For the Love of Pumpkin: Vegan at Trader Joe's
/After being out of town for a couple of weeks, I popped in to Trader Joe's to find it filled with seasonal pumpkin products. And I was thrilled to find that many of them are vegan...YAY! Starting with the breakfast items (please note that breakfast can be eaten 24 hours a day), there was Pecan Pumpkin Instant Oatmeal (made this with almond milk...yum!), Pumpkin Bagels (there's vegan cream cheese you can also get at Trader Joe's), and Pumpkin O's Cereal. There's also Pumpkin Spice Coffee, Pumpkin Rolls with Pumpkin Spice Icing, and Pumpkin Spice Rooibos Herbal Tea.
For those wishing to make their own pumpkin pie or other pumpkin recipes, there was fresh cut pumpkin in the refrigerated section, pumpkin pie spice, and organic canned pumpkin. I once read that the pumpkins sold for decoration during Halloween are often raised for color, shape, and durability rather than for texture and flavor, and may not be the best variety for making pie and other yummies. Over the past few years, I've been using canned pumpkin for vegan pumpkin cheesecake with great results, but I plan to research different pumpkin varieties, and make it from fresh pumpkins one of these days...
For those times when a ready-made cookie is in order, Trader Joe's has not one but TWO seasonal cookies for all of us vegan cookie monsters!
In the bath and body section, they had Pumpkin Body Butter. And it even said "Vegan" and "Cruelty-Free" right on the label on the bottom of the container!
I may have go back to make sure I didn't miss anything (and get more pumpkin bagels).
Please be sure to check out our Pinterest board "Vegan at Trader Joe's" for pics of over 200 other (non-pumpkin) items you can find there.
Thanks for reading. Peace and love to all who live.
Susan