I spied the cute packaging of Rice Mice at the Allergy & Free From Show, in London this past weekend. I'd been grazing (gorging) for hours and I was getting close to a self imposed food 'time out'. So, these tiny, size of a 10p, biscuits were a perfect vegan morsel to test.
Listed as being 100% organic and free from all 14 EU recognised allergens (notably free from soy, milk, egg, peanut, gluten) and marketed towards children. Based on rice instead of cows milk. With no preservatives or ingredients with a number or you can't pronounce. Rice Mice cookies come in 3 flavours. Apple & Cinnamon. Vanilla - Lemon, and good ole chocolate.
I took some packets home to taste test. On Sunday morning, whilst staying at my mother's house, it is a ritual that I wake up before my mum, take her up tea in bed, then trot back downstairs again for a spot of yoga. This morning, my step-sister was also staying over and had jumped in my mum's bed. They were busy gossiping and giggling like school girls. I very carefully took up a tray pilled with my mum's 45 year old tea set. And lay out a selection of the bite sized biscuits for them to try (I felt like I was a school girl again, feeding my dolls and playing with my tea set!). So, seeing as we were all acting like kids, I thought it ok to review them... for kids. Also, I have had first hand knowledge of being a child so I qualify there too.
All of the biscuits had wonderfully bright, non-artificial flavour, and were snappy and crunchy from the texture of the rice flour and the cane sugar. They both loved them and said they were just as good, if not better, than conventional biscuits made from white, gluten containing, flour. Avoiding sugar as I do, I tried these and thought them a little too sweet.
They retail at £2.99. You can buy them online at Free From For Kids Amazon and AuraVita among others. Also sold in health food stores.
I also tried their Zero Zebra Rice Choc Bar and their Safari Animal Party Chocolate shapes. The chocolate bars come in Original, Strawberry & Crispy Rice. I acted like a total child and bit the heads off the animals! £1.49 from Ocado
With all of their products I wish they'd also make them sugar free, and use coconut sugar which has a lower GI and doesn't effect your endocrine system, xylitol, or stevia which is zero calories and doesn't disrupt the body like white sugar. Making them suitable for diabetics too. We all know sugar isn't great for us. But, for those just transitioning to allergy friendly, gluten free foods these would be ideal.
Ricemice.com
I am always keen to inform you of GREAT VEGAN PRODUCTS that are low fat, sugar free and allergen free. And tasty. ALWAYS tasty. I know being vegan and STAYING vegan is better for planet, animals, health, economy. BUT sometimes people can feel it is a challenge, especially if they feel like they are missing out. No one wants to miss out. Right?! Carrot sticks are great but so are chips!
I am a self-confessed Crunchaholic. It is a vice I have no intention of embarking on a 12-Step programme for. If my day hasn't had a savoury, culinary crunch..well, it's a day devoid of teensie weensie bit of joy. Being a health junkie, I am always looking out for an alternative to potato chips, or simple carbohydrate - fat loaded crunch of any kind. And I LOVE me some flavour, so when I heard about BEANS N RICE Chips I was falling over my hessian shopping tote to get some bleeping through the till. Once tasted, then of course, I couldn't wait to tell you about them!
They have 5 flavours. NACHO. SALT N PEPPER. PICO DE GALLO. SEA SALT. UNSALTED I've crunched on them all. I steered clear of the 6 ounce bag (when not in sharing company) as I'd eat them all in one sitting..and got the 1.5 oz, handbag (and man-bag, for you guys) size packet. At only 140 calories, 5g of fat and packing twice as much protein and fibre as most tortilla chips, they get 2 perky thumbs up from me.
They are a bit of a phenomenon too. Both crunchy and delicately mouth-melty all at the same time. The NACHO & PICO DE GALLO (my favourite) are dusty with spices and really flavoursome. One small bag really fills you up. Satiation factor 10!
ALL of the chips are free of the most common food allergens. GMO free.
I chatted with Liza from the family owned company and she told me the company is family run. Founed by Reed Glidden (together with his brother Roy and wife Liza) Reed is a "Persistent Entreprenuer". He started out making banana splits in his pa's Freeze Truck. It fostered in him a learning by doing attitude to business. A vegetarian from 18 years old he was working in construction but always held a dream to own a health food business. In his late 30's he left the construction industry and his dream began, in a way..via a Natural Foods brokerage. It wasn't until he took early retirement that he realised he wasn't ready to stop, he hadn't quite reached his zenith. His wife Liza one day cooked up in their kitchen, the idea of a chip Reed had been tossing around for a while. Excited by what they tasted. His entrepreneurial spirit soared and pretty much there and then, Rice n Beans was formed! I quote Reed..'I'm happy to be in the natural foods industry, helping people love my favorite foods -rice and beans. To me, promoting beans (the most water efficient source of protein on the planet) and helping America find a better way to snack is WAY more fun than being retired'.
The chips are only available in America. Grown here and produced here. Great for the planet, in so many ways. Beans are cheap to store. Requiring no refrigeration. Growing beans is soil friendly too as beans fix all important nitrogen into the soil.
It's not just me that thinks these chips are life changing and awesome. Voted 'Best of Show' in 2012 at the Natural Products Expo West, by Vegnews.
I love Beans N Rice. Now I am just wondering whether to use the space in my suitcase, when I leave for the UK, for clothes.. or chips!
