July product roundup post: Cheers to an amazing summer!

It’s July, the weather’s hot, and I’ve been doing a lot of sipping. With temperatures and humidity soaring, I find myself eating frugally, while drinking abundantly. Anyone else? 🙂

Below you can find my latest food and drink product recommendations, based on thorough testing. Which of these products would you try first? Let me know in the comments, and have a fabulous month and summer 🙂

Oatsome

This season, I am excited to continue my collaboration with Oatsome and parent company Better Body Foods (whose products I highlighted in previous articles here, here and here) by showcasing some of their latest offerings: Organic Quick Oats, Organic Rolled Oats, and Organic Overnight Oats. The first two varieties are great for making overnight oats, oatmeal, baked goods, and granola, while the last one is infused with chia, flax, hemp seeds, and oat milk powder, for the ultimate convenient and wholesome overnight breakfast option. Each is made with 100% whole grain, and is gluten-free while providing a good source of fiber and protein.

As you know, I have a very sweet tooth, and most of the time I make sweet oatmeal. Having said this, I love savory oatmeal for variety and nutritional benefits Here, I cooked the Oatsome quick oats on the stove over medium heat for a few minutes, and then I added sweet yellow and orange peppers, grated carrots, nutritional yeast, everything bagel seasoning, and lots of dill from the garden.

Loving a savory oatmeal breakfast or lunch!

The Pickled Pepper People

One of the many reasons why I love attending The National Restaurant Association Show every year is the opportunity to meet amazing people and to try out fantastic products. Talking with Kelly, the incredible force behind Greenville, South Carolina-based The Pickled Pepper People, was one of these memorable meetings at this year’s edition of the Show. I had never heard of pikliz before, and I am grateful for the information and the delicious inspiration.

The Pickled Pepper People “work with local farmers and producers to source vegetables that we prepare and pickle in a spicy brine. This delicious spicy vegetable slaw is a traditional food served in Haiti, West Indies, where we are from. Haiti has a rich history and culture, and we want to share it and make this wonderful slaw a staple in the United States.”

According to The New York Times’ Melissa Clark, “in Haiti, this spicy cabbage, carrot and chile-laced pickle, which is pronounced pick-lees, is traditionally served with rich meats and fried foods, like the pork dish griot. Its bright, fiery tang mitigates the heaviness and balances out the flavors. It’s also a wonderful condiment to serve with rice and beans, noodles, roast chicken, or other gently flavored dishes that need a little zipping up. Like most pickles, it will keep for weeks in the refrigerator. Make sure to take care when handling the chiles; gloves are recommended here.”

I thought the slaw would be the perfect accompaniment to homemade polenta. We usually eat polenta with feta cheese and sour cream. On this occasion, I kept the sour cream out and added the pikay slaw for a mouthwatering spicy kick. So fiery, so delicious!

Stay tuned for a Pickled Pepper People giveaway – coming up on my Instagram channel soon 🙂

The Only Bean

Moving from The National Restaurant Show to The Sweets and Snacks Expo, I am excited to showcase one of the most delicious snacks I sampled at this year’s edition of the Expo, made by The Only Bean. I appreciated the opportunity to learn about The Only Bean line of edamame bean snacks and pastas, all certified non-gmo, vegan, gluten-free, keto friendly, kosher, low sugar, and low glycemic index.

The high-protein edamame beans are dry-roasted, never fried, and they are available in resealable bags (super portable) I have developed a slight obsession with these snacks – the delightful crunchiness of the beans is impossible to resist 🙂

Here’s one of my favorite versions of a quick meal (snack?): a slice of homemade bread with farmer cheese, veggies, baby basil, evoo, everything bagel, and The Only Bean edamame beans. In the sandwich pictured here I used the sriracha flavored beans, whose subtle spiciness and satisfying texture created the perfect contrast with the other elements, most notably with the farmer cheese. Sooo delicious 🙂

BrainPOP

BrainPOP is one of several functional drinks I am sampling at the moment. I was very moved by the story of BrainPOP founder, Sierra Hooshiari, who started this business after suffering a traumatic brain injury during her sophomore year at Cornell University. Sierra worked with a former neuroscientist colleague and several physicians on the BrainPOP formula, which includes a botanical caffeine blend, four amino acids, vitamins, and minerals. Happy to learn about this small business with a moving background story and a wholesome mission: to reinvent soda as a fun and healthy functional beverage, one sip at a time.

BrainPOP is “a healthy, productive, tasteful, and fun smart soda packed with 4 amino acids, vitamins, and minerals, complemented by an anti-oxidant caffeine blend in all four flavors.” Each sampler pack includes coconut delight, mango colada, mojito madness, and dragon berry warrior. BrainPOP use fruit purées purchased from a family-owned business in the Midwest, “that runs with the highest trade standards in how it treats its farmers around the globe.”

I thoroughly enjoyed sampling this soda and learning about its nutritional benefits. Fruity goodness + refreshing bubbles, and a drink with a mission? Yes, please!

Per Se

Anyone up for a vegan coconut panna cotta with sour cherries and a hibiscus margarita reduction? 🙂

I don’t drink alcohol often, but I do love mocktails, and I’m a big fan of desserts. So, when Per Se (formerly known as Muddle & Mint) offered to send me their mocktails to try, I said yes excitedly, and I started thinking of possible ways to use these mocktails in sweet preparations.

This women-owned drink brand carries carefully crafted beverages for all lifestyles, and their mocktails are made from teas, juices, fruits, and herbs. You can choose between Hibiscus Sage, Grapefruit Rosemary, and Green Tea Mint.

I decided to make panna cotta with coconut milk, Zulka powdered pure cane sugar, vanilla extract, and agar agar, served with fresh sour cherries from our recent cherry-picking trip to Fruit Acres Farm Market and U-Pick in Coloma, Michigan. Per Se’s Hibiscus Margarita mocktail (featuring pomegranate, hibiscus, cinnamon and sage) seemed like the perfect choice for a reduction sauce️. Sticky, colorful, unapologetically vibrant and deeply flavorful and aromatic, it made for an amazing addition, which tied together the ethereal sweetness of the coconut panna cotta and the sourness of the cherries. A scrumptious treat, indeed. Isn’t cherry season the best season of all? 🙂

Anti Elixir

Marketed as “the first beverage designed to reduce the after-effects of drinking,” ANTI Elixir is a unique niche product I have come across recently. Inspired by ingredients fighting hangovers used around the world (such as ginger, lemon, and orange) the ANTI Elixir founders created a beverage that can be enjoyed before a night out, the morning after, and most unique of all, as a cocktail mixer. Featuring ginger, potassium, and essential vitamins that get depleted during drinking, Anti Elixir beverages are intended to replenish lost nutrients, to rehydrate, and to make beautiful beverages. As stated on the company website, “most people find that a single ANTI is enough to counter the after effects of up to 3-4 drinks. Example of one drink: a bottle of beer, a glass of wine, a shot of liquor.”

While I did not test ANTI Elixir as a hangover cure, I did enjoy it as a mocktail ingredient, blended with strawberry puree, seltzer, ice cubes, and fresh mint. If you’re looking for a non-alcoholic brunch beverage option, for example, then you may want to choose ANTI Elixir, and to use it on its own or in mocktails.

Disclaimer: I was not financially compensated by any of the companies above for this post. All opinions expressed here are my own.

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