Wednesday, May 11, 2011

From the spice cabinet, or Spike cabinet in this case!

I have a salad pretty much every day for lunch. I love them, look forward to them and feel great after them. I tend to experiment on what items to include in my salads outside the staples of sprouts, avocados and nuts or beans of some kind. When it comes to the dressing, I have come up with my own yummy vinaigrette and it always includes Spike's Vegit seasoning (along with rice vinegar and sunflower oil). This seasoning has a savory flavor and is chalked full of vitamin B, amino acids and minerals along with the blend of herbs. This little (and cheap) glass jar of yumminess gets its power punch from nutritional yeast (number one ingredient on the jar) and gives me an excuse to talk about this vegan staple. Nutritional yeast is grown on molasses and contains over 18 amino acids and 15 minerals.  It happens to be rich in B-complex vitamins and is a good source of B-12, a known stress buster.  B-12 can be hard to get outside of the consumption of animal proteins (hence the "vegan staple"). Nutritional yeast also contains chromium which is said to help regulate blood sugar. As if you are not already impressed with the muscles of this spice cabinet necessity, it also contains good amounts of folic acid and fatty acids. The icing on the cake is that it can be used as a cheese/creamy texture substitute. No joke. Give it a shot in your next batch of mac and no-cheese or sprinkle over your next batch pan-popped popcorn. You will not be disappointed.
If you are wondering if this is the same yeast that is used in bread, beer or that causes infections, it's not. The yeast in nutritional yeast  is completely inactive (dead) and therefore does not "accumulate" in your system, make bread rise or cause infection. Nutritional yeast is pretty easy to get your hands on. Check out any health food store in your area, who may even offer it in bulk. 

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