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Product review: Hunted & Gathered Dry Wors
Hunted & Gathered, the makers of my favourite beef jerky have a new(ish) product: Dry Wors. This is their version of a traditional South African dried beef sausage. These are expensive ($20.50 per pack) but worth every cent. They are made with organic grass-fed beef, organic coriander seeds, organic black pepper, organic vinegar, organic coconut sugar and pink lake salt. They are chewy but less than jerky, and also fattier. Great shelf-stable snack to have handy. Hunted and Gathered huntedandgathered.com.au
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Product review: Coconut Magic raw energy bars
I get really excited when I see crap-free bars in supermarkets. I don’t eat them regularly because they’re still treats IMO, but it’s good to know they’re available for whenever I feel like having a healthier dessert. Coconut Magic is one of the newest brands in the market. The bars are non-GMO, vegan, and free of dairy, soy, gluten and refined sugar. They come in three flavours: coconut (dates, almonds, coconut, cashews, pecans, coconut chips, coconut flower nectar, coconut oil), cacao (dates, almonds, cashews, coconut, tahini, raw cacao powder, coconut oil, coconut nectar) and raspberry (dates, almonds, coconut, goji berries, cashews, raspberry powder, coconut nectar, coconut oil). Not surprisingly, my…
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Product review: CO YO coconut yoghurt
CO YO, the wonderful company making coconut yoghurt available for those who can’t tolerate dairy (or choose not to have it), has been around for a while but has been recently trying to expand their reach. Their yoghurts are vegan and free of dairy, soy, gluten, lactose, and added sugar. They have quite a few varieties that come in tubs from 250g up to 1k. All flavours contain organic coconut milk (88% in the fruit varieties, 98% in the plain and chocolate), starch (tapioca, pectin), stevia and live vegan cultures including Lactobacillus casei, L. rhamnosus, L. acidophilus, L. bulgaricus, Bif. bifidum, Bif. lactis, and S. Thermophilus. Note: I’m not quite…
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Product review: Cave Foods Mammooth bar
Although I’m not very keen on caveman references in paleo-friendly foods, and do believe homemade food and not packaged foods should make the bulk of our diet, I do appreciate the convenience of portable crap-free edible products. Thanks to the increasing popularity of Crossfit and paleo/primal approaches to eating, several companies have created more natural alternatives to protein bars. Cave Foods is one of the such companies, and their product is called Mammooth bar. I grabbed a vanilla bar at Paleo Cafe (they didn’t have chocolate – bummer!) for $5. It comes wrapped in butcher’s paper secured by a sticker that reads: “No: gluten, added sugar, artificial flavouring or preservatives.”…
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Product review: Herbs of Life crispbread
Now that we don’t eat regular crackers we sometimes miss a salty crunchy vehicle for butter. We like Flats and are not that fond of Kitz crackers (although their sweets are sensational), but our favourite cracker substitute without a doubt is Herbs of Life crispbread. We’ve tried the herbed almond crispbread (oh man!) and the herb flax crackers (too flaxy for my taste). We’ve also tried the cinnamon almond crispbread (perfect not-too-sweet sweet crackers!). Check out the lists of ingredients in the photos below. Most ingredients are organic and locally sourced, and the snacks are dehydrated at low temperature (technically raw). The prices listed below are from Dr Earth Newtown.…
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Product review: Kitz Living Foods
Nuts, seeds and other plant foods (grains, legumes, etc.) contain anti-nutrients that can keep our bodies from digesting them properly and absorbing minerals and other micro-nutrients (for a longer explanation read this article). Cooking, soaking, sprouting and fermenting are ways to reduce the anti-nutrient content of foods. Nuts and seeds that have been soaked (usually overnight) and then dried at a low temperature are commonly known as “activated”. Kitz Living Foods offers activated nuts and seeds and snack products made with them that are free from: gluten, wheat, dairy, yeast, eggs, soy, peanuts, sesame, fish, shellfish and cane sugar. They are raw, vegan and made from mostly organic ingredients. We’ve…
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Product review: Naked Paleo bars
I saw this cacao almond paleo bar in Thr1ve the other day. The label listed dates, almonds, walnuts, shredded coconut, cacao and coconut oil. Pretty clean, so I gave it a go. Naked Paleo bar ($4.50) I ate the bar straight after training. It tasted good (unlike other paleo bars that will remain unnamed) but was very crumbly. It was also too sweet for my taste; I had to sip water in between bites. I wouldn’t eat it on a regular basis but probably as a once-in-a-while dessert. Naked Paleo bars nakedpaleo.com.au On Facebook
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Product review: Artisana nut butters
I had been wanting to try these nut butters for a while since I saw them in my local health shop but I couldn’t justify paying $3+ for a small sachet. I finally found the perfect excuse to give them a shot: I’ll be travelling soon and need to bring some portable nutrition. Artisana sachet products include nut butters (almond, cashew, pecan, macadamia and walnut – the butters contain nothing but nuts), coconut butter, coconut oil, and cacao bliss, a chocolate spread made with coconut butter, coconut oil, agave syrup, cacao and cacao butter. All of the ingredients are organic. For some reason I messed up when grabbing the sachets…
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Product review: Coco-Bliss coconut kefir
The other day we went to our local health food shop and there was a kombucha and kefir tasting. Coconut kefir, to be precise. I’ve made it a few times at home with coconut milk and dehydrated kefir culture, but was curious to know how this one would taste. It was great and the ingredients list was clean, so I bought a tub to bring home. interestingly, the tub of Coco-Bliss I bought was labelled as dessert kefir (I’m guessing because it contains sweetener). This kefir is lactose-, gluten-, egg- and sugar-free. It contains coconut milk, kefir culture, arrowroot (as culture feed), organic green tea (as culture feed) and birch…
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Recipe: Chocolate coffee bites
There are only a few things that can mess with my willpower and usual tendency to eat sensibly. One of the biggies: dark chocolate-covered coffee beans. That’s the reason I (almost) never buy them. One night I was studying and I felt like I *needed* my cacao-caffeine fix, but all the shops were closed. I came up with this super simple, quick and dangerous alternative. Chocolate coffee bites Yield: 6-12 units, depending on size Ingredients 100 grams dark chocolate (min 70% cacao, 85% recommended) 1 tablespoon ground coffee (coarsely ground for plunger recommended) 1 tablespoon cacao nibs Directions Break chocolate in small pieces with your hands, place in a bowl.…
