Healthy food. Not a frequent subject of this blog, and not something I actively really seek out, but, sometimes, I do want to eat a bit better, and I was something easy. And for those moments, I've discovered Urban Remedy.
"With Urban Remedy, you can be sure that everything heals and nothing harms, and know that your choice of organic supports your wellbeing and the earth's. Without a trace of dairy, gluten, white sugar, white flour, or unhealthy oils, nourish your body with every bite."Urban Remedy makes healthy, ready-to-eat, meals, snacks, and drinks. Vegan. Gluten-free. No white sugar, even in the "dessert" items. Not exactly what I tend to go for, and for years, I saw the brand before trying it - first in a kiosk at the Ferry Building, but slowly, they added more storefronts, and started being carried in grocery stores and corner markets around town. You can even find them in Whole Foods now. Clearly, people must like the place, as its had some staying power. They've introduced meal plans, home delivery, and more, but I've only tried items I selected at the stores.
Wraps & Rolls
"Our wraps and rolls will satisfy your cravings for flavor while delivering a boost of plant-based nutrition. From our vegan spin on a smoky BLT to a hearty Mediterranean Wrap that will leave you full and happy. Certified organic, certified non-GMO, gluten-free and low glycemic."The "Wraps & Rolls" section of the menu includes spring and summer rolls, the aforementioned "VLT" (which unfortunately has avocado in it, otherwise I'd totally try it because I want to know what smokey eggplant "bacon" is), and, a collard wrap. I have no idea why, but, I have eyed that collard wrap every time I have made a Good Eggs order. I finally had to just do it.
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| Mediterranean Collard Wrap. $9.99 (on Good Eggs) |
So ... I'm not really a healthy eater. I don't like hummus, at all, given that I hate chickpeas/garbanzos, and anything that tastes like them. I don't normally like quinoa, although, I did like it at Eatsa. So why on earth would I get this? I can't explain it, but, every single time I browsed on Good Eggs, I wanted it. I *do* like sweet potato. I love miso. I sometimes really love cashew cheese. I somehow convinced myself that the sweet potato and miso would overcome the garbanzos in the hummus. Spoiler: they didn't.
The wrap comes as two halves, fairy heafty in their girth, with a collard green wrapped around the outside several times. They were held together tightly, and didn't fall apart. The collard seemed fresh enough, and held up well.
Inside was ... well, exactly as promised. Quinoa (both red and white), hummus, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes. The quinoa and hummus tasted like ... quinoa and hummus. I didn't taste miso, I didn't detect sweet potato. I didn't like this. I also didn't like the cucumbers, since I don't really like cucumbers (unless pickled!), and the cherry tomatoes were kinda mushy. I'm not sure where the cashew cheese was, but, I didn't taste that either.
It was healthy. It was fresh enough. But, it really, really wasn't for me. I don't know what I was thinking ordering it. **+.
The price from Good Eggs was $9.99, but it is $10.95 if you order from Urban Remedy online. This price seems a bit high for a small item. If you'd like to try it for free (or, any other item <$10 from Good Eggs), let me know, and I can send you a free gift!
Salads & Bowls
"Our salads and bowls will satisfy your cravings for flavor while delivering a boost of plant-based nutrition. From a rainbow-colored bowl of organic quinoa with roasted yam, pumpkin seeds, kale, and beet, to our vegan spin on a Caesar salad, you’ll savor every bite. Certified organic, certified non-GMO, gluten-free and low glycemic."Urban Remedy makes a large variety of salads and bowls, and is always introducing new ones. The lineup has a bunch that have caught my eye, like the Japanese inspired Umeboshi Salad with purple and green cabbage, carrots, spinach, daikon, with a "Sushi shaker" topping of sesame seeds, almonds, hemp seeds, kelp, and nori, with the umeboshi vinaigrette. It sounds really fascinating, and full of ingredients I like. Then there is the Veggie Chopped Salad, with purple cabbage, roasted sweet potatoes, and tempting sounding "crispy eggplant bacon bits". Other crowd pleasers are the Mediterranean Herb Salad, a spin on a classic Greek salad with swiss chard in the mix, a Mexican inspired Ensalada Bowl complete with pico de gallo and vegan sour cream, a beautiful "Rainbow Salad", a Thai zucchini noodle based pad thai with coconut and almond butter pad thai sauce, an Asian soba noodle salad with sesame almond sauce, and a very healthy looking Macro Bowl.
But I went for one that just kept catching my eye over and over, the Caesar Salad, veganized of course. It was really quite good. After that success, I tried another.
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| The Vegan Caesar with Cumin Chickpea Croutons. $11.75. |
It came in a sealed large plastic bowl, perfect for mixing, with ingredients, nutritionals, and the date clearly marked.
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| Vegan Ceasar: Packaging. |
Inside the bowl was the base of romaine (mostly chunks of romaine hearts), plus a little bit of shredded kale, and lots of capers.
The top layer was actually a bit wilted/soggy, and some of the romaine was turning brown around the edges. It was clearly not super fresh, and I think the capers added a lot of moisture in the bowl. Still, I liked the addition of just a little bit of kale, and I adore capers, so I loved to see them in the mix. A solid base, it just needed to be fresher.
Separated into different containers were the other toppings and dressing.
First was the "Cumin Chickpea Croutons", which sounded potentially interesting, but turned out to just be cooked chickpeas, with a cumin, lemon juice, and olive oil coating. They weren't crunchy, they weren't transformed in any way. I guess I expected them to either be fried and crispy, or formed into a crouton in some way? There was a plentiful quantity of these, good for adding protein to the salad ... if you like chickpeas, which I do not.
Next was the largest container, which contained "Parmesan Seed Cheese". This was a fascinating mix of chunks of cashew, hemp seeds, sesame seeds, ground sunflower seeds, garlic powder, and nutritional yeast. Nutritional yeast, and cashews, can both taste quite a bit like cheese, but with all the seeds in this mix, I didn't really feel the result tasted very cheesy. Still, I really liked this stuff, and loved the crunch the sesame seeds in particular added. It was salty, crunchy, and really kinda addicting. I didn't see how it was possible to add this entire large container to my salad though, it would have overwhelmed, but I was happy to have extra to sprinkle on other things. Highlight of the salad, for sure.
And finally, the dressing. Now, I'm a firm believer that caesar salad needs anchovies to be truly delicious, so, even just vegetarian caesar dressing is kinda offensive to me. And this was vegan. The ingredient list for this dressing was very, very long. It uses vegan mayo as the base (made from cashews and apple cider vinegar, among other things), plus worcestershire sauce for the tang (which itself had crazy ingredients like ginger puree, tamarind, and shiitake mushrooms), dijon mustard for more zing, and plenty of garlic. I was prepared to hate it, but, actually, it was decent. It was creamy and quite flavorful, even if the flavor wasn't necessarily "caesar".
Next was the largest container, which contained "Parmesan Seed Cheese". This was a fascinating mix of chunks of cashew, hemp seeds, sesame seeds, ground sunflower seeds, garlic powder, and nutritional yeast. Nutritional yeast, and cashews, can both taste quite a bit like cheese, but with all the seeds in this mix, I didn't really feel the result tasted very cheesy. Still, I really liked this stuff, and loved the crunch the sesame seeds in particular added. It was salty, crunchy, and really kinda addicting. I didn't see how it was possible to add this entire large container to my salad though, it would have overwhelmed, but I was happy to have extra to sprinkle on other things. Highlight of the salad, for sure.
And finally, the dressing. Now, I'm a firm believer that caesar salad needs anchovies to be truly delicious, so, even just vegetarian caesar dressing is kinda offensive to me. And this was vegan. The ingredient list for this dressing was very, very long. It uses vegan mayo as the base (made from cashews and apple cider vinegar, among other things), plus worcestershire sauce for the tang (which itself had crazy ingredients like ginger puree, tamarind, and shiitake mushrooms), dijon mustard for more zing, and plenty of garlic. I was prepared to hate it, but, actually, it was decent. It was creamy and quite flavorful, even if the flavor wasn't necessarily "caesar".
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| All Mixed Up! |
After tasting all the components individually, I mixed it up (and added some pea shoots I had in the fridge), and really quite enjoyed the salad. The lettuce was crispy, the dressing was creamy and flavorful, the salt level was perfect from the capers and nutritional yeast, and I loved all the extra crunch from the seed/nut cheese.
It turns out, even I can like a vegan caesar salad. Nutritionally, it was really quite a nice meal, 440 calories, and 15 grams of protein, although it also had 30 grams of fat and 770 mg of sodium, if you are watching those numbers.
It turns out, even I can like a vegan caesar salad. Nutritionally, it was really quite a nice meal, 440 calories, and 15 grams of protein, although it also had 30 grams of fat and 770 mg of sodium, if you are watching those numbers.
****.
"Vegan sushi bowl with black rice, fabled to support health and longevity. The perfect mix of pickled ginger, creamy avo, and crunchy seed blend – a UR favorite!"
After years (literally), of eyeing this one, I finally grabbed when I was flying through SFO and saw it at Napa Farms Market, when I was starving after arriving from a very delayed flight.
I've been fascinated by it forever, and knew I could pick out the avocado (allergic) easily. It seemed like just the right kind of detox, nourishing, and satisfying thing my body needed.
"If you love sushi, this is the bowl for you. All of our favorite ingredients in one bowl. A perfect mix of chewy black rice, creamy avocado, crunchy, protein-rich seed blend, and nori, with fresh veggies and our signature Umeboshi plum dressing. Umeboshi, a traditional Japanese condiment, is believed to be a digestive aid to help prevent nausea and systemic toxicity, including hangovers."
Ok, so what did we have here? A salad base of spinach, topped with extremely finely shredded carrots, shredded beets, green onion, and slices of cucumber, plus a scoop of black rice, a half an avocado (not brown at all), a bit of minced ginger, and a container each of dressing and seed blend. I'll admit, I was mostly excited for seeds mix (sesame, black sesame, hemp, and almond bits and kelp granules).
The dressing also sounded very interesting, made with chickpea miso, ginger, ume vinegar, umeboshi puree, and vinaigrette basics.
I was a little surprised that this kinda boring salad clocked in at 540 calories, but I guess the avocado and seeds add up?
Cut to the chase: this salad let me down. It was mostly the form that the ingredients too that bothered me. The spinach was all julienned, basically shredded, and didn't bolster the salad much at all. It felt like it had *no* base. The carrots and beets where far too whispy. The cucumber slices were kinda soft and soggy. The green onion chunks were larger, and very harsh. Speaking of harsh, the minced ginger. Basically, a bunch of fairly wimpy base, with a couple harsh flavors that dominated.
I later saw that you can enjoy this warmed or chilled, as a salad, with instructions to wilt the greens and warm the rice (and other ingredients besides the avocado and dressing) in a saucepan first. I wonder if that would be more successful?
The black rice was nice though, well done so that it was chewy rice, which added texture, but, given the seed/nut topping, that also seemed a bit off, there was just a lot of chewy/crispy to the bowl.
Since I'm allergic, I didn't have the avocado, but it did look reasonably fresh, and was not brown.
The dressing was thick, and very tangy. I didn't really care for it, I'm not quite sure why.
The seed blend was actually quite tasty, something I appreciated, as I often throw mixed seeds, furikake, corn nuts, wasabi peas, fried wontons, crispy chow mein, and the like on top my salads. This version was a bit healthier than my usual topping mix, but still featured the sesame seeds and seaweed bits I often included, chopped almonds for crunch, and hemp seeds for a different flavor than I normally have.
In the end, I re-purposed much of the salad, adding in a better salad base of torn chunks of romaine and kale, and my own dressing, and a few other mix-ins, and enjoyed it, but I wouldn't get this again. Maybe I should have tried it heated?
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| Black Rice Umeboshi Bowl. $11.95. |
After years (literally), of eyeing this one, I finally grabbed when I was flying through SFO and saw it at Napa Farms Market, when I was starving after arriving from a very delayed flight.
I've been fascinated by it forever, and knew I could pick out the avocado (allergic) easily. It seemed like just the right kind of detox, nourishing, and satisfying thing my body needed.
 |
| Black Rice Umeboshi Bowl: Contents. |
Ok, so what did we have here? A salad base of spinach, topped with extremely finely shredded carrots, shredded beets, green onion, and slices of cucumber, plus a scoop of black rice, a half an avocado (not brown at all), a bit of minced ginger, and a container each of dressing and seed blend. I'll admit, I was mostly excited for seeds mix (sesame, black sesame, hemp, and almond bits and kelp granules).
The dressing also sounded very interesting, made with chickpea miso, ginger, ume vinegar, umeboshi puree, and vinaigrette basics.
I was a little surprised that this kinda boring salad clocked in at 540 calories, but I guess the avocado and seeds add up?
Cut to the chase: this salad let me down. It was mostly the form that the ingredients too that bothered me. The spinach was all julienned, basically shredded, and didn't bolster the salad much at all. It felt like it had *no* base. The carrots and beets where far too whispy. The cucumber slices were kinda soft and soggy. The green onion chunks were larger, and very harsh. Speaking of harsh, the minced ginger. Basically, a bunch of fairly wimpy base, with a couple harsh flavors that dominated.
I later saw that you can enjoy this warmed or chilled, as a salad, with instructions to wilt the greens and warm the rice (and other ingredients besides the avocado and dressing) in a saucepan first. I wonder if that would be more successful?
The black rice was nice though, well done so that it was chewy rice, which added texture, but, given the seed/nut topping, that also seemed a bit off, there was just a lot of chewy/crispy to the bowl.
Since I'm allergic, I didn't have the avocado, but it did look reasonably fresh, and was not brown.
The dressing was thick, and very tangy. I didn't really care for it, I'm not quite sure why.
The seed blend was actually quite tasty, something I appreciated, as I often throw mixed seeds, furikake, corn nuts, wasabi peas, fried wontons, crispy chow mein, and the like on top my salads. This version was a bit healthier than my usual topping mix, but still featured the sesame seeds and seaweed bits I often included, chopped almonds for crunch, and hemp seeds for a different flavor than I normally have.
In the end, I re-purposed much of the salad, adding in a better salad base of torn chunks of romaine and kale, and my own dressing, and a few other mix-ins, and enjoyed it, but I wouldn't get this again. Maybe I should have tried it heated?
***.
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