The last couple of weeks have been madness for me. I slacked off on the food photography a bit because I was too busy/rushed/preoccupied/forgetful, but I do have a few meals to share with you. Some of them date back a couple of weeks, which is why this is a "semi-recent" eats post.
Chickpea Noodle Soup (unfortunately watered down because I didn't realize how low I was on vegetable broth. Still decent, though.)
I had a coupon to try a free WayFare oat-based "cheese" product and picked up the Mexican-style spread to use in nachos. It's reminiscent of Play Food (cashew-based cheese sauce that was made and distributed just in the Kansas City area for a limited time). Though not as good as Play Food, this was still a nice addition to nachos.
It reads, "It Melts!" on the container, which I thought was strange, because it's already a spread. Then I glopped it on top of nachos before sticking the whole pan in the oven and why, yes, it really does melt!
I needed a fast dinner one night and decided to give this little carton of soup a whirl.
It has a beautiful color!
However, just a few bites in and I was done. I'm not sure what it was about it, but a few spoonfuls was more than enough for me. It is cashew-based, so it's kind of rich. The flavors are great, but overwhelming (for me) in large doses.
I finally tried a Tofurky pizza! I went with the fire roasted vegetable variety.
It tastes very much like a frozen pizza, especially the vegetables. The crust was pretty bland and I felt the pizza was too light on the sauce (I'm a saucy kind of gal). Otherwise, it was a decent pizza. I think in the future, should I decide to get another one, I'd get a plain "cheese" one and top it myself with fresher, better ingredients.
I had read a few reviews of Mary's Gone Crackers around the blogosphere, so when I saw them on sale at a nearby health food store, I decided to give them a whirl. (And I also happened to have some "smoked cheddar" variety of WayFare spreads.)
I picked up the "original" flavor of crackers (seemed like a good place to start). The crackers are wheat-free and gluten-free, with ingredients including brown rice, whole quinoa, flax seeds, and sesame seeds.
The crackers are very thin and crispy. They just barely held up to the WayFare spread. I could taste every single grain that was used in the cracker, which was pretty cool. No weird fillers -- you can taste it all! I wouldn't pay full price for these, but if they're on sale, I would certainly be inclined to purchase them again.
I hate coffee. The only thing I'll order at a coffee shop, typically, is an iced soy chai tea (and it has to be iced because I always burn my tongue on coffee shop hot beverages. I'm such a wimp). Anyway, those things are expensive, and I prefer to keep some chai concentrate on hand and make my own. I gave this brand a try and found it overwhelmingly clove-y. If you really like the taste of cloves, this would be the brand for you. It gave me a bit of a flashback of the clove cigarettes of my high school years. Blech.
While house- and dog-sitting over the holidays, I made a big batch of black bean-veggie stew. I'm very pleased with how it came out.
I kind of hate corn, but it was included in an otherwise-awesome blend of veggies from Publix, so I made an exception.
Some Mary's Gone Crackers went well with this, too.
The new year is around the corner and this year, I am determined to make something with black-eye peas "for luck," since I've never done that before. Hopefully I can find the time and energy to make it happen. If I do, you'll see it here!
You used it for nachos. You are brilliant. I have a tub in the fridge and now I need to make nachos with it.
ReplyDeleteGreat roundup! I've been enjoying some of the same products recently, including the Mary's crackers and Pacific soup. And I agree, buy the crackers on sale and that soup is oddly filling. I'm not brave enough to try the Tofurky pizza, I just don't think I'd like it that much. thanks for sharing your reviews :)
ReplyDeleteso far i haven't been able to find those wayfare spreads here, but i'm gonna keep looking. those nachos look so good! happy new year to you!
ReplyDeleteI'm so interested in trying that cheese spread now. I did like the Tofurky pizza, but it wasn't as amazing as I'd hoped it would be. I always like to dip frozen pizza (like Amy's) into extra pasta (marinara, whatever) sauce. I think it makes it much better.
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