Parmazano & Prawns

A couple of other products I ordered in my latest shipment from Pangea (and tonight at 10 p.m. central time, my giveaway for a $40 gift certificate ends):

Parmazano

(on my ravioli with sauce and green olives)

I ordered this because I hadn't tried it before, and I like to try everything (vegan). And also because Pangea's website declared it "the closest thing to real parmesan cheese we've ever tasted."

Ingredients: GMO-free soy flour 72%, non-hydrogenated vegetable oils 17%, rock salt, flavoring (vegan), vitamin E (antioxidant). Produced in a nut-free facility.

They also carry Galaxy Nutritional Foods parmesan alternative (also made of soy) and Parma! (made of nutritional yeast, walnuts, and salt), both of which I like. What I haven't tried are the "chipotle cayenne" and "garlicky green" versions of Parma, which I think sound good.

I also decided to try Sophie's Kitchen Prawns (shrimp). I've always passed by the vegan shrimp in the store because it freaked me out for the same reason I can't handle eating Smart Dogs, etc. They look and feel too "real." I continued to be freaked out as I cooked them, and my kids were squealing with nervousness, too.

Ingredients (non gmo): Polysaccharide gel (konjac powder, beta-glucan, water for hydration), modified potato starch, organic agave nectar, sea salt, carrageenan, alginate (from seaweed), paprika, calcium hydroxide.

They're pre-cooked, ready to eat (and no poo!) when thawed, but I pan-fried them. I also had no idea how one would eat shrimp normally, so I googled it and came up with pasta as a quick solution.

The taste of this product was fine to me. Very plain like a noodle or tofu (but with perhaps a bit of an aftertaste that wasn't bad to me, but some might not like it...my husband and 1/3 of my kids liked it). I also made a quick "cocktail sauce out of Vegenaise, hot sauce, and ketchup. I never had any attachment to seafood, so there's no reason I'd run out and buy these tomorrow. But I'd definitely eat them again sometime, especially if I had a recipe that might include them.

Free Vegan Food! Pangea Giveaway (Edit: Giveaway Closed)

I'm happy to be hosting a GIVEAWAY for a $40 Gift Certificate to PANGEA, an all-vegan, online store! They also have a store-front in Rockville, Maryland. Pangea was the first vegan store I ever became acquainted with, way over 10 years ago. When I used to get the catalog in the mail, I'd pore through every page. (I have always lived in middle America, and I haven't always had a health food store nearby.)

my fillet sandwich on a GF bun with Daiya, tartar sauce and a kale, tomato, avocado salad

We recently placed a big order, including some cold and frozen items. (See shipping notes at the end of the post.) One thing I had been wanting to try: Sophie's Kitchen Breaded Fish Fillets. I liked these a lot (and also like that they use non-gmo soy and corn). They are not that different, I think, than other chik'n patties, I've had. I don't know if I've ever eaten fish in my life (maybe when I was toddler), so I can't really speak on similarities there or anything.

I thought I should make the most of the experience by also ordering this Tartar Sauce. I imagined (and hoped) it was going to be very creamy, but it was more like an oily dressing. It tasted very good on my sandwich, regardless.

Ingredients: Organic sunflower oil, water, organic cucumbers, organic wine vinegar, raw organic cane sugar, organic onions, organic mustard, organic cornstarch, sea salt, plant protein, organic spices, carob bean flour, organic dill.

Here we go. Probably the tastiest thing I ordered: Peanut Butter Pillows with Chocolate. They taste like Butterfingers. I always see these Butterfinger desserts I think look so delicious. So I whipped this bad boy up. Cheesecake from Tofu & Soyfoods Cookery, topped with the Pillows that I'd pounded while they were in the bag. A little Soyatoo on top. The PB/Choc. Pillows are really delicious and not as pricey as some vegan decadent chocolates. ($5.49 for a bag containing enough to cover this cheesecake and some leftover.)

We don't have White Chocolate Chips around here to buy, so I snagged up two bags. And at $4.29 a bag, they're cheaper than most vegan chocolate chips I ever buy.

Therefore, if you win the giveaway, you could always make a batch of Almost Vegan Chef's White Chocolate Peanut Butter Blondies, like we did. Really great recipe!

I had always wanted to try Dr-Cow Nut Cheese. I did not realize the package would be so tiny (and it isn't cheap). I was told that some people love it, and some people just don't. I definitely loved it.

I could have eaten it all at once, but I have spaced it out to enjoy a little at a time. I'd like to try the other flavors (like kale or blue-green algae). I've made plenty of cashew type cheeses at home, but nothing I've made is exactly like this (and Dr-Cow's contains acidophilus).

We got a pack of 2-pack of Strawberry Cream Canoe Boats (which we've frozen away for a rainy day) and also a pack of Chocolate Covered Canoe Boats. Here is a review I'd originally written for my family blog on the Canoe Boats and Moo-Cluck Creme-Filled Cupcakes that we'd ordered from Pangea two years ago (when my kids look so small, sniff).

I ordered two packs of Sweet & Sara's Strawberry Marshmallows. My son saw non-vegan strawberry marshmallows awhile back and asked if there were vegan ones to buy. I said I really doubted it. We did a search on Pangea, and he could not have been happier to see these.

So that we would be ready for any fall cookouts (S'mores!) we might want to have, I also ordered two different kinds of graham crackers, Sweet & Sara and Grateful Grahams. I didn't know which ones we would like better, and I didn't want to miss out on the better choice! Our family was kind of split on which was the favorite. Sweet & Sara's are crispier (which I preferred), and Grateful Grahams are a softer graham (which others in my family preferred). After our taste-test, I also threw these in the freezer for safe keeping.

I bought a few things to put away for the kid's Halloween bags, including Whizzer's Chocolate Beans...

and Eli's Earth Bars. I had forgotten that I think I like the Treasure Bars even more than the Dream Big Bars. (Warning: even though these bars are delicious, they're rather small. Maybe that's a good thing.)

If you won the giveaway, just think: you could order over 40 Bug Bites or Chimp Mints.

Have you tried Vega's Shake & Go Smoothies? I've only gotten to try chocolate, so far, and it is sooo good. I like to make a Choc-a-Lot Shake with frozen bananas, frozen cherries, and almond milk.

Choc-A-Lot: Organic green pea protein, vegan natural flavors, organic coconut palm nectar, flaxseed, hemp protein, organic sprouted brown rice protein, organic green food blend (alfalfa grass, organic kale leaf, organic spinach leaf, organic broccoli sprout, spirulina), xanthan gum, digestive enzyme blend, and dairy-free probiotic blend (L. acidophilus, B. bifidum).

If you prefer hearty or savory over sweet, there are plenty of choices, like these Tasty Bite Meals, Nacho Mom's Quesos, Bragg's, gravy mixes - you name it. I always forget to order Soy Curls, which I'd like to do because I have yet to try them.

We're big fans of Chreesy Mashed Potatoes.

I didn't order any, but I thought these boxes looked really cute and fun. They sell something very similar (but non-vegan) on some airlines, so I'd like to get some the next time we travel.

There are five pages of items labeled specifically gluten-free, including this book.

Pangea is not limited to food. There are vitamins, books, shoes, cleaning supplies, and companion animal supplies. ETC!

I like these.

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To enter this giveaway, leave a comment about something in this post, or you may visit Pangea's website and tell me something different you'd like to order.

I don't want to make this complicated for you, but if you want additional entries, feel free to do any of the following:

1) Let me know you are a Google Friend Connect Follower.

2) Like "Pangea" on Facebook.

3) Tweet or blog about the giveaway and leave a link in your entry.

If you don't have a blog, or I can't find your blog through your comment, please leave an email address in case you win. I'll pick a winner randomly a week from tonight (Thursday) around 10:00 p.m.

*Note: shipping most non-perishable items is usually around $7-10. As we are getting into colder months, it shouldn't be such a problem to ship chocolates, etc. If you purchase something cold or frozen, it is recommended to purchase a cold pack for $5.95, and shipping could be around $30 unless you live in one of these places, where shipping only takes 1-2 days from Maryland: CT, DE, Chicago only in Illinois, IN, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, SC, TN, VA, VT, WV, and Northern GA. (Cold shipping policies in more details HERE.)

This giveaway IS open to anyone in the world, BUT if you live outside the United States, please read their shipping guidelines before you enter. Shipping charges might be high (and you probably wouldn't order perishable items), so you can decide whether you want to order from them or not.

Thank you, Pangea, for offering this

giveaway to one of my Vegan Month of Food readers!

Canoe Boats & Moo Clucks

Today we got a little box delivered from Pangea. Receiving packages in the mail of any kind makes for a great day...and especially if they are filled with vegan treats. We had a little "cheese" tasting with three different kinds of cheeses. (More on that later.)

We also tried out the vanilla canoe boat snack cakes, a vegan version of Twinkies. And they also split a Moo-Cluck Creme-Filled Cupcake. No complaints here. I only had a tiny bite or two of each, just to try them, because I am on a serious diet. Seriously. It's not pretty around here these days. I've mysteriously (disregard pictures of vacation meals) gained ten pounds in the last year. And it mysteriously won't go away. Wish me luck.

creme filling...

"Cake" is not generally my first choice for dessert, unless it has lots of frosting (I'm like the kids at birthday parties who only want to eat the icing off the top.) or layers of something creamy or chocolate-y inside. Mission accomplished with each of these.

"I don't know which one to pick because both of them is so good."

Those were the exact words out of Dash's mouth. Tornado chose the vanilla, as I knew he would. If it seems like we're being weird, excited about a "Twinkie," we don't ever eat these kinds of things. We save it up so we can get really excited!

the aftermath...picture doesn't really do it justice