WIAW #33: Whole Foods Edition

Hey WIAW friends! Wow, it's been ages since I've done a WIAW. 
All I can say is that it's great to be back! 
To be totally honest, I kind of forgot about the blog, and I was busy doing a million other things: job searching, volunteering at church, reading, hanging out with friends...blogging slipped my mind for a while. On top of that, my dad had an unexpected quadruple bypass surgery a couple weeks ago. Although that was kinda nuts, I'm definitely inspired now more than ever to live and eat healthfully. But now I'm back and ready to dive back into the blogging world! 

This week, I'm gonna share some of my favorite finds from Whole Foods today. I found a lot of really great stuff, and I'm highly impressed with Daiya & Earth Balance for all the new products they put out this year. I was overwhelmed and wanted to try everything!

Let's start with these: Hail Merry Miracle Tarts! They have the chocolate almond butter and Persian lime flavors. I've been wanting to try these for years, but my Whole Foods never carried them before. How AWESOME that they finally carry them and I get to taste them! I'll let you know my verdict when I actually dig in to this scrumptious looking thing. I'll probably love it, because I love anything lime flavored.

Cashew butter! One of my favorites. And I love that it's in a squeezable pack.

I LOVE JUSTIN'S PEANUT BUTTER CUPS. Their dark chocolate is my favorite, but this white chocolate variety is seasonal, so why not try it?! I can't wait.

So, I tried the So Delicious greek coconut milk yogurt a while ago and wasn't a huge fan, but now they have greek almond milk yogurt! I'm pumped to try it. Also, the strawberry banana yogurt was new to me!

I love Tofurkey. And it was WAY cheaper than regular chicken sausage, which is what I was originally looking to buy. It's healthier for you, too.

I think the new EB packaging is stellar! I love that they are all square containers now instead of circular tubs. I usually buy the whipped variety, but I thought I'd try to new Omega-3 variety this time around. 

Aren't these nifty? They are like fruit leather, but this is VEGETABLE leather! Never heard of it before, but I'm curious to see what they taste like.

I also bought some Earth Balance mayo and miscellaneous other groceries. I'm ready to get back to a largely vegan diet, minus some occasional dairy and meat. The healthier the better - I never want to go through the surgery that my dad went through! 

That's all for now, loves. Talk to you soon!

21 Days of Giveaways: Earth Balance

First thing's first - congratulations to the winner of a 6 month subscription of Spork Online - Alex @ The Run Within You rock! Email me you address so I can get those coupons mailed out to you!

Today's giveaway comes from another of my all time favorite companies - Earth Balance! About a year ago, I was featured as their Member of the Month on Made Just Right (the Earth Balance community) and won a year's supply of Earth Balance.  My Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Bars were also featured on their website. How awesome is that?!

I love this company because they are just so friendly. Every time I have emailed or communicated with them, they have been nothing but pleasant. They also give out free coupons like water on Made Just Right - so I recommend checking the community out :)

Today's winner will receive TWO coupons for FREE Earth Balance - anything they want! That includes their spreads, nut butters, non-dairy milks, mayos....anything from their huge selection of products. Everything they make is vegan. Definitely worth entering, right? :)

Here's how to enter for your chance to win...just a leave a separate comment below for each entry. Thanks!

MANDATORY: Follow Passing Daisies and Earth Balance on Twitter and tweet the following: "Hey @cityxlights13 and @Earth_Balance, I want to win free Earth Balance coupons! Enter today! http://bit.ly/nQkq1N #21daysofgiveaways"

Want more chances to win? Who doesn't? Here are more ways to enter: 

1. Subscribe to Passing Daisies. If you subscribe, you get three extra entries!

2. Tell me something you would like to see more of on Passing Daisies. Recipes? Reviews? Workouts? Anything?

3. Be creative and write me a snazzy poem or song for my birthday. Bonus points if you make a YouTube video and sing it to me! :) I will feature your songs/poems on the blog if you do this! 

4. Follow me on Blogger.

5. Pin this post on Pinterest and mention PassingDaisies.net in the description.


THIS GIVEAWAY ENDS TONIGHT AT 11:59PM EST.

That's it! Side note - don't forget to like us on our newly updated Facebook, if you don't already. Thanks kiddos and good luck! The winner will be posted tomorrow morning, along with the next giveaway!

Much love, 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Let me preface this recipe by telling you that it is EXTREMELY. Extremely. Good. I loved them, and I know you will too! Now, here is the bad thing: they are a bit time consuming, but if you are willing to have patience, they will turn out extremely well. They also use a LOT of Earth Balance. Oops. But super tasty!

You can garnish yours with vegan white chocolate chips and red sugar like I did (get festive for Christmas!) or simply garnish by sprinkling mini chocolate chips on the top!

We'll add some vintage flare to that picture!!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes
Based on this recipe.
Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
3 sticks Earth Balance Buttery Spread (1 1/2 cups), at room temperature
1½ cups light brown sugar
4 flax eggs (4 T. ground flax + 8 T. water)
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup almond milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips 

For the filling:
4 Tablespoons (1/4 cup) Earth Balance Buttery Spread, at room temperature
6 Tablespoons light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
7 ounces vegan sweetened condensed milk 
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

For the frosting:
3 sticks Earth Balance Buttery Spread (1 1/2 cups), at room temperature
¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
3½ cups powdered sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons almond milk
2½ teaspoons vanilla extract

For decoration:
Mini chocolate chips, vegan white chocolate chips, colored sugar...whatever you want!

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° degrees. Line cupcake pan with 24 liners. 

In a large bowl, combine the butter and brown sugar. Beat together until creamy. Add the flax eggs and beat until combined.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir together to blend. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Blend in the vanilla. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.

Fill cupcake liner about 2/3 of the way full with batter. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to finish cooling.

To make the filling, combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the mixture has firmed up a bit, about a half hour.

To fill the cupcakes, cut a small hole out of the center of each cupcake. Fill each hole with a chunk of the chilled cookie dough mixture.

To make the frosting, beat together the butter and brown sugar until creamy. Mix in the powdered sugar until smooth. Beat in the flour and salt. Mix in the almond milk and vanilla extract until smooth and well blended.

To assemble, simply top each cupcake after it has been filled with the icing. SO DELICIOUS!

What's your favorite way to use cookie dough?
Much love, 

GIVEAWAY: Earth Balance MindfulMayo!

Hello lovelies! How is everyone today?!

Welcome to some exciting news... my very FIRST giveaway!!

A coupon for FREE Earth Balance MindfulMayo!

Yep, that's right....one lucky reader will receive a coupon to try out some EB MindfulMayo, my review of which you can read by clicking HERE.

Here's what you need to do to win!

MANDATORY ENTRY: Leave a comment telling me what ideas you have for the site, and what you want to see more of. Personal stories? More college-related posts? Recipes? Gluten-free? Sugar-free? Health information? Anything at all! :)
EXTRA ENTRIES (please leave a comment for each thing you do!): 
1. Follow me on twitter (@cityxlights13)
2. Like Passing Daisies on Facebook 
3. Follow me on Tumblr
4. RT this on Twitter: "@cityxlights13 Passing Daisies is having a #giveaway for FREE @Earth_Balance MindfulMayo! Yummy - I want some!! http://bit.ly/nQkq1N"
5. Subscribe to me on email (see the right hand column for this)
6. Follow me on Blogger (see right hand column for this as well)

You have until WEDNESDAY AUGUST 3RD at 11:00pm to enter!! I will then randomly select one winner and announce it on Thursday, right here! So... get entering!

Much love,

Product Review: Earth Balance MindfulMayo

Hey! Remember a while ago, when I posted this blog post complaining about how much I loathe vegan mayo?

Well, no more. I've found a vegan mayo that I actually like and enjoy. Woah.

"I think I've found the first vegan mayo that doesn't taste like crap," I told my mom.

I'm not gonna lie, I was so nervous to taste this. I really was. After trying Vegenaise and Nasoya and thinking they both taste like fake soy products, I was weary of trying this one. After all, I was testing this mayo on one of my favorite childhood dinners: tomato sandwiches.

The recipe is quite simple: tomatoes sprinkled with salt and pepper, mayo, and toasted bread. To me, the mayo really made this sandwich. I knew it was good when the juices of the tomatoes mixed with the mayo and it oozed everywhere when you took a bite.

So... yes. I was scared.

I opened the jar of Earth Balance Organic MindfulMayo. I stared at it.
It looks like mayo. 
I smelled it.
It smells like mayo.

I dipped my knife in the mayo and walked around with it in my hand while I put my gluten free bread (which, BTW - it's really hard to find good GF bread that isn't hard as a rock. See below for the bread I found that is soft and delicious!) in the toaster. I stared at the knife. I had to taste it.

I licked the knife. Just a little bit.
It tastes like...mayo?


It did!!! I was sooooo excited. I can't even tell you how happy I am to have found this product.

Earth Balance Mindful Mayo comes in three different flavors: Olive Oil, Organic, and Original. Although I've only tried the organic, I can only imagine that the other two would be just as tasty. It can be purchased only at Whole Foods, which is also where EB Coconut Spread can be found! 

Yes, it's a bit pricey - I believe the organic was around $4.99, while the other two flavors were a bit cheaper. And you do get less than you would if you bought Vegenaise. 

But it's totally worth it. This tastes SO MUCH BETTER than Vegenaise could ever taste. It's got this really nice lemon flavor to it. I think it would be great for making "egg" salad, on sandwiches, making dips, ranch dressing, and anything else you can think of. 

So, if you hated vegan mayo like I did I encourage you to give this a try. You just might like it!

The Daisy Rating:

5/5 daisies!

Much love, 

Product Review: Earth Balance Coconut Spread

I heard the door leading upstairs shut. That meant Stuart would be in my room any moment telling me to get out of bed. It was 10:30am... I didn't have to work today, and I wanted SLEEP.

"Wake up!" he said as he sat down next to me on my bed.
I groaned in response.
"Get up. I have to leave for work in a couple hours and I want to spend time with you."
I groaned again. Clearly, I'm not a morning person.
I rolled over and we talked for a few minutes about things I really don't remember at all, because I'm not really sure of what I do or say when I'm extremely tired.
I do remember Stuart picking up a small book on the floor called "Cooking with Coconut."

"I'm going to look through this," he said.
It was a book sent to me by Earth Balance, containing recipes that use their new Coconut Spread. It also contained coupons to use when purchasing this spread.
Lucky for me, Earth Balance agreed to send me some coupons for FREE Coconut Spread and their new MindfulMayo, so I could try them out and let you all know what I thought of them! And they sent me a little wooden knife to use too!
Yay for free food and free promotions :)

Eventually I did manage to get out of bed, go to the bathroom, brush my teeth. The usual.
By the time I got to the kitchen, I knew what I wanted to do to try out that coconut spread.
"Do you want pancakes?" I asked Stuart.
"You mean made with that coconut stuff?"
I nod my head.
"Sure."

I got to work right away, and soon I had a plate of fluffy pancakes ready to be eaten. Cinnamon Coconut Pancakes, to be exact (recipe to come soon).

They were DELICIOUS.
There was just a HINT of coconut flavor, and the cinnamon really made it.
Really, this spread is great!
You can use it in baking or just spread it on bread. It's a lot easier to spread than Earth Balance margarine/buttery sticks, and it even tastes better too, I think, if you don't mind a hint of coconut flavor on things. It's delicious.
I also tried it plain on toast, which was just as good.

Later in the day I tried this spread inside something else: Coconut Kissed Peanut Butter Banana Cookies.
Oh boy. These were delicious too. (Recipe coming soon as well!)
The coconut was a very subtle flavor, but so good. I used this spread to replace the EB margarine in this recipe, and I think it was a good decision on my part.

Overall, this Coconut Spread by Earth Balance is a GREAT new product and you should try it!

Want to learn about the benefits of coconut butter and coconut oil? Click here to read what I wrote about it!

The Daisy Rating:

4.5/5 daisies!

Much love,