Natural Products Expo East Part 1

 

I attended Natural Products Expo East in Baltimore a couple of weeks ago. It was my first time going and I had a great time! I am pretty overwhelmed. I got A LOT of samples and I'm going to try to review as much as possible. Currently everything is in a full suitcase, full bag and some in my fridge. I decided that first I'm going to post photos of the items I got to try at the expo, but that I wasn't able to take home, as well as some samples I didn't get to try, but ones I am looking forward to coming out!

First up:

 

Oh so good! Actually, all their products were really tasty! Here's another:

 really good! I also tried a black bean strudel, which was also yummy. Sadly for me and other East Coasters, they're products are currently only on the west coast. Please bring them here!!

Next we have:

 

Sloppy joe in a taco..I also tried the artichoke one, and they were both AMAZING. so tasty. I could have stood there and had sample after sample. The artichoke burger is made from artichokes, cashews and brown rice. The sloppy joe is made from seitan and the griller burger which I didn't try, is also made from seitan. They are Ohio based and also, sadly not here yet. Please come to the East Coast!!!

I've seen this in whole foods, but had never tried it prior. They had little cups with one or two of each fry and I loved them all. (broccoli, chickpea, and carrot)

 

Wildwood (don't think I've ever bought their tofu, is it any good?) made some Chocolate Mousse, so creamy and yummy

I would have posted a photo of the actual burger but they were giving out samples with their burger on non vegan dressing and so they just gave me the burger with no dressing & it didn't look pretty, however both the nut burgers and nut balls tasted really good. Made from cashews, brown rice, sunflower seeds and spices, they were very tasty.  However, they too, are based in CA and not available here yet :( sensing a pattern...

 

Coming soon! Sambazon acai bowls! While, I make my own acai bowls, this is a great alternative if you're on the go!

 

 

I chatted with owner, Dionne, for quite some time and she was so sweet! She told me the idea for the tea pops came from her sons.  One son, doesn't eat sugar and likes tea and the other son suggested making tea popsicles.  How cute! I tried both the coconut and the mango and loved both, especially the coconut.  They are low in sugar and tasty! She told me she has gotten them into over 100 stores in a year. Sadly, I checked and they are not yet in stores in New York, but they are sold in Wegmens on the East Coast, so hopefully they will make it to NYC soon! 

New product alert! Cookie Dough by Hampton Creek who brought us Just Mayo.  It was yummy and they had cookies as you can see, which they told me they used their cookie dough to make them, and they were all so soft and perfect. or at least the 2 I tried were :)

Another new product alert! I usually buy my quinoa and quinoa pasta from Ancient Harvest & while I didn't get a chance to sample these (they weren't sampling them the times I passed by), I am super excited for these to hit the shelves so I can try them!

 

From Berlin! I tried 2 of them..the mint and I'm not sure which other..but they were both really good! Sadly, not available in the US yet, but he did tell me you can order from their website

 Another new pasta! Didn't get to try this, but they told me it's sold at Eataly! So I'll have to pick it up one day to try

That's all for now, but I will try to write some reviews for actual products I got to take home, as well as tried there very soon! Stay tuned!

Favorite places in Berlin

Berlin is one of the most vegan friendly cities in the world.  According to Happy Cow, there are about 30 all vegan restaurants in Berlin.  There are more vegetarian ones & countless are veg friendly[if not, almost all]. Almost everywhere has vegan options clearly marked[I even noticed in some supermarkets things in the bakery, as well as on the shelf, were clearly marked with the word "vegan"]  Even most ice cream shops offer several soy flavors.  There's also the popular vegan grocery store Veganz, which has 2 locations in Berlin & I visited them several times.(as well as the location in Hamburg)

Now, on to the actual restaurants & food! Here are my top places, in no particular order:

Let it Be, as the sign says is an all vegan creperie, selling both sweet and savory crepes.

This is only part of the menu. They also have both a German & an English menu. As you can see, the names of the items are vegan celebrities, the whole menu is designed this way.

 

this cute guy was behind us! 

Shortly after ordering, they gave us free mini muffins! They were corn muffins, my friend thought they were dry, but I thought they were tasty! I was a fan! & how nice of them to give them to us!

It was hard to decide what to get! So many things sounded really good! & I kept trying to decided if I wanted savory or sweet.  I kept going back and forth, but since I rarely get the sweet option these days when I eat, I figured, I'm on vacation! So Why not?  & so, I went with the Alicia Silverstone : Chocolate Cream & Banana.  It was delicious! & not too sweet!

how cute are those plastic hearts to hold the bread together! (I'm sure there's an actual name for this..but can't think of it haha)

This was the dish I was trying to decide between, the Johnny Marr: caramalized tofu, apples, walnuts, greens and chutney.  I tried a piece and really liked it! I was thinking of getting it to go but after the meal I was so full, I couldn't think about food. [I do regret this, as it was really good and would have loved to have a whole sandwich of it)

Close up!

My other friend got the Mike Tyson burger, which I remember it being BBQ Chicken & not sure what else was in it, but he was a fan!

Then! I couldn't believe it! They brought over this:

 

More free food! I'm not exactly sure why they gave it to us..said something about having extra? not sure..After my sweet crepe, I couldn't eat too much of this! but of course, I did have a few bites. It was tasty but I was sweetened out!

Anyways, I highly recommend this place. We all liked it & I'd definitely go back.

Next up!

Sfizy Veg is an all vegan pizza place! Since we do have some vegan pizza options in NYC, I didn't feel the need to run to it, and wound up going here on my last night.  Well, had I gone earlier in my trip,  I would have definitely come back. The menu is huge! probably 20 pages! All in German, but luckily, since I was with Germans, they helped me out.  They had a page for salads, several pages for pizza pies, one page for slices, one for calzones, there were pastas & more.

Unfortunately, it was dark & so my photos of the food didn't come out well :( so I will just tell you about them (I know, not as exciting as photos!)  I went for the pie with cheese & spinach and broccoli & it was amazing.  In Germany, there's a ton of vegan cheeses, & I have no idea which one they used, but it was delicious & the style was like old school pizza. So good.  My friend got the..well I'm not sure what it was called, but it was a mix of Mexican Food & Italian Food..I remember there was marinara sauce, but there was also guacamole, there was cheese, maybe beans.  When she told me she ordered that, I was a bit scared that it was going to be awful, but, surprisingly, it was AMAZING and I would definitely order it.

Here's some photos of the inside

 

How cute!

 Oh & a heads up, it's cash only.

Next we have

  This place was SO cute! Look at all the pink!

& before I go on, I must show the beautiful dessert case

 Oh La La specializes in French desserts, but they also have food.  On the weekend, they have an ALL YOU CAN EAT VEGAN BRUNCH! (turns out several restaurants in Berlin offer this, but sadly I didn't make it to them :(  [Kopps, Mia Matto, Cafe Morgenrot, Viasko..& there are probably other places I'm not aware of]

Oh La La's all you can eat brunch, I believe was 12 euros, that is considered on the pricier side of things, though it didn't seem like a lot to me!  There was a mix of both sweet & savory:

I want those bowls! So pretty.

Pineapple Coconut Smoothie! So delicious

                                       these were yummy, filled with different beans and corn

I took more photos but they didn't come out too clearly unfortunately and my regular camera battery had died.  Other things that they had were the most amazing strawberry mousse crumble, I went back to get it several times & it was the first thing they ran out, the other most amazing thing was this vanilla cream dish with almonds , I'm not even sure what it was, but it was heavenly.  Other items were various salads, one that I enjoyed had tempeh in it, there was a gazpacho soup, a risotto, some tofu dishes.  Definitely lots to choose from.

After I finished eating & chatting with the people at my table, it was time to figure out what to have for dessert. I was so full, so I had to take it to go.  It was very hard to decide but the woman working helped me telling me what their specialties are and what you can and can't find elsewhere.

I went with:

 Indiana - Peanut Butter

Igloo's- Chocolate with coconut cream

I had both several hours later while at the park & they were both delicious. I think I liked the peanut butter one more but loved both! &surprisingly they were both not overly sweet!

This seems to be their image, if it was on a shirt I would have probably bought it.

The last two places that I'm going to mention are actually in Hamburg. I went there for the day.

My first stop there was Eisbande, which I actually found out about randomly on Instagram!

   [Eis is Ice Cream]

This place was super cute & the woman working was very helpful, and translated things for me, as everything was written in German. I sampled several flavors, but in the end went with Vanilla & Snickers!

I love how this looks! You can't go wrong with a heart wafer! There's also strawberry sauce and those little bits are hazelnuts. SO delicious! I wish i had more time to come by for more later in the day.

For lunch I went to HappenPappen. I randomly picked this place from the list of vegan places on HappyCow and I'm glad I did, because not only was the food probably my favorite from my trip so far (went there on maybe my 4th day) but the people working there were so nice.

Red lentil balls with sweet potato mash. This also came with a side salad which had THE most amazing dressing, which the woman told me they make in house, it was a mix of mango and passion fruit if I'm remembering correctly [note to self: take notes next time! I'm not sure why I thought I'd remember everything!].

The red lentil balls were so tasty, really loved it.  For dessert I had the blueberry pie. I know it may look a little odd, but I can assure you, it was delicious!

I would definitely recommend this place. Yummy food, super nice staff & they have vegan books for sale too.

Before I go though, here's a photo of some of the things I bought at Veganz, as well as some from the local supermarket. Favorites were the Vego, Dame Blanche, Shortcake cookie, Nougat bar, Amore Milo wafer, the Twibio, and the Teegeback cookies...why did I bother saying favorites? all of it was pretty amazing!!! & I still have a fridge filled with some of these! Trying to make them last!

 

Macaron Ice Cream Sandwiches & more!

Woahh! I was recently in my favorite ice cream shop ever (516 East 6th Street between Ave A & Ave B) and saw there were now macaron ice cream sandwiches!

I love Sweet Maresa's macarons, they're so good and addictive.  I found out about them from the monthly vegan shop up's at Pine Box.  I've never had a non vegan macaron(not to be confused with the coconut macaroons, they're two completely different things, macarons are a French pastry), so I have nothing to compare it to, but I love them.  Love the taste and texture.  Maresa is so sweet & she always has different macarons to choose from.  My favorites are the almond, pistachio or fruity ones.When I found out she was pairing up with my favorite ice cream for an ice cream sandwich, I was beyond excited! Two of my favorite things together? What could be better?

A staff member at the ice cream shop recommended the lemon macaron which came with strawberry ice cream(always a favorite), and it definitely did not disappoint!! It was so good!

Other new items include ice cream bars!

 

thanks My Vegan Gut for the photo

On the left is pistachio and the right is mint chip.  [Both bars are the same size, it's just the way the photo was taken]   I loved the pistachio and I tried a little of my friends mint chip and liked that as well, I had also previously tried the vanilla and loved that too.  There is also a peanut butter one.  Aside from these, there are now rice krispy ice cream sandwiches using Sweet & Sara rice krispy treats, and regular ice cream cookie sandwiches using Gone Pie's cookies!  & that's aside from all the delicious ice cream!

So go on, head to the best ice cream shop ever[currently has no name in case you were confused] and try a macaron ice cream sandwich, ice cream bar or just plain ice cream for yourself!

I was recently in Berlin, so stay tuned for some restaurant & food reviews from there!

Snacks

I know it's been a while! Hi again! I took a summer class for about 5 or 6 weeks and that kind of took over my life! However, I didn't stop eating! & so I have been saving wrappers & things that I have been wanting to write about!  This entry is going to be dedicated to snacks..not sure what else to call it.  I definitely prefer to eat actual foods, but sometimes if you're in a rush, it's nice to have a snack!

We'll start with the first items:

I spotted these at Commodities (health food store) and thought they sounded interesting! I had never seen them anywhere else, and still have yet to see them anywhere else.   It's hard to see, but in the bottom right hand corners it says "Energy Balls", so that also made me interested!  I loved both of them! I think I liked the almond butter slightly more, but they were both really good & I'd get both again.  There are also almonds in the Spirulina Ginseng ones, so they both kind of taste like marzipan! They are a mixture of soft and chewy.   They are both 170 calories and 80 calories from fat. I don't love that they have agave in them .  I try to avoid agave.  This is a good post about why agave is bad.  Not sure I would run to get them, but I would get these again though. They were very yummy.

omg this is SO GOOD! I discovered this at Juice Generation. I actually don't think I've seen them elsewhere.  The first time I had one..now I unfortunately can't remember which one it was! It was awful so I must have blocked it from my memory! I went back shortly after and asked the woman working "do people like these?" and she recommended the cocoa crunch..I hesitantly bought it..and I am glad I did, because it's SO good!  I love products that have rice crisps in them, I love the crunchyness of them. All their bars are vegan and gluten free. This bar has 12g of protein! 200 calories and 80 calories from fat. It's a great pre or post workout bar & they don't use any refined sugar.  It's sweetened with coconut nectar. Yum Yum Yum. Read more about them & where to buy them on their website.  They donate some of their profit to the non profit Not for Sale which helps to fight against human trafficking.

Lara Bar came out with protein bars! I've just recently discovered these.  Have seen them at Commodities & Westerly.  On their website, they show 6 protein bars, but I haven't seen the other varieties yet. These are both really good, and also really filling!   They use pea protein for their protein source, and these have 10g of protein them. I always liked Lara Bars because they have such few ingredients.  These do have slightly more, but not a lot compared with most bars! (only 8 ingredients!) On the wrapper, it says "1 bar= 1/4 cup of fruit" I think I like the chocolate chip macaroon more, but they're both really good!

Aside from  Lara Bar coming out with protein bars, they have also come out with granola! I actually can't remember where I got this! I'll have to keep my eyes open. I liked the handy single serving bag it came in, and only 5g of sugar! (Granola often seems to have lots of sugar added!) This is made of almonds, sunflower seeds, coconut, pumpkin seeds, cocoa nibs, cashews and cocoa powder are the main ingredients.  I had half in a smoothie bowl and half in some coconut yogurt. It was delicious! If I can find it, I'll definitely buy it again!

I had previously posted about the Chia Bars, but they have just came out with 2 new flavors!! I was excited when I saw them in Whole Foods!  The mango one is good, but I don't think I will get it again.  I think I prefer my mango plain, and not in things.  Oddly, I don't like eating cherries but I love cherries in things, and cherries and chocolate together? So good! I loved the dark chocolate cherry bar & have already gotten it again since getting it the first time.  I love these bars!

Really Goods , gotta love the title "raw fruit and nut thing" at least, I did.  Found this at Green Symphony a store/salad bar/juice bar/hot bar etc. in Times Square.  I occasionally work in Times Square, so I love coming here sometimes to get some healthy food or snack before work. Raw, gluten free, refined sugar free.. made of walnuts, bananas,  pecans, macadamia nuts, coconut, raisins, and sweetened with coconut nectar.  170 calories, 12g of fat. Crunchy and really tasty! I checked the website and it doesn't even list it as being sold in New York, I'll have to check if it's still at Green Symphony! I'd definitely recommend it.

 I was really excited about trying this! I love lemon poppy & liked that there were no "bad" ingredients in it, then when I took it out of the package to see its shaped in a heart..look how cute it is!! I was even more excited. Sadly, it was not "the Great Tasting Energy Bar".  It was SO dry! I took a couple of bites and then gave it to my mom, who wasn't a fan either.  If you see it, skip it.







Lastly [for now], Rave Bites.

These are SO good!! Found them at Westerly. All natural ingredients: dates, cashews, sesame seeds, coconut, raisins, chia seeds, cocoa butter and orange extract.  That's all, 8 ingredients. No added sugars. 5 pieces are 120 calories and 60 from fat, so it's not too bad.  They are so delicious! They have several other flavors, I'd like to try the others, but these were so good, I bought a second bag after I was done.  Super healthy delicious snack!