Simply Fresh Living

I was celebrating my birthday out of town this weekend with a group of friends and of course no birthday is complete without cake! When people first ask questions about becoming vegan and even taking the transition to a high raw diet it’s often situations like this they fear most. Social gatherings that involve friends and family and things like birthday cake. I always take the easiest way out and… bring my own!

I thought about bringing a vegan birthday cake that most replicated the real thing, assuming it would be easiest to find and the biggest crowd pleaser. But I quickly decided against it. This was my birthday and I was not going to think about everyone else, I was going to put myself first and I wanted only the best of the best, raw cake!

I did not want to make the cake myself though because my husband and I have been doing alot of traveling lately and the last thing I wanted was a cake preparation lingering over my head. I also didn’t want just ONE cake, I wanted a variety! Something that was sure to please everyone, even though it was entirely raw.

I came across Innocent Indulgence in the ever so handy Natural Awakenings magazine. I honestly couldn’t believe it- everything I wanted ALL in one place! Entirely vegan, entirely raw, a great variety, and from the pictures everything looked delicious.

Below are all of the different treats I tried:

I don’t have any pictures of the cheesecakes I was so concerned with everybody getting to try each piece and then eating mine up so fast I totally forgot

Raspberry Bliss

This wasn’t close to the “real” thing, this WAS the real thing. Did not taste a smidge different than regular cheesecake, and the topping was absolutely DELICIOUS!

Double Fudge

Again, this tasted exactly like the most chocolate-y cheesecake you have ever had in your life. It was insanely rich, maybe even too rich for some, but seeing as I am a chocolate LOVER, it was perfect. Everybody commented on how much they liked the fudge.

Lemon Island

This was the least favorite of the cheesecakes by the other people in my group. I personally loved it, it was a great balance between sweet and tangy. It was on the top of the other cakes in the ice chest though and was significantly more thawed out than the others. I think this was definitely a factor as to why some were not as keen on this flavor. The cheesecakes taste the best when slightly thawed but still cool and firm (in my opinion).

Fudge Brownie Squares

These were extremely tasty as well. They were the perfect amount of fudge and had a very nice consistency, not too dense. Bite size pieces were the best from the start.

Peanut Butter Squares

These were my favorite between the brownies and the cookies. (ignore the holes, they had birthday candles in them  It was the most delicious peanut butter cup flavor I have ever tasted. I cut them into 4 pieces to begin with but were so rich that I ended up dicing into bite size pieces.

Cocoa Nib Squares

Although these did not taste exactly like the chocolate chip cookies some may have been expecting the other people in our group still loved them! (as did I) They were light and airy and just the right amount of chocolate.

Gingerbread

Because it was my first order with Innocent Indulgence Alisha gave me the choice of a free dessert, totally awesome! I chose the gingerbread since I had not ordered it and figured I would try out as many different flavors as I could. I ADORED the gingerbread cookie dough. It literally was exploding with flavor in my mouth. It was by far the richest gingerbread cookie I have ever tasted. It comes with a vanilla creme, but I choose to eat them plain. Maybe the creme had too much true vanilla flavor for me but I just did not like it very much. I think it would have been awesome paired with a much sweeter creme made with coconut oil to offset the spicey, gingery taste of the cookies. (but again, I love all things very sweet)

Not only did all of the dessert taste amazing, but the entire ordering process was incredibly smooth. I submitted an order online (weeks in advance just to make sure, which was not neccessary) and Alisha, who is an absolute sweetheart, phoned me a couple of days later to verify the details.

I ordered an Experience Sampler and substituted a peanut butter square and additional brownie for the parfaits, which was no problem. There were 9 of us total, and I still have leftovers! We all split the cakes, each having a tiny piece of all 3 flavors. Some people didn’t even finish this much, they are all so rich and filling. Although it may not seem like a ton of food because the portions are not as HUGE as we are used to, it was more than enough. Along with the ease of the ordering process the other very convenient aspect of these deserts is that they are frozen. You can pick up days in advance and store them in your freezer until the day you need them, or like us transport them with you in a cooler without compromising flavor, texture, etc. They also ship anywhere, so if you are not in AZ don’t worry, just add the price of an icepack to your order and you will be receiving your desserts shortly Each dessert also came with detailed instructions as to the thawing process and the best way to store, cut, and serve-all great info to have.

I would reccommend Innocent Indulgence to anyone and everyone, especially for any type of special occasion or get together. Anybody else know of any other raw dessert companys? Anybody looking for raw desserts and is going to give Innocent Indulgence a chance?? Let me know!

Alisha Chasey can be contacted at: (602) 509-0744 or on the web at http://www.innocentindulgence.net/

I am an avid lover, endorser, and frequently even supplier of LaraBars to my friends and family. They are delicious, have only a couple to few whole ingredients, raw, and very minimally processed. My love for LaraBars has usually stopped me from avidly exploring other healthy bars on the market, and most often when my eyes do wander I am brought back to the LaraBar display because they are significantly cheaper and a whole lot more healthy than anything else out there I have seen thus far, until yesterday.

I ventured to a different Whole Foods than usual and these PranaBar’s caught my eye. They range anywhere from 55%-77% raw and the package informs that the part of the bar that isn’t technically raw is the nuts which have undergone a slow cooking process to “denature their enzyme inhibitors” Eating foods that contain enzyme inhibitors can neutralize some of your body’s own enzymes and can also cause swelling of the pancreas. Preferably you can destroy these inhibitors in nuts by soaking them which will get rid of the inhibitors but also still preserve their natural enzymes, but you can also destroy them by slow cooking, which is what PranaBar has chosen to do.

The first flavor I tried (seen to the right with a teeny bit of the bar left, I stuffed it all in my mouth before I remember to take a picture!) was apricot goji and BOY was it delicious! I love the texture of these bars, they are chewy and moist but not too dense and contain chunky ingredients, much more overall texture than LaraBars. This bar contained: Organic Cashews, Organic Almond Butter, Organic Date Paste, Organic Agave Nectar, Organic Dried Apricots, Organic Puffed Amaranth, Organic Goji Powder, Sea Salt. All ingredients I am more than familiar with and most importantly ENTIRELY organic! Puffed Amaranth is also not something I get in my regular diet but it is super good for you, so that is a definite plus! Amaranth is a seed that acts very much like a cereal grain, but contains zero gluten. It is super high in fiber and protein. Amaranth also contains a complete protein profile which is superior to most other grains, housing certain essential amino acids that are not usually present at all in grains.

The other bars contained similar ingredients and you can check out all the flavors and their nutritional info on their website, located here. The coconut acai flavor was just as delicious as the apricot goji, I couldn’t pick a favorite between the two. Today I tried the pear ginseng flavor. It contains the same standard ingredients but also has ginseng powder. I was not as big of a fan because I am not entirely keen on the ginseng taste, but it still was not bad at all and the taste really was pretty subtle.

The best part is these bars are only about .20 cents more in price than LaraBars. I personally believe they are larger in size and more filling as well so it is definitely worth it.

Any other “raw” bars out there on the market that you have tried and liked? Anybody going to take a chance and try out some PranaBars now, let me know!!