Product Review: Pacific Natural Red Pepper + Tomato Soup

 Pacific Natural Foods Organic Red Pepper & Tomato Soup

I have failed you all on week 2 of food planning. Which also means I had no lunch at work today. Back in the beginning of my job here, however, I squirreled away tons of oatmeal in my cabinets (pre-Paleo...) and as it would turn out, some soup! I hadn't had it before and I'm pretty sure I only bought it because it was on sale. (It's one of the 17.6 oz ones that they carry at - you guessed it - Whole Foods. This predictability thing has got to stop...)

Into a mug it went, and into the microwave. It came out nice, thick, and creamy. It's tangy, but has nice small chunks remaining of the red pepper. Typically I'm skeptical about canned/boxed soups, because I feel like they're full of fake stuff and that I shouldn't have been so lazy as to not make my own. 

Here's why I'll buy from this company again, when I'm feeling lazy enough to not make my own:

A. They created their own program to "Certify to the Source". Basically, they trace the origins of every ingredient in their products, ensuring that what they're telling you they're selling you actually is what it's supposed to be.

B. They have a soup for every diet or allergy that's out there and they're very visibly labeled: Corn Free, Dairy Free, Fat Free, Gluten Free, Kosher Dairy, Kosher Parve, Low Fat, Low Sodium, Soy Free, Vegan, Vegetarian, Wheat Free, Yeast Free, and those that Promote Heart Health.

C. They're actually a good example of a sustainable company:

• Dairy cows are fed an organic, vegetarian diet, without antibiotics or growth hormones, and are open pastured
• They use aseptic packaging, which is recyclable, and doesn't require as many raw materials to create.
• They believe in being organic leaders for farming practices in Oregon

I can't wait to try out some of their other soups!

Thanks for Reading!
CJ

Product Review: Siggi's Skyr Yogurt

My failure at Paleo is breakfast. 

I can't help it. There is nothing appetizing about dinner for breakfast. Breakfast for dinner? Sign me up. Breakfast should be that glorious meal that immediately transports you to a sunshine-filled kitchen filled with the scents of bacon, the noise of the griddle sizzling, and the encompassing warmth of love...Okay, so I might be a little ridiculous, but I need breakfast to stay breakfast. And that means keeping yogurt in my diet.

I stumbled upon Siggi's when I was looking around for a yogurt that didn't have a lot of sugar, used milk from cows that weren't fed growth hormones, and that still tasted delicious. 

It's different, I'll grant you. It has the consistency of sour cream and some of the bitterness of Greek Yogurt, but it's exceptionally smooth and has just the right amount of flavor to make it delicious without having to add any additional sweeteners. 

My favorite flavor? Orange & Ginger. I find it to not be so mild of a flavor that I'm left wondering what it was supposed to be, though the 2% Coconut is (according to the boyfriend) vastly superior.

So what is Skyr, you ask? 

Skyr "is the traditional yogurt of Iceland. It is made by incubating skim milk with live active cultures. The whey, the water naturally found in milk, is strained away to make for a much thicker, creamier, concentrated yogurt. So to make just one cup of skyr, with all that water going out, you need 3-4 times the amount of milk required to make a regular cup of yogurt. As a result of this process skyr comes out with 2-3 times the protein count of standard yogurt" (www.skyr.com)

Siggi's has 2 different types of Skyr; one has 0% milkfat, and the other has a bit of cream thrown back into the mix at 2%. I find the Siggis's with 0% are more easily found, and have better flavors, but that's just me.

Some Nutritional Facts

• Gluten Free
• Milk from Grass Fed Cows
• No Aspartame
• No Sucralose
• No Gelatin
• No artificial Colorings
• No preservatives
• No High Fructose Corn Syrup
• No rBGH 

Quick Note on Paleo/Primal on Yogurt

Dairy consumption, especially the fermented stuff, is pretty much in a "gray area". If you're sensitive to dairy, don't eat it. But the current arguments that it has casein as the primary source of protein (so does human milk so that one's debatable) I basically just disregard. The fact that yogurt is fermented also means that the lactose gets broken down, which cuts down on true sugar and carb content.

Two great articles to read on the subject are:

The Health Benefits of Fermented Food

and

The Definitive Guide to Dairy 

Thanks for Reading!

CJ