sweet summer trail mix recipe

Im back! today is the first full day of summer vacation for me, And what better thing to have in the car on a summer vacation road trip than trail mix?
For a while now i have been looking for a good tasting trail mix that is vegan. And pretty much all of the vegan ones i could find are just full of nuts and dried fruit (i like cereal and chocolate in mine personally) So i just decided to make my own.

 Here is the recipe i use:
1/3 cup shelled pistacios
1/4 cup  dried cranberries
1 Bag of Crispy green crispy fruit apples
1/2 cup cinnamon toast crunch cereal
1/2 cup corn chex cereal
3 TBS enjoy life mini chocolate chips

Its pretty easy, just put the ingredients in a container or plastic bag, shake it and done,

sweet summer trail mix recipe

Im back! Also today happens to be the first day of summer, and the first day of summer vacation for me, And what better thing to have in the car on a road trip than trail mix?
For a while now i have been looking for a good tasting trail mix that is vegan. And pretty much all of the vegan ones i could find are just full of nuts and dried fruit (i like cereal and chocolate in mine personally) So i just decided to make my own.

 Here is the recipe i use:
1/3 cup shelled pistacios
1/4 cup  dried cranberries
1 Bag of Crispy green crispy fruit apples
1/2 cup cinnamon toast crunch cereal
1/2 cup corn chex cereal
3 TBS enjoy life mini chocolate chips

Its pretty easy, just put the ingredients in a container or plastic bag, shake it and done,

Im still here!

School ends the 23, until then im not going to be blogging. (i may post a draft i already wrote though) I have been studying my ass off the past few weeks. But on the 24 or 25 i will write my first post of the summer, and i also will be posting a few times a week (i'll try to do it atleast once a week, it depends on how many new things i have to try.)

Anyways, i need to get to school, but i'll be back later this month! bye for now!

Review: Rowntree's jelly tots

Where do i start, hmm, ok, i'll start here; So my mothers boss was raised in England, but when she was old enough (i honestly don't know when, i really don't know that much about her) she for some reason moved to usa. I really dont know why someone would actually want to move from a great country, to a lame country, well at least to the state im in, this place should really win the "most boring place on earth" award. Omg i could write a whole post about how boring this country is, but im supposed to be writing a review on jelly tots. SO ANYWAYS... My moms boss travels there for about two weeks twice a year. The first few years (when i was vegetarian) she brought me British smarties (as some of you know, are more like m&m's rathter than the vegan sugar tablets us Americans are used to.) But the last few years (ironically, the first 2 years i was vegan) she stopped getting them for me. But then this year she asked my mom if i wanted anything while she was there, so i went to peta uk's website and looked at the list of all the vegan sweets and candies and just chose whatever my cursor landed on,

2 weeks later...

My moms boss is back and my mom brought them home so i could start reviewing.

NOW ONTO THE REVIEW

The first thing i notice is that the package is made of a grocery bag like plastic, but a little thicker.

Then i noticed that they are made with no artificial colors or flavors (and by the packages picture, they look just as bright as american gummies)

So i open the bag and a burst of fruity scent hits me. The actual jelly tots were about the size of the tip of your finger. And the taste? You could ACTUALLY taste the real fruit flavor, and they didn't taste like that toxic artificial flavor crap.
These things tasted so much better than any american gummy i have ever tasted. Omfg, WAKE UP AMERICANS!! UK MAKES THEIR CANDY WITH NO ARTIFICIAL COLORS OR FLAVORS AND ACTUALLY TASTE BETTER THAN AMERICAN CANDY!!!

Now the candy tasted good, but i think it said there were 11 grams of sugar per serving and that there were 8 servings in the whole bag! And i think  most people will eat the whole bag (including me) so i will lower the final rating A LITTLE

So since they are so far the best vegan gummy candy out there but has 88g of sugar per bag, i will have to rate jelly tots 8 stars

***************************FINAL RATING - 8 STARS*******************************

omg, sorry again.

As most of you know, im only a teenager, and also that april until the middle of june is the time of the school year where you have endless tests.

But don't worry, i'm not abandoning the blog

I have been studying like crazy, but i'm still going to try to post something every other week.
But when summer comes, i'll be back and writing posts a few times a week. 

Sorry! 

OH YEAH, ONE MORE THING, i'll be posing a review this weekend (;

A vegan breakfast sandwich with legendary "the vegan egg"

Finally, after 2 weeks of waiting, I finally got my hands on follow your hears vegan egg!!! And what better way to use the vegan egg than to make a vegan breakfast sandwich?

I prepared the vegan egg as it says on the package (mix 2 table spoons of the vegan egg powder with a half cup of ice cold water) And cooked it according to the package, but i also put mine in an egg ring so it would fit on the mini bagel.

At the same time i also was cooking up some light life smart bacon to put on the sandwich as well, i have already had it before, and my rating for it would be 9 stars, and the flavor is salty, "meaty", and just plain bacon-y!

Then right before the vegan egg was done, i put my mini bagel in the toaster (MOST (not all) Thomas bagels are vegan, i used the original plain mini bagels.

Then the bagel, the veggie bacon, and the vegan egg were done. I spread about a half teaspoon of earth balance original margarine on each half of the bagel. I put it together and boom! Now for the best part, the taste testing,

When i took my first bite, i couldn't believe how good it was, The vegan egg tasted like a scrambled chicken egg (without the cruelty!)!!! It tasted like a breakfast sandwich from my childhood (i cant believe when i was 5 i thought that dunkin donuts made the best breakfast sandwich). Now i understand why amazon kept selling out of it! But i wasnt about to give up looking for it! i searched and searched, and i finally found a store that was selling it! (THANK YOU RABBIT FOOD GROCERY STORE!!) I was worried that i was going to have waited 2 weeks for nothing, but honestly, $20 ($7 for the vegan egg, about $10 for th shipping to where i live,) is totally worth it. I just cant wait for whole foods to start selling this, You would think with how popular it is that all whole foods stores would have it by now.

Whoa i'm getting off track, here are my final thoughts

This vegan breakfast sandwich with follow your hearts vegan egg, is so good that you will ask whom ever to bury you in this (and earth balances vegan mac and cheese) when you die, Yes, its that good.

The flavor and texture completely represents an egg, if not better! That is why i rate Follow your heart's vegan egg AND the breakfast sandwich i made 10 stars

****************************FINAL RATING - 10 STARS*****************************

one more second......

I have a a few "big" posts coming in the next week and a half. if you have a problem, please tell UPS to hurry up with my packages already. Thanks!!

Sorry! i've had a cold the past week!

Sorry i haven't been posting lately! Im just getting over a cold and will be back to blogging in a week or two, Thanks for being loyal to my blog! Also try to share it with your friends and such!

Thanks!

Chocolate week ; Day 5; Cocoa puffs (with stars) REVIEW

I have known this stiff since i was old enough to understand commercials. But it never looked tasty compared to all the other cereals at the store (eg lucky charms, cinnamon toast crunch etc) Also i never liked cereal with milk so i never got to experience how it turns the milk "chocolaty"

The variety i got was "with stars" even though i doubt they taste any different than regular cocoa puffs. But since it's a special edition, the front of the box of course is different that the regular package. On the front of the package it shows the weird bird mascot (i have no idea what his name is, let me Google it, one sec)

Google; What is the cocoa puffs bird name
"Sonny the Cuckoo Bird. Sonny the Cuckoo Bird is the cartoon mascot for Cocoa Puffs, a General Mills-produced cereal. He often appears in its television commercials."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonny_the_Cuckoo_Bird

Ok, so his name is Sonny. So the package shows Sonny in a rocket ship staring at an explosion of cocoa 
puffs (with stars) in milk. It also mentions "orbiting earth for a limited time". Awh, i like the star shape. 
Anyways, onto the review.

Not much to say about opening the box and bag, they just look like... cocoa puffs (with stars, lol).

I ate about a cup of them with about a half cup of silk very vanilla. And wow, i cant believe i hated cereal with milk when i was a kid. Well maybe its because personally soy milk is thicker and has more flavor than cows milk (i drank soy milk even before i went vegan, so i compared them a long time ago.) These were great. But speaking of soy milk...

The soymilk at the bottom of the bowl wasn't as chocolaty as they describe it in the commercials and on the box, but it was still good.

So since the chocolate soy milk could have tasted better, but the cereal was still delicious, i'd have to rate cocoa puffs (with stars) 7 stars

********************************RATING - 7 STARS********************************

Chocolate week; Day 4; Lindt EXCELLENCE 85% cocoa - extra dark; REVIEW

before I was vegan, i probably was one of the only people to say that i didn't like lindts lindor truffles. I really didn't see the difference of them and hershey kisses (well, besides the shape). But today i felt a little adventurous so i spent 4 dollars on Lindt excellence 85% cocoa chocolate bar.

the front of the package is pretty basic. It has a picture of the chocolate, and a description, Nothing new.

When i opened the package the chocolate was wrapped in foil like almost all "specialty" chocolates are. Also there were little "lindts" all over the foil (similar to the green and blacks).

   

When i opened the foil the chocolate was very thin. about as thick as my iphone (about 4 mm) and the squares were big (about 1.3x1.3 in). When i took my first bite (as well as my last) i got a shock of bitterness. it had no flavor what so ever. i had to eat a whole bowl of earth balance mac and cheese just to erase the flavor a little, its still in my mouth and i have eaten the whole box of Earth balance mac and cheese, 2 bottles of water, and even 3 hand fulls of trix just to erase it a little!
I cant believe i gave their chocolate another chance, so unless you love bitter stuff, this so called "chocolate" is not for you.

i give them credit for making a vegan chocolate. But like anything i try, i always give at least one star to any food item i review because the company made an effort to make the product. But the rest of the stars are for flavor, and this "chocolate" has absolutely no flavor except bitter

that is why my rating for Lindt EXCELLENCE 85% cocoa - extra dark chocolate bar if only 1 star.

I think the manufacturers of this "chocolate" need to go back to 2nd grade to learn what chocolate, and excellence is.

*********************************RATING-1 STAR*********************************

Chocolate week; Day 3; Endangered species 72% dark chocolate bar REVIEW

for a while i have been skeptical on trying this, i really don't know why, but a week ago it was on sale so my mom let me get it and i actually tried it.

When i first look at the package i notice that there is a monkey on the front. Then i read it more and realized that they donate 10% of their profits to help preserve endangered species! If only i knew before then i would have gotten this ages ago.

But the package doesn't just end there. When i opened it up i noticed there were tons of facts about chimpanzees (the endangered specie on the package of the one i got) on the other side of the wrapper. (haha! now i'll have an excuse to eat chocolate if i have a project on chimpanzees, lol).

The chocolate was wrapped in foil like most "fancy" chocolates are. I noticed the chocolate squares have little engravings of bamboo stalks on them, clever!

when i tasted the chocolate i was surprised. it tasted like an aero bar without the bubbles! Actually even a little less bitter (id say it tastes more like a 65% dark chocolate bar than a 72%.) I
 can't believe i have been missing out on this! and the fact that its organic, non gmo, donates money to save animals, and obviously vegan, i'd have to rate this chocolate bar 10 stars.


*******************************RATING - 10 STARS*******************************

))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))) I WILL ADD PICTURES TOMORROW!!(((((((((((((((((((((((((((

Chocolate week; Day 2; Choco Nono's milk like chocolatey candies (veganM&Ms) REVIEW

For atleast a few months i have wanted to try these, but like most foods i want to try, i wait a month then see if i still want to. So more than a month passed and suddenly it was valentines day, so i used that as an excuse to order these (its $9.95 for a 3 pack on amazon) And now i finally got to try them!

So the package shows them as balls of milk-less chocolate covered in a colorful sugar coating, Basically vegan M&Ms. Also they mention that they are milk, gluten, nut, and egg free. also it states that they contain "no artificial colors or flavors". and that they are "vegan approved". Well i hope those vegans weren't wrong.

when i opened the package i noticed that they were brightly colored, Unlike most naturally dyed candy. Also they ere actually almost perfect balls. hmm

(they look brighter in real life, but for some reason they came out like this on my camera)

When i tried the first one i suddenly was struck with a sugary taste, but then slowly the chocolate flavor over came it. they were easy to bite into, thin crisp shell, almost just like an M&M. Premium Chocolatiers did an amazing job veganizing and "natural-afying" M&Ms. So since it has to be the best vegan milk chocolate i have ever tasted, i have to rate Choco Nonos 9 stars

**********************************RATING-9 STARS*******************************

Chocolate week; Day 1; Green & black's organic Dark chocolate 70% cocoabar REVIEW

So for a few weeks now i have been at the store with my mom shopping, and every time i went down the chocolate isle i have wanted this. But i never actually got it, until just the other day.

the package states "Made with fine Trinitario cacao beans for an intense taste" But honestly i really don't see the difference, whatever.

when i first opened the paper i noticed it was in a gold wrapping, interesting.

when i took a bite, it was strange. it tasted more sour and bitter with a hint of chocolate taste than an actual chocolate bar. Usually i eat a whole serving of anything before i review it, but this was honestly too gross to even eat more than 2 squares.

So my rating for Green & blacks 70% cocoa chocolate bar would be 3 stars. Because it tastes gross, but still has a hint of chocolate taste.



********************************RATING - 3 STARS********************************

All Vegan cereals list (well almost all.)

I was bored, so i decided to see what common cereals were vegan. I was surprised to see how many popular cereals were vegan, check it out!: (eh hem, please respect the fact that it took me 2 hours to gather all of this information and i had to go to each brands site and read the ingredients one by one, so please, cut me some slack if i missed a few, although i don't think i did.) I ONLY GATHERED CEREALS FROM THE BIGGEST CEREAL COMPANIES (general mills, kelloggs, quaker, and MOMs) I did not do the smaller/ organic ones because usually they are easy to figure out whether they are vegan or not, also there are just too many sites for a 13 year old to go to.

All bran Buds

All bran Complete Wheat flakes

All bran Original

Alpha Bits

Apple Jacks

Apple cinnamon cheerios

Apple cinnamon chex

Banana nut cheerios

Berry berry kix

Bran flakes

Cap’n Crunch

Cap’n Crunch Crunch berries

Cap’n Crunch Peanut butter Crunch

Cheerios

Chocolate chex

Chocolate toast crunch

Cinnabon Cereal

Cinnamon burst cheerios

Cinnamon chex

Cinnamon toast crunch

Cocoa krispies

Cocoa pebbles

Cocoa puffs

Cookie crisp

Corn chex

Cracklin Oat bran

Crispix

Dora the explorer stars

Dulce de leche cheerios

Fiber one original

Fiber one raisin bran clusters

Froot loops

Froot loops Bloopers

Frosted cheerios

Frosted krispies

Frosted toast crunch

Fruity cheerios

Fruity pebbles

Good Morenings Waffle crunch

Grape nuts

Ice cream pebbles

Jif Cereal

Jif PB&j Strawberry cereal

Kellogg’s Corn Pops

Kellogg’s Corn flakes

Kellogg’s Frosted flakes

Kellogg’s Frosted flakes ChocoZucaritas

Kellogg’s Mini wheats UNFROSTED

Kellogg’s Raisin bran

Kellogg’s Raisin bran Omega-3

Kellogg’s Raisin bran with Cranberries

King Vitaman

Kix

Life Cinnamon

Life Maple brown sugar

Life cereal Original

Malt-O meal Apple zings

Malt-O meal Berry Colossal crunch

Malt-O meal Cinnamon toasters

Malt-O meal Coco roos

Malt-O meal Cocoa Dyno-bites

Malt-O meal Colossal crunch

Malt-O meal Corn bursts

Malt-O meal Corn flakes

Malt-O meal Crispy rice

Malt-O meal Frosted flakes

Malt-O meal Fruity Dyno-bites

Malt-O meal Peanut butter Colossal crunch

Malt-O meal Peanut butter cups

Malt-O meal Raisin bran

Malt-O meal Raisin bran clusters

Malt-O meal Scooters

Mom brands Shrek Ogre O's
Mueslix

Multi grain cheerios

Multi grain cheerios peanut butter

Opp’s! All Berries!

Post Raisin bran

Post Shredded wheat Original big biscuit

Post Shredded wheat Original spoon size

Post Shredded wheat Spoon size Wheat'n bran

Product 19,Quaker Corn bran Crunch

Quaker Oatmeal squares Brown sugar

Quaker Oatmeal squares Cinnamon

Quaker Oatmeal squares Golden maple

Quaker Puffed Rice
Quaker Puffed Wheat

Quaker Toasted Oat bran

Quisp

Reese’s puffs

Rice chex

Rice krispies

Special K Chocolate almond

Special K Cinnamon pecan

Special K Protein

Special K Red berries

Special K Vanilla almond

Sponge bob square pants fruity splash

Sprinkles cookie crisp

Total

Total Raisin bran

Trix

Vanilla chex

Waffle crisp

Wheat chex

Wheaties

Apple jacks, Cap'n crunch, Cinnamon toast crunch, Trix... I've gotta start eating cereal for breakfast again. (what was i thinking when i stopped!)

NEXT WEEK IS CHOCOLATE WEEK

Every day for the whole week starting This Friday, i will be reviewing all different vegan chocolates every day for seven days. Why? because for some reason for the past week i have tried all these different vegan chocolates, and i thought "might as well review them all!" so that is why i have declared that next week will be chocolate week. (ah, if only every week could be chocolate week, lol)

so stay tuned!

Up-cycled rings made from soy milk corks (or any other kind of plantmilk product)

So i was sitting at the counter (well, standing) waiting for my earth balance vegan macaroni and cheese to finnish cooking. As i was STANDING there, i thought to might as well get the soy milk and margarine ready. Measured the margarine and opened the fresh carton of soy milk and measured that aswell. then i was bored again. so i start playing with the cork from the soy milk, then i got an idea....

Up-cycled  rings

            What you will need :
*  AT LEAST one soy milk cork (see picture below)
*  Scissors
*  A rubber glove
*  Paint, Puff paint, Glitter, etc (anythig to decorate it with) ** METALIC COLORS LOOK BEST**
*  A glass, plastic cup or plastic bottle.

 

first, blow up your rubber glove, this will be used almost like a manikin. 

Blow it up and tie it right above the thumb (check the image below to see how i did it)

The next step is optional, but it makes it much easier to paint the ring.

push all the air from the finger into the glove and twist the finger. Then tie the finger and cut it off . repeat this for all fingers EXCEPT the ring finger or middle finger.

Now that you've got your finger manikin, to keep upright, cut the top of the plastic bottle off and push the glove into the bottle like i did in the image below.

Now its time to start making the ring. Take the cork and cut the cap part off  (so that the only thing left is the ring-like hoop)

Now if your like me and your finger cant fit through the loop, make a slit in the ring like i did in the picture below:

Now its time to decorate! you can paint it, glitter it, design it with puff paint or glitter glue, be creative! Go crazy! 

Here are 2 that i made a few weeks ago :

And there you go! you've made a beautiful up-cycled ring! Now i know what you may be thinking, "thats not alot of plastic to waste. But like with anything recycled or up-cycled, it all adds up. imagine if everyone recycled or up-cycled every soy milk cork, imagine how much plastic we'd save from landfills?!

But all and all the most important steps of all are HAVE FUN, AND BE CREATIVE!

Sorry everyone! Life has been rocky lately

So i think you know that im a girl because the title of my blog (duh!). And as many know that girls have a... visitor? every month. And i got my visitor 2 days ago, my phones storage wont allow me to take pictures so i cannot take pictures to post on the blog. Also My grand father is in the hospital, dying of lung and heart problems(from smoking so much back in the old days) )-: people of the world, PLEASE dont smoke, it is already bad enough that it shortened my grandfathers life (he has been to the hospital 6 times in the past 5 years ad staying there 4 months or longer for the same problem)
So people, its already bad enough that it shortened my grandfathers life by 10 years and made him miserable for the last few years. But since this is a vegan blog, They also test cigarettes on dogs and cats (also on bunnies, guinea pigs, ferrets, etc!)

So please everyone, stop smoking.

Tip: Try an all natural cruelty free vegan anti anxiety suppliment, because i hear most people smoke when nervous.
OR try an all vegan anti smoking aid. i'l admit, i have never actually searched for that, but with all the vegan suppliments on this earth, there should be something for those who need it



But all in all. JUST DON'T SMOKE!  EVEN THOUGH IT MAY MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD ONE MINUTE< BUT THE NEXT MINUTE YOUR DYING IN PAIN IN THE HOSPITAL!


Ps if i can figure out my phones storage by tomorrow, i will be posting a craft project tomorrow

************************************UPDATE************************************
01/21/2016  2:16 AM
                                                             RIP my grandfather Billy

FOOD REVIEW : Neslte Aero 70% cocoa bar

A few times last year i had considered using $30 of my Christmas or birthday money to get a 12 pack of these things but i have always turned my head because i always thought "$30 or 12 candy bars? rip off". But then this past Christmas i just simply asked for them and i got them, And now i will start the review of this divine chocolate (well that actually doesn't say much because all (vegan) chocolate is divine lol. Well at least i think so.)

                         

when i saw the package, like all packages, they try to make the product look like its the best thing on earth. But really the main thing that attracted me to these was that i used to be addicted to Hershey air bars. But like you would expect, they have milk in them (like everything on the market these days, ugh!) I cant remember how i came upon aero bars. I think i came across them when i started getting interested the international food isle at the grocery store, i dont know, Anyways, im boring myself. lets get to the review.

BUT FIRST ....... Some may think that these are not vegan because they claim "May contain milk". Although every vegans opinion on that statement is different. My opinion is : its not like the company doesn't clean it, nor does it mean they purposefully milk cows and puts exactly 300 gallons of milk in the batter everyday. My point is, that if there was any trace of milk it would have been accidental/ wasn't supposed to happen. so they dont pour milk into the batter once and a while. omg i  made no sense. Ugh i will fix this later lol

Now without further ado...

                                 

               

I opened the wrapper, and it was actually cool how they made them separate "bubbles" instead of squares. I took a bite and my first thought was that it was bitter, but then it quickly started to melt and started to taste like milk chocolate (not totally, but it was closer than other dark chocolates!). Usually I actually hate dark chocolate but these weren't as bitter as other vegan dark chocolates i have tried in the past. Also if i remember correctly, the hershey air bar didnt have as many bubbles as the aero bar (i could be wrong, i haven't eaten one since about a little before i went vegan (3 years ago). lol) But all and all this was a great vegan chocolate bar.

Because it was bitter at first, and costs $30 for 12 bars, But it was delicious still, my rating for Nestle Aero 70% cocoa bar would have to be 8 ******** stars

*********************************RATING 8-STARS********************************

FOOD REVIEW : Daiya cheeze lovers pizza

For months i have walked down the freezer isle, wanting to try it, but not being sure since i hate tomato sauce on pizza (whenever i got pizza i always made sure it had no sauce, just cheese!) and since i went vegan (ps i hate making things home made) i have never had a simple, ooey gooey pizza without 10 jars of sauce spread on it.

But i finally went for it, i asked my mom, and of course she said yes, i got it, and now i am about to tell you my review of this AMAZING vegan pizza from Daiya 

                              

When i first took it out of the box the first thing that cheered me up was that i could hardly see any sauce since there was so much cheeze. Also i liked the fact that they used both cheddar and mozzarella. And at first it looked pretty small, but once you cook things, you realize how big it really is (if you know what i mean). But enough chit chat, lets get to the review!

                              

                                                       (Sorry that it came out sideways!!)

Of course like always when i try something new i hesitate for a few seconds, then i just dig in, and that is exactly what i did with this.

But right as i took my first bite, i couldn't even tell there was tomato sauce since it was so cheesy and the sauce was so mild!! YAHOO!  and once i got through the first three pieces i was stuffed, but since i tried this last night and it was only 10:00 pm when i finished my third slice, i slowly ate the rest between then and 1:00 AM. so i did manage to stuff it all in me. But if you want my star rating on this, it would be 8 stars, because of course it would be best if it had no sauce at all (although Daiya did a fabulous job making it taste like there was hardly any sauce on it, that is why i gave it 8.) Also i think they could have made it so there was enough crust so you could hold it without getting sauce all over your hands, but both are minor things so that is why i rate Daiya's cheeze lovers pizza 8 stars

Also due to this review i plan on trying some other varieties of Daiya's vegan pizzas

********************************RATING 8 STARS *********************************