REVIEWS: French Meadow Bakery and Miessence certified organics

It's Monday and I hope all of you moms out there had a wonderful day with your families yesterday.
My mother-in-law came up on Saturday and we hung out Sunday morning, it was a bit chilly, and watched It's Complicated, very cute and funny movie.  Then my father-in-law and grandma drove up and we all went to dinner.  Very nice.  Oh and check this out!

My mother-in-law designed this gorgeous necklace and earrings.  She picked out and bought the crystals, etc. and her friend put it together for me.  It's even more beatiful in person. Now Dave and I just need somewhere special to go so I can wear it.  

Now for the reviews.

I've been lucky enough to get the chance to review a couple of products from some fabulous companies.  One company is French Meadow Bakery which uses certified organic grains and non-GMO ingredients.  Their baked goods include, breads, bagels and tortillas and range from vegan-kosher-low glycemic and gluten free products. So there is something for everyone!  Most of their breads/bagels are vegan and they are labeled very clearly.  The gluten free products do contain egg whites which was a bummer to us.  I'm hoping they try to come up with a good gf vegan bread.   

  

If you love hemp you will love these!  These Hemp Bagels have a very earthy and hearty taste.  Loaded with hemp, flax, pumpkin seeds, poppy seeds, quinoa..the list goes on, it's just amazing how they pack so much nutrition into these things!  Next was the Spelt Bread which is delicious!  It kind of has a sourdough taste to it, well to us anyways, and the family loves sourdough so this was a winner. We will be buying this bread again. I can't wait to try more of their breads.  My next buy will be their tortillas.  If you go to their website French Meadow Bakery  you can print out a $1 coupon.  Hope you give them a try! 

 I was very excited when I won the Miessence giveaway from Green and Crunchy because I have been wanting to try some of their products for a long time.  Miessence is an Australian based company that uses 100% natural and organic ingredients and is completely free of synthetics.  So Stephanie from Organicology sent me over these wonderful products.  Toothpaste, lip balm and a sample of coconut body milk.  This toothpaste is fantastic! There is no flouride, aluminum, artificial sweeteners or other harsh ingredients. So there  I was sitting on the couch and all of a sudden I realized that I kept rubbing my tongue over my teeth because they were feeling so smooth.  If you ever had braces and then when the braces are taken off and your teeth feel so smooth, well that's the feeling you get after using this stuff.   I know it sounds kind of weird but it's true. The toothpaste has sodium bicarbonate(baking soda)in it, so although you do taste it, it's mild compared to other brands who use it.  Also there isn't a long after taste.  After the first time using this toothpaste I was worried my coffee wasn't going to taste very good but the baking soda taste was already gone.  You are just left with a refreshing and clean taste in your mouth.  Keaton and my mother-in-law also had the same results.  The lipbalm smells lovely and works great as well.  The sample of the tropical body milk is a nice treat to put on the skin.  The smell has a lovely, subtle smell of  coconut with a hint of plumeria and feels so nice.  I think I'm going to try some of their perfumes out.  I haven't been wearing perfume due to the synthetics in them so I've been on the look out for a nice one I could wear.  If you have any you've tried I'd love to hear about them.  

So to some everything up, I had some great success in trying both food and body products from some wonderful companies that care about the environment and our health.

I hope you enjoyed the reviews and try some of them. 

   

I couldn't leave ya'll without a delicious treat now could I?  This is one of the most moist cakes I have ever made and eaten.  It's the lemon coconut bundt cake from VCON.  I made a lemon glaze which I drizzled over the top to balance the sweetness of the cake out.  You have to make this cake!!! 

Have a wonderful day!

Friendship bread

My mother-in-law recently gave me an Amish Cinnamon Bread starter that she received from her Aunt back in Illinois. I did a little research on this bread and you can actually use the starter and make many flavors of breads from it, like pumpkin or chocolate. The cool thing about this whole friendship bread thingy is that after 10 days of mushing the bag, adding ingredients to it, you will have enough of the mix to make your own starter bags to pass on to friends along with the recipe. Thus the friendship part and the story-recipe continues. It's just one more thoughtful way to pass on a sweet and thoughtful treat to a friend.

As I was looking at the recipe I was given I noticed that on day 6 you add milk. Well I know for sure that my mother-in-law used soy milk but I'm sure her aunt didn't. I really wanted to make this bread and pass it along to my girlfriends so on the internet I went and I found a recipe for the starter. YAY!

The recipe says you can fill two loaf pans but I only have one and it's on the bigger side so I used to small bundt pans I had and it turned out great

When you give your friends a bag of starter include the Amish Cinnamon Bread recipe along with it. This would make a wonderful holiday food gift too!

Below are the recipes for the starter I found on-line and a the bread recipe that I adjusted.

Amish Bread Starter:

Ingredients
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
3 cups white sugar, divided
3 cups milk(any non-dairy will do)

Directions
In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Let stand 10 minutes. In a 2 quart container glass, plastic or ceramic container, combine 1 cup flour and 1 cup sugar. Mix thoroughly or flour will lump when milk is added. Slowly stir in 1 cup milk and dissolved yeast mixture. Cover loosely and let stand until bubbly. Consider this day 1 of the 10 day cycle. Leave loosely covered at room temperature.
On days 2 thru 4; stir starter with a spoon. Day 5; stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Days 6 thru 9; stir only.
Day 10; stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Remove 1 cup to make your first bread, give 2 cups to friends along with this recipe, and your favorite Amish Bread recipe. Store the remaining 1 cup starter in a container in the refrigerator or begin the 10 day process with the recipe.

AMISH CINNAMON BREAD
You will receive your starter in a zip-lock bag.
Store it on your kitchen counter.

DAY 1
Do nothing

DAY 2-5
Mush the bag two times during the day.

DAY 6
Add to the bag;
1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk(any kind non-dairy or cow)
Seal the bag, letting out as much air as possible.

DAY 7-9

Mush the bag two times during the day, letting out as much air as possible.

DAY 10
Squeeze contents out of the bag into a large mixing ceramic or glass bowl.
Add to the bowl: 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk. Stir thoroughly, then measure out 1 cup starters in large zip-lock bags. Tomorrow starts Day 1 for the new bags. **Be sure to date the bags**

To the small amount left in the bowl, add 1 cup oil(1/2 cup oil &1/2 cup applesauce), ½ cup milk, 3 eggs(or Ener-G foods egg replacer equal to 3 eggs), 1 teaspoon vanilla and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine 2 cups flour*, 1 cup sugar, 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon baking soda. 1 cup raisins or nuts (optional).

Add the dry ingredients to the first mixture and mix well. Spray two loaf pans with non-stick cooking spray or any oil/shortening. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon and sugar. Pour batter into pans and sprinkle batter with cinnamon and sugar. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour or until knife comes out clean.

*Flour - you can use any kind. I used 3/4 cup white, 1/2 cup whole wheat and 3/4 cup sorghum

Note*Don’t worry if you don’t mush your bag twice a day, it will be okay