Wow, sorry about that title. It’s day 24 of MoFo and I’m clearly going a little nuts. GET IT?! NUTS?? Because this post includes product reviews of two nut-related items. Hilaaarious.

So – at work we have this little general store where we can purchase fruit, frozen meals, drinks (including organic soy milk!), granola bars, candy, and various small toiletry items. They make it so easy to spend money, because you can just swipe your ID card and it gets automatically deducted from your next paycheck. Yowza. I work on the other side of campus, though, so I rarely make the trek over to the general store to buy a snack I don’t really need.

Today, though, I had limited food supplies and wanted something yummy to tide me over until lunch. Recently they started carrying vegan cookies made by the Simple Soyman, a Milwaukee-based company. So far I’ve only seen the Sesame Circle (made with peanut butter) and a Mexican hot chocolate-type cookie, both of which are excellent. Today I noticed that there’s a version of the Sesame Circle that features cashew butter instead of peanut butter. Consider me sold!

True to the Simple Soyman’s name, their products contain only the simplest ingredients. Check it:

It was a circle until I started eating it... oops.

I can get behind a product with only 8 ingredients! By which I mean, I can happily stuff said product in my piehole for a deeelicious midmorning snack. I love the Sesame Circles because they’re crispy and crunchy and just a little sweet. I think I prefer the cashew variety to the peanut one… peanuts are kind of overused, y’know? But cashews and sesame? That’s a less common combination, and a winning one at that.

Now, I didn’t intend to eat something cashew-y twice today, but I’d brought along a cashew-based soup for lunch, so that’s how the cashew cookie crumbled! I remember reading a review for various vegan soups on someone’s blog (if it’s yours, let me know!), and Pacific Natural Foods’ Cashew Carrot Ginger soup received top marks. When I saw it on sale for $2.50, I picked up a carton and saved it for a rainy day. Or, y’know, a cold day that eventually turned rainy, although it wasn’t raining when I ate this soup. Full disclosure; you haz it. Anyway, I gave it a try today.

Sittin' on my food shelf at work!

My verdict? Eh. I think it’s partially because I still don’t totally care for soups with noticeable coconut flavor, but I was not in love with this soup. I also realized that I have a slightly less than high tolerance for very liquid-y soups – I like pureed soup, but it needs some texture! This was nearly drinkable, and that didn’t do much for me. I did enjoy the otherwise pleasant flavor and the delightful back-of-your-mouth, slowly-building spiciness – mild but enjoyable. Would I buy this again? Probably not. Do I regret trying it? Nope.

Have you eaten anything cashew-y and delicious lately?

If you’re celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow, happy cooking & eating & giving thanks! I am not doing anything, and I’m actually quite relieved. I didn’t want to fly to RI for a long weekend, because that would’ve required taking Friday off work and I want to use my vacation days for Christmas. A friend invited me to her family’s celebration, but they live ~2 hours away and I didn’t feel like driving there after work tonight and then leaving tomorrow night so I could be at work on Friday. I also received an invitation from the Madison veg meet-up group for a big veg potluck with any displaced Madisonians, but honestly, the thought of socializing with strangers for an entire day was too exhausting to contemplate (yes, I know that’s an issue). So – the roomie and I will chill out and enjoy our day off work. If I could Apparate and celebrate with my family, I totally would, but as it stands, I’m excited to spend the day knitting and watching movies. Anyway – happy Thanksgiving, again!