Product Review: Chez Marie Veggie Patties

One thing that most people can agree on it that burgers are as American as apple pie. So what can you do to get your burger on if you are vegan with food allergies? There is a new burger option at selected Sprouts stores: Chez Marie veggie patties.

Chez Marie offers 5 different flavors, 3 of which are vegan, gluten free*, corn-free and soy free. Each package contains 4-2.5 oz patties for about $4.99 each. Best of all, they are Non-GMO certified. (Take that bio-tech monsters!!!). I love that the bags are completely recyclable and biodegradable. It makes my environmental sensibilities very joyful indeed.

I tried out all three versions on my non-veg crowd. My sister got a brand spanking new Weber gas grill for her birthday. I am happy to report, I got to christen it with these veggie burgers. First I cooked up all three flavors and served them naked. I wanted the burger flavor and texture to come through.

My personal favorite was the Hearty Hemp Seed. It had a pleasant savory flavor that I knew would pair well with any toppings that it was adorned with. There was no prominent spice, just a nice savory flavor. These may be better cooked on the stove top with a bit more oil. As predicted, it was really nice with traditional toppings like Daiya cheddar, tomato, lettuce, pickles, onions, ketchup and mustard. This patty has 5 grams of protein and only 3.5 grams of fat.

My hubby liked the Spicy Bean burger. I have to mention that my friend's daughter, who is not a burger fan at all, liked the flavor of this one as well. We ended up serving this one with some roasted green chile. Some veggie burgers turn into mush on the bun. These patties held their shape and texture nicely. The Spicy Bean has 7 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber.

The least favorite for our crew was the Wholesome Harvest. There was something a little off balance with the flavor. To me the rosemary gave it an odd flavor profile.

The patties on their own were a bit dry and gummy. I suspect the dryness has something to do with grilling (and the low fat content). If you have food allergies or are just trying to avoid gluten, corn, dairy or soy, these convenient patties are a great healthy option. You can pull them out of the freezer for a quick lunch or dinner and feel good about avoiding GMO's and adding more to our landfills.

 *One word of caution for those who are celiac - the packaging says these are made in a facility that processes other food containing wheat.

The kind folks at Chez Marie sent me some vouchers to give away to two lucky readers! Check their website to see if Chez Marie Veggie patties are available in your area. I'm giving away 2 sets of two vouchers. So two of you lucky folks get a chance to win 8 yummy patties! Leave a comment on this post about something about what you love about veggie patties by midnight MST on Friday, October 18th. The 2 winners will be randomly selected on Saturday, October 19th, 2013. Good Luck!!!

The winner is #1 TerryPDX! Now I promised a second winner, but with the other two commenters permission, I'd like to send them each one certificate. Send me your mailing addresses to vegintraining at g mail dot com and I will get them sent out to you!!

Sorry about the delay in posting the winner. I had a mental-pause moment and totally forgot to draw the winner.

Vitacost - Product and Website Review

Vitamin supplements can be very expensive. Last year I was searching the internet trying to find lower prices for my calcium supplement and multivitamins. In my search I came across the Vitacost website. I was thrilled to find they not only carried the brands I use, but they were significantly less expensive than where I was purchasing them, like $5.00 per bottle less!

I wanted to just test the water to start off with as I had not heard of this company before. It was very easy to navigate their website. The products are organized into different "departments". The site also has a very handy side bar of search criteria to narrow down your search. If you know the exact name of  the product you are looking form there is a search box at the top. I love being able to find things easily, so they were quickly winning me over. The free shipping for orders over $49.00 was the deal closer. What did I have to lose? I was saving money and not paying for shipping. Win/win. My order came within a week. The vitamins bottles were well packed and fully intact when they arrived. They were the exact same product that I had been paying much more for (and I was very happy to see they weren't past their expiration date). 

At first I just ordered supplements from them. Then I started looking around their website and discovered they carried a whole load of other products I used and some interesting ones that I hadn't tried. I now order all of my 7th Generation cleaning products, Eden Organic Beans (about $.30 less per can than retail) and other vegan products from them. Fred has been giving me a hard time about making the postal workers lives miserable by ordering so many heavy products at one time. I am going to try and mix it up, but I just love shopping there, so it's hard to stop.

The folks at Vitacost contacted me recently and asked me to test a couple of their new vegan products. Already being a loyal customer, I said I'd be happy to do it. The first product I tried out was a super seed cereal called TeeChai produced by Santa Barbara Super Seeds, Inc. ($8.99 for 10.6 oz package). It's gluten free, kosher, and nutrient dense with a good dose of Omega 3's from the chia and flax. Each serving boasts 6 grams of fiber and 6 grams of protein. It's a super quick and easy way to get a healthy start to your day. It is convenient for work too. All you have to do it add 1/2 cup of hot water to 1/3 cup of the cereal mix and wait about a minute or two. The flavor I tried was blueberry date. On its own, I found it to be a tad bitter. I added about a tablespoon of vanilla soy yogurt and a little bit of chopped apple and it was really yummy! I also tried it with almond milk (pictured below) with tasty results. I tried it out on my co-workers too. They gave it a thumbs-up. I'm ordering more of both flavors today for our upcoming clean eating challenge.

The next product they sent was Vitacare whitening gum. This is no regular gum. One serving (2 pieces) provide 20% of the RDA of vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin D and Vitamin E. There is even 2% of the RDA of calcium. It's a cool way to get some extra nutrients.

I'm not really a big gum chewer, so I enlisted Fred's help on this one. He chews gum often. We tried the Cool Mint Freshness flavor with Chia Mint (vegan). It starts off with a big minty bang of flavor. Fred mentioned that the flavor didn't last a super long time, but the flavor was good. I found it lasted as long as other gums of this size. The texture of the gum is good too.

This product contains xylitol, of which I am not a big fan. While it's base comes from corn (possibly GMO corn), it is a man-made chemically produced product. It can be fatal to doggies too. The gum also contains titanium dioxide. This ingredient has been classified as possibly carcinogenic to humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. There is no conclusive evidence that it causes cancer, but as a breast cancer survivor, I tend to avoid anything that is even a suspected carcinogen. I'd personally rather stick to my non-gum chewing ways.

I wanted to make sure to mention Vitacost's great prices on one of my personal favorite lines of personal care products: Aubrey Organics. I have been using their shampoos, conditioners and moisturizers for years. They have over 150 vegan products. Many of their products are also certified organic as well. I used to pay about $10 retail for a bottle of my favorite shampoo (Honeysuckle Rose, which also happens to be vegan!). Vitacost sells it for only $6.99. That's a huge difference!

I love to save money and I've been able to save a LOT shopping at Vitacost, plus the stuff shows up right at my door! I know the holidays probably emptied a lot of your wallets and you're probably looking forward to your own fiscal recovery. Take a look around Vitacost's website. I'm betting you will find great prices on things you use all of the time.

Exciting news!!! The folks at Vitacost are letting me give away $25.00 worth of free products! All you have to do to be eligible to win is post a comment about a product you use that you can get for less at Vitacost by midnight MST on Monday, January 7th. Winner will be drawn randomly on Tuesday, January 8th. A discount code will be sent to the winner. Anyone is eligible! Here is the fine print:

one time use

code does not roll over

does not include shipping

expires in 6 months

Product Review - Doctor Hummus Spinach Artichoke Dip

I have been a regular at our local farmers market for quite some time now. There are lots of vendors selling fresh fruits and veggies, organically raised fish, meats and lots of other non-vegan specialty food items. It seemed that finding vegan friendly boutique foods was a bit of a challenge. I always love to support individual vegan friendly businesses. Doctor Hummus is based right in Tempe, AZ. It doesn't get much more local than that for us. I read that the owner will be opening a restaurant called Wild Flavors (also in Tempe) this summer. I am hoping there will be lots of vegan options. I had visited Doctor Hummus' booth many times. They do have some delicious vegan hummus. One day I noticed they had this creamy Spinach Artichoke Dip.

Not often running across such vegan specialties, I thought I should bring some home and give it a try. I sliced up some crusty bread and got to eating. The dip is very rich and creamy. I thought the texture was great. It had a few nice chunks of artichoke and a good amount of spinach. What it did not have, however, was a lot of flavor. Something just seemed to be missing. I was very surprised as their hummus varieties have great flavor. I added chopped roasted red pepper and that seemed to help with the flavor. I might have added some more lemon and salt as well. I think that might have brought it up to a good flavor level.

The final verdict: the quality of the product is very good. The packaging was very nice. The texture was excellent.  The flavor was a bit lacking. For me, I found the $7.00 cost for 8 oz. a bit high. It did inspire me to make my own artichoke dip. For about the same cost, I was able to make 3 times the amount. If you needed a vegan dip, that is not hummus, in a pinch this would be a good option.


Where to find Doctor Hummus Vegan Spinach Artichoke Dip: Local farmers markets, Whole Foods, New Frontiers and AJ's Markets. 


Cost: $7.00 for 8 oz. container

MOFO - Day 26 - Product Review - Tofurkey Frozen Pizzas

The past couple of days have been jam packed full as I am sure they have been for everyone. I did not have even an hour to whip something up today, so I am going to do a product review of the new Tofurkey Pizza's. I bought 3 varieties and we have tried two of them so far: the cheese and the roasted vegetable. While I much rather make my own pizza's, these work pretty nicely in a pinch. I fed these to my mom and sister who are not vegetarian. Fred and I also tried them. While we all thought they were pretty tasty, my omnis didn't really think the cheese was very close to the real deal. I have to admit, on a cheese only pizza, Daiya is not nearly amazing as it is when it is used as more of an accent than a main attraction. We all very much liked the roasted veggie pizza. The veggies are chopped very small, I'd love to see them a bit larger so they are more distinctive. The sauce is a bit bland, but sprinkle of oregano and crushed red pepper livens it up quite a bit. We all agreed we'd eat the roasted veggie one again.

The cheese variety would need some doctoring to make it to the plate. All in all, I think these are a fine fall back when life gets really busy. It's nice to have a good vegan option in a frozen pizza. Tofurkey brand is the best vegan frozen pizza I've tried yet. I'll be keeping at least one on hand for those busy days.

Oh and so I don't stray from the chile theme, we topped half of the cheese pizza with jalapenos. Yum!

MOFO - Day 23 - Product Review Tacupeto Chips and Salsa

I have to be honest with you, I am a bit of a salsa snob. Not that I think mine is the best or anything like that, but I find many jarred salsas sub-par at best. Every once in a while I stumble across one that is truly worthy of a place in my fridge. I was pleasantly surprised to find just such a salsa in the refrigerated section at Whole Paycheck. The salsa is so fresh tasting. It has just the right amount of roasted, smoky goodness I crave in a salsa. The tomato goodness makes you feel like it was just a tomato in a garden recently.

Several weeks earlier I found a new love that has certainly made my pants fit just a little more snuggly, because yes, dear readers, I am a tortilla chip scarfer from way back. Again, most commercially produced chips leave me wondering why I'm eating them (not that I stop). Enter Tacupeto corn chips. Oh my beautiful crunchy triangles of corny joy, I am both thrilled and horrified to have found you. Thrilled because your texture and flavor make me want to eat a whole bag of you in one sitting. Horrified because my ever expanding posterior really didn't need the new addition. Tacupeto is based out of Encinas, CA. The only ingredients in the chips are corn, soy bean oil and salt. The easy to read and understand ingredient list with no artificial ingredients has added to my bliss. If you can find this brand, check it out. It will make your mouth so happy!

Product Review - Uptons Natural Seitan and Smoked Cheddar Style Sheese

Before I delve in to the review I just wanted to shoot out a couple of reminders. Don't forget about the Men Who Cook 2010 Challenge and Giveaway. Men can show off their mad kitchen skillz and get a chance to win the most awesome American Vegan Kitchen cookbook by Tami Noyes from Vegan Appetite! Entries must be submitted before September 8th. Click here for contest details and get those boyz cookin'!

Also coming up is the next Food Network Friday Challenge. This week we're taking on Tyler Florence in honor of the new FN show The Great Food Truck Race. Each of us will put our spin on his Double Dipped Fried Chicken recipe. It's a lot of fun, so I hope you can join in. Do your thing with the recipe and post a link at Vegan Appetite or e-mail Tami with your creation.

While I was visiting in Chicago in July I had the pleasure of meeting up with Liz from Cooking the Vegan Books and Tami from Vegan Appetite. We had great fun talking food, partaking in adult beverages, and enjoying the city together. The only complaint I have as that our time together was too short. Liz was kind enough to bring me some Sheese products all the way from the UK. Sheese makes some amazing tasting vegan cheese products. I had tried the blue cheese variety when I visited Portland last year and really liked it. Sadly, I left Liz's gift at my mom's house when I retured to AZ. My neice just happened to visit a couple of weeks ago and brought the Sheese back for me. Yay for awesome neices!

So finally I get my goods. Sheese freezes and travels quite nicely by the way. It is actually produced by a company out of Scottland called Bute Island Foods. I have yet to find it here in the Phoenix area, but you can order it online. The company has a really nice website that gives you information on where you can find their product in the U.S. Last night I opened the Smoked Cheddar flavor. It has a nice smoky smell. The texture is nice and firm and wonderful for grating. Grate it I did. I also tasted it before cooking it. The texture will not fool you into believing it is dairy cheeses, but it did not offend like some other brands. We thought it tasted more like smoked Gouda than Cheddar...which for me is a big plus. I love that Gouda flavor. I made a chorizo and cheddar quesadilla. I have to say it didn't melt really well, but no matter, it was really tasty on the quesadilla. Just a word of warning: if you are looking for the ooey gooey melty texture you will be disappointed. If you are looking for a yummy tasting alternative to cheese, this is it.

Also featured in last night's quesadilla is a product I had never heard of: Upton's Natural Chorizo Style Seitan. Upton's is based in Chicago. They boast all natural seitan products that are all vegan and low soy. Their products can be found in several states, but sadly not AZ. However, they do sell their products online through Vegan Essentials. I chose the chorizo style seitan. I used to love the spices and flavors or chorizo (both Mexican and Spanish style). The texture of Upton's chorizo was much like that of ground beef. It was closer to Mexican style than Spanish style, but it was much drier than the chorizo I've had in the past. This is not necessarily a bad thing depending on how you use it. I think it would work quite well in burritos or enchiladas. The spice mix is a little weak for my taste, but if you are a little leary of a lot of spice and heat, this might be just the product for you. It is very easy and convenient to use. It crumbles very nicely. I love the fact that it is truly a natural product and made in my kinda town.

Here you can see the cheeze is not very melty, but it was oh so tasty

When you put both products together, you get a quick and tasty snack or meal. I added a bit of chopped onion and jalapeno and called it dinner. I try not to use processed food too often, but I would use both of these products again. I do hope to see these products here in the future. I liked them both better than a couple of other products we have in the valley.

For those of you who are not vegan or are just starting to embark in meat/dairy substitutes, always keep in mind these products are not meant to be identical to their animal derived counterparts. You must enjoy them for what they do offer and that is tasty flavors and interesting textures.

Tofu Dog Wars - Who's is Best?

Last week I had a bunch of teen agers coming over for a party. I was trying to find an easy way to feed this army of boys. Of course hot dogs came to mind. They can be cooked on the grill quickly (an important feature in 100+ AZ weather). The trick for me was that all the neighborhood kids know that I do not eat meat, which makes their noses crinkle quite often. So I wanted to make the veggie dog experience fun. In the spirit of adventure I devised a blind taste test of three brand of tofu dogs to see which one meat eaters preferred.

My local Whole Foods had three different brands (pictured above). All the dogs were cooked on an outdoor grill. They were cut into bite sized pieces for all to try naked (the dogs, not the peeps). This may not have been the best option, because hot dogs really need the fixings to taste good in my opinion. But who am I to say? I never really liked hot dogs of the meaty variety all that much either. But that could be because I found out how they were made at a rather tender young age. 

I'm not sure if it was bias on my testers' part because they knew they were veggie dogs or if the results were truly accurate. No one really cared too much for any of the selections. I had a rather large plate of hot dogs left over, which with 10 hungry teen aged boys is not a good sign. There was a clear winner amonth the three. The Yves Jumbo dogs recieved the most votes by a great majority. They had the most realistic texture and the best flavor overall. Fred likes to have some quick protien available for busy days. I do buy him tofu dogs on occassion. After this test, he will be getting Yves from now on.

 The Tofurkey dogs were the loser with only one vote. Most of the crowd thought the flavor, color and texture of the Tofurkey dogs was odd and gross. No one really commented on the Litelife Smart Dogs.

So what have we learned from all of this? Don't let your neighbor kids know you don't eat meat before serving them hot dogs. Do not serve tofu pups naked. If you are going to enjoy a pre-packaged tube steak, try Yves Jumbo dogs. Don't forget the brat relish from American Vegan Kitchen. That stuff will make any dog taste like a million!