Tag: food

2020 Holidays, Food, Natural Foods, Recipes

Healthy On You Vegan Spices have Edible Playlists – Smoked Pork Shoulder

Erin Sluka
Healthy On You Vegan Spices Combine Culture, Flavor & Music

If you are like me you have been cooking at home much more and with some extra time have wanted to get more creative in the kitchen. I recently upgraded our smoker and have been practicing my meat and meal skills on this new grill. I even took an entire day recently and renovated my spice cabinet because I spend so much time in it I need it more organized. Then I went on to find more spice combinations to have on hand.

Healthy on You is a spice brand I have been introduced to and they have a unique line of organic, non-GMO, vegan spices combining flavor, culture, and music. You can now shake things up with these vegan spices for a fun cooking experience from home. Cooking just became more fun!

best spices

You will love the names of these spices from Healthy On You…playlists for your meals! Let the Good Thymes Roll”, “Hit the Roast Jack”, “No Woman, No Spice”.

Healthy On You is a black woman-owned business created by certified health coach, Samantha Binkley, who took her passion for pursuing a healthy lifestyle and cooking to create her vegan, 100% USDA organic spice and salt blend line. You won’t want to lock these up in a cabinet – they are fun kitchen conversation starters.

roast spice rub

The first thing I smoked the day these vegan spices arrived were 2 pork shoulders. I used the Hit the Roast Jack blend on the pork and it came out amazing! The bark was so delicious! I dry brined with this rub overnight. Then slow cooked all day. At wrap time I used a layer of pink butcher paper and then a layer of foil. Pulled it at 200 degrees, rested it for 45 minutes still in its wrap. Once I finally opened it up I had a beautiful spiced bark and the most tender meat inside. It was my best pork smoke yet!

smokes pork shoulder

Look at the bark and smoke ring! The Hit the Roast Jack rub I used from the Healthy on You spice blends is actually a spice and coffee rub. Typically fantastic for a beef roast I wanted to try it on pork and am so glad I did. This blend is made up of allspice, cayenne, cinnamon, coconut sugar, coffee, garlic, ground porcini mushrooms, kosher salt and smoked paprika. Doesn’t that sound amazing?

smoked meats

What I am really excited for is my Spice Up the Holidays Build Your Own Collection from the edible playlists! I am hosting the family Thanksgiving this year and have a large turkey and roast to cook and this collection will be my best friend come November. I can’t wait to use the I’m Still Brining turkey brine blend for fantastic flavor. The fennel countdown is best for seafood but I may try it on hearty green veggies like brussel sprouts. This collection also comes with a Hit the Roast Jack for that holiday roast and I already know how fantastic that will turn out.

spice edible playlist

The Build Your Own Edible Playlist is the best way to customize your experience.  This beautifully designed, sustainable keepsake bamboo box comes with three spice blends accompanied by three delicious, healthy recipes, an olive wood spoon, and various loose organic spices. Choose three spices and get your spice groove on in the kitchen. Visit Healthy on You to get your organic, vegan spices in time for the fall holidays!

Food, Natural Foods

A Keto-Friendly Snack without the Guilt: Tidbits Meringue Cookie

Erin Sluka

Comment: I was sent samples. Opinions are my won. May contain affiliate links

A Keto-Friendly Snack without the Guilt: Tidbits Meringue Cookie

KETO! Maybe the word means tedious diet to you. Maybe KETO means a ‘fad’ to you. If you are like me, KETO means learning to read a label and that you do not have to strictly follow a diet regimen but rather eat less carbs. To eat less net carbs you must truly understand food and the ingredients in everything you eat. Sounds tedious? It can actually be more simple than you think. Let me help you out with a keto-friendly snack option when you crave something sweet – Tidbits Meringues!

Tidbits meringue bites are sugar-free, lactose-free, gluten-free, soy-free, cholesterol-free, and non-GM — everything you’ve ever wanted in a snack without the guilt. Diabteic? These may be for you too.

The sweetness in this keto-friendly snack comes from alcohol sugar, which is a good natural substitute.

What is in these keto-friendly snacks that are so satisfying? Less than 2 calories per piece, 0 net carbs per serving and a serving is 10 pieces! It’s more about what is NOT in these than what is in them.

But, how good can these keto-friendly snack bites really taste? Ever had a decedent meringue cookie before? The kind of meringue that melts away in your mouth like a cloud? These are exactly that!! It sounds impossible that without all the goodies and sugars it can’t possibly be the same, but the tween in my home thinks they are dessert and that is a win! They are that good and the flavors are amazing – cookies & cream, cappuccino, vanilla, chocolate, mint chocolate and strawberry.

What about price you are wondering? They must be some $10 keto-friendly snack right? Wrong! They are $4.99 a bag (plus a flat shipping rate). I will be so excited for the day grocers may pick these up and maybe they can become available just down the road, but until then (maybe, fingers crossed) you need to head to https://www.tidbits.fun/

Food, Natural Foods

Nature’s Bakery Fig Bars are made with real fruit and whole grains

Erin Sluka
Nature’s Bakery Fig Bars are made with real fruit and whole grains

One of my favorite bars and grocery pick-ups is the Nature’s Bakery Whole Wheat Fig Bars. I first discovered them a while back when I had a sample offered to me and it was the perfect blend of sweetness from the fig and oats from the crust. Now I have tried the new Oatmeal Crumble from their line and they did not last long in this house – so delicious!

Nature’s Bakery Fig Bars Plant-Based Snack Bars

These bars are packed full of goodness that goes beyond just the taste. Nature’s Bakery is made with real fruit for a plant-based snack. Their snack bars are non-GMO, certified vegan and nut & gluten free (some varieties).

You can find a few great snack varieties such as the different fruit whole-wheat fig bars, gluten free fig bars, brownie bars and the new Oatmeal Crumble bars made with real fruit for a morning snack.

You can find Nature’s Bakery products at local grocery stores near you. They are great for the lunch box or in your college care packages!

Food, Natural Foods

The Best crackers that have plant-based ingredients

Erin Sluka

Comment: I was sent crackers for this feature. Thank you to Mary’s Gone Crackers for collaborating with Parenting Healthy

Mary’s Gone Crackers uses only whole, plant-based ingredients

With a new school year paired with these new normals some of us go back to the classroom and some will learn from home – all will still need nutritious snacks. Mary’s Gone Crackers doesn’t just have a fun name, but Gluten-free, plant-based, organic and non-GMO crackers. Great for those in need of a better cracker that is allergen-friendly.

Mary’s Gone Crackers

Mary’s Gone Crackers have plant-based ingredients

The crackers actually taste good and are made using only whole, plant-based ingredients you can see within each cracker. Most flavors are good right out of the box and to pair them with good cheese or spreads makes them even better. I really love the herb crackers!

My 7th grader will be home and I have this shopping rule of “if I don’t buy it, he can’t eat it”. Some popular cookies and crackers I will buy as an occasional treat and for daily snacking I look for better, plant-based ingredients brands but they have to taste good or I am tossing uneaten boxes of food and that is a waste. My son discovered the REAL Thin Crackers over the weekend and he loves them. It is honestly the first brand of ‘better’ crackers he has ever eaten.

Real thin crackers

I was so happy and then I remembered, I had taken them out of the box and put them on a tray to serve for family coming over for dinner and he snuck into the appetizers right before they arrived- I think he related boxes of healthier crackers in the cupboard to not tasting very good but these were away from the box -out on the counter. In this little psychological trick I set the box aside so he never saw these were healthier snacks and ate what ‘looked’ like a good, hearty cracker and loved them. I will forever remember that trick – these sacks I prefer to buy can be removed from the ‘healthy-looking’ box and put in a bowl on the counter and suddenly they get eaten. Brilliant!

Visit Mary’s Gone Crackers to see all of the varieties of plant-based ingredients and find recipes too that pair great with their products. You can find them at grocery stores near you. I have them at my local Walmart, Safeway and Fred Meyer stores.