Tag Archives: products

A review & A giveaway!

As I mentioned yesterday, Namaste Foods was graciously sent me two packages of their mix for review.

They are a small manufacturer of fine foods that contain no wheat, gluten, corn, soy, potato, dairy, casein or nuts.

What does Namaste mean?

The word “Namaste” (pronounced “Naa-Maa-Stay”) is an ancient Sanskrit word with no literal translation. After many hours reviewing all the different translations, we decided we like this one the best.

“The Spirit within me honors and respects the Spirit within you.”

The word “Spirit” in this context has no particular religious connotation. You could substitute the word “Heart” or “Soul” if you like. The essence of the phrase is simply that the best part of me wishes you well. And we do wish you well. In seeking to offer you delicious allergen-free foods, we nourish the body. In nourishing the body, we hope to help nourish the mind and the spirit so you can enjoy optimum health.

I love its philosophy 🙂

In February of this year marks the 10-year anniversary of Namaste Foods. The owner shared the story of how the company was founded, I was touched by the story so I’d like to share with you (it’s not in its website)

“It was in the fall of 1999 that a friend approached me desperate for help in creating good gluten free and allergen free foods for herself and her son. She was frustrated at the lack of good food available to them. In my family, good food was essential – it brought friends and family together for the best of times and nurtured the soul. I couldn’t imagine missing out on one of the best things in life -good food. While I was unfamiliar with Celiac Disease at that time, i knew i loved to cook and could never resist helping a friend. So, I rolled up my sleeves and went to work. This challenge was particularly perplexing as any creation must not only be free of gluten but also free of corn, soy, potato, diary, casein, peanuts and tree nuts in order to meet my friend’s dietary restrictions. “

Waffle & Pancake Mix

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Ingredients: 2 egg whites, 1/3 cup silk, 1/3 cup pancake mix

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heat the grill

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I used HEAB method for the pancakes. Beat egg whites until stiff

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add the pancake mix

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add Earth Balance to the grill (not recommended)

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and you see why EB is not recommended

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for the second batch, I used oil spray

for the sauce: 3 tbsp silk + 1 tbsp almond butter

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final product

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Coco’s review: It is scrumptious!!! It’s my first time trying gluten free products. It’s absolutely fabulous in term of texture and taste! Although it’s sugar free and I didn’t add any kind of sweetener, it has a sweet taste from the vanilla (I guess). 😀 I’ll definitely trying more gluten free products if they’re all that good! 😀 Rating5/5.

I think I’ll have pancakes every saturday, it makes me so happy! 😆

Bread Mix

To make the bread, just add 1/3 cup oil, 3 egg whites and 1 egg. The package comes with the bread mix and a packet of yeast.

Put everything to the bread machine and select dough cycle

when it’s done, take it out, put in a surface with cornmeal and let it rest for 90 min. The dough was really really sticky!!!  It was hard to manage so I didn’t touch it much, just let it sit.

90 min later, the dough was still sticky, so I just baked 1/2 of it and freeze the other half to see if that helps.

Used the Artisan Bread Five Minutes a Day Method for baking. 25 min later! Done! 😀

The texture and taste are different than wheat bread. It’s dense, chewy, slightly sweet, between cake and bread, really good! It totally deserves 5/5! 😀

Wanna try  Namaste products? Here’s the chance to win this:


Ways to participate (US. residents only)

1) Go to the Namaste Foods website and let me know which product you would like to try!

2) Link back to this giveaway on your blog

3) Tweet this giveaway.

4) Add me to your blogroll.

Please leave a separate comment for each entry.

Giveaway ends Friday, April 9th, 2010 9PM Eastern Time

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Fun Packages & Food

check out  TCM #7 about Mind cultivation

Ask me!

I got the Big G Whole Grain Awareness Challenge and a “Grains of Goodness” gift pack through MyBlogSpark

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Look how fun are these: a big mug (which I’m planning to recreate some of Sarah‘s oatmeal combo); a cute tote; two coupons; a fiber intake check pad and an amazing fit & fresh container for yogurt, fruit and cereals.

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isn’t it cool? pretty and functional. 😉

The second package was from Kaia foods

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Stay tune for the review (I already tried some and like them a lot) 😉

Into food!

For lunch I had leftover spinach&black bean& tofu pudding. Few of you asked me how I made it. Really simple, I just combined frozen spinach, frozen corns, firm tofu, black bean, flax meal, nutritional yeast, eggs and S+P. Bake for 40 min at 350 F and ready to serve! It’s a nutritious, tasty and easy to make meal! 🙂

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paired with some sauteed cauliflower

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Dinner was random but yummy~ Yam & black sesame cake

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curry baked tail fish

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steamed broccoli with ketchup

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sauerkraut

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It took me 20 min to eat this because there were so many small fishbones 😦 Not fun and dangerous.

Q1: What’s your favorite kind of fish? Mine is salmon.

Q2: Is there any food that you enjoy more when you eat alone?

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Squeezed and spoiled!

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That’s how I felt after meeting with my advisors yesterday! Ekk…. these people know how to squeeze me to the edge 😕 But in a good way, I don’t blame them and I would probably thank them in the future. 🙂

Okay. Now to the spoiled part! I received these Crazy Richard’s PB on Tuesday! I’ve seen these in many blogs and really wanted to try them. Thanks Nanette for sending this to me! 😀

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I got to try this one first

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What makes it special? it’s 100% natural. There is only one ingredient in these bottles. PEANUTS! No oil, no salt, nothing, just peanuts! Can you get anymore more natural than this?

I thought I was going to find a dense hard PB (without the added oil), but look this… it’s not dense at all, it’s kind of liquid.

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First testing: on oatmeal (obviously ;)).

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Texture: EXTREMELY smooth! They really know how to grind it!

Flavor: Strong peanut flavor (worth the redundancy)

Taste: good, but personally I like nut butter with a touch of salt. Although I like its taste, but was not hooked because of lack of salt. But I can always add it myself. 😉

Coco’s rating: 4/5 (the lack of salt downgrade a point, but its smoothness is definitely a plus)

Next spoiled episode, which was a HUGE one. Dustin from Wildwoods contacted me on Monday and offered to send some samples. I told him that I am leaving next Tuesday, so I’d probably  not be able to get them. Instead of putting me on hold, he sent it with OVERNIGHT shipping!!! Thank you Dustin, you really made me feel a spoiled girl! 😉

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Sprouted firm tofu, Smoked sprouted tofu, soy yogurtsPastaslim noodles and coupons!!! 😆

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I tried the plain one first

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Paired with key lime applesauce

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Texture: firm, not creamy.

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Flavor: strong in tofu.

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Taste: don’t expect to taste anything like yogurt. It tastes like a tofu gel. Nothing spectacular. It’s not bad, just different.

Coco’s rating: 3/5.

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Flavored ones have high sugar, just like standard yogurt.

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Texture: is softer than plain one and a little creamier too.

Flavor: less strong in tofu.

Taste: it tastes better than the plain one, but a little too sweet for me to eat it plain. But it will be a great topping for oatmeal.

Coco’s rating: 4/5

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The peach flavor is the best of the three. Because it’s a little savor, it makes it less sweet. 🙂

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For dinner I made a scrambled tofu sauteed with “spinach fettuccini”

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Sprouted tofu. According to their website, sprouted tofu helps digestion and enhance nutrition.

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I used tahini and soy sauce to make the scrambled tofu.

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Added frozen veggies and mushrooms.

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This meal is INCREDIBLE!!! If you haven’t tried making stir-fry with tahini and soy sauce, try it! I don’t know how to describe it, but the flavor is soooo special!!! I don’t find anything special about the tofu. It’s not much different than others. But these fettucini pasta is REALLY good. For those of you who like shiritaki noodles, give this a try, it’s definitely better! Why? Because it doesn’t have that funny flavor that shiritaki noodles have if you don’t rinse them well, and also these are more like real pasta, it’s less rubbery. I’ll definitely buy these from now one! I’m really hooked. Coco’s rating: 5/5.

Dessert was NO KABOCHA but aduki coconut mouse and my favorite energy bar: Thrive Heart!

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oh… I forgot to mention that if you order these cakes on their website, you’ll get 6 free in your first order and if you mention my blog, I’ll get 6 too! 😀

Day 2 of kabocha free was less painful! 😀

Q1: Are you PB or AB lover? What’s your favorite brand?

Q2: Who makes you feel like a spoiled child?

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