Photo Hilary's Veggie Burger
Most of us have more than enough carbs in our
lives. Pasta, bread, tortillas and grainy desserts all make the list of the top ten foods consumed by US adults. Even many of the carbs we consider “good” such
as whole wheat bread (oftentimes not so whole and pretty much worthless) and
oatmeal packets are what I call wolves in healthy clothing. As Dr David Ludwig
says “we have no biological requirement for grains”. This is so true but that
doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy them, in some form.
Kelp Noodles
We all crave something noodle-esque in our lives. If you’re gluten free or firmly rooted in healthy eating you’ve nixed Penne
alla Vodka and all its relatives. Once you know certain foods can’t be dietary
staples you have to be flexible. While I would never suggest eating any
anything that doesn’t taste good, I am asking for equal parts open-mindedness
and wishful thinking. Sometimes the substitute isn’t the same as the original. Spaghetti
squash isn’t angel hair and zucchini pasta isn’t linguini but they can be
delicious with proper doctoring.
Have you tried kelp noodles? To entice you I will
say these low calorie, gluten free, low calorie, iodine rich noodles from the
sea are a favorite of my boys and mine. And for full disclosure, I’ll admit when
my husband tried them he said “not my thing”.
I like the Sea Tangle brand. They are technically ready to eat but a rinse
and then a soak in warm or near-boiling water does wonders. Some use them like
pasta with pesto or other traditional sauces. I prefer them in Asian
preparations (sesame oil, fresh ginger, garlic, wheat free tamari, maple) with
leftover veggies for a quick lunch. Just be sure to cook them long enough to
soften.
Cocomama
Cocomama wants you to “Meet Your New B. F. F.” and while I normally find adults using the term “best friend, BF or worst of all bestie” beyond annoying I’m totally on board with “Breakfast Friend Forever”. We have a breakfast quinoa recipe for clients but only a select few make it. Others are too busy, “refuse pot washing” (swear direct quote) or can’t cook when traveling at work etc. Cocomama has their and your backs. Their ready to eat pouches can be heated or consumed straight up. It comes in delicious flavors, while I knew I’d like banana cinnamon, orange cranberry (not orangey person) was a nice surprise.
I still love Vigilant Eats and will have it as
my #1 oats on the go …but I’m pretty fickle and may indeed have a new B.F. F.
Cocomama wants to invite you into our quinoa clique too. One reader will
receive a 6-pack to try, no hazing rituals, I promise.
Hillarys
When we talk about edible wolves in healthy clothing most veggie burgers top
the list. If you’re home and have veggie burgers in your freezer, go check the
label. Do you see TVP (textured vegetable protein)? Soy protein isolates? Soy
protein concentrate? And most importantly do you recognize what’s listed?
Hillary’s are gluten free, soy free, GMO free,
organic, they taste great and even their packaging is recyclable and
biodegradable. Hillary’s worries about you and will not throw you to the “wolves”.
Here is a coupon for Hillary’s.
Flackers
Flackers are gluten free, raw crackers made from flax. Admittedly, I am more of a chia than a flax girl but our clients convinced us to try these and they’re delicious. Plus they’re the makeup artist Bobbi Brown’s favorite cracker. We’re not making any guarantees but her skin is pretty darn nice. Flackers are giving away a variety 5-pack.
Friday night I discovered my new #1 favorite carb. My friend had us over for arepas. They are little, gluten free corn cakes you stuff with all sorts of fillings. No giveaway for these...yet.
Flackers are gluten free, raw crackers made from flax. Admittedly, I am more of a chia than a flax girl but our clients convinced us to try these and they’re delicious. Plus they’re the makeup artist Bobbi Brown’s favorite cracker. We’re not making any guarantees but her skin is pretty darn nice. Flackers are giving away a variety 5-pack.
For other carb-favorites, check out today’s
newsletter A Few Good Carbs.
To be eligible for the giveaways:
To be eligible for the giveaways:
- Comment and tell us your favorite carbs and which of these you’d like to try.
- Tweet Foodtrainers’ Favorite Carbs and #Giveaway @cocomamafoods @flackers and @hillaryeatwell
You have until Sunday 10/21/12 to enter.
Have you tried any of our favorites? Would you like to? What do you consider grainy “wolves in healthy clothing”? What are your go-to pasta or pasta stand in?
The winner of the Black and Blum givaway is Gina, please email Katelynn@foodtrainers.net your address.
Have you tried any of our favorites? Would you like to? What do you consider grainy “wolves in healthy clothing”? What are your go-to pasta or pasta stand in?
The winner of the Black and Blum givaway is Gina, please email Katelynn@foodtrainers.net your address.
Sigh. Carbs are a major weakness of mine..
ReplyDeleteI would love to try Cocomama's quinoa ceral.
WOW, I won?? Is Gina, me?? How exciting!
ReplyDeleteAnd, I just tweeted to win this one too :) I work in a grocery store and haven't heard of any of these. Perhaps they haven't hit Mid-West stores yet. My favorite type of carb is bread. I also love oatmeal so that quinoa cereal sounds like a nice change!
My favorite carb is definitely breads, anykind. I'd love to try all these products, they seem so interesting to try on, specially the cocomama and the veggie burger! ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting Coco, who doesn't love bread, right?
ReplyDeleteYes you, em us your mailing address. You have to get these goodies to the Midwest.
ReplyDeleteIt's really good, your son would like it too.
ReplyDeleteLove quinoa, and want to try Hillary's & all the rest! Tweeted @ https://twitter.com/TastyCompanion/status/257829568902230016
ReplyDeleteThanks Maureen, hope you get to join club cocomama.
ReplyDeleteHillary's sounds yummy. I always get fooled by granola (talk about great marketing). My new favorite "carb" stand-in - cauliflower rice. I am obsessed. It's so good, I believe I can fool my father with it.
ReplyDeleteHey lauren, I've only recently been diving in to this grain-free lifestyle bc I have tons of people who ask me about it and Iv'e been reading more about too much wheat in our diets. I have never been much of a pasta person but I love zucchini noodles and would LOVE LOVE LOVE to try those kelp noodles or really any of those other products! Especially since I'd love to review them on my own blog and share them with those who ask about the grain-free lifestyle. My favorite carbs are obviously fruits and veggies but in honesty? I LOVE garlic bread made from fresh baked Italian. Oh yum haha
ReplyDeleteHey Erin. I am not suggesting everyone has to be grain free but just less grainy, better grainy, make sense? And please, who doesn't love garlic bread? Since g-free I just roast garlic and slather it on cauliflower or socca, not the same but still good.
ReplyDeletegranola can be good, I like Purely Elizabeth. Cauliflower rice? Haven't tried, what's the story with that? I've done mashed cauli and cauli pizza...do tell.
ReplyDeleteWhat are good alternatives to using rice vinegar? I don't eat rice all that often, but am worried about the arsenic levels. Any suggestions would be great!
ReplyDeleteFirst, let's be clear-chef I am not. Having said that vinegar is an acid so lemon juice, lime juice or if you want another vinegar maybe white wine vinegar? Rice situation is scary.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite, favorite carb is noodles - macaroni & cheese :)
ReplyDeleteI would love to try the Cocomama's cereal, I've heard such great things :)
Molly, you can actually make "cheesy noodles" with kelp noodles and nutritional yeast or nut cheese, I know not 100% mac and cheese but really good.
ReplyDeletecrunching is totally stress relieving, you may like the flackers. Thanks for stopping by Jordan.
ReplyDeleteThat cocomama cereal sounds really good - would love to try that! Is it kind of like oatmeal? because I love oatmeal. I have never (I mean never in my life) tried quinoa although I have heard a lot about the health benefits. I've been meaning to, but I can identify with the refusal of pot washing that you mention. I am a lover of all carbs, pizza, pasta, cake, cookies, you name it. I have been trying to cut out breakfast cereal and if I have carbs for breakfast these days it's typically a baked oatmeal of some kind (which I make on a sunday and then heat up a piece each morning in the microwave). Often I make a pot of hard boiled eggs though, and eat them throughout the week for breakfast with a piece of fruit.
ReplyDeleteLots of yummy stuff to try! I'd especially like to try the veggie burgers & cocoa mama. Love flackers & although I haven't tried the kelp noodles net, I made a "noodle less" lasagna recently with zucchini that was fabulous. Have you tried Skinny Crisps? One of my favorite "low carb" carbs, especially "seeded".
ReplyDeleteYes, I should've provided that comparison, very oatmeal like. Tell me about your baked oats...curious too.
ReplyDeleteI seem to recall something about skinny crisps I didn't love, I tried cinnamon flavor. Was there a sweetener or something? hmn maybe it was just lack of single serve.
ReplyDeleteI love vigilant eats! I just tried it for the first time on Monday & it was delicious! I like brown rice pasta if I'm craving pasta. Those Kelp noodles sound interesting! I would like to try those. Hilary's veggie burgers sound yummy! I usually buy the sunshine burger brand. If you are looking for a yummy, easy breakfast, try Purely Elizabeth granola. They are amazing!
ReplyDeleteBaked oatmeal is fantastic. Just google recipes and you'll find about a thousand. Easy to make, I can have it in the oven in 15 mins, bakes for 30-40 in an 8x8 pan and I have breakfast for a week. Peanut butter and chocolate (made with cooca powder) is my favorite, I also like it made with pumpkin, apple and cinammon, banana, blueberry, possibilities are endless. I always throw in some nuts or nut butter for protein and it's easy to make with very little oil. I recently started using coconut oil, or you can use applesauce to cut down on fat.
ReplyDeleteI have never tried kelp noodles before! They sound really good!
ReplyDeleteI have never tried any of these!
I would love to try Cocomama products but they are a bit high in sugar...what are your thoughts Lauren?
ReplyDeleteI really love brown rice pasta. It's a bit gummy - especially because I've been known to overcook it - but I still love it.
Ludwig also said that he doesn't recommend omitting grains completely, since we've been eating them for close to 10,000 years (Look up Ludwig and Lustig comments on Obesity and Fructose), he also agreed that people who eat whole grains usually live longer and have better cholesterol. Just because a lot of the mass produced garbage whole wheat breads are actually not that great, doesn't mean genuine, homemade whole grain beads (rye is wonderful) is the same. Don't base your idea around whole wheat as to what Sara Lee is selling at the local Target.
ReplyDeleteThank you for commenting Claire, I think you may have misunderstood the angle. My suggestion was we don't need grains the way we think (or the dietary guidelines suggest). And many of the grains this country eats from faux whole wheat to muffins to pasta aren't homemade, good quality breads. When I heard Ludwig speak he was talking about parents automatically giving children lots of poor-quality carbs. He discussed that giving a bagel to a school child and sending them off to school was a bad idea for performance and nutrition. So my ideas are based around data from what this country eats (if you click the link above for the dietary guidelines you'll see). I hope this clears it up. So my stance is fewer and better grains. I am sure we see eye to eye on the "better" part.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I would go easy on the brown rice pasta (I love it too ) with the arsenic concerns. They are important to consider. As for sugar in cocomama, I see it as a meal and if you did homemade plain quinoa and fruit and maple syrup or agave there would be some sugar. So while I'm not a sugar seeker, I think the convenience, protein and fiber here are selling points and the sugar isn't alarming (though maybe cocomama would consider less or unsweetened reading this, tweet to them!)
ReplyDeleteyou'd have fun with them kristen
ReplyDeleteLove both Purely Elizabeth (it's our "home" granola) and Sunshine, good picks Dani.
ReplyDelete