Dear PR person who is making money marketing products that help make our kids fat and unhealthy

As PR people become more and more aware of blogs, and more and more aware of what a nice marketing tool they can be, more and more of them offer to send me products in the hopes that I'll talk about them.

Which is how the next product ended up on my desk.

Stamped with the USDA Organic label and calling itself "Organic Smooshed Fruit," you would think FruitaBü would be the amazing new snack product we have been searching for and searching for on behalf of our obese kids.

But then we flip the box over and look at the only facts that count, the ingredient list.

FruitaBu Organic Smooshed Fruit Fruit Twirls, Smooshed Strawberry ingredients
Organic Apple Puree Concentrate, Organic Apple Juice Concentrate, Organic White Grape Juice Concentrate, Organic Strawberry Puree Concentrate, Organic Apple, Organic Palm Fruit Oil, Citrus Pectin, Natural Strawberry Flavor, Fruit Juice for Color, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Acerola Cherry Extract (Natural Vitamin C), Soy Lecithin

Sugars galore!
This is how they get fruit concentrates. They essentially take a nice, healthy, piece of fruit and cook the sh!t out of it until what you have left is fruit flavored sugars.

In her book, What to Eat, Marion Nestle, Ph.D. says

"'Fruit concentrate,' according to the U.S. Dietary Guidelines, is a euphemism for sugars."

Not one, not two, not even three, but the first four ingredients are concentrates. Heck, it would be cheaper to give your kids a big old bowl of white sugar and a shovel.

Dear very nice PR person who represents this company
Our kids are fat. They are fat, in part, because of the preponderance of companies making what are essentially sugary desserts and equating them with healthy fruits. And they are fat because you are helping these companies market these sugars.

If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem
So I have a question for you, PR person: Why on earth would you represent a client like this?

Shame.

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The very best veggie burger. And the very worst!

Want to know which is the very best veggie burger and which is the worst? You're in luck because Consumer Reports just put twelve veggie burgers to the test.

The most delicious veggie burgers
So which were the best two veggie burgers? And which were the worst? Let's see, shall we . . .

The second best veggie burger
Weighing in at only $1.08, ConsumerReports.org says the second best veggie burger is Dr. Praeger's Sensible Foods California. They say it is "Grainlike. Crisp, flavorful veggies in a soft filling."

The very best veggie burger
According to ConsumerReports.org, this honor goes to MorningStar Farms Garden which, at $1.07, is actually a penny cheaper than the second-place burger. They say it is "Combo of meatlike and grainlike. Thin, crispy, moist, flavorful."

The worst veggie burgers of all
Now, ConsumerReports.org ranged these as "good," so, while these are at the end of the list, it is a list that does not drop below good. Meaning, these aren't that bad!

Second to last on the list is Franklin Farms Portabella Fresh. It is cheap, at only $1.00, but while it is "Meatlike," it is also "Crumbly, smoky, a bit spongy."

And last on the list is Lightlife Meatless Light. At $1.48, it is the most expensive veggie burger, but while it is also "Meatlike," they say it is "Dry, dense, a bit rubbery, little flavor."

What do you think?
Now, let's see if we can get an opinion from people who really know about veggie burgers - us almost vegetarians. What veggie burgers do you like?

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Everything old is new again and a vegetarian recipe to prove it

If you are at all like me, then there are blogs and Websites you trip across, mean to bookmark, then lose only to stumble across at some later date with as much delight as you would banging into an old friend at a street corner.

The Old Foodie is the quintessential version of that for me.

The Old Foodie is a food history blog written by an Englishwoman living in Australian. Utterly fascinating, it is a charming and delightful and sometimes revolting (how could they eat that?!) romp through our food history.

And, best of all, it sometimes has recipes.

Here is a wonderfully simple, totally enticing vegetarian recipe. So when your mother tells you to eat your spinach, you will now be inclined to say "yes."

Vegetarian food recipe: Bombay Spinach
Boil the spinach in salted water until tender; drain and chop fine. Fry 1 chopped onion in 2 tablespoonfuls of butter; add the chopped spinach, a pinch of pepper and curry-powder. Cover and let simmer five minutes.

If we are bound to repeat history . . .
Then all I can say is yum.

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A vegetarian Mother's Day gift: A gift bag that's trying

What if you don't know what to get your mom? Then I know where you can go and see all sorts of gift ideas. But what if you know exactly what your mom would like? Well, I also know where you can create your own gift.

And, good news, these are the same place.

Which means this should be right up the alley of the almost vegetarian mom. Right? Well, let's see.

When It's Only Natural Gifts contacted me, I loved the idea right away: "... natural and organic food and body gifts in canvas bags versus wasteful baskets and packaging." I even loved the angle: You could build your own gift or you could buy a pre-made gift.

Perfect, right?

So I got hold of one of the pre-made gifts. And, alas, while I learned this is not the dream come true I hoped for, neither is it the nightmare so many products out there are. It is, in fact, a step, if not a leap, in the right direction.

The Body and Soul gift set ($74)
Here's what comes in this great-smelling gift set.

* There is a big tub of ginger mint body polish from Aura Cacia Organics. This uses cane sugar for the polishing (although it also has peppermint and other oils which may be irritating). And polishing it does, leaving my skin incredibly soft. So soft, in fact, that I didn't care that it also left the tub incredibly slippery. Well, I cared a little.

* For those who bathe, the set also comes with two packets of dead sea salts, but the set I received substituted the calming orange and relaxing lavender salts with calming foam bath for kids and lavender foam bath) also from Aura Cacia Organics. The first is not quite right for mom, but, still, they make for a lovely bathe.

* There are two Kiss My Face soaps, one in olive and lavender and the other in olive and green tea, both of which are loaded with wonderfully moisturizing olive oil (interestingly, both also have sodium chloride which is, essentially, table salt!).

* Also included is a great smelling Clark’s beeswax candle. Now, while this might not be ideal for the strictly vegetarian or vegan mom (honey is not vegetarian), all other moms will love this divine smelling candle.

* If the ginger mint body scrub did not slough enough layers of skin, there is also an Earth Therapeutics loofah which is great for exfoliation.

* Finally, for a sweet touch, there are also not one, but two, chocolate treats, an Equal Exchange Organic Milk Chocolate and Hazelnut Bar and a Chocolove Organic Dark Chocolate Bar. Now, we love the idea of including chocolates in the set, but we found both of these bland and tossed the unfinished bars into the garbage.

* Everything comes packaged in a 13.25" x 12" x 4" "100% cotton canvas bag" which is perfectly sized for a little weekday shop. Of course, as there is no mention of organic cotton, my assumption is it is not, otherwise I would think they would scream it from the mountains. And that's a real shame because non-organic cotton is awfully hard on the environment. On the front of the bag is a lushly beautiful agave image.

Beyond the items listed above, there was also a bed of paper inside the bag. And the bag was delivered inside a cardboard box stuffed with newsprint. This is a lot better than Styrofoam, but it still is a lot of paper.

And, there is a bottle of something in the picture (see above) that never made it to the product description or into the bag. Odd.

Happy Mother's Day!

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A vegetarian Mother's Day gift: Great for the mom who cooks

The number one tool for every cook has got to be their knives.

But as important as the knives are for omnivores, they are even more important for vegetarians who are constantly whacking and chopping all manner of fruits and vegetables.

Which means that keeping those knives sharp is critical.

And I found a great tool to help. A tool that will make an ideal present for the vegetarian mother who cooks.

Not ideal solution #1: Sharpening stones
At first, I considered sharpening stones (or rod sharpeners). But these are fraught with questions: Is the knife at the right angle? If not, will someone get hurt? Or will the ridiculously expensive knife get ruined?

Can you see why I passed on this solution?

Not ideal solution #2: Man in kitchen with knives
Next, I turned toward the husband. Making the husband sharpen the knives worked pretty well. I mean, he did a good job with the sharpening stone. But there are three problems with this solution.

First, the man tended to indulge in maniacal laughter every time he sharpened a knife. Sure, I could see his point. If you are going to sharpen knives, that really is the best time for a sinister mwhahahaha. But, still, that is the stuff nightmares are made of. And the reason we got rid of the juicer.

Second, he insists he can't rush home from the office every time I find a dull blade. I think that's a little selfish of him, but, okay, I'd rather be self sufficient anyway.

And, third, sure I might complain about my husband refusing to rush home to sharpen my knives and laughing maniacally when he does, but, hey, at least he does a good job of it when he is around. But what if your dad does a crummy job? Then what do you do?

Can you see why I don't recommend you make your mom rely on someone else to sharpen her knives?

Totally ideal solution: Chef'sChoice Professional Sharpening Station M130
Despite its utilitarian name, this unit pretty much sharpens everything, including serrated knives which, for some reason, the tiny, wizened, non-English speaking, knife-sharpening man in the van outside the farmer's market always refuses to do. I have no idea why. And I'm afraid to ask.

Which is why I think this is a great solution.

So how does this work?
There are three inserts into which you place your knife. The first one sharpens the edge a bit. The second one sharpens it more. And the third one, which also sharpens serrated knives, can sharpen straight edges even further.

You see, in these indentations are abrasive disks which sharpen the knives. Or there are tiny, ancient, knife-sharpening guys who used to work out of vans at farmer's markets. I'm not sure which.

Even better, sharpening a knife takes, oh, less than a minute. And you don't have to shlep dull knives to, and razor sharp knives home from, the market.

So what's the bottom line here?
Well, certainly it is not as fun as having the husband sharpen the knives. But it is incredibly easy to work, it is impossible to screw up the angle, and it makes the knives killer sharp.

Which means it is an ideal present for the vegetarian mom who cooks, don't you think?

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A vegetarian Mother's Day gift: Perfect for warm, spring days

I've found a lovely new treat to keep your mom cool just in time for spring.

It's a totally new and innovative idea. It's easy. It's interesting. And, best of all, it's delicious.

Ice tea like you've never had before
Tea Forté has come up with a new product called Tea-Over-Ice.

Tea-Over-Ice ($42) is a two-part unit which looks like double-decker glass pitchers. To use it, you fill the bottom pitcher with ice, plop one of the pre-measured Tea Forté Tea-Over-Ice infusers ($24 for 12 infusers) into the top pitcher, then pour hot water over your infuser.

After your tea has brewed, you pour your tea from your top pitcher into your bottom pitcher where the ice instantly chills your tea.

Pretty clever, eh?

Tea Forté Tea-Over-Ice infusers
Each infuser will give you one 24 oz. pitcher of iced tea:

• Ceylon Gold ~ For the black tea drinkers among us, may I present a classic ice tea. Rich and full-flavored, this is wonderful served with a dash of sweetener (typically a sugar, although agave nectar works nicely) in glasses filled to the brim with crushed ice.
• Raspberry Nectar ~ Glorious raspberry color with a raspberry and hibiscus taste. This is the sweetest of the teas.
• White Ginger Pear ~ Think white tea (which is all the rage these days) meets Japanese pear and ginger. This one is lovely and light; almost delicate.
• Pomegranate Blackberry ~ It’s, well, pomegranate and blackberry, just like it says. It smells predominately of blackberries: Rich and warm.
  

Very pretty
Clever idea, this. First, you have this interesting two-tier pitcher made from hand-blown heat-resistant glass. Very pretty. Second, this is a totally new way of making iced tea. How good a conversation starter is that, I ask you? And, third, there are those pre-measured tea infusers. How convenient are those? Of course, you can plop your own tea bags (three should be about right) in there if you run out of the pre-made infusers and can’t be bothered to get more. But, in the meantime, it is handy to have them pre-made.

At the end of the brew, there is just enough iced tea for you and mom to enjoy a big glass each, together. Which is the nicest gift of all, isn't it?

(And if you want something to eat with your ice tea, VegCooking just posted a Johnny Rockets buy one, get one free Streamliner veggie burger coupon. Have a burger with mom and, hey, let me know if dinner was good.)

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Is your "organic" brand really organic?

Dr. Bronner Magic Soaps files a lawsuit against major brands claiming they make misleading organic claims
Ever use Jason Pure, Natural & Organic liquid soaps, body washes and shampoos? Well, according to Dr. Bronner's, the major cleansing ingredient is Sodium Myreth Sulfate, a caricinogenic.

What about Avalon Organics soaps, bodywashes and shampoos? Or Kiss My Face Obsessively Organic cleansers? Dr. Bronner says: Petrochemicals.

But the list doesn't stop there.

Even the certifiers are named
Also named in the lawsuit are mainstream companies ranging from Estee Lauder to Stella McCartney's CARE, as well as certifiers such as the new Organic and Sustainable Industry Standard ("OASIS") which was developed by select industry members (including Estee Lauder) and which allows for "Organic" on the label even on products which contain ingredients such as

"... Sodium Lauryl Sulfate made from conventional agricultural material grown with synthetic fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides, and preserved with synthetic petrochemical preservatives such as Ethylhexylglycerin and Phenoxyethanol."

Want to know more?
Well, you can.

• You can read about the Dr. Bronner lawsuit here.
• You can stay up-to-date on this here.
• You can learn more about product ingredients here.

What do you think of all this?
The more I read, the more I learn, the more horrified I am. Is the lust for the almighty dollar driving everyone? Or are there good companies out there, trying to make an honest (honest) buck? What do you think?

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No plastic bags or containers in this fridge

I've been on a mission to get plastic out of my kitchen. I found great farmer's market bags for shopping and produce bags for fruits and vegetables so that plastic is gone. But I still need a place to store leftovers.

Now, considering so many of us are trying to live the green life, you would think finding non-plastic storage containers would be easy. It isn't.

But I persevered. And, finally, I found something that is as free from plastic as it gets. Something you can use over and over again. And something that is really pretty.

The Anchor Hocking Bake n' Keep containers are great. First, of course, they are glass. Which, because you can use them again and again, means no more landfill fodder. Second, you can use them in the oven and the microwave, as well as in the fridge and freezer, making them pretty handy. Third, these square or rectangular containers (with matching lids) come in three sizes - 2 cup, 5 cup, and 12 cup - which stack nicely.

And, fourth, they are good looking. Good looking enough to keep on your counter. Unlike those nasty plastic containers which tend to get dingy and ragged over time.

I'd call this an almost perfect solution. Almost because, alas, they are not made from recycled glass (I did found tons of tableware - glasses, pitchers, and so on - made from recycled glass, but no storage containers). But perfect because these work so well.

And did I mention that they are pretty. Which is always a bonus in my book.

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Everything you've always wanted to know about olive oil including a delicious olive oil cake recipe

Whether you are an almost vegetarian or just someone trying to eat right, odds are, you are putting more and more olive oil in your diet.

Which is great. But which also begs the question, which olive oil should I get?

Well, I have a few tips to help you buy your olive oil. And, even better, I have not one, but two, award-winning extra virgin olive oils for you to try. And both are organic, which is the best news of all.

How to buy olive oil
What? You've never bought olive oil? Or you've been buying it for years and know less about differences in oils than differences in, say, shampoo?

Well, it is time for an education.

And that's what I have right here. A quick and easy primer on everything from the different grades of oil to the seasons of oil (yes, it makes a difference) to flavored oils versus unflavored oils.

And now, for the award-winning oils
Now that you know a bit about oils, it is a good idea to try a good one so you know what a good one tastes like. If that makes sense. And if you're going for good, you might as well start with an award-winner.

Which is what I have for you today.

Both of the winning oils, below, are from the Sorelle Paradiso (which means Paradiso Sisters in Italian) organic olive grove in northern California.

Extra Virgin Organic Olive Oil
Selected Best in Show at the Las Vegas International Restaurant Show, the Sorelle Paradiso Extra Virgin Organic Olive Oil is made exclusively from Sevillano olives. Almost creamy and sweet, it is an especially nice dipping oil requiring little more than a hunk of bread ripped off a warm loaf to make for a delicious treat.

Mission Blend Extra Virgin Olive Oil
The Sorelle Paradiso Mission Blend Extra Virgin Olive Oil, which is a blend of Mission and Sevillano olives, won a Gold Medal at the same show. This oil is the richer of the two. It is especially nice drizzled on fresh vegetables.

So what are you going to do with all that lovely oil?
Cook, dip, or even bake. What, bake with oil? Sure. In fact, here is a recipe for lemon olive oil cake which is one of my favorites. Assuming, of course, one of the neighbors is growing lemons. Which, right about now, I think they are. Oh dear.

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Yet another recall - but this one is directed right at vegetarians

Do you drink soymilk? Then there is a recall you should know about.

Got milk?
WhiteWave Foods, the company who makes Silk soymilk, is voluntarily recalling the 11-ounce plastic single serve bottles of Silk Soymilk Chocolate Flavor because it may contain milk protein. Which, of course, is a problem for vegetarians who are trying to avoid dairy and a problem for anyone with a diary allergy.

How to identify the recalled soymilk
The bottles have a 05 07 08 “use by” date and a UPC of 2529360028 printed on the back.

What to do if you have a recalled soymilk
Just return it where you bought it for a full refund or exchange.

Who you gonna call about the soymilk recall
Got questions? Then call WhiteWave at 1-800-587-2259.

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