Noshtopia

Why Putting Vegan Mayo On A Hot Dog Is Not Ridiculous

Today I tweeted a story from Bon Appetit titled, "80 delicious hot dog ideas from around the world." One of the hot dog ideas had vegan mayo on it and in the comments of that story, one person claimed ridiculousness with that concept:

 

I edited out the first part of the comment because it was a bit mean spirited. I see where the commenter is coming from, so I'm here to explain why putting vegan mayo on a hot dog is NOT ridiculous.

Food allergies

I have allergies to cow and goat milk, and to eggs. I cannot eat your basic Kraft mayonnaise made with eggs unless I'm prepared for gastric havoc and hours of playing "Pull my finger." It's really tough too because I used to really love eating tuna salad with regular mayo.

Just because one cannot do eggs doesn't mean that life has to be deprived of mayonnaise. No. We just have to use versions of mayo that are not made with eggs LIKE vegan mayo because I can tell you I have yet to see the "egg allergic" mayo. I eat meat. My body just doesn't jive with the animal's by-products.

When you go to the condiment aisle at the grocery store rarely, if ever, do you see products like mayo marketed as "dairy and egg free." There are some niche products, but usually you have to order those from some internet health food store and they are shipped from some far, far away land where non-dairy and egg goodness prevail...Ok, I jest.

It's about marketing

More often you'll see "vegan" mayo or sandwich spread because from a purely marketing verbage standpoint, the vegan market is much bigger than a market of people who are dairy and egg free because of food allergies, just don't like it, or are on some special diet. Having been a former marketeer, I can tell you that packaging is almost always driven by market size.

I get the funniest looks all the time when I eat a hamburger or hot dog and put vegan mayo on it because like that Bon Appetit commenter it is often automatically assumed that you have to be vegan to eat vegan marketed foods.

The next time you see someone ordering a meat dish with some vegan side or condiment, remember they could have food allergies.

If you happen to see a bottle of mayo clearly stamped with "Egg and Dairy free" not "Vegan" on it like Vegenaise, please do let me know. Would love to see pictures, and try the product. I've seen Kelkin and Plamil.

Snacks For The Road Trip

J and I are heading out on the road trip from San Francisco, CA to Boulder, CO today, and here are some snacks I got for us for our 3 days on the road.

Now, to note, my mom starts to come out in me whenever planning for food comes into play. Those of you with Filipino moms know exactly what I'm talking about. We'll buy enough food to feed 4 people for 5 days, even though the reality is 2 people for 3 days. I also shop at Whole Foods, and boy do I ever have to restrain myself there because I can easily go hog wild.

First up we have some heavier snacks which technically could also be lunch food. 

• Regular hummus from the cold foods bar. To make the hummus interesting, I also got some Peppadew Peppers, pureed them in the mini food processor and mixed it in the hummus to give it a pinch of sweet heat.
• Barley, kale, garbanzo beans, and red pepper salad mixed with some olive oil, garlic, onion, salt & pepper.
• Chunks of grilled chicken from the salad bar.
• Red seedless grapes 

Next we have some dried fruits and nuts

• Dried Turkish Apricots
• Green Chile Pistachios
• Whole Foods 365 brand Organic Banana Chips (in a bag)

For crunchy and sweets

• Baked Brown Rice Snaps - Vegetable flavored by Edward & Sons
• Chocolate Chip Cookies by Dr. Lucy's. These cookies have no peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, wheat, or gluten.
• Organic Watermelon flavored Moons Chews by Luna Sport. I got these because I was intrigued by the "Energy Chews" on the packaging.

I was really tempted to get something crunchy & salty like these Pop Chips, but I refrained in an attempt to keep the junk like foods to a minimum. Who knows. If all else fails, I figure we can find a bag of Kettle chips almost any where.

And lastly for drinks:

• Bottled water
• Whole Foods 365 Organic Lemonade packaged in those 6.75 oz boxes.
• Few bottles of Organic Honest Tea in various flavors
• Few bottles of Sweet Leaf Tea in Mint & Honey and Mango. There was a sale 4 for $2.99. I love these Sweet Leaf teas. I could drink this stuff all day long.

J brought some goodies too, but I haven't seen them yet, but will update ya'll later. Between the two of us, I think we got some pretty tasty things to nosh on.

For The Juice: Loving Our Body Today

If I were to do an episode of "The Juice" a new online show collaborated by BlogHer and Tropicana Trop50 on topics related to nutrition, functional fitness, doing more with less, relationships and mind/body, I would call my episode, "Loving Our Body Today."

Recently, I retired my popular healthy living blog Back in Skinny Jeans after 3 years and 8 months because on my recent birthday it dawned on me, "How old do you have to be to stop obsessing about your body and your looks?”

I mean really, it's a good question to ask because do you want to be 40, 50,...and still be obsessing about your jeans size, wrinkles, flab, and crow’s feet? At what age does it all end? At what age do you finally get to "I love my body?"

I felt it was time to retire Back in Skinny Jeans on a high note because it was time for me to grow up into my higher self. Instead of getting "bikini-ready", I want to get "higher self-ready." My higher self no longer has a need to focus on her body or the subject of physical beauty and blog about it every day. She loves her body and herself today as she is and here are 5 tips that helped me get there:

• So, at what age does all  the body obsessing end? The answer is any age. The obsessing stops when YOU stop. You can be 20 or 60. Age doesn't matter. State of mind matters, and YOU control that. I follow this mantra: My body is not the root of my suffering, my mind is. And equally, my body is not the root of my happiness, my mind is. 

• Stop playing the comparison game particularly the Ms. Perfect edition. Nothing will torpedo your self esteem faster than playing the lack game. Instead, play the abundance game. Focus on what is unique and authentic about YOU.

• You are whole. You can have damage, flaws, and imperfections, but know that you are still whole. Eleanor Roosevelt said, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” Well, it’s the same thing for feeling whole. No one can make you feel "I'm not enough" without your agreement. No one can make you feel you’re not beautiful, talented, or worthy of love without your permission. No matter what happens on the outside, on the inside you are whole.

• Be your own best friend. It makes no sense to be kind, loving, and supportive to everyone in your life, then go beat up on yourself. If you cheer others on, cheer yourself on as well.

• Your body is a Wonderland not a Slum. Feed yourself foods that make you feel vibrant. Feed your mind thoughts that nourish your self esteem. Surround yourself with people and places that bring meaning to your lifehood.

So what are some other tips that helped you start loving your body today?

We're Going On a Road Trip. So How Do I Eat Healthy?

One of the hallmarks of summer is the road trip, and starting tomorrow 6/17, I am going on a road trip with J across 5 states as you can see above. Woo-hoo, road trip!

We're starting in the SF Bay Area and ending in Colorado. One of the cities we'll be seeing which I've just been dying to check out is Loveland, CO. US News & World Report recently named Loveland as one of the 10 best to live in the US, so we're going to go see first hand the fabulousness that is Loveland. I just dig that name. How can you not be feeling all kinds of happy vibes in a city called Loveland?

Besides being fun, road trips are also another opportunity to eat horribly because well, "road trip" is almost like a carnival on the road eating at rest stops, diners, and stop-n-gos. So, the challenge for us noshers is how can we eat healthy or at least mostly healthy on a road trip?

The next challenge for J and I is that we both have food allergies to contend with like no dairy and eggs. J is also gluten-free, and we both avoid soy. I'll have soy things from time to time, but in general I eat soy products minimally because too much soy can affect your metabolism and it can boost estrogen levels because of the estrogens it contains, and I have family history of female issues.

For the next few days I'll be blogging about the road trip and our adventures in food. Stay tuned!

Review: Cascade Fresh Activ8 Probiotic Bar. Noshing Good Bacteria Bar Style

One of the benefits of eating yogurt is all that probiotic goodness. All bacteria are not bad. There are the good bacteria that help your innards stay in shape, and that's where eating foods like yogurt with active cultures can help.

I'm limited to eating soy, rice, or coconut based yogurts because of the type II cow and sheep milk allergy and as much as I'd like to beef up on the probiotics I don't want to eat yogurt all the time. So, seeing this Organic Activ8 Peanut Chocolate Chip Probiotic Bar by Cascade Fresh was a fresh surprise because besides the probiotics, the bar has chocolate and peanut butter which is always a head turner in our book.

Colony-a-plenty

The Activ8 bar claims to contain 5.55 billion CFUs (Colony Forming Units at time of manufacture) of probiotic cultures which is more probiotics than 12 cups of typical yogurt. Sounds like a super duper food to me.

This Activ8 bar is organic, gluten-free, low sodium, and cholesterol free, but it is not dairy-free. The ingredients list is here along with the nutritional info. I thought it cool that the bar had agave syrup and Quinoa, two of my faves.

I ate the bar and was not reactive because I think the dairy ingredients are minuscule and the bar is organic. I could be totally wrong as I'm no pro, but that is me, so double check with your doctor.

The Peanut Chocolate Chip Probiotic bar was really delicious. Who knew bacteria loaded food could taste fabulous. The bar has to stay refrigerated to keep the cultures kicking.

I haven't tried the other flavors: Blueberry Acai, Cherry Vanilla, and Pomegranate Goji, but I definitely will now. You try the bars? Share your two cents.

Season 5: Next Food Network Star is Back!

Last night, Season 5 of The Next Food Network Star premiered and to keep it nibbly and interesting like a zesty tapas dish, we're gonna serve up our thoughts on Epi One tweet style.

btw, spoiler-ish alert...If you don't wanna know, how about a mosey over to check out our recipe for a Mojito Guacamole with Cassava chips.

• Meet the cast of 10. I have two clear favorites already but I'll keep you guessing on that one.

• Overall: Will this cast be more exciting to watch over Law & Order Criminal Intent in same time slot? Magic 8 ball says: Cannot predict now.

• Flay, Bob, and Susie are back. We liked watching the culinary point of view on TV like season 4. This time gotta watch the web vids.

• First act: Impress A-Listers of the Food Network at FN's Sweet 16 party. Access Hollywood in the house. zOMG! Toss the newbies in the pit.

• Red team: Shitake happens when you have no list. Likey the David Copperfield with zucchini. One makes us want to shimmy with Go-Go boots.

• Green team: Bubba, seriously? High 5 for mango & jicama but not the shrimp. Everybody loves sweet tarts. Dimples can't save the taterfail.

• Our guess for the final 4: Jeffrey, Jamika, Michael, Melissa/Brett. Melissa is more reachable but Brett is more entertaining. Toss up.

• The one who gets sent home was not a shocker. Wish the judges would add a bit more heat to their assessments.

• Feel it in our bones. One of them will end up on the new Food 2.

• If you want full play-by-play of Epi One, Foodie in Disguise has the meaty deets.

Your two cents?