Caity McCardell » Product Reviews

Fake Meat

Caity — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 03:02:44 +0000

After tonight’s meal of cous cous and fake meat made from Gardein Garden Protein, I’ve sworn off analogue flesh. We had BBQ Pulled Shreds (fake shredded chicken)…

and Santa Fe Good Stuff (fake stuffed chicken breast)…

and boy do I need to drink some water. Eating that food was like screwing a fake vagina – there’s something here that feels the same but there’s no denying that it’s just plastic. (OK, so the comparison isn’t accurate – vaginas are perfectly lovely, meat is just gross.)

Why do people eat this stuff? It’s like the vegetarian cheese products – they’re probably only eaten once… by every single vegetarian in the world.

Gardein products are sold at my local Vons. I highly don’t recommend them. If I were a God-fearin’ gal I’d be confessing about wasting perfectly good money on plastic food that my body hates.

Worth The $600 Price Tag

Caity — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:49:24 +0000

Think we’re crazy for buying a $600 vacuum?

We did some research when our old Sears vacuum died… the one that cost us $250 in repairs alone over the last four years (not to mention $200 to buy it in the first place)… the one that weighs 40 pounds… the one that intimidates the children… the one that scares the shit out of the cats… the one that is impossible to use on stairs… the one that just doesn’t suck very well.

We heard from our friend, Tom. “Don’t buy anything but a Miele… everything else is just hype. Look at a Miele.” So we looked at the brand and saw the magic. We had a vacuum experience – like a religious experience but more domestic. It was Miele for us… no matter what the cost. And the cost was… well, you know that diamond commercial where they talk about your wife being worth two month’s salary? Well, domestic bliss was worth a big chunk of change.

Our Ms. Miele is fashionably turquoise, she’s incredibly powerful, she weighs about 8 pounds, she’s tiny, she cleans corners, her attachments are easy to access and easy to attach. The engineering on this machine is incredible. You know how hard it can be to maneuver a canister vacuum (they fall over themselves)? Ms. Miele has ball bearing wheels that spin around, so you can kick her around the floor without a problem. The tube thingee from the canister is indestructible – you can stand on it and it bounces back. The cord retracts easily. The cats don’t even notice when it’s on – and I can talk on the phone while vacuuming.

But we didn’t realize that the vacuum would transform our kids’ perspective on cleaning. They’re now really involved in cleaning the house (vacuuming as well as folding laundry).

Hallelujah!

Sinu-Cleanse Product Review

Caity — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 23:32:08 +0000

Sufferers of all sorts of nasal congestion from allergies, sinus infections, vasomotor rhinitis – and more – have found relief with a traditional medicinal solution: The neti-pot. Nasal washing with a neti-pot is considered an effective treatment to avoid illnesses and has been used for thousands of years around the world

Many people use a neti-pot on a daily basis to keep their sinuses clean and improve their ability to breathe freely. It involves strategically pouring water and often other ingredients through one’s nasal passages, which can sometimes be a bit intimidating for the first-time user. In our Western model of medicinal use, it can seem a lot easier to just pop a pill rather than shove water from one nostril to the other and out into the sink. What if something goes wrong? Can I drown?

Well, nothing goes wrong. It might feel a little awkward at first, but it works. Some yogic practitioners consider it valuable in cleansing the energy channels and balancing the right and left hemispheres to create energetic health and wellness. I find that it just does a great job of cleaning out the nose, which was great for my pregnancy-related sinuses and my husband’s sinus infections.

Neti-pots have arrived at your local Walgreens in the form of a plastic version with prepackaged solution packages. The SinuCleanse system might look very familiar with those of you familiar with neti-pot nasal washes. In fact, the pot itself is a similar shape and the mixing solution is the same prescribed by doctors. The difference is that SinuCleanse is available in the mainstream, over-the-counter world. The woman who developed SinuCleanse was first introduced in the ‘90s to traditional neti-pot nasal washes, which are made from ceramic or glass. She realized that one way to bring the benefits of net-pot washes to a mainstream audience was to produce them with unbreakable plastic and with prepackaged dry ingredients for mixing with water.

SinuCleanse can be an effective, all-natural way to cleanse the nose and help control sinus and nasal symptoms over time. It promotes and maintains nasal health by treating the root cause of the problem, rather than just the symptoms.

The natural saline solution used with the SinuCleanse system is soothing – and if it isn’t, the directions say to cut the solution in half. Some people say it provides instant relief of their symptoms. Unlike modern sinus treatments, it is completely natural and contains no potentially harmful additives.

Each SinuCleanse system comes with 20 pre-mixed and pre-measured Natural Saline Solution packets. Additional refill packets are also available in a convenient 40-pack box.

SnackTrap Product Review

Caity — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 06:17:06 +0000

Keeping kids from spilling food everywhere is one annoying parenting issue. Not quite like how to encourage them to sleep through the night or how to wean them or how to save for college – but an important issue nonetheless. Food messes can be a major problem, a daily bother that can drive a parent crazy.

I’ve tried keeping control of messy snacks using ziplock bags, big paper bags, and (giving in to the mess) plastic bowls. Nothing worked to keep snacks from landing on every surface in the house, becoming a regular cleanup routine. And forget about snacking in the car on road trips!

SnackTrap is a product that has helped me more than any ziplock bag could. This is a great invention – a snack holder that helps keep food from ending up ground into your carpet. SnackTrap is a small bowl with two handles and a lid your toddler can reach into for food. That’s right – they do it themselves – you don’t have to keep reclosing a lid or asking for the bowl back. The SnackTrap lid is specially designed to keep food inside!

This product can also be helpful for encouraging toddlers’ curiosity about food. Those little morsels of raisins, orange slices or grapes are all tucked inside the cup – begging for a curious child to reach in and find the prize. My son has fun picking every last bit out of the SnackTrap cup.

I knew I was on to something when my husband grabbed a SnackTrap filled with raisins for a long drive – for himself! “It’s just so easy to reach into while I’m driving, and it won’t spill,” he explained.

For toddlers, for adults – SnackTrap is the sippy cup of food consumption.

Turtle Mountain Ice Cream

Caity — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 08:21:42 +0000

Vegetarians have a love/hate relationship with fake versions of omnivorous food. Some say fake meat is gross – it’s too much like eating flesh. Some say it’s gross – it’s not like meat at all. My mom wonders, “Why do vegetarians think there’s something missing in their diets that they need to make up for with fake food?” On the other hand, non-veggies have been converted to vegetarianism by meat analogues; but it can be argued that the high salt and generally over-processed fake meats trump the health benefits of being vegetarian.

But then there’s vegan ice cream. Ah… ice cream. No vegan complains about that imitation product. Soy ice cream tastes like a bit of heaven… just like the real thing but without all the pus and he drugs and the mastitis and the energy of agony and death.

Soy ice cream has gone through some changes, just like soy milk. The latest models are right up there with the cow’s milk version, including Turtle Mountain’s new line of Li’l Buddies ice cream sandwiches and Purely Decadent soy ice cream.

Li’l Buddies

Ice cream sandwiches are as American as apple pie, and vegans have been blessed with the ubiquitous Tofutti Cutie as the dairy replacement in many luscious flavors. Their website admits they’re “bite size” offering “consumers a portion controlled treat.” That’s exactly the problem about Tofutti Cuties: When we eat ice cream do we really want portion control? I could eat an entire pack of those bite-sized goodies. So the size leaves me wanting more.

Enter Turtle Mountain’s Li’l Buddies, made from the same hot seller Soy Delicious. The Li’l Buddies’ sandwich crust is lovely – delicious chocolate, just soft enough, but it doesn’t fall apart in my hand or stick to my fingers. They’re big, too. Trouble is, I still want to eat the entire box. Unlike Tofutti Cuties, Li’l Buddies are organic, which means they don’t have any calories. At least that’s what I tell myself when I polish off the last of them.

Li’l Buddies organic non-dairy frozen desserts come in four flavors: Mint, peanut butter, vanilla and chocolate. Incidentally, the plastic packaging on individual Li’l Buddies is recyclable, and the company is looking into a biodegradable version.

The Fancy Line

I also tried Turtle Mountain’s fancy soy ice cream, Purely Decadent. My favorites were Cookie Avalanche and Peanut Butter Zig Zag, since I’m a fan of chunky ice creams. Peanut Butter Zig Zag had to be created by a child. An adult would take delicate, little slices of peanut butter and chocolate and assume people would be impressed – like eating small, tall food at a fancy restaurant. A child making a line of ice cream flavors would grab the biggest spoon, dig out massive chunks of peanut butter and chocolate and mix it with vanilla. That’s what Zig Zag offers – huge chunks of what we buy ice cream flavors for.

Purely Decadent comes in 15 different flavors, from Cherry Nirvana to Vanilla Swiss Almond. Don’t forget to ask for the Peanut Butter Zig Zag!

While they’re not a company big enough to purchase fair trade chocolate, Turtle Mountain doesn’t use bone char-refined sugar, and they are certified organic. The company is also a supporter of the Sea Turtle Restoration Project, an organization helping prevent sea turtles’ extinction. What better reason do I need to buy soy ice cream but to help sea turtles?

Bring Turtle Mountain non-dairy frozen desserts to your next gathering. They’re sure to be a hit with vegetarians, lactose intolerant guests and dairy lovers alike.

Product Review: Beethoven’s Wig CD for Kids

Caity — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 06:20:09 +0000

Sometimes pretentious, sometimes downright ridiculous, products promising to expose our children to classical music can be as obnoxious as they are ubiquitous. Noise making machines imitating Mozart do not a classical music lover make, particularly when it comes to plastic devices that light up and play unrecognizable sound.

But exposing our children to classical music is important, right? So parents dutifully play Mozart. We want our kids to be smart, so we play the music even though we’d sometimes rather be listening to NPR… or AC/DC.

The CD Beethoven’s Wig 3, released in May 2006, is the antidote to insane-classical-music-noise-for-children. It also passes easily the “Entertains Parents, Too” test. The creator of the Beethoven’s Wig series, Richard Perlmutter, is brilliant. His unmistakable and humorous voice combines with incredible operatic voices and lyrics that are charming and delightful – even educational. You’ll want to read the included lyrics, trivia questions, and related activities for parents, educators and children.

There are two directions the CD takes. One is a feature of various musical instruments (musicians in the family are sure to be intrigued), from the familiar oboe to the more obscure Cor Anglais. The other is a section “Short and Suite,” a collection of brief pieces of larger works with complete, short lyrical songs.

The appeal of Beethoven’s Wig 3 can’t be exaggerated. The first two CDs in the series have two Grammy Award nominations, more than 30 national awards, and you may have seen them featured on television talk shows. You won’t resent this music stuck in your head, because it’s beautiful and the lyrics are smart, if not wacky. The album’s final piece is a story of an alien spaceship landing to perform a concert, and you’ll never hear Strauss’ “Also Sprach Zarathustra” the same way again, with “TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER” bellowed out during the timpani.

The CD also contains all the compositions sans vocals on the second half, serving as great background music or sing-along inspiration.

Beethoven’s Wig 3 is a must-have for parents who love classical music. It’s honestly unique – I’ve never seen anything that compares with this amazing collection of songs for children. The humorous and educational components of the CD make it a sure bet as a gift for all the children in your life, and parents surely will discard all those so-called classical music noisemaking toys when they hear Beethoven’s Wig 3.

*******

This review was originally published in VegetarianBaby.com