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Review and Giveaway: Baking Kit from iHerb

bakingkitingred

[Naturally sweetened, organic dried blueberries]

The contest is now closed.  Thanks, everyone, for entering!

When I was contacted recently by Abby of iHerb to sample some of their products, I wasn’t sure what to expect.  On first glance, the site looks as if it offers mostly supplements, vitamins, and other natural health-related products.  But then I spied the “Grocery, Food” category link.

In fact, iHerb is an online distributor of natural health supplements, nutrition-oriented products, and whole, organic and natural foods. They offer a huge selection of brand-name products from a wide variety of companies, many of which I already recognized and use in my home.  The company also provides a great money-back guarantee and savings for first-time customers (see below). And–something I thought was really cool–they link to “the only free non-commercial encyclopedia of nutritional and herbal supplements online” (which you can find here). 

After more than half an hour on the site, I was still browsing!  With so many choices of great food items, it was hard to decide–but my heart kept calling out for baked goods.  Healthy baked goods, that is. Gluten-free and ACD-friendly baking can be difficult–and expensive. 

How great would it be, I thought, if I could provide a full baking kit of ingredients for a DDD reader?  And so, here’s what I ended up with–and what you can win:

iherbgiveawaypack

Does that look great, or what?! 

The kit contains: 

  • Bob’s Red Mill wholegrain teff flour
  • Bob’s Red Mill brown rice flour
  • Bob’s Red Mill whole amaranth flour
  • Eden Organic naturally sweetened dried blueberries
  • Stevita liquid stevia, chocolate flavor
  • NOW Foods virgin coconut oil
  • Navitas Naturals yacon syrup

Just think of all the amazing goodies you could make with those yummy, healthy ingredients! 

Here’s a bit more about the products:

Eden Organics is a well-known staple in many vegan and health-conscious households for their beans, vegetables, condiments, and, of course, Edensoy beverage (their Carob flavor is one of my all-time favorites).  I’d never seen dried blueberries that are naturally sweetened (with apple juice) before, so I knew those would be tops on my list!

Bob’s Red Mill products make regular appearances in my kitchen as well, and I appreciate the high quality and variety (they were one of the first companies to offer certified gluten-free oat flour, for instance, as they produce their GF flours on dedicated machinery).  I use brown rice flour a lot and all-purpose GF flour on occasion, but I’d never tried teff or amaranth flour; I was very happy with the results.  The amaranth lends a slightly nutty flavor to those blueberry muffins I baked, and teff adds a subtle hint of chocolate or carob.

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[Lemon-Blueberry Muffins made with amaranth flour, brown rice flour, stevia and dried blueberries]

I’m also very familiar with NOW Foods, both because I’ve used a few of their supplements (such as grapefruitseed extract, important for anti-candida diets) and their stevia (which is considered an “herbal supplement” in Canada).  Since I bake with coconut oil fairly frequently, I was glad to see that NOW offers it as one of their products as well.  And as I’ve mentioned in various comments on blogs I read, I’ve been dying to try yacon syrup since I first heard about it–but it’s not yet available in Canada.  So the inclusion of a jar of Navitas Naturals yacon syrup was a real treat for me! (I’m still deciding what I can whip up with it).

As soon as I received my package, I got to baking!  I’ve made muffins, cupcakes, and cookies so far–and all have been a hit.   

caroborangecookiesclose

[Carob-Orange Cookies made with teff flour, brown rice flour and stevia]

Here’s your chance to give stevia-sweetened, healthy desserts a try (or, if you’re not into baking, give each of the individual ingredients a try on their own).  If you’ve ever been curious about some of these natural alternative ingredients, this is a great way to experiment!

I’ll be giving away a package filled with the same healthy baking kit I received, pictured above!

Contest is open to US and Canadian residents. Contest closes on Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at midnight.

Here’s How to Enter:

1. Leave a comment on this page telling me what product you’d like most to try.  Skip on over to the iHerb main page to take a look. (And if you decide to buy something while you’re there, first-time customers can save $5.00 by using the promotion code BUY 123).

2. To gain extra entries (one each), do any or all of the following:  tweet about this giveaway on twitter, link to it on your blog, mention it on Facebook, etc.  Then leave another comment here letting me know you’ve done so.

Contest will remain open until Wednesday, December 16 at midnight, after which I’ll choose a winner at random. I’ll post the winner the next day.  

Good luck, and happy baking! :)

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