New(ish) product reviews:

[LeftyMom]

Daiya vegan cheese: I only tried the Italian (mozzarella) flavor because that's all Rainbow Grocery had when I was there. It's fantastic. The stuff I got was pre-shredded (they also sell it in blocks, but Rainbow only had the shreds, and cheddar which apparently Rainbow carries but was out of during my visit) and I used it to make pizza, which came out fantastically well. To compare to other vegan cheeses, it melted as well as Teese (the previous winner for meltiness, IMO) but did not have the tendency to get liquidy at high temps that Teese does, which is a potential plus or minus depending on the application. It's also soy free which is a huge advantage for some people with allergies and sensitivities. Mine stretched a bit but not at all like the pictures on their website. Still made very good pizza.

Dandies vegan marshmallows: The vegan marshmallows I had tried before were pretty bad- grainy sugar, color all wrong, texture issues. I knew these wouldn't be like that, because everything I've had from Chicago Soydairy (Temptation ice cream, Teese) has been fantastic. These things taste and have the texture of regular storebought marshmallows. But they're vegan. And you'd never know if the bag didn't say so.

Spar hazelnut spread: As part of an ongoing conspiracy to make me buy bigger pants, somebody made a vegan version of Nutella. How does it taste? Like Nutella. And it's vegan. I have this really crazy idea to frost a cake with it one of these days, because I think that would be freakin' fantastic.

[Ignis]

1. Vegan Nutella?!?

No thanks, not until they make 3-digit pant sizes.

[CrispyQ]

2. I live in a fairly progressive area with decent HFS options

but we don't have nearly the selection of vegan cheeses that you have! Follow Your Heart & Veganrella are the only ones I've seen. I'm so envious. I was going to buy some from Pangea - to make that luscious mac-n-cheese recipe you linked to a while back - but the cost of delivery was astronomical. The little freezer pack was nominal, but the two day shipping was ridiculous. :cry:

[LeftyMom]

4. We don't have them here either.

I have to stock up when I go to the bay area, because the closest place that has all that stuff is Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco, which is 90ish miles away.

My local co-op just has Follow Your Heart vegan gourmet, which I can't stand.

[LeftyMom]

5. You know, now that I think about it you could probably get around the two day shipping issue

by ordering from someplace on the west coast. UPS ground should get to you in two days from say, Food Fight (Portland) or Sidecar (Seattle) so you could get around paying extra for rush shipping.

If it helps, all that stuff travels fairly well and I'd feel fairly comfortable shipping it with no special precautions now that it's not warm outside.

[flvegan]

3. The Daiya is excellent (thank you again, btw).

I made chik'n parm this weekend (didn't want to try pizza on my first outing, so I could see how it melts). VERY good. I'm thinking of trying Teeseburgers tomorrow night maybe.

If I get fat, you're in trouble.