Whether you are vegetarian, vegan, or just trying to add more produce to your meals, plant-based meal planning seems to be a here-to-stay trend, and I think it’s a good one. There are no diets that are perfect for everyone, so I like the term ‘plant based’ to acknowledge there are many ways to look at eating more plants than animals in general. According to Blue Zones studies, the people who live the longest and are healthiest in their long lives are pescatarians, and even at that, they are not rigidly so. Flexibility, open-minded-ness, and intuition will take you much farther in terms of optimal health than any strict diet rules. (Unless you need to avoid something for allergy purposes of course. That’s always a hard and fast rule.) The most recent sample box from New Hope Influencer Co-op had some great veggie options to make plant-based eating easy and interesting. Here are some of the foods my family and I sampled:
Elma Farms POSHI marinated vegetable snacks are delicious. The bags say that you can snack on them right out of the bag, which we did, or use them on pizza, salad, or pasta, which I will try in the future. I’ll definitely be buying more of these to send in my son’s lunches and to use at home for easy veggie additions to meals. The packaging is beautiful too. Loved these.
My sons and their friends greatly enjoyed R.W. Garcia Co’s organic Bar-B-Q corn chips. The whole bag was gone in one play date with four teen boys chowing down. I never knew my kids even liked Bar-B-Q flavored chips so that was good to find out. I definitely appreciate the fact they are organic.
If you are a potato lover, you will definitely want to check out these potatoes from The Little Potato Company. The ones we tried were Garlic and Parsley flavored and quite good. It’s an interesting idea that I hadn’t seen before~ whole potatoes packaged with a seasoning pack that just gets added once the potatoes are cooked in the microwave for 5 minutes. We added olive oil too, as the package suggests butter or oil can indeed be added with the seasoning packet. Talk about a quick, filling, easy veggie meal!
This dairy-free ‘cheddar’ snack from Ancient inGRAINed Snack Co called Ka-pop tasted to me like a real cheddar popped cracker. It will definitely get any vegan or dairy intolerant person through a cheesy cracker craving! They are thick and substantial too, so it isn’t like you are eating air like some popped snacks. This is actually a filling dairy-free cheddar tasting snack.
Jenny’s Gourmet Foods has this pressed ‘salad bar‘ which is more like fruit leather than a bar, but I like the play on words that they did there. My son ate this and gave me a corner of one (there are two strips in the package) and we both liked it. Because of the texture it really reminded us of fruit leather except it isn’t sweet at all. It is also more substantial than fruit leather and my son called it ‘filling’, and with the exceptional ingredients in it, that’s a good way to get filled up.
Seeds of Change makes these Quinoa and Brown Rice packs that are an easy way to get your whole grains into a meal. You can add steamed or roasted veggies to the grains, or throw the grains on top of fresh greens to make a hearty salad bowl. This one with garlic is tasty and I love the ease of these, especially for summer grain bowl meals. These would also be a great choice to take camping or for other travels this summer.
We haven’t tried these gluten-free pita breads yet from BFree foods, but I am very excited to do so. If you have been eating gluten-free for a while, you have no doubt already noticed a lack of pita bread or naan out there. I tried BFree products while in Dublin and thought they were great, and in fact mentioned them in my 2017 blog post on Dublin, about how I was hoping I’d find them here at some point. I am so excited they are available in the U.S. now and that they have the rare, illusive, gluten-free pita! This is a much needed addition to our world.
Serenity Tea Sips sent along a lovely combination of Bergamot and Jasmine tea complete with black and green teas, rose buds, mallow and jasmine blossoms, and flavoring which I assume is the bergamot. This is a loose leaf tea and it smells wonderful. As soon as I’m finished with my current container of matcha, I’ll be sipping this tea in the afternoons for a pick me up with a dose of calm energy, thanks to the rose buds, mallow, and jasmine. Calm energy is the best kind for stamina, focus, and feeling good. People often associate calm with tiredness, but calm is the frame of mind that allows for optimal thinking, decision-making, focus, and long term stamina.
I’ll share the supplements from the sample box next time. Thank you for reading and I hope you found something new to try.