All Good Things

I found this lurking in the back of my cupboard last week. I've heard mixed reviews of this product, so I decided to try some for myself. The sauce is made of pumpkin and sweet potato with seasonings and thickeners. Here is the small ingredient list. I've heard some complaints that it's too sweet. I expected to not care too much for it, but to be honest, I enjoyed it. I spruced my serving up with a little nutritional yeast, salt and pepper and then it was perfect. It tastes healthy, it doesn't really taste cheesey, and if you notice on the box, they call it shells and creamy sauce, not cheesey. So, I think people are expecting it to be more like the Earth Balance or So Delicious boxed mac and cheese. If I were a parent, this is what I would feed my kid. It is way healthier than any of the boxed vegan mac and cheeses out there, and the sauce is creamy.  I won't be rushing to buy it again, but at the same time I would buy it again if I had a hankering. I wasn't allowed to eat boxed mac and cheese as a kid, so I guess I'm lucky in that I don't really crave it, or miss it. But I will say this is a million times better than daiya's boxed mac and cheese!

An acquaintance of mine gifted me this rice cooker! They had decided to try gluten free months ago, it lasted less than three days, and they've been driving around with this in their trunk. I've never owned a rice cooker in my life! Normally I think they're kind of unnecessary for me, but I only have one sauce pan, so sometimes it's tricky if I want rice with my soup that I'm cooking in my saucepan that I use for rice. I have given up on cooking quinoa myself, because it's expensive and I have a high failure rate, so I wonder if this could help me? I don't know, but new kitchen gadgets are super exciting!

For dinner I had some oven fries with BBQ sauce. No curry on these guys, just salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Trader Joe's 21 seasoning salute. That stuff loves potatoes so hard!

I tried the peanut butter and cookie Ben&Jerry's! The Chunky Monkey really raised the bar, and to be honest I was expecting this to be good, but really no competition. Well, it came to compete. This one is vanilla almond milk ice cream with big swirls of peanut butter, and big and small chunks of an Oreo type cookie. Once again, these guys are super generous with the add ins. The vanilla ice cream is super rich and thick, and the peanut butter adds  salty peanut-y excellence, and then you have the bites of cookie. Just like with the Chunky Monkey, the best bite is with everything, and because of their generosity it's easy to do. I don't know which one I like best, I really don't. I guess Chunky Monkey wins because of sentimental feelings, but other than that it's a tie. I am seriously amazed by this ice cream. I know I've been a vegan for a long time, and our taste buds change and all that, but I seriously think that a non vegan would not know the difference in a blind taste test. If cookies and cream was your fave, and you like peanut butter, this will make you cry with Joy!

 Have you tried this? It has Espresso in the tea bag, and it is AHMAZING! I did coffee up as a daily habit years ago, but the weather has just been rain after grey after rain after grey and I need the extra boost sometime. I really need to live someplace sunnier, but since that can't happen now, I'll drink this tea. And of course the caramel creamer from Silk is OUT OF THIS WORLD!!
Happy Monday!