Almond Fresh

Almond Fresh
From Earth’s Own Food Company

About the product

Since the first century BC, when travelers on the silk road brought them from Asia to the Mediterranean, almonds have been prized as one of nature’s most nutritious foods. They quickly became a staple of the Mediterranean diet and almond groves flourished throughout the region.

When early Spanish settlers arrived in California in the mid-1700’s, they brought with them their cherished almond trees. Within 100 years, thriving almond groves had spread through much of California’s great Central Valley.

Today this Mediterranean staple is a suggested part of a healthy diet and is increasingly renowned as a nutrient dense whole food with rich taste and versatility.

Almond Fresh is high in calcium and also fortified with vitamins.  See the benefits of Almond fresh by yourself!

• Low in calories and one serve provides 45% of your daily recommended dose of vitamin D, 25% of Riboflavin, and 50% of B12

• Dairy-free and does not contain lactose or casein

• Fortified with calcium, vitamin A and vitamin D and contains naturally occurring vitamin E, riboflavin, vitamin B12, iron, phosphorus, magnesium and zinc

• Almond Fresh Vanilla and Original have about half the calories per serving of 2% milk and is comparable in fat.

• The Unsweetened flavour contains only 30 calories per serving- that's  less than half of the calories found in skim milk

• Almond Fresh products are wheat and gluten free

• Certified kosher

• The brand is owned by Earth's Own

Find out more at http://www.almond-fresh.com/.

About Earth’s Own Food

Earth’s Own Food Company is a pioneering healthy food & beverage company dedicated to nutritional innovation and sustainability in order to actively improve people’s lives and wellbeing.   With a product line-up that includes leading non-dairy beverage brands So Good, So Nice, Almond Fresh and ryza, Earth’s Own Food Company is devoted to developing great tasting wholesome products that are good for their consumers, their families, the community and the planet.

http://www.earthsown.com/

My Thoughts

Did you know that almonds have many benefits for your health?   No wonder I prefer this kind of nut…   Almonds are low in fat and cholesterol free.  They are an excellent source of calcium and vitamin D as well as a source of vitamin E.   And the best of all, almonds are also known to be a source of antioxidants which protects cells from oxidation by removing free radicals which contribute to aging. 

I love almonds – either plain in a thai recipe, salty or robbed with chocolate (my favorite!).

So when I got offered the opportunity to review the Almond fresh beverage, I was curious.   Can this really taste as good as milk?

So when I got my vouchers, I drove to the store and checked out the Almond fresh products.  Imagine my delight when I saw that they had a DARK CHOCOLATE product.   Should I mentioned that it found its way in my cart? LOL  They also have an unsweetened version, the original version, and the vanilla version.  From past experience with non-dairy products, my family and I tend to prefer the kind that is flavoured.   

Just like a chocolate covered almond, Almond Fresh Chocolate brings together the delectable taste of milk chocolate and the powerful benefits of nutrient dense, real California almonds. This new & delicious flavour is a nutritious option for families looking for healthy beverage alternatives.

Once at home, I didn’t wait more and decided to pour myself of glass of freshness.   The taste was amazing and I just couldn’t have enough of it.   The night at supper time, the rest of the family tasted it.    The container was empty by the time supper ended.   The kids kept asking for more.   Even my husband tasted it and thought it was not bad (considering he doesn’t like chocolate I think it is pretty good!).   He mentioned that he would like to try the vanilla flavour next time which I bought the next time I went to the store.

You can also find some recipes to make with Almond fresh directly from their website.    We love Thai and while I was writing this post I realized that they had a recipe for Thai Chicken Curry.   I will definitively try it next time I purchase Almond fresh.   The container we have in our fridge right now is the Vanilla flavor which I guess I could use to do Pain Doré (french toast)…

But to give you an idea of the recipes included in the website, I thought you might like to see one. 

Almond Fresh Thai Almond Chicken Curry

Almond Fresh’s sweet creamy taste complements the flavors of Thai cooking beautifully. (Makes 4 servings)

1 cup Almond Fresh Original
1 tbsp fish sauce
4 tsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp Thai curry paste, green or red
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breasts, sliced into strips
1 large red or orange pepper, sliced into strips
1 1/2 cups pineapple chunks, about 1/4 of a fresh pineapple
1 cup green beans
1/2 cup chopped coriander
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp lime juice
1/4 tsp salt

1. In a small bowl, whisk together Almond Fresh, fish sauce, cornstarch curry paste until smooth.
2. Heat oil in large fry-pan. Add chicken strips and stir fry until no longer pink. Add pepper strips, pineapple and green beans. Continue to stir fry until peppers are soft.
3. Add Almond Fresh mixture to chicken and stir continuously until mixture thickens.
4. Stir in coriander, cherry tomatoes, lime juice and salt to taste.
5. Serve with white or brown steamed rice.

I strongly encourage you to expand your taste buds and the ones of your family by purchase a different kind of drink full of calcium.  Almond Fresh would be a great choice next time you go to the grocery store!

CONTEST

The really exciting part is that Almond Fresh is running a contest through their Almond Fresh starting in September to win a trip for 2 to Napa, California. This is going to be a simple sweepstakes. Additionally, there is also a second component; a photo contest in which people will be able to upload "joyous" photos of themselves. These people have the chance to win one of 40 prize packs containing 10 Almond Fresh vouchers worth $50 each. That’s $500 of free milk alternatives! The contest runs from Sept 5 to Oct 30, 2011.

So visit Almond Fresh contest page and participate to have a chance to win!

 

The Almond Fresh products are available at your favourite grocery store.   Don’t forget to let your taste buds explore new flavours every once in  a while!

Disclaimer: I received vouchers to get the product for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

So Good Beverages

Recently I was contacted to see if I would be interested in reviewing the So Good Soy Milk Beverages.   I agreed even though we don’t have anyone in our family who has milk intolerance at this point in time.   When my daughter was younger she had some intolerance to regular formula and milk at one point.   We had to buy some soy beverage for her.  I figure that exploring new taste and discovering new products would help us to expand our taste buds.

The So Good products are produced by Earth’s Own Food Company.  Earth's Own Food Company is a Canadian company who is the #1 non-dairy beverage company in the country. Our recipe for success is fostering wellbeing in everything we do and making healthy products that are good for consumers, their families, the community and the planet. Earth's Own Food Company has 205 employees who are passionate and committed to the company's vision and continued growth.  Earth's Own Food Company's vision is to be a pioneering healthy food & beverage company, one that takes an ethical approach to championing nutritional innovation & high quality products and services in order to actively improve people's lives and well-being.

So Good is made from non-genetically modified soy protein by Identity Preservation. What this means is that a monitoring system has been put in place which controls each step of the manufacturing process -- from seed selection to planting and harvesting, transportation and processing -- to ensure no genetically modified soybeans enter the supply stream at any time.

So Good is 100% lactose free and a perfect alternative to milk. Lactose is the natural sugar found in dairy milk and lactase is the enzyme required to break down the lactose. Some people have little or no lactase in their body which means dairy milk and dairy milk products cannot be digested. The common symptoms of lactose intolerance are stomach pains, bloating, gas, diarrhea and nausea.    So Good is also 100% free of cholesterol and low in saturated fat. Vegetable oil is added to Original and Flavour varieties of So Good to provide appropriate fat levels for satisfying mouth feel and beverage smoothness (100% cholesterol free polyunsaturated sunflower oil or Canola oil is used).   The product is 100% free of animal products and suitable for vegetarian and vegan diets as well as 100% gluten-free and are suitable for people with Celiac Disease.   So Good is a participant in Health CheckTM - a food information program developed by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.  So Good has factories on both the east and west coast of Canada, reducing its distance to market (unlike Silk soymilk, which is shipped up from the US).

I have receive coupons that I could exchange for the full product at the grocery store.   So far we tried the Strawberry and Chocolate flavours.

I have to admit that the So Good Strawberry didn’t win some fans in our household.   I would have thought that my kids would have liked it.   My daughter herself, age 3, has picked it because it was pink.    But somehow the taste didn’t stick with them.    Personally I thought I was drinking a milk made of chalk.    You could taste a bit of strawberry in it but not enough to remove the taste of the soy behind it.   I guess that with time the kids might get used to it…  if needed be that is.

So I didn’t know how the So Good Chocolate would be received when I open the container.

Well surprisingly the kids and I LOVED it (my husband doesn’t drink or eat anything chocolate except if it would be white chocolate!).    The taste of chocolate was rich and when you were done with it you just wanted more of it.    We drank this one in a record time (compared to the strawberry flavor that is…).  My sweet Jasmine kept asking for more even though there wasn’t any more as the container was…. empty!

I do have two other vouchers for So Good products.   I am looking for a Vanilla (requested by my husband) and a Chocolate one.  But somehow, the stores I went too didn’t have any in stock…   I did three stores yesterday and none had them – Wal-Mart (almost empty shelves), Metro and Shoppers Drug Mart.   Mmmm!   I still have to go check at Loblaws as well as Independent but haven’t had the time yet.  UPDATE:  This morning I went to a Loblaws who had the Chocolate and Vanilla Omega version.  These found their way to our house…   Looking forward to discover the Vanilla flavour but I will wait until my husband is back from his Daddy day with our 5 years old son!

All So Good products are made of natural flavours, are an excellent source of nutrition, contain calcium, are low in saturated fat and are fortified with essential vitamins and minerals!   And it is perfect for people who can’t drink milk because of issues like being lactose intolerant.

GREAT NEWS!

One of my readers will win 50$ worth of vouchers for So Good Products.

As a first entry, tell me which recipe you would like to do with a So Good product.  Include the link to that recipe from their website.

This entry is mandatory. Don’t forget to include your email address in the comment.

EXTRA ENTRIES

1) Like So Good Canada on Facebook and leave me a comment telling me you did.
2) Subscribe to my RSS feed on the right side of this blog and let me know about it.
3) Like Canadianladybug Reviews! on facebook and tell me about it.
4) Follow Canadianladybug Reviews! on twitter and like me you twitter name.
5) Follow Canadianladybug Reviews! with Google Friends on the right side of this blog and tell me about it.
6) Follow me via Networked Blogs on the right side of this blog and tell me about it.
7) Tweet about this contest and give me the link about it. (Daily Tweet) (1 entry per day)
8) Blog about this contest and give me you link (3 entries) – Give me your link and enter three times in the comment section.

Don’t forget to include your email for each steps. No email means I will have to pick someone else. I need to be able to contact you if you win! Random.org will be use to determine the winner. You will have 24 hours to contact me and give me your mailing address so I can send it to my contact which in turn will ship the prize to you!

Deadline: Aug 10th , 2011

Contest is open to Canadians, except Quebec residents.

Disclaimer: I received the product for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.