Vegan Review: Muir Glen Organic and MorningStar BBQ Riblets

As everyone knows, fresh, home-cooked food is healthiest. However, if you're like most people you are often too busy to cook, so sometimes it's nice to have things like frozen dinners on hand. I have recently tried two new vegan quick-fix meals: Muir Glen Organic Southwest Black Bean Soup and MorningStar Hickory BBQ riblets.

 Muir Glen Soup:
I really liked the flavor of this one. It has some of my favorite vegetables like beans, onions, and peppers. It was spicy but not too hot, at least in my opinion. Since it contains beans, the soup is a fairly good source of protein and only has 130 calories. The bad thing about it is that it's full of sodium (680mg). That being said, as long as you're not on a sodium restricted diet and don't eat foods like this regularly, it isn't all that bad. The best thing about the soup is that it requires no preparation, you simply heat up and eat. Muir Glen Organics makes two other vegan soups (lentil and tomato basil) and all of them are clearly marked vegan on the front of the label. I always like it when I don't have to read ingredients! I'm glad that I got two cans because I definitely plan to enjoy this soup again in the future. If you want to purchase the soup, you can find a store locator at www.muirglen.com

MorningStar Hickory BBQ Riblets:

When I first became a vegetarian, I really liked MorningStar products and ate them quite a bit. Unfortunately, only four of their meals are vegan (and only two of those meals are available at stores near me). The other day I was looking in the veggie meals section of the frozen foods and saw the Hickory BBQ Riblets. I hadn't seen these before, so I decided to take a look at the ingredients. I was very pleasantly surprised to see the words "100% vegan" at the bottom of the nutrition label. I loved BBQ when I ate meat, so I decided to give these a try. I am very glad that I did because they are DELICIOUS! Even my omnivore mother said that they smelled delicious and she wished she could try one (she has a soy allergy). If you're looking to introduce BBQ meat lovers to vegan food, I'd highly recommend these "riblets". I doubt that they'll even notice that they are meatless unless you tell them! I look forward to eating these riblets again.

FYI: The other MorningStar Vegan Meals are Vegan Veggie Burgers, Sweet 'n Sour Chick'n, and Vegan Chick'n Meal Starters. You can see if they are available in your area via the store locator at http://www.morningstarfarms.com
Anyway, those are the reviews of my latest vegan culinary adventures. Talk to you again soon!

A Word of Caution About Kellogg's Products and Good News About Yankee Candles!

I'm not much of a cereal eater, but I do enjoy a bowl once in a while. Growing up, I really liked Kellogg's Raisin Bran cereal. So last week I decided to e-mail Kellogg's and see if it was vegan. Here is the reply I received:

Sarah,

 

Thank you for your recent email regarding the vitamins in Kellogg's Raisin Bran® cereal, we are happy to provide the following information.

 

The vitamin premixes used in Kellogg products include Vitamin D. Our ingredient specification for Vitamin D says that we can use either Vitamin D2 or D3 in our products. Vitamin D3 is derived from lanolin, a waxy substance secreted from the skin of wool bearing animals. Vitamin D2 is not animal-derived. In either case, the vitamin premix is Kosher certified.

 

Unfortunately with this product we cannot say specifically which Vitamin D is used in the product. I apologize!

 

To determine if a product will fit into your specific dietary preferences, please visit www.kelloggs.com. Please let us know if we can assist you further by calling 1-800-962-1413.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Nikki Weitnauer

Consumer Specialist

Consumer Affairs

Needless to say, I was disappointed to hear this. If you know of any other raisin bran type cereal that is vegan, please leave a comment and let me know.

On the flip side, I also received good news about Yankee Candles. As anyone who knows me could tell you, I LOVE scented candles. I usually make my own, but I do occasionally buy one and the ones I buy are usually Yankee.  They always look beautiful and come in scents that I cannot make at home. I even went to their flagship store in Williamsburg Va. about two years ago, which was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, some brands of candles are not vegan. I sent an e-mail to Yankee to inquire about their wax, and this is the e-mail that I received in reply:

 

Dear Sarah,

 

Thank you for being a valued Yankee Candle guest and taking time to write us with your product questions.

 

Our candles are not animal tested.  And do not contain any animal or insect ingredients.  They are made with a food grade paraffin wax.  I hope this information is helpful. 

 

If we can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.

 

Sincerely,

Anna B.

Customer Loyalty Team
Yankee Candle Co.
1-877-803-6890

I was extremely HAPPY to get this e-mail. So while I have to give up one old favorite, I get to keep the other. Overall, I am pleased with that.

Beautiful Healthy 71 year old vegan

When your friends and family question whether or not being a vegan is healthy, show them this video! She looks AMAZING!

An Unpleasant Suprise (IMPORTANT WARNING TO VEGANS)!

Today I had a very unpleasant experience. I should start by saying that I LOVE peanuts. They are delicious and a great source of protein. Today I was eating some Planters Dry Roasted Peanuts. As I was munching on them, I decided to take a look at the ingredients just out of curiosity. That's when one word jumped out at me: GELATIN! Yes, they put something derived from dead animal bones in PEANUTS! I immediately googled "Planters vegan" and found several vegan message board postings discussing the issue. Most of those people were just as surprised as I was. You would expect gelatin to show up in things like candies, but many of us just assumed that all nuts were vegan.This really pissed me off because I used to like Planters products. Now I'm considering boycotting them.

I guess we vegans can never assume that any pre-packaged food is safe (unless it is from a company that we know is 100% vegan) no matter what it is. Just so you know, I was not the one that purchased the nuts, but now I've learned my lesson and will check the label before I eat anything.

I sent an e-mail to Planters telling them how disappointed I was. You can do so as well by clicking here: Contact Planters

Have a great day guys and remember to always read the label!

How survive being damned to vegan hell (aka how to survive a trip to Cracker Barrel).

If you've ever been on a road trip (especially in the South) you've more than likely eaten in, or have at least seen a Cracker Barrel Restaurant/store. They are everywhere! For those of you who haven't been in one, Cracker Barrel is part store and part restaurant. When you first walk in, you'll see the store, which is set up to look like a little mom and pop country store. They sell candy, toys, jewelry, candle, soap, clothes, ect. I must admit, I love to shop in the store. They sell some unique and beautiful things. Cracker Barrel is also generally a safe and clean place to stop and take a bathroom break on the road, so they do have some positive things going for them. The back half is the restaurant. This is where things get very tricky for us vegans. Almost everything on the menu has milk, butter, or meat in it. The really scary part is that if you read the fine print on the menu, it says this:

 "We want to make sure you know that some of our offerings, like turnip greens, green beans, corn muffins, hashbrown casserole and pinto beans, are made the old-fashioned way using meat seasonings and are not strictly vegetarian. Please ask your server about any particular dish if you have any questions. " (emphasis mine) Click here to see this statement for yourself. Yeah, you read that right. Now you can see why I call this place vegan hell!

Unfortunately, I am the only vegan in a family of omnivores and Cracker Barrel is my mom's favorite restaurant. So occasionally I get roped into going there. On Monday my mom, dad, and I went to Cracker Barrel for dinner to celebrate her birthday. We asked the server if they had anything vegan on the menu. The server checked with the kitchen and they said that the only vegan options that they had to offer were a salad, plain applesauce, baked potato, steamed carrots, and corn. I was hoping to get oatmeal, but they only offer that until 10:30 am. I ended up getting the salad,applesauce, carrots, and corn. They were pretty good, but I later found out that the carrots and corn are made with margarine (which may or may not be vegan). Needless to say I left the restaurant fairly hungry.

If you find yourself on the road with your omni family who are insisting on eating at Cracker Barrel, I suggest you take a look at this website . It's called Vegan Eating Out and they have posted an E-mail from Cracker Barrel outlining which items are vegan and which are vegetarian. As you can see, the options are limited.

Overall, if you are a vegan on the road and you need a safe place to take a break, then Cracker Barrel is great. But I'd highly advise avoiding the food if possible (unless you really want oatmeal or a plain potato).

Vegan iPhone apps review

I recently got an iPod Touch and I love it! I love the fact that it can store all my music and browse the Web much faster and easier than my Blackberry phone (I definitely understand why many people are trading in their Blackberrys for iPhones and Androids. I plan to do so as soon as I can). When I finally managed to take my eyes off of "Angry Birds" (that game is damn addicting!) I found 4 sweet vegan apps that are 100% FREE! Here they are:

21 Day Vegan KickStart:
This app is great for new vegans. It gives you a full meal plan including breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner for 21 days. It also gives you the recipe for each dish that requires one and gives full nutritional info. While I have yet to try any of the recipes, it looks like it'll be a very handy app to have.

VeganYumYum:
This app provides a ton of recipes from the blog of the same name. No need to bring a written grocery list to the store anymore! Just tap the screen and you're ready to shop!

Cruelty-Free:
Part of CaringConsumer.com's Leaping Bunny program, this app provides a list of companies that have pledged not to use animal testing in their products or ingredients. While this list is not inclusive of all cruelty-free companies, it's a great resource for shoppers.

PETA:
The PETA app provides you with all of their current action alerts. With this app you can send an email expressing your displeasure to the offending company with a single tap. You can also let your friends know about the problem via  Facebook or Twitter post without leaving the app. It's not the best app out there, but it's free and informative.

What is your favorite vegan/vegetarian iPhone app? Please share it with us in the comment section. I love learning about useful apps!