wow, some hardcore vegan sleuthing has gone down. we posted earlier this week on some shocking findings by mr. wishbone (you all remember him from operation pancake, right?) regarding some completely non-vegetarian gummy bears that were mislabeled as vegan at whole foods. after some digging, it appears that whole foods isn’t entirely to blame; the fault actually lies with the distributor. please read the original story here, and check out the following update from mr. wishbone:

After reading the comment from “LE” on the gummy bear post, (“I just had some agave-sweetened gummy bears yesterday from Rainbow Acres. They had the exact same ingredients list. Sigh… should have known it was too good to be true.”), I thought that if the Rainbow Acres gummy bears were from the same manufacturer/distributor then the error in labeling might not be Whole Food’s fault at all.

I went to Rainbow Acres and found two products: Agave Sweetened Gummy Bears and Vegan Agave Sweetened Fruit Slices. I spoke with the Greg at Rainbow Acres, and he was happy to provide me with their distributor’s name, telephone number and item numbers from their catalog. I asked Greg to remove the two products from his shelves until we could determine if the ingredient listings were correct. Rainbow Acres should be commended for their transparency and genuine desire to please their customers and do the right thing.

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vegans, rejoice! there is a new cruelty-free product on the block from none other than chicago soy dairy. if you aren’t familiar with them, they are the same folks who created teese, which tied for 1st place in our best vegan cheese for pizza showdown and also covers our favorite pizzas in los angeles. as if making great vegan cheese wasn’t enough, chicago soy dairy has recently rolled out their most convincing product yet…a line of treats called dandies vegan marshmallows. lemme tell ya, the word dandy doesn’t even begin to describe how tasty these sweet, moist, little, gelatin-free puffs are…they are nothing short of exceptional.

vegan rice krispies treats made with dandies from chicago soy dairy!

i tested the dandies out in the standard rice krispies treat recipe from the kelloggs website, and the batch came out absolutely perfect. i haven’t had real rice krispies treats (or marshmallows for that matter!) in AT LEAST ten years, and still these little squares propelled me back in time to a place when eating cereal coated with gelatin was the uninformed yet delicious norm.

dandies vegan marshmallows: $5.29/10 oz bag

i kept the recipe exactly the same as on the kelloggs website, but i substituted dandies for real marshmallows and used earth balance sticks in the place of margarine. i tasted a few of the dandies raw before making the rice krispies treats, and i can assure you that chicago soy dairy has nailed the exact marshmallow flavor AND texture. i ordered my dandies the moment they were available from veganessentials.com, and they were very quickly sold out. they are still currently out of stock, but for more updates you can always follow chicago soy dairy on twitter.

dandies vegan marshmallows melting away!

i prepared the rice krispies treats exactly according to the original recipe…melting the dandies with margarine and mixing them up in a pan with the cereal. the dandies had a thick and gummy texture that was so close to real marshmallows, i could barely believe it! they melted down immediately and became a thick sticky stew that coated the spatula and kelloggs alike.

when i let the cereal/dandies/earth balance mixture cool, it turned into a perfect slab of rice krispies treat that was easy to cut and tasted great. i am so used to eating the vegan brown rice marshmallow treats from trader joe’s, which suck ass compared to the dandies version. i even took a bite of each one side by side, and the dandies treats were so incredible, i don’t think i will ever buy the trader joe’s ones again. the vegan marshmallows were soft, creamy, and chewy…the rice krispies treat was in every way identical to its non-vegetarian counterpart.

just for fun, i also tried roasting a dandie over the fire. it turned out perfectly. crispy edges and gooey insides, just like the real thing. if i were a camping person, i would definitely be loaded up with tons of dandies for campfire smores.

melted dandies vegan marshmallow on top of some dark chocolate. yum.

lastly, i threw the dandies in some hot chocolate to see how they did. they got soft and mushy, again, just like real marshmallows. it was so awesome being able to just drink a mug of cocoa with puffy white marshmallows…a simple pleasure that’s been off limits to me for over a decade.

hot chocolate piled high with vegan dandies marshmallows

so overall, dandies vegan marshmallows are a pretty impressive break through product. the marshmallow taste and texture are hard things to get right, and chicago soy dairy has got them both nailed. a+! i will be adding these to my list of staples to order from vegan essentials.

for more info check dandies out on the web, on myspace, and on twitter.

OMG VEGAN DONUTS!!!!!

i can’t even tell you how elated i was to find mighty-o, a donut-baking shop in seattle that was ENTIRELY vegan. i was even more elated when i tried their donuts and they tasted EXACTLY like (if not better than) the real (unhealthy, ridiculously sinful, fattening, artery-clogging) thing!

sprinkled o: the best chocolate donut ever covered in decadent frosting and sprinkles $1.65 along with naked cake: a mini plain donut 35¢

i’ve gotta say, during the short time i spent in seattle, mighty-o was by far my favorite discovery. it’s definitely a heaven on earth for any vegan with an intense sweet tooth who misses the sinful vegetarian lifestyle. i’ve not had a donut in YEARS, but i remember loving them.

i’ve alway had a penchant for sugar-laden treats. when i was a vegetarian teenager, i used to drive all the way from santa clarita to a donut shop in van nuys (a 20 mile journey) to obtain their coveted, brand-new, freshly-cooked donuts (if i arrived during certain hours, i could even watch them being made on a giant conveyer belt—what fun)! unfortunately, at the age of 20 when i became a vegan, i assumed that avenue of donut-devouring pleasure had been permanently closed off to me. ….boy, was i wrong! not only did mighty-o give me the opportunity to enjoy a pipin’ hot sugary donut, it also made those old treats i used to eat look like limp, crappy, fast-food versions of the real thing.

and with a refillable cup of mighty-o’s coffee, plus a great seat in the window, i could easily spend all morning sipping drip and eating donuts.

it’s no surprise that with vegan sweets this good, there was a line going out the door of mighty-o at 11 am on a saturday morning. the line was so long, in fact, that i turned around and decided to come back the next day, early. when i returned on sunday at around 8 am, the place was still pretty full—i guess people are willing to wake up early and wait for these magical donuts, and i am too!

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