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I recently started buying stuff from iHerb.com, and have been quite happy with their service. They shipped the same day I ordered!

Here's what I ordered for starters:


If you're interested in getting $5 off an order with them, this link should work or use referral code NAK408. There is no order minimum amount, so you can order something for $5, get $5 off and just pay shipping!

Daiya Gluten-free Dairy-free Soy-free Cheese!

In December, my goal was to keep my grocery spending down so that I would have enough money at the end of the month to pick myself up some Daiya cheese. I was successful and splurged on some of this cheese for my son.

From their website:

Daiya is a revolutionary new dairy-free vegan cheese that tastes, shreds, melts and stretches like dairy based cheese. Daiya is not made with casein, the protein found in dairy products or soy, common to many other non-dairy cheese alternatives. In fact, Daiya does not contain any common allergens, animal products or cholesterol. Daiya is made with nutritious planted-based ingredients and is:

Dairy free
Free of all animal products (Vegan)
Free of common allergens including: Soy, Casein, Lactose, Gluten, Egg, Wheat, Barley, Corn, Whey, Rice, and Nuts

I couldn't find it in any stores, so I had to purchase it on-line. I chose The Vegan Store because it was the closet place to my house and I wouldn't have to pay for expedited shipping.



I made pizza on New Year's Eve for my son. I made herbed cheesy biscuits yesterday, and we've topped our pasta with it. It is good and it even melts! That's often a complaint about vegan cheeses - that they don't melt well. I'll be posting recipes in the near future.

I mentioned on my Twitter (do you follow me?) I recently discovered they sell this cheese at Peace O' Pie, a local vegan pizza place!! It's not super-close to me, but I plan on going over there at some point to sample their GF pizza on Thursdays. First, I need to find out if their crust is also soy-free so my son can partake.

Gluten-free Breakfast at Ula Cafe

We had to rise bright & early this morning to go to a pick-up for our
buying club we're part of. When we arrived at the Brewery in Jamaica Plain, where we have the pick-up, the truck that delivers our goods was not there yet, so we went over to the Ula Cafe to grab a coffee. Bear had not had his breakfast (I packed him a container of dry cereal), so of course when he saw all the pastries and baked goodies, he signed "Eat" and said "More, more" (yeah, sign language & speaking got a little confused in his brain).

I looked around, feeling fairly positive I would not find any dairy, soy & gluten-free options, when lo & behold! A beautiful little fig bar, wrapped in its own little wax paper, stared back at me! It had a complete list of ingredients, which included figs, quinoa, buckwheat groats, molasses, sunflower seeds, & a bunch of other things I've forgotten. He loved it, devouring almost the entire thing in a short amount of time. He did let me have a bite, and yum! It was very tasty.

Kudos to the Ula Cafe for making our morning! Oh, and the coffee is great. In fact, I said to Roy on my first sip, "This decaf is good" and on my second, "It's really good!"

Whole Foods Opens in Dedham, MA (Legacy Place)

I hopped in my car today and drove up the street (less than 15 minutes!) to the new Whole Foods at the Legacy Place shopping center in Dedham.

The store is 60,000 square feet - about 70% bigger than any other in the area. It's the first store in Massachusetts to be powered with on-site fuel cell technology. The store has a walk-in fromagerie with 30 cheeses, macrobiotics, salad, soup and sushi bars, a shawarma station including beef and lamb shawarma, falafel and chicken and salmon kebobs, a beer and wine section with more than 370 beers, including many New England brews, made-to-order seafood (I had some Manhattan clam chowder), and a butcher shop, not to mention freezer and shelf space dedicated to gluten-free living. It also has one of the chain’s largest selections of organic produce in the country (323 organic produce items in stock, as the sign boasted), and one of the biggest bulk food sections, with over 200 items including beans, nuts, agave nectar, honey and maple syrup.

I navigated my way around the store pretty well, considering the layout is new to me and I had a toddler who seemed to grab for every glass jar he could find! The staff was helpful, and the store was fairly well-marked. They even had maps, and were giving away tons of free samples and free heavy-duty canvas grocery bags.

And lots & lots of staples were on sale! Enjoy Life chocolate chips (GFDFSF) were on sale for $2.50 (regularly $3.49 at WF and over $4 at the regular grocery store). Coconut milk was $2.50 (regularly $4.39!), and coconut milk ice cream was $3.50 (regularly over $5!). I had a $1 off coupon for both, which made it an even more awesome deal. I even splurged and bought 2 kinds of kombucha ($2 a bottle) and some raw sauerkraut ($3.99).

Only a few things were disappointing to me. First, there were no dried apricots in the bulk foods department, a staple in this sulphur-free household. Second, they didn't have kid's carts, the small, kid-sized ones that Bear likes to push around. Technically, he's 35 pounds and just about too big to ride in a shopping cart. Last, they didn't have the soy-free margarine we buy. This was especially disappointing because Whole Foods is the only place I can find it, and it's one of the main things I purchase there. I was able to track down the dairy buyer, and I was actually the 2nd person who asked for it (even though the store had only been open for 2 hours!). He is planning on keeping it in stock and is going to call me when it comes in. How awesome is that?

So overall, it was a very positive experience and I'll definitely be shopping there again!

Edited to add: Since I posted this, they not only have dried apricots (sulfur-free) in the bulk section, they also have plenty of soy-free margarine. I have to say that's very good customer service.