, thankfully I have a few people coming over to enjoy dinner with.

I have adapted both of these receipes from sources online. Enjoy the recipes and pictures below.

Baked Kale Chips

By: Lucy DelRey

Adapted below:

Ingredients -
Kale
Olive oil
Pink Himalayan Salt
Soy Sauce
Lemon Juice

Directions -
Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F.
Line a non insulated cookie sheet with parchment paper.
With a knife remove the kale leaves from the thick stems and tear into bite size chip pieces. Wash and thoroughly dry kale. Drizzle kale with olive oil, soy sauce, lemon juice combined and sprinkle with salt.
Bake until the edges brown but are not burnt, 10 to 15 minutes.

Baked Kale Chips

_________________________________________________________________________________

Collard Greens & White Beans and Quinoa
By Lisa Thiele

Serves about 8

Adapted below:

Ingredients -
2 cups quinoa
4 tablespoons olive oil
6 cups collard greens
2 15oz can of Corn
1 Package of West Soy Seitan
1 teaspoon garlic, paprika, black pepper, zatar, thyme to taste

Directions -
In a small saucepan, add quinoa, 3 cups of water and bring to a boil.
Cook for 10-20 minutes or until all water is absorbed. Set quinoa aside.

In a large pan, heat olive oil over medium heat.
Add collard greens and toss until they begin to wilt
Add corn and seitan and cook for about 3 minutes or until lightly browned.
Add quinoa and additional spices to taste cook for 2 minutes.

Collard Greens & Quinoa

Post # 3 - Product Review: Daiya Cheese

I have been vegan for a little more than a month and it has been  going really great. I am very happy with my decision and am very thankful for all my friends and family who have gone out of their way to provide me with delicious vegan meals when I have visited with them for a meal or two.

I will be posting two posts today, this first post below is a product review of Daiya cheese. My second post will be a recipe for Collard Greens with Quinoa with a side of Kale Chips which will be posted after I cook when I get home from work today for tonight's Shabbos dinner.

There are many vegan cheese products available but out of all of the brands that I have tried Daiya is my favorite. I first tried Daiya cheese at my favorite vegan restaurant in Philadelphia called Blackbird Pizzeria. (note: I will soon be writing a dedicated post to Blackbird and there awesome vegan dishes.)


The reason that I like Daiya cheese the best over other vegan cheeses is that my experience with other brands has been sub-par. Other vegan cheeses may have a good flavor but do not melt well, or they may melt well but do not have any flavor. Daiya cheese has figured out exactly how to make a delicious flavored cheese that also melts great into your cooking.

My favorite aspect of Daiya cheese is that it melts just like regular cheese and the flavor tastes so gooey and fantastic. Daiya offers three delicious flavors of shredded cheeses;cheddar, mozzarella, and pepper jack. I have used all three of these flavors and they are great. I ususally opt for the shredded cheddar flavor and have used it to make lasagna, macaroni and cheese and pizzas. Daiya also recently started offering cheese wedges that are available in cheddar, jack, and jalapeno garlic havarti. I so far have only tried the cheddar wedge and made a delicious grilled cheese sandwich on cinnamon raisin Ezekial bread.

Besides being vegan Daiya is also certified kosher by the OU.

Daiya also has a fantatisc website that has a blog, social media and a ton of great receipes provided by the site and visitors.

Andre Kroecher and Greg Blake are the founders of Daiya and have stated that they got the name for their product from the Sanskrit, Dayaa which means "loving, kindness and compassion" which are the values that Daiya was founded on.

I wish the company continued success and hope to see more great kosher vegan products from them in the future.