ChocAlive! chocolate truffles are one of the best chocolates I have ever had and they are raw vegan which makes them even more exciting.  I tired the Dark Chocolate, Dark Chocolate Crunch and Coconut Truffles which were all delicious but I think my favorite was the Dark Chocolate Crunch, the crunch was a great addition.  The truffles are creamy and delicious just like the non-vegan ones I remember.  My husband was surprised that these creamy truffles could be raw, he didn’t believe me until I showed him the packaging.

Julie Glick the owner/president of ChocAlive! says it best “ChocAlive! Truffles make people so happy.  They are so undeniably healthy and incredibly delicious too.  That’s why I say that they are too good AND they’re true!  ChocAlive! Truffles were even featured on Colin Cowie’s website as one of his “Fantastic Finds!”  Quite an honor coming from Oprah’s Party and Event Planner… Here’s the link: http://colincowie.com/products/chocalive I don’t even know if he knew how super-food good for you they are!”

You can check out the ChocAlive! website to find out where you can find these yummy chocolates.

Winner of Everyday Raw: Kelly of http://www.trimommylife.blogspot.com/

Congrats! Everyone make sure to stop by later tonight to check out the next giveaway! This one is going to be edible!

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Today marks the first day of “12 Days of Giveaways” and my first giveaway will be one of my favorite Raw books Everyday Raw by Matthew Kenney.  I have been making a lot of recipes from this book lately and they are great.  Just this weekend I made Vanilla-Almond Macaroons which are so delicious.

I have also made some other great items from here such as the Eggplant Bacon, Sweet Green Juice, Baked Macaroni and Cheese and the Sweet Miso Dressing.  All of these dishes are easy and delicious and I can’t wait to try more.  This book is great but you will need a blender or food processor to make some of the more interesting dishes, a dehydrator is nice if you have one otherwise you will miss out on some of the recipes.

You can try some of Matthew Kenney’s recipes from his newest book Entertaining in the Raw on GLiving.com.

To learn more about Matthew Kenney you can visit his site here and you can also read his interview on Crazy Sexy Life.

If you would like to win your own copy of this great book leave a comment by December 2nd at 8am. Don’t forget to check back daily to see what the 11 other giveaways are.  You could also follow me on twitter @cookveganlover to find out when I post a new giveaway.

Last night my mum and dad came over for dinner for my mum’s birthday.  Her birthday dinner consisted of greens tossed maple balsamic dressing, Thanksgiving Tart from Vegnews and rutabaga and turnip toss.  For dessert we had peanut butter mousse pie topped with peanut brittle and chocolate sauce.

Balsamic Dressing:

• 2 T olive oil
• 3 T balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 T Dijion mustard
• 1 T maple syrup

Whisk together.

Rutabaga and Turnip Toss 

• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 2 small rutabaga, peeled and sliced
• 5 purple topped turnips, peeled and sliced
• 1 T olive oil
• 2 t cumin
• 1 t chili powder
• 1 t thyme
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 t pepper
• 3 T nutritional yeast
• 1/4 c water
• 1 T earth balance

Heat oil over medium-high heat and add the onion, rutabaga and turnips.  Cook for 7 minutes until slightly soften.  While the onion, rutabaga and turnip cook mix together cumin, chili, thyme, salt, pepper and water together.  After the 7 minutes add the cumin mixture to the rutabaga mix and toss.  Cook together for 3-5 minutes until all cooked through.  Add the nutritional yeast and earth balance toss to coat.

Monday I received a load of goodies from Newman’s Own Organic which I just can’t wait to try (and do I smell a giveaway?)  My husband and I broke into the Cinnamon Hermits right away and these were delicious! My husband brought the Original Newman-O’s with him on his trip to New Brunswick so I have yet to hear back his opinion of them. 

Tuesday night we made pizza which was delicious it had broccoli, garlic, almond cheeze, pizza sauce and marinated buffalo “mozzarella” (AKA marinated silken tofu tester recipe). 

For dessert we ate the entire box of Nicobella Vegan Dark Chocolate Truffles which were delicious.  The truffle flavors were Blueberry Almond, Ginger Green Tea, Pumpkin Chai, Pure Cocoa Bliss, Walnut Flaxseed Crunch, & Sunflower Banana Butter. Our favorites were Pure Cocoa Bliss and Blueberry Almond. 

I received a bunch of samples of Non-Dairy Cheese Spread & Dip from Wayfare Foods. Currently you can only purchase We Can’t Say It’s Cheese in Montana and Florida for specific locations look here.    Wayfare Foods is looking to expand their market up to NY/MA/CT shortly after January 1st!  I received Cheddar Style Spread, Cheddar Style Dip, Mexi Cheddar-Style Spread and Hickory-Smoked Cheddar-Style Spread. I immediately dived into the Hickory-Smoked Cheddar with some reduced-fat Wheat Thins.   I then used some for my Thanksgiving Dinner- I mixed the Hickory-Smoked Cheddar with some brown rice, sauteed Brussels sprouts, white beans, garlic and shredded carrot.  It was delicious.  I used the Cheddar Style Spread on my veggie burger Friday night and made Mac and Cheese with it Saturday.  It was delicious!

For dinner last night I did some testing for Happy Herbivore’s upcoming cookbook – I made her Herbed Homefires and served it up with Vegan Brunch Tofu Scramble. 

My husband and I are both hot sauce enthusiast so when I was given the opportunity to sample, I couldn’t resist.  I made us some yummy chickpea and cabbage tacos served with Sour Supreme and homemade guacamole and of course hot sauce on the side.  We prepared ourselves with our Zevia Colas and then it was time to test them out.

First we tried the Pain 100%  (categorized as “Melt Down” on Original Juan’s website) both of our mouths were on fire, 2nd was the Jamaican Jerk Hot Sauce  (“Zesty” category) which was actually really good and I would cook with it next time.  Our third try was the Garlic Style Hot Sauce (“Firey” category) this was really spicy, but not too bad, however a little too vinergary for me.  Lastly we tried Da’Bomb Beyond Insanity  Hot Sauce which is categorized as “Melt Down” hot on the website. 

After all of these tastings my entire mouth was on fire I practically could breathe fire.  My husband was also in pain but he tried much smaller samples of all of the hot sauces.  We only tired hot sauces up to the “Melt Down” category, I can’t even imagine what the ones in the “Off the Chart” catagory taste like.

You can also check out Original Juan on Facebook.

The holidays are just around the corner and that means spending time with friends, family and eating way too much (and spending lots of time at the gym)!  This holiday season I am doing a 12 Days of Giveaways  where starting December  there will be a giveaway every 2 days.  So keep your eyes peeled for great products that you could win this holiday season. 

(we’re celebrating the holidays at Disney this year!)

Once a giveaway is posted you will have around 24 hours to enter.  All winners will be chosen using the Random Integer Generator.  Make sure to check back frequently for new giveaways! 

Carrots ‘N’ Cake is also getting into the holiday spirit so make sure to check out her holiday giveaways starting December 1st. 

.  Since Neil is heading north to New Brunswick next week we won’t be having vegan Thanksgiving so we enjoyed it yesterday with two of my girlfriends, Monica and Laura. After we shared vegan Thanksgiving we spent the remainder of the afternoon in the kitchen baking cookies from Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. 
 

Celebration Roast, Cumin Caramelized Onion Mashed Potatoes and Green Bean Casserole

Already to bake!

We made the Blackstrap Gingersnaps first; I received a sample NuNuaturals NuStevia Baking Blend and we decided to try it out with these cookies instead of sugar.

Yeah! Gingersnaps!

Look mom greasy hands!

City Girl Snickerdoodles

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows

All of these cookies enjoyed with a nice cup of Boulevards Organics Dairy-Free Hot Chocolate

We also made some Lazy Samoas (not photographed) which were delicious and just like the caramel delights I enjoyed as a girl scout.  The girls and I really loved this cookbook and found that all the recipes were fun and yet easy.  A few things we really loved were that all the cookies were baked at 350F and that all took 8min to 12min which was great especially when baking 4 different kinds. I really loved all the cookies I have to say it’s a toss up between the Chocolate PB and the Snickerdoodles for my favorite.

The first vegan cookbook I ever bought as Vegan with a Vengeance I have used it so much over the years that it is stained with food and worn to pieces.  Over the years I picked up Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World which I loved and actually used 2 of the cupcake recipes for my wedding cupcakes. Then I was given a copy of Veganomicon by my loving husband for Christmas 2007 – I honestly haven’t used this book as much as VWAV & VCTOTW and was actually disappointed with it compared to Isa’s two earlier books.  However Isa Chandra Moskowitz  has redeemed herself with Vegan Brunch which features a number of great vegan brunch recipes.  

Vegan Brunch features savory recipes such as tofu scramble, frittatas, polenta ranchers, Tofu Benny and perogies.  Of the savory dishes I tried the tofu scramble which was delicious, the texture was almost creamy which I loved and really had the texture of scrambled eggs (or at least what I remember-it’s been awhile).  I also made the Cornbread Waffles which I loved because some days you just don’t want to have a sweet waffle and this was a great savory waffle. Lastly I made the Tofu Benny which I loved! The hollandaise was delicious and the Diner Homefries were nice and crispy. 

To be honest I have yet to try any of the sweet brunch options and am actually much more of a savory breakfast person. I actually did have plans to make the Banana Rabanada (Brazilian French Toast) this morning but my husband forgot the baguette on his desk at work. I guess I’ll make it another day!

Some other dishes I have made and loved where the Samosa Mashed Potato Pancakes, Chesapeake Tempeh Cakes and the Mushroom Gravy.  I made the Cheaspeake Tempeh Cakes for some of my omni friends and they couldn’t get enough of them.  I ate the mushroom gravy this morning with my scramble and am using the leftovers in my greenbean casserole.  

Over all this is a great book that I would recommend to anyone who loves breakfast.  This book is great because although many cookbooks have breakfast sections none have the focus and devotion to breakfast items like Vegan Brunch.

You can pick up your copy of Vegan Brunch on Amazon.

Now that you have read what I have to say about this book I am going to give you a chance to win a copy yourself. If you would like to win please leave a comment letting me know what your favorite brunch dish is by November 24th, 2009.

For extra chances to win:

1. RT @cookveganlover (leave me a comment)
2. Follow me on Twitter  (leave me a comment)
3. Become a fan on Facebook (leave me a comment)

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Winner: Christina- “blueberry pancakes with a side of homefries and vegan sausage. yums!”