And the winners of the Go Max Go vegan chocolates are...

Congratulations to:
Christina @calmond
and
Julie @VeganGurl44
for winning the Go Max Go Vegan Candybars!! :)

Woo Hoo!!! :) :) :)

Please send me a convo on etsy with your mailing address so I can ship them out to you! :)

Chocolate Dipped Bananas

Considering how delicious these frozen treats are, it's hard to believe how easy they are to make! :)

2 large, very ripe bananas
1/4 C dark semi-sweet vegan chocolate chips
1 T vanilla ricemilk

Peel and freeze the bananas overnight. Remove from freezer and cut into chunks.

Melt the chocolate chips with the ricemilk. You can do this by either tempering in a double boiler or in a microwave by heating for 30 seconds at a time (maximum 2 times) and stirring until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth.

Dip the banana chunks into the chocolate with the help of a fork and arrange on a plate lined with wax paper (I didn't use the wax paper but it would make things a bit easier if you did). The chocolate sets very quickly because the bananas are frozen so work as quickly as possible.

Re freeze everything for a couple of hours.

This tastes yummy straight out of the freezer but I also like to warm it up in the mircowave for about 20 seconds for a melty, gooey dessert. :)

Hypnotic Energy Paintings

I was soaking in the jacuzzi next to the hotel pool one evening and this sweet little girl came into the tub and struck up a conversation with me. We started playing "who can hold their breath the longest under water" and she kicked my butt at it most of the time! LOL After some time she introduced herself as Gloria and the two ladies with her were her mom Denisa and her aunt Sania.

And that's how I met Dr. Denisa Legac, one of the very interesting people I've crossed paths with on this trip. She is a Life Coach from Croatia and also a very talented artist. She creates beautiful paintings with healing messages behind them. These are called Hypnotic Energy Paintings and she incorporates them into the therapy process.

I decided to do an audio interview with her so that you can hear in her own voice all about this amazing healing style. I have chosen a few of her art pieces which spoke to me most and under each picture I've posted an audio clip in which Denisa describes the underlying message.

You can find more of her paintings on her gallery page at her No Limits Therapy website.

Vegan Polenta Pizza

Well it isn't exactly like regular pizza but it is sooo yum and super easy to make too. I only have access to a microwave right now so I baked this pizza in it but once I get back home I'm definitely going to try this out in a real oven.

Crust:
1 C polenta corn grits
Olive Oil
Salt
2 C water

Bring the water to boil. Add salt and a dash of olive oil. Slowly add the corn grits while stirring continuously with a fork. Reduce the heat and keep stirring until all the water is absorbed. Close the pan and let it sit.

Topping (you can use any combination of veggies of course but here's mine):
Tomatoes sliced into circles
Onions sliced thin and long
Rice Vegan Cheese Slices cut into little pieces

Marinade:
Tamari
Ground Black Pepper
Sugar or Agave (teeny bit)
Tabasco Chilli Sauce

Max the marinade ingredients together in a bowl. Place the chopped onions in the marinade and toss well. Let it sit for 15-20 minutes.

Oil your pizza tray (I directly used my glass microwave turn table) and transfer the polenta onto it. Dip your palm in a generous amount of olive oil and pat the polenta down into an even base. Bake on high power for 5 minutes.

Take the onion slices out of the marinade and spread them evenly over the base. Place the sliced tomatoes over this and top with the rice vegan cheese pieces.

Bake on medium power for 5 minutes and then on high for 2 more minutes.

Slice and serve hot. Enjoy! :)

Go Max Go Vegan Candybars Giveaway

Who wants to win chocolates? Yes, I said CHOCOLATES! :)



The kind people of Go Max Go Foods have sent me these awesome Vegan Ricemilk Chocolate Candybars.

I received three sets of bars. One set for myself and two sets to giveaway. Two winners will be picked and each one will receive four bars - one each of Mahalo, Buccaneer, Jokerz and Twilight.

This giveaway is open to everyone! Yippee!! You can enter no matter which part of the world you live in and if you win I will ship the candybars right to you. :)

Among the four, Buccaneer has got to be my most favorite Go Max Go bar! It's a thick layer of delicious chocolate with a really decadent nougat filling. Mmm mmm mmm. The best part is that it has just the right level of sweetness so you can eat multiple bars and enjoy every single bite. Honestly, it's scary how quickly one can go through one bar after another of Buccaneer without even thinking about it! Arrrr.

The Jokerz bar has been designed with the peanut connoisseur in mind. It is full of rich peanutty delight mixed in with chocolate and caramel. The flavor and texture of the peanuts meld well with the chocolate taste in a perfect balance. And it doesn't have that overpowering saltiness that the peanut-chocolate combination often does! This is quite a filling treat. Perfect for when you're hit by those mid-morning munchies! Or the late afternoon munches. Or the midnight munchies... you get the idea.

And now we come to the Twilight bar. This little guy is basically the same as Buccaneer except that, apart from the fluffy nougat and creamy chocolate, it also has a super-thick layer of caramel in between. I'm not normally into caramel but Twilight is definitely an exception for me. It reminds me of the 5 Star bars that we used to enjoy while growing up but like a zillion times better! I think it's that ricemilk chocolate which makes a world of difference here. For people who can't resist the marriage of caramel and chocolate, this bar will be pure heaven for you!

Finally, we have the Mahalo bar! *Hawaiian music* Mahalo is a Hawaiian word for gratitude and when a coconut lover bites into this bar, gratitude is exactly what they'll be feeling! This delectable goody is made primarily of coconut with a thin layer of chocolate and roasted almonds for added taste. So if you're not that into coconuts then move on please, nothing here for you to see. To those of us from India, Mahalo would taste pretty much like Coconut Barfi dipped in a delicious chocolatey coating. Tempted yet? :D A word of warning though, this bar is a tad higher on the sweetness compared to the rest of them so only if you have a real strong sweet tooth are you totally ready for Mahalo!

You can easily find the Go Max Go bars at various locations within the USA and also internationally. Not available in your country? Not to worry, there are plenty of online stores which will ship the bars to you. My favorite online vegan stores which ship worldwide are Pangea - The Vegan Store and Vegan Essentials. Sure, the chocolate will melt a little during transit but the little packs are sealed well so all you need to do is pop them into the fridge for a bit and they'll be ready to enjoy! :)

Now let me tell you about how you can win these bars for yourself...

There are various ways to participate (listed below) and each thing you do counts as an entry. The first one is mandatory but the rest of them are completely up to you! But make sure you leave a separate comment for every entry.

1. Tell us which Go Max Go candybar is closest to your heart (or if you haven't tasted them which one do you imagine you would like most). And more importantly, what flavor/style of chocolate candybar would you like Go Max Go Foods to create in the future?

2. Follow Go Max Go Foods on Twitter.

3. Follow Veganosaurus and/or Art by Susmitha on Twitter.

4. Follow this blog.

5. 'Like' Veganosaurus and/or Art by Susmitha on Facebook.

6. Write on your blog about this giveaway with a link to this blog post.

7. Post about this giveaway on facebook with a link to this blog post.

8. Tweet to @veganosaurus about this giveaway with a link to this blog post. (This can be done as many times as you like throughout the giveaway and each time will be considered as an additional entry. Just make sure you come back and post a comment here every time you tweet).

Just remember, leave a separate comment here for every entry. Also, leave your e-mail id or etsy id in your first comment for me to be able to contact you in case you win.

This giveaway will be open until Wednesday, 15th September 2010 (exactly two weeks from today). After that, TWO winners will be chosen with the help of a random number generator. I will post the results here on my blog.

Winners, I'll contact you by means of the contact details you have left me here, get your snail mail addresses and mail each of you one set of four candybars. (If you're in India, I'll carry the bars back home to Bangalore with me and post them to you in October).



Good luck everyone! LET THE GAMES BEGIN! :D

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UPDATE: GIVEAWAY CLOSED. WINNERS ANNOUNCED HERE :)

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