Review: Gardein Seven-Grain Crispy Tenders

Gardein has a ton of vegan products, so I tried these seven-grain crispy tenders next. Similar to the Gardein fishless filets, I probably would have liked these more if I was blindfolded. They tasted good, but the seeing the squishy texture of faux meat was too distracting for me. 

These were much smaller than I expected, about half the size of their fishless filets. But this is a good thing in my opinion, because it helps the texture. I prefer most faux meat to be small and thin in order to have a higher breading to meat ratio and keep the texture as crispy as possible. I think that's why the Boca chick'n patties are still my favorite plant-based chicken alternative.

Speaking of the breading, I didn't realize these where seven grain when I bought them. It surprised me at first, and you can see some oats and seeds in the breading. It reminded me of seven-grain bread with the seeds pressed into the top. But it still tasted like regular breading, and I didn't notice a difference in the breading texture. It was still crispy and crunchy. 

Gardein Seven-Grain Crispy Tenders ingredients: Water, Enriched Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Ferrous Sulfate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid). Soy Protein Isolate, Canola Oil, Vital Wheat Gluten, Rice Flour, Ancient Grain Flour (Khorasan Wheat, Amaranth, Millet, Quinoa), Methylcellulose, Oat Bran, Oats, Yeast Extract, Salt, Organic Yeast Extract, Sea Salt, Potato Starch, Organic Distilled Vinegar, Organic Cane Sugar, Sugar, Natural Flavors, Soybean Oil, Spices, Yeast, Color Added. Leavening (Sodium Bicarbonate, Cream Of Tartar). Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Organic Soy Sauce Powder, Extractive of Paprika (Color). Pea Protein, Turmeric Extractives

Review: Gardein Seven Grain Crispy Tenders
Taste: These tasted pretty good. I would give them a 5 for flavor but 3 for texture. 
Texture: The outside is crunchy but the inside is a little too mushy for me. It helps that they're smaller pieces though, compared to the Gardein fishless filets which were too big in my opinion. 
Can you tell it's vegan? Yes, like most faux meat, the texture gives it away. 
Better than other vegan versions? I liked the Boca chick'n nuggets more. 
Worth buying again? I would eat them again if someone else was serving them, but probably wouldn't buy them again on my own.
Overall: 4 out of 5

Review: Melt Organic Rich & Creamy Plant-Based Butter

I've been using Earth Balance buttery spread as a vegan butter replacement for years. I thought it might be time to give one of their competitors a chance, so I tried some Melt Organic Rich & Creamy Butter Made From Plants. 

I was off to a rough start from the beginning because I found their packaging to be difficult to open. This doesn't affect the product, but it might have prevented me from buying it more often if I had liked it. 

When it comes to taste, I thought this was ok. It wasn't as buttery tasting to me compared to Earth Balance, and has a more mild flavor overall. Some friends have told me they don't like Earth Balance, so those people might like the more subtle flavor of Melt Organic. 

One major difference is the texture. It was much creamier than Earth Balance and spread very easily, even when cold. It was almost too creamy for butter and reminded me of cream cheese. 

Something unusual happened when I used it to make garlic bread. I put the butter on first and then toasted it, and the butter got bubbly. There were a bunch of tiny bubbles on my toast and it looked like soap. You can kind of see them in the picture below. I don't remember butter doing this.

It tasted fine, but the bubbles threw me off a bit and made me not want to keep eating it. 

Melt Organic Rich & Creamy Ingredients: Expeller-pressed Organic oil blend (Coconut, Sustainable Ethical Palm Fruit, Canola, Hi-Oleic Sunflower, Flaxseed), Water, Sea Salt, Sunflower Lecithin, Natural Flavor, Tocopherols, Organic Annatto Extract Color. 

Review: Melt Organic Rich & Creamy Plant-Based Butter
First impressions: The packaging was hard to open. 
Taste: This has a very mild taste, but some people might notice a hint of a synthetic aftertaste. 
Texture: The texture was very smooth and creamy, almost closer to cream cheese than butter.
Can you tell it's vegan? You can tell something is different. 
Worth buying again? I probably won't finish the container I have. 
Overall: 3/5

Review: Earth Balance Vegan Cheddar Flavor Squares

I'm already a fan of Earth Balance Buttery Spread as a vegan butter replacement, so I thought I'd try their Vegan Cheddar Flavor Squares. It looks like they also make Vegan White Cheddar Flavor Puffs. I'll have to try those next!

The cheddar flavor squares are surprisingly cheesy tasting! I was blown away and couldn't stop eating them. 

While I could tell that these plant-based crackers were not Cheez-Its, I could not tell that they were vegan. If it were a blind taste test, I would probably guess that they're off-brand Cheez-Its, but would not guess that they're vegan. The cheese taste is just too real. 

Cheese is one of the most notoriously difficult foods to replicate in a vegan version. I guess it makes sense that the first vegan cheese I like would be in a cracker, because a cracker texture is easier to imitate than cheese by itself. 

The cheddar flavor of these vegan cheesy crackers comes from a seasoning blend that includes yeast extract, which adds a savory, salty taste (not the same as nutritional yeast).

Earth Balance Vegan Cheddar Flavor Squares ingredients: Unbleached pastry flour, enriched wheat flour (flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, canola oil, corn starch, seasoning (maltodextrin, yeast extract, gum acacia, natural flavor), palm oil, sunflower lecithin, salt, baking soda, monocalcium phosphate, ammonium bicarbonate, sugar, paprika oleoresin color, yeast extract, annatto extract (water, annatto), lactic acid, dehydrated toasted onion, garlic powder. 


Review: Earth Balance Vegan Cheddar Flavor Squares
First impressions: Wow, these really tastes like cheese!
Taste: They actually taste more like cheese than real Cheez-Its. Not as salty. 
Texture: Reminds me of Cheese Nips or off-brand Cheez-Its. Not quite as crunchy as Cheez-Its, but pretty close. 
Can you tell it's vegan? No
Worth buying again? Yes, I will definitely buy these again. 
Good enough to replace the non-vegan version? Yes, but more expensive. 
Overall: 5/5

Review: Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Sunflower Seed Butter Cups

Usually what makes chocolate not vegan is the milk in milk chocolate, and most dark chocolate is vegan. These sunflower seed butter cups are also allergen friendly on another level by replacing the peanut butter with sunflower seed butter.

I hadn't tried sunflower seed butter at all before and wasn't sure what to expect. But it tastes a lot like peanut butter. Overall these were very similar to Reese's peanut butter cups. The sunflower seed butter was a little creamier than a peanut butter cup, but that could also be because it's less processed. I would definitely eat these again.

I'm not the biggest fan of dark chocolate, but the sunflower seed butter helped balance it out so it didn't taste as bitter.

Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Sunflower Seed Butter Cups ingredients: Dark chocolate (cocoa mass, cane sugar, cocoa butter), sunflower seeds, powdered sugar (cane sugar, tapioca starch), cocoa butter, sea salt.

Review: Trader Joe's Sunflower Seed Butter Cups  
Taste: Tastes like a peanut butter cup. The sunflower balances the dark chocolate so it's not as bitter as dark chocolate by itself. 
Texture: A little creamier than Reese's peanut butter cups and the chocolate is a little bit thicker. Otherwise very similar.
Can you tell it's vegan? No
Better than other vegan versions? I haven't tried any other vegan peanut butter cups but this will be hard to beat. 
Worth buying again? Yes
Overall: 5/5

Review: Annie's Organic Vegan Mac - Pumpkin and Sweet Potato

I was skeptical about the pumpkin and sweet potato, but had heard good things about Annie's Vegan Mac. Note that it doesn't say "mac and cheese." So it's not necessarily trying to imitate cheese, just providing a vegan comfort food alternative.

This is one of the first vegan products I've tried where the texture was spot on but the flavor was not for me. Usually texture is the more difficult part so this was surprising.

The taste was not bad, but would take some getting used to. If you're vegan and craving mac and cheese, this would do the trick. And it was better than some restaurant vegan macs I've tried. But for people who still eat cheese, this will probably not be good enough to replace your favorite cheesy mac.

I also liked that the ingredient list is pretty simple and recognizable, especially considering it's a processed food that comes in a box.

Annie's Vegan Mac Pumpkin and Sweet Potato ingredients: Organic Pasta (Organic Wheat Flower), Organic Pumpkin Powder (Organic Pumpkin, [Organic Maltodextrin, Organic Sunflower Oil, Sunflower Lecithin]), Organic Sweet Potato Powder (Organic Sweet Potato, [Organic Maltodextrin, Organic Corn Starch, Organic Sunflower Oil, Sunflower Lecithin]), Organic Corn Starch, Organic Tapioca Starch, Sea Salt, Natural Flavor, Organic Paprika, Organic Onion Powder, Organic Garlic Powder.

Review: Annie's Vegan Mac - Pumpkin and Sweet Potato
First impressions: When I was making it, it seemed identical to non-vegan boxed mac and cheese. Kids would have fun making this. 
Taste: Not too sweet or pumpkin-y. It had a surprisingly cheesy flavor, especially given that there's no nutritional yeast. But after eating several bites, it felt like something was missing and wasn't quite as satisfying as cheese. 
Texture: Creamy and very similar to traditional boxed mac and cheese. 
Can you tell it's vegan? Yes
Better than other vegan versions? Yes, better than some vegan macs I've tried at restaurants. 
Worth buying again? I probably won't buy this again but some people might like to eat it regularly. 
Overall: 3/5