Vegan Food Swap – July 2012

I stole most of JC’s vegan food swap last month. I’m just going to admit it. I hadn’t intended to, but it happened. That and due to travelling to Edmonton July-August, I wasn’t even going to participate in the swap this month. But, last minute partner switches needed to happen, so voila, JC and I are the immediate fall back to any swap problems.

JC & I sent a swap to Katie over at Not Your Parent’s Granola (again), and JC (and I – unofficially) received an awesome swap from Amanda at Vegan Sweet Tart.

How did I steal it? Well… for one, I got the mail first. But it all started with the Salty Pepper Somersaults Amanda sent us. I ate just one… it was the gateway cracker, and I wanted to keep them all for myself. They are pretty darn delicious. I took a picture, because I knew where it was going.

What else was in there:

– A lovely note.
– Love Crunch Granola.
– Fruiti Bears Gummies
– Stonewall Jerky
– Camino chocolate
– Caramel Yogavive Chips

I tend to hate granola (with a couple exceptions). I’ll admit it. It does next-to-nothing for me. JC is the cereal guy in our family, but this Love Crunch stuff with chocolate and red berries – whoa. I’m not convinced it was really “granola,” since it was actually more of a dessert product that I would happily eat for breakfast. Such perfect flavour and texture combinations.

Fruiti Bears Gummies – It’s been about a 15 years since I’ve had a gummie bear. Maybe I’ve had vegan ones more recently, I can’t say for sure. These were weird, but I could see myself giving them to other people’s children. They are tasty. They are a little sour. Would swap again.

Stonewall Jerkee – I finished a snack size pack of this before JC got home. He didn’t even have a bite of it, and I’m not sorry. I first discovered these jerky bits while ordering from vegan essentials. I still lived in Saskatoon, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever buy any fun vegan stuff again – the usual unfounded middle of the prairies hate – well, these were fun AND vegan. And high in protein. Everyone wins (except JC – but we got some more eventually.)

I hid the Camino chocolate bar in my purse for a few days. And forgot about it entirely. Then happily discovered it while searching for my keys. I like what camino is doing, I like their brand identity, I like their fair trade, organic, and allergy friendly angle. They aren’t my favourite for flavour, but they are still chocolate, which makes them perfect anyway. I put half of this bar in JC’s mouth at some point. Positive reaction.

Caramel Yogavive Chips – I know nothing about these. JC got his revenge, and ate them one day when I was late coming home. The bag smelled delicious (yes, I know) and I like apples. I can only imagine good things.

Amanda made swap magic happen, and I appreciate it. The flavour combinations were right up my alley, and it wasn’t even meant for me. Thanks Amanda! JC is really happy with the bites of things he got, especially the chocolate, and the entire Caramel Yoga Chip bag. It looked great!

Please join us on the next Vegan Food Swap. It starts up again this week (partners will be matched up on August 7th, so sign up ASAP.)