This holiday season, give some fascinating food products that also give back to needy causes to the food lovers on your list.
Blue Lotus Chai, a spiced tea free of all sweeteners, additives, artificial flavorings, or colorings, comes in an assortment of masala blends—Traditional, Golden, Mint, Rooibos, Star Anise, and Mandarin. Caffeine-free, it’s easy to prepare, and contains anti-oxidants. This year, Blue Lotus Chai won the Specialty Food Association’s 2020 sofi™ Award for innovation and taste in the 48th annual awards. They donate 10% of their net profits to charitable organizations such as Doctors Without Borders, American Cancer Research and A Hope for Autism Foundation.
Blue Lotus Chai
8 ounces coconut creamer (or milk of your choice)
½-¾ teaspoon Blue Lotus Chai powder
1 tablespoon coconut sugar (or sweetener of choice)
½ teaspoon chia seeds
1 tablespoon hot water (enough to dissolve chai powder & sweetener)
A few ice cubes
In a measuring cup, dissolve Blue Lotus Chai powder and sweetener in hot water; stir.
Add it, along with milk of choice and ice cubes, into a blender. Blend until ice is well crushed and milk is frothy. Add chia seeds, stir, and let sit for a few minutes. Pour into a glass and enjoy!
Note: If you prefer, you can add the chia seeds to the dissolved mixture before adding milk and mix them up in the blender. This adds to the creaminess, with no crunch & chew from the seeds.
Sacred Sauce
Another company that donates 10% of all company profits, in this instance to the Rainforest Trust, Sacred Sauce is a medium-heat sauce made with serrano chilis, cacti and blood oranges containing only vegan-friendly, organic, and natural ingredients. Their Sacred Salad Sauce is probably one of the few medium heat sauces for salads. Made with habanero and serrano chilis, mashed up mango flesh and citrus tangerines giving it a sweetness with out having additives such as sugar or artificial sweeteners. The spicy taste contrasts well with the coolness of salad greens.
Neither Sacred Sauce nor Sacred Salad Sauce contain any preservatives, chemicals, xanthan gum, extracts or concentrates.
With the mission to leave the world a happier, healthier place, the mother and daughter team who founded SkinnyDipped offer a variety of whole nuts “skinnydipped” in thin layers of a dark chocolate, milk chocolate or white chocolate. There’s cashews skinnydipped in a dark chocolate salted caramel, Milk Chocolate Peanuts, almonds in dark chocolate espresso and their Lemon Bliss–almonds in white chocolate with lemon. Low in calories, the ingredients are also non-GMO verified, gluten-free and contain no artificial ingredients.
SkinnyDippers are now available nationwide at @walgreens! Snag a bag of Peanut Butter + Cocoa Almond to keep yourself fueled up when you’re on-the-go! To find out where else they’re available, click here.
SkinnyDipped Peanut Butter Banana Pudding
• 2 cups almond milk
• 1 box (3.7 oz) organic vanilla instant pudding
• 2 bananas, sliced
• 1/2 cup natural peanut butter
• 1 cup Peanut Butter SkinnyDipped Almonds
To garnish:
• 4 dollops of whipped cream
• 1 tbsp natural peanut butter
• 1 tbsp crushed Peanut Butter SkinnyDipped
1. Start by preparing the pudding. Pour 2 cups almond milk into medium mixing bowl, add vanilla instant pudding and beat with an electric mixer for 2 minutes. Set aside.
2. In four jars, layer sliced bananas, peanut butter, SkinnyDipped and pudding mixture. Repeat layering until all ingredients have been used and refrigerate.
3. Before serving, top each jar with a dollop of whipped cream, a peanut butter drizzle and some crushed SkinnyDipped. Enjoy!
