Thursday, May 30, 2013

Product Pick: Tessemae's Dressing

Alright. Something very good is happening in foodland right now. Within weeks of one another, two brilliant, clean, safe products have graced the shelves. Tessemae's is one of them.

One of the easiest things you can do is make your own salad dressing. It really is one of the number one most simple things to do. Yet, for years, I have taken the journey from hunting for to giving up on the perfect commercially available salad dressing. I'm all for doing something yourself, I'm all for simplicity-- but really, sometimes I just want to grab a bloody bottle of salad dressing and not worry about soybean-canola-oil-corn-syrup-sugar-and-crap within. I JUST WANT SOME SALAD DRESSING!

A gentleman named Caleb introduced me to the bottle that (finally) fits the bill. Dipped elegantly in red wax (taught to the company by Maker's Mark), the glass bottle with its popping, clean packaging contains only the finest of ingredients. There are a few varieties that shine brighter than the others-- Lemon Garlic, Balsamic, and Southwest Ranch stand out to me. For example, Southwest Ranch contains:
Olive Oil, Organic Lemons, Organic Garlic, Mustard, Sea Salt, Spices, Cracked Black Pepper
The most bizarre thing about the Ranch is how good it is and yet-- it isn't anything near the creamy-white substance we hold near and dear. Nope. It is neon orange and translucent. What? Whatever. Eat it. It would make a perfect marinade, too. I mean, I imagine all the things, dripping with this dressing. Shut up, it is an entirely reasonable image. I imagine chicken marinated in the ranch. I imagine avocado chunks tossed in the lemon-garlic. I imagine swimming in-- wait. Not that.

Please support this incredible family and their delicious, safe, healthful foods. Please please please make yourself some good things, and pour this all over it. I asked Caleb what it was that he wanted everyone to know. He responded: "We keep it real."

This might be the look that a dull salad receives before dousing.

TOPS. Winnah. On a scale of 1-10:
Ingredients: 10
Ease of use: 10
Nutrition: 9
Convenience: 10
Price: 7
Over-All: 9.2
WHY AREN'T YOU BUYING THIS ALREADY???

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Product Pick: Epic Bars


For our product pic today, we have Epic Bars, a novel snack that I'd best describe as a sort of jerky-bar. Yes! A snack! A protein-filled snack without any questionable oddities inside! Absolutely delightful to have something that I can throw into my gym bag in anticipation for errand-running, or take on a hike with me, or nibble secretly in the pantry at 2:30am. What?

This comes in Turkey, Bison, and Beef. It is made with Grass-fed meat (in some form or another) and each variety has something awesome in it, like bacon, or almonds. Really. I would call them a modern version of real pemmican, but without the tallow. Because hey, we aren't literally living only off of them while trekking across the great plains. And hey-- another secret-- the turkey one is my favorite. Yeah, really. I was surprised, too. They're all EXTREMELY good, though. I can proudly hold these and strut around with them. Also, eat them.

Portable delights. I mean, just getting back to the beef-jerky goodness of dehydrated meat is an "Epic" thing. They do ring in at $2.50 each, though, so be prepared.

On a scale of 1-10:
Ingredients: 7
Ease of use: 10
Nutrition: 8
Convenience: 10
Price: 3
Over-All: 7.6
Eat your meat!

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Five shoes in one: the Nike Studio Wrap


Just calling out the most awesome, innovative barefoot thing I've seen a company do since Five-Fingers. Instead of looking at what other companies did (and did right), ie: Making another five-fingered shoe (like Fila, etc), they came up with something brilliantly new, ancient, and minimalist. I'm a big fan of wrapping my feet-- but these solve the problem of wrap slippage, kinks, etc. Kudos to them. The price is insanity, though. Good job, Nike... you surprised me. I want these.