Sunday Steals #13 and a Crunchy Fruity Snack

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Happy Sunday Steals!

Since I have some sales rack finds for you guys and a fruity, crunchy new snack review, we'll just get right down to business!

Oh, but first - today is the last day to enter my first international giveaway and win some yummy raw vegan treats!

Quilted Panel Wristlet for $9.99 ($19.90) @ Express

Sleeveless Peter Pan Shirt for $12.99 ($42.90) @ The Limited

Chevron Tie Belt for $9.99 ($24.50) @ J. Crew

Detachable Collar Cut Out Dress for $26.39 ($43.99) @ Romwe

Hyden for $19.98 ($40.00) @ Aldo Shoes

Cute and classy on a budget, just how I like it!

Now it's time for that healthy, yummy, super convenient snack that I promised you.

It's North Bay Trading Company freeze dried fruit!

North Bay Trading Company is a small family-owned business that sells freeze dried fruit, freeze dried vegetables, wild rice, and beans and soups. They're all about delivering the most high-quality products possible, so their wild rice is 100% certified organic and all of their products undergo voluntary third party food safety inspections, in addition to the standard ones.

They also make sure that what's in your crunchy fruit snack is just the delicious, nutritious fruit that you're going for - no sweeteners, no artificial flavors, no preservatives, and no salt. It's just fruit - but freeze dried so that it lasts long, gets that awesome sweet crunch (fruit -> chips with virtually no nutritional loss).

That's the back of the bag of freeze dried bananas - they're really good! It's like banana chips, only not greasy and much healthier as an everyday snack. 

North Bay Trading Co Freeze Dried Bananas

Another advantage of freeze dried fruits? 

North Bay Trading Co Freeze Dried Strawberries

While they're super sweet (like candy), delicious, and nutritious, they're also super portable. If you're traveling, camping, or even just going to work or lecture, it's a lot more practical to have a little pouch of freeze dried pineapple in your handbag than it is to whip out a fresh pineapple and make a big mess. 

North Bay Trading Co. Freeze Dried Pineapple

So you get the convenience of a bag of chips with the tastiness and healthiness of fresh fruit. I have so fallen in love with freeze dried produce!

North Bay Trading Co. Freeze Dried Fuji Apples

And if you're just at home, they also make a great addition to smoothies, cereals, salads, desserts, trail mix, and yogurt-granola-nut butter bowls :)

What's your favorite way to eat freeze-dried fruit?

What's your go-to handy snack on-the-go?

Which of the Sunday Steals items do you like the best?

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Go Raw Review

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While I'm not a rawist, I do think raw food can be incredibly delicious. So I was super-psyched to review some Go Raw snacks!

They make a great variety of delicious, nutritious, raw vegan products, but here are the ones that I've tried!

Simple Granola:

I think calling it granola is a bit of a misnomer, as it's really just buckwheat groats and celtic sea salt. They're a nice crunch though (great for adding to yogurt bowls, smoothies, or ice cream creations!) and the simplicity is nice. They're one of those things that really grows on you. After having them a few times, I was totally addicted as a yogurt or ice cream topper - or even a crunchy mix-in for cereal!

If you want something that's more of a sweet granola, they also have a Chocolate Granola, an Apple Cinnamon granola, and a plain granola. But I did like this a lot on already-sweet ice cream creations!

Sprouted Pumpkin Seeds:

Okay, I'm officially addicted. They're so flavorful, almost smoky in flavor, that you'd never believe they're raw! Plus, pumpkin seeds are full of great-for-you minerals and stuff, so eat up :) I recommend topping coconut ice cream with liberal handfuls of pumpkin seeds for optimal yummy-licious-ness.

Flax Snax:

These are the unflavored variety (there are also flavored ones) and they have a great crunch, but really do need something else to add some flavor. This means they're great as scoops for guacamole or spread with jam or Rawtella, though!

I liked the grainy crunchiness of these and flax seeds are so good for you, with all their healthy fats.

Raw chocolate was pretty exciting idea, and I like how they're individually wrapped (as my apartment can have a bit of an ant situation now and then).

This is the mint one and it's made out of 3 organic raw ingredients and that's it - cocoa, agave nectar, and peppermint oil.

I think some of the oil must have separated out, and that's probably what formed that kind of greasy white bit there:

But it's still delicious! It was really creamy and the peppermint flavor is strong - it's like a raw Andes mint!

There's also a plain chocolate one:

Which also seemed to have the oil separation issue (admittedly, it was quite hot for several days and the bag of chocolates was just sitting out, so that could be the weather's fault).

But, again, it was delicious! Velvety smooth chocolate. I seriously think raw and vegan chocolate is chocolate's best kept secret. 

Since I'm not a raw foodist, I really enjoyed it on bread with almond butter. YUM. I hope that's not offensive in anyway...

But I don't think there's anything wrong with anyone - whether vegetarian, vegan, omnivore, pescatarian, carnivore, SAD, etc. - enjoying more raw foods. I don't think there needs to be an all-or-nothing attitude and when raw food is this delicious, there's no reason not to incorporate it into a normal diet!

Yum. Yum. YUM.

These yummies are the kind of delicious, nutritious food that are perfect to get (and keep) me energetic for my third Boston Fashion Week runway show in four days.

Add in papers and... yeah, guys? I'm going to need some sleep after this.

Like, a lot.

Have you ever had raw chocolate?

Have you tried Buckwheat Groats?

What's your favorite seed?

Don't forget to enter my first international giveaway for your chance to win some raw vegan treats of your own!

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Friday Foodie Finds #13

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By now, you guys know the routine. This week's Friday Foodie Finds is taking a spin for the savoury. The theme is tempeh! The V tells you that the recipe is vegan.

Heidi's Maple-Grilled Tempeh V

Stephanie's Buffalo Tempeh V

Mama Pea's Better Spaghetti Sauce From A Jar V

Heidi's TLT Sandwich V

She's good at tempeh, this is her second recipe in the same Friday Foodie Finds post!

Laurie's Tempeh Maki V

And, lucky for all the vegan readers, all of this recipes turned out to be vegan!

Like these yummy raw vegan treats that I'm giving away - dont' forget to enter!

What's your favorite protein source?

Have you ever tried tempeh?

What's one type of protein that you HAVEN'T tried yet, but want to?

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Fashion Inspiration: Hercules

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So I've kind of figured out in what direction I'm going with the blog by now and kind of what I like to write about. It's primarily a review blog, so I try to review new foods here often and aim for at least three reviews a week.

Oh, and I like to do giveaways fairly regularly, like the Kur Delights international giveaway that I'm running right now!

I 'm trying to make this a go-to source for handy, helpful food reviews, so if you have any feedback of things that would make my reviews more helpful to you, or the organization of my review database more transparent, please let me know!

You can either leave a  comment here or shoot me an email at livinglearningeating AT gmail DOT com. And let me know if there's anything you want to see reviewed!

Anyway, here's what my blog schedule (loosely) looks like. On Monday, Thursday, and Saturday I do reviews. Sunday is Sunday Steals and sometimes a review or a giveaway, too. Friday is Friday Foodie Finds (awesome recipes from around the blogosphere), Wednesday is What I Ate Wednesday, and Tuesday is Trendy Tuesday. And Thursdays, though they're not really a set thing, have become a day for random posts or, most often, fashion inspiration posts. Like today's Disney fashion inspiration post.

It's only fitting that I'm posting about fashion today, after all, as today is my first show in Boston Fashion Week!

It's also the day that my first paper of the term is due, but that's not really related. Other than to say that I'm busy!

I'm walking in three shows this week, but for tonight's show I have to wear 6.5" heels.

Me + Heels =

Please pray for me guys! Or send me happy vibes or whatever. Let's just hope this doesn't end in a KASPLAT.

Face your fears every day, right? Haha.

Okay, back to the point of this post - my Thursday fashion inspiration!

Hercules was never my favorite Disney movie, though it certainly had its strengths and awesome dance numbers.

It's still hard to believe that I haven't done a Hercules Disney fashion inspiration post yet, however, because Megara was certainly one of the more fashionable Disney characters of my youth!

So let's not waste any more time. Here's my Megara-inspired look! As always, it is NOT meant to directly mimic her outfit in the movie.

Also, in order to keep the look relatively budget-friendly, no individual piece costs more than $50.

Megara (Hercules) Inspired Look by livelearneat featuring cut out dresses

Cut out dress
$35 - allyfashion.com

ASOS ankle wrap sandals
$46 - asos.com

Long earrings
$7.50 - etsy.com

Oasis jewelry
$30 - oasis-stores.com

Lip stick
$21 - redstripeclothing.com

Beauty product
$9.95 - etsy.com

RGB red nail polish
$16 - beckleyboutique.com

Without the makeup, the outfits costs $118.50. With the make up (lipstick, nail polish, and eyeliner) it costs $165.45.

Which Disney character do you think had a great sense of style?

Is there any food/drink that you want me to review?

Have you ever been to a fashion show?

If you enjoyed this post (or another LLE post) please Stumble it! There's a Stumble button for StumbleUpon at the bottom of the page. Thank you!

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Trendy Tuesday #8

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First, the winner of my Chobani Greek Yogurt giveaway is now posted here. Don't worry if you didn't win - you can still enter my first international giveaway!

Also, it's Trendy Tuesday time! What could be more fun?

Since we're all back at school and work, it's a little hard to satisfy that Wanderlust.

Unless, of course, you're studying abroad. In which case, hats off to you!

But if you can't go abroad, then being inspired by our global neighbors is one of the next best things, right?

This week, some international fashionistas have caught my eye - starting with the gorgeous Piia from Tallinn, Estonia!

Piia's Parrot Skirt

The high waisted skirt (just the right length to flatter her figure) a modest black heel, and that fabulously slouchy sweater look awesome on her. I want that sweater!

The next look comes to us from Cebu City in the Phillipines.

Kryz's Polka Dot

I adore her shoes! The whole outfit is great, but those shoes? WANT.

From a little closer this time, here's a great look from northern San Francisco, California.

Elanor's Knee Highs

Have I ever mentioned how I feel about knee highs? Let's just say I was (not so) mildly obsessed with them in middle school and, while my outfits no longer have to incorporate them daily, I'm still a fan!

Now let's go somewhere entirely different for an entirely different look. Next up is a cool look from Finland!

Paula's Punk

Yes, she's gorgeous - but she's also quite good at makeup! I need to learn to do it that well :) I also really like the shorts (shorts over tights have definitely grown on me) and I like edgier looks now and then, even if they're not what I go for daily.

But how could you skip Paris, France in a virtual fashion trip around the globe? You just can't.

Alice on Sesame Street

I like the visual effect (thanks, Photoshop) she used to make the yellow pop even more. On some rainy fall days, that's pretty much what the streets look like, anyway!

I want to go to Paris one of these days...

For an international gustatory treat, there's Pacari Chocolate, organic vegan chocolate from Ecuador!

Pacari Chocolate is a socially responsible, sustainable oriented chocolate company making premium chocolate from 100% organic ingredients. I tried their 100% cacao raw chocolate bar and their Dark chocolate covered Golden Berries.

The ingredient lists for all of their chocolates (they also make several different chocolate bars, chocolate covered berries, and cocoa-cacao beans) are comprised of just a few quality ingredients.

I really enjoyed the raw dark chocolate bar. If you want pure dark chocolate, this is it. It's not quite as creamy as other chocolate bars, as is expected given the 100% cacao content, but it still is somewhat creamy and certainly not brittle.

It's always so disappointing when chocolate is brittle (and cheap bars can start tasting brittle at around 50% cacao content) so the smoothness of the chocolate was a pleasant discovery.

It's delicious to eat as is, but I could also see this being really delicious chopped up and baked into cookies or a microwave breakfast cake.

Image from the Pacari Chocolate Website

If you've ever tried Golden Berries, otherwise known as Incan Berries, you know they have a uniquely tart flavor. Surprisingly, it pairs extraordinarily well with the rich, creamy dark chocolate (the chocolate these are enrobed in has a lower cacao content than the bar and is thus much creamier). These are so flavorful that just a few are needed to satisfy. And each one is so high-quality and luxurious, with amazing mouth-feel, that you just can't scarf them - these chocolates are the kind to be savored. 

My recommendation? Enjoy Pacari Chocolates with a cup of fine tea by candlelight, resting on a nice sofa with a cashmere throw and a good book...

Or close your eyes and pretend. The chocolate will take you there, if only for a few moments. 

We all deserve the indulgence. I encourage you to take those five or ten minutes to just relax, unwind, and enjoy the finer things in life. After all, life is too short not to live fully.

What's your favorite chocolate-covered something?


What's the last nice thing you did to treat yourself?

What's the next trip you have planned (or want to plan)?

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Kur Delights Review and Giveaway!

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It's time for another giveaway, since my last one (to win a case of Chobani greek yogurt!) ends tomorrow, don't you think?

And it's high time for my first international giveaway, right? I think so, too.

Kur Delights are date-based organic raw vegan treats from Denmark (!) made with no added sugar, no gluten, and no GMOs. They're basically little individually-wrapped nutrition bombs!

The ingredients are great and they're perfect as a complement to a snack, or as a quick little pick-me-up on the run or a burst of energy in the middle of a longer exam (oh hey, midterm season is coming up! Not excited).

They currently come in three flavors: Brownie, Dark Chocolate Mint, and Coconut Cream.

I tried the Brownie one first:

It's sweet and delicious and definitely chocolatey. Does it taste like a traditional baked brownie? No. Is it fantastic anyway? Yes.

For those of you who were curious about the raw brownie in my bowl a while ago, this is it.

Next up was the Dark Chocolate Mint.

I liked this one even better than the brownie, because the mint flavor really brought out the chocolate flavor and made this even more of a treat.

It was fabulous on a bowl of soy yogurt with buckwheat granola, pumpkin seeds, millet, pumpkin seeds, and cinnamon.

Yummers.

I'm not coconut-crazy, so the coconut cream wasn't my favorite - it's like the brownie, sort of, but covered in coconut flakes. But if you like coconut, you'll love the coconut cream!

Okay, so now the part you're really interested in - how you can win your own variety pack of Kur Delights! That's 3 boxes of 4 Delights in each (a total of 12) in each of the three flavors.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You have one week to enter the giveaway - it closes next Monday, October 1!

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Sunday Steals #12

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Guys, I have exciting news for you tomorrow.

My first international giveaway.

I'm so excited, don't forget to check back - especially if you're one of my international readers!!!

In the meantime, you still have two days to enter my Chobani giveaway if you're a US reader!

Okay, on to Sunday Steals time.

Going Batty Tee for $5.99 ($19.50) @ Delia's

We are getting closer to October, after all, and a little Halloween spirit can be a lot of fun!

McGrath Beach Tee for $10.14 ($19.50) @ Hollister

It's a chopped easy fit cut and comes in three colors!

Ribbed Tights for $9.90 ($15) @ Nordstrom

Nordstrom has daily free shipping, you have to love that!

Johanna Dress for $24.95 ($78) @ Abercrombie

It comes in three colors and there are also other dresses for as little as $14.95, but this one was just prettier.

Newport Patterned Sandal for $19.95 ($49) @ Free People

Aren't those shoes cute? They're adorable! 

Buying things on sale is very practical - you get more things for the same amount of money. Another really practical thing is freeze dried produce!

Mother Earth Products makes a freeze dried fruits and vegetables in pouches (see above) with 2 cups of chopped freeze dried produce in each. Or you can buy them wholesale. But the consistent thing is that it's always just the fruit or vegetable in there - if it's a bag of diced tomatoes, it's just freeze dried tomatoes:

If it's sweet corn, it's just freeze dried sweet corn.

While their freeze dried bananas are just as tasty a snack as banana chips, there's no sugar, color, or oil added - just sliced-up freeze dried bananas,

And another great thing about freeze dried fruits and veggies? They all have crunch-factor out the whazoo! And they're as flavorful as can be, perfect for throwing on salads or soup or in sandwiches - or on parfaits, yogurt, cereal, ice cream, froyo, etc. if you're using the freeze dried fruit. Or just eating like that!

The banana chips? Yeah, you can definitely eat them just like that - same goes for the corn.

The celery is really awesome in a cream cheese sandwich. Oh. My. Goodness.

One of the great things about freeze drying produce is that the freeze drying process makes them shelf-stable, so you don't have to worry about refrigeration. This makes them a perfect choice for campers, backpackers, travelers, or even college students who want a little extra fruit and veggie action now and then!

Freeze drying food is pretty ancient, dating waaaaaay back before the days of astronaut ice cream (oh hey, elementary school museum field trips). The Peruvian Incas used a primitive form of freeze drying in 1250 BC to keep food fresh and retain nutrients. Freeze dried foods can retain up to 98% of the nutritional value of the fresh fruits and vegetables and Mother Earth freeze dried foods have the brilliant colors and strong flavors to prove it. 

I could nosh on these plain all day (and, um, kind of have been...)

But the real 'point' to freeze dried food is to give people access to quick, easy-to-prepare fresh produce with little time. Freeze dried fruits can be turned into fresh fruits with a quick five minute bath in cold water, as can vegetables - though using hot water will make vegetables rehydrate faster and so much that you won't be able to tell the difference between them and their fresh equivalents.

Freeze Dried Broccoli

Only the freeze dried version comes pre-washed and chopped, speeding things up. Also, since it takes ages to go bad (years and years and years) you can buy several different vegetables and just use a little bit of each at a time. For a one-person kitchen, that's a huge asset.

Mother Earth Freeze Dried Bell Peppers, dry

Here's what a bowl of Mother Earth freeze dried bell peppers looked like immediately after submersion in cold water:

Mother Earth freeze dried bell peppers in cold water

By two minutes later, the veggies had already soaked up quite some water (I'm not sure if you can tell, but they're no longer floating on top of the water).

A quick two minute ding-dong in the microwave later and they were ready to eat!

I just mixed in some leftover sauce from the fridge and had a delicious vegetable side in much less time than it would have otherwise taken me!

But here's the one veggie of theirs that I just can't bring myself to rehydrate:

Their freeze dried garden peas! I make trail mix out of these (paired with dried cranberries, walnuts, sunflower seeds, almonds, peanuts, dried mango, and chocolate chips) and munch them on the go - they're just so delicious and become a quick fave to add to anything and everything, from ice cream (for crunch factor!) to the aforementioned trail mix!

Freeze dried produce is brilliant. Just brillaint.

Have you tried freeze dried fruits and/or vegetables?

What's one practical tip that you have to share?

Do you like camping?

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