Teddy Rose Book Reviews Plus More


Jul 15

22

Product Review: Alligga Flaxseed Cooking Oil

Posted by Teddyrose@1 on July 22, 2015
Posted in Cooking • Product Review • Vegan  | Tagged With: , , , | 4 Comments

Created with Nokia Smart Cam

Created with Nokia Smart Cam

 

When I was offered the chance to try a bottle of Alligga Flaxseed Cooking Oil, I knew I had to accept.  I have used Omega Flaxseed oil occasionally but you can’t cook with it.  I have used it in things like salad dressings.

Why Use Flaxseed Oil?


Flaxseed oil is very healthy to include in your diet.  It is high in Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids and also has some Omega 9 fatty acids. It is also high in fibre.  It is a great alternative to fish oil for vegans and vegetarians. Because of that, I would love to be able to use it more in my cooking and food preparations. So, I tested Alligga Flaxseed Oil out.

How I Tested/Used Alligga Flaxseed Oil:


1. I tried a drop of it on it’s own.

2. I used it to sauté an onion and Gardein Beefless Ground to make vegan shepherds pie.

3. I used it to prepare a recipe, provided from Alligga for a pasta dish. They called it “Simple Pasta”

The Outcome of Tests With Alligga Flaxseed Oil:

Created with Nokia Smart Cam

Created with Nokia Smart Cam

1. When I tried it on it’s own, I found the taste quite bitter. For that reason, I would never use it something like a salad dressing.  It would totally over power the other flavors.

2. It was fine in the shepherds pie, we couldn’t taste it in final product.

3. The name of the recipe, “Simple Pasta” was spot on.  It only took about 20 minutes tomake, including boiling the pasta. The recipe called for a tablespoon of salt which sounded like way too much to me.  I first used a teaspoon and after tasting it, added another teaspoon. You could really taste the bitterness of the oil but the extra teaspoon of salt really helped to mask it.  A whole tablespoon would be too much for my tastes and for Bill’s as well.  We don’t use a lot of salt.

You can get the Flaxseed Linguine Recipe Here.

Would I Buy Alligga Flaxseed Oil?


I might for recipes that I wouldn’t be able to taste it in.  The pasta recipe would be a great one to make using extra virgin olive oil, in fact I plan to do so.  However, I wouldn’t use Alligga for it.  I would still use the Omega brand for salad dressings. I don’t find it bitter at all.  They both say they process it the same way, cold pressed except Alligga also filters it.  I can’t believe filtering it is what causes the bitterness, unless if is filtered through something that makes it bitter. Perhaps they will find a better method that makes it more palatable.

Due to the bitterness, I have to rate Alligga Flaxseed Oil a 3/5.

If the Alligga Flaxseed Gels are 100% vegan, I would love to try those.  Then I could get the benefit without the bitter taste.

Watch This Short Video to Find Out more About Alligga Flaxseed Oil and It’s Health Benefits:


Have you tried Alligga Flaxseed Oil? I would love to know your thoughts on it.

I received a free bottle of Alligga Flaxseed Oil for my honest review.

Apr 15

18

Restaurant Review: Fynfood In Vancouver, BC Canada On Robson Street

Posted by Teddyrose@1 on April 18, 2015
Posted in Restaurant • Vegan • Vegan Restaurants  | Tagged With: | 2 Comments

FynfoodWe bought the Groupon. As vegans, we see it as our duty to try new vegan restaurants. Burgers were mentioned on the Groupon but they didn’t have burgers. So we settled for a wrap each, a soup, and desert. Drinks were included so I asked the server/casher/food preparer if any of the juices were fresh squeezed. The server said yes, the orange juice, so we ordered that. Soon after, the server came out and told us she only had one wrap left so we ended up with one wrap and one sandwich.

The server brought out the soup first. It tasted just like Cambells Vegetarian Vegetable with a lot of extra oil. I would be willing to bet it was from a can. The sandwich and wrap were unmemorable and the so called “fresh squeezed orange juice” tasted like a cross between Tang and Cool-aid. I mentioned the orange juice to the server and she said that a place close by squeezes it for them but it is fresh. Well, I was not born yesterday, I know what orange juice tastes like, it was not orange juice. I would have preferred orange juice from concentrate to this stuff!

The cheesecake was fair. The actual cheese cake part showed promise but the strawberry jam topping was well, strawberry jam. Nothing special. If I were offered a free meal there, I would not accept it.

I should also mention that it only had two-two person tables inside. I did hear the server say that there are tables in the mall part.

Robson Street is the highest traffic Street in Vancouver with both cars and pedestrians.  It is a “must shop” street for tourists and has thousands of restaurants.  I recommend you walk right on by this one.

2/5

May 10

4

The 3-Day Cleanse by Zoe Sakoutis and Erica Huss

Posted by Teddyrose@1 on May 4, 2010
Posted in Books Read in 2010 • Vegan  | 4 Comments

When Anna Balasi of Hachette was offering this book for review, I couldn’t resist.  I eat a better diet than the average North American.  I am a vegan and eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables but I have been feeling kind of sluggish lately.

This book sub-titled, “Drink fresh juice,eat real food, and get back into your skinny jeans.”  It includes the basic information that you need to know about your body, how the cleanse works, and how to do it.  It takes you step by step on the kinds of foods to eat on the days leading up to the cleanse, during the cleanse and the first few days after the cleanse.  It also tells you how to do a cleanse for one or two days or over three days.  The object of the book is to make the program fit for each individual.  I think it delivers just that.
I use to make fresh juice many years ago but I had a really cheap juicer that stalled all the time.  It was really a pain to make juice.  The first think I did when I got this book was to get a new jucier.  The book includes a segment on the different juicers available and the pro’s and con’s of each kind.  I decided to go with a centrifugal juicer.  That’s what I had before but instead of going with the cheapest about $40, I went with a much more powerful one.
This juicer makes a full glass of juice in 5 seconds and it has stalled on me once.
I decided to start out slow and just start having juice in the morning for breakfast instead of oatmeal.  As the book suggests, first I have a mug of hot water with lemon.  This is suppose to get your digestive system ready for the day.  Then I make a glass of juice.  After the first few days of just doing that, I noticed that I didn’t feel sluggish in the morning any longer.  In fact, I have been feeling more energetic throughout the day.
A week later I decided to do a one day cleanse and see how it goes.  I followed the plan for preparing for the cleanse for two days before instead of three days before.  Being vegan, I was already eating pretty close to the recommendations for the first day.  The last two days are all raw foods so I skipped to that.  There were some awesome raw food recipes in the back of the book.  I especially liked the Gazpacho!
Then I did one day of the Cleanse with some of the juice recipes in the book.  If you don’t like eating your greens, believe it or not, juicing is a great way to get them in and taste good.  Really! I actually found it a lot to drink. and did not feel hungry.  There are full glasses of juices to consume and one cashew milk. 
The next day I ate all raw again and then the next day I had raw up until dinner and then had the Asian Cold Noodles with Spicy Almond Dressing.  That was delicious.  I also tried making the Sweet Potato and Beetroot Crisps recipe in the book for a snack but my oven obviously doesn’t bake evenly and I got some underdone crisps and some burnt crisps.  The small handful that turned out were quite good though.
Since then, I have been having hot water with lemon every day and juice for breakfast.  I also have one or two juice lunches during the week.  This wasn’t from a recommendation in the book, I just thought I’d try it.  Well, let me tell you, it works!  I since I started this, including the fast, it has been one month.  I have lost 15 pounds and feel much better.  The surprising thing is that my husband and I ate in restaurants 3 times during this last month, yet I still lost the weight.  I would love to loose another ten pounds but it’s not crucial.  No matter if I loose more or not I plan to continue this way.  I also plan to try a 3 day cleanse soon.
This book isn’t a magic book for weight loss, it doesn’t even try to be but if you want to feel more energetic and incorporate a healthier diet in your life or jump start a diet for weight loss.  This book is for you.  I highly recommend it.
In case your wondering, the recipes in this book aren’t all vegan.  There are a couple with fish and eggs.  However, the majority are and I really enjoyed the ones I tried. Also, if you live in the United States and don’t want to make the juice yourself, their business, The BluePrint Cleanse can deliver fresh juice to your door.  I prefer to make my own.  It’s easy and much cheaper, I’m sure.
4.5/5
Thanks again to Anna Basali of Hachette Books for this book.
Copyright 2007-2010: All the posts within this blog were originally posted by Teddy Rose and should not be reproduced without express written permission.

« Previous Page