Meat in disguise

This week I spent a lot of time at Target looking at Valentine's day treats for Katrina's class as they can't have suckers at preschool and Katrina tells me that one of the kids in her class is a vegetarian (not sure if this is true, but she is usually a good reporter). I knew I couldn't pick out anything with marshmallows in it (contains gelatin) nor could I pick out gummy bears or other gummy things (almost all of them contain gelatin). Anything yogurt covered is out as it also contains gelatin (although organic "real" yogurt sometimes does not I have learned). I finally decided on Twinkies as Katrina had her first one ever about a week ago (so delicious she reported - she calls them Twinkles which I find funny). I got them home and after about an hour of looking at the box, I gave in and started eating one (some willpower, huh?). Halfway through it I started reading the box and sure enough, they contain beef fat. I quickly put the rest of it in the garbage. Beef fat.

So today I was getting ready for my daily bowl of miniwheats when I decided to read the ingredients as I'm working slowly (extremely slowly - no one expect any miracles here) on reducing (I don't think I dare say "eliminating" yet) dairy, and milk is in almost everything. Well, low and behold miniwheats also contain gelatin. Who knew?? I'm going to look at the ones that Kashi makes as they might not have gelatin in them. Very sad day for this miniwheat lover.

I'm starting to find slowly more vegan foods. Found vegan butter today and I have high hopes for it as I've had some vegan butter before (smart balance makes some, but of course I can't find it here anymore). I'm going to try coconut milk the next time I go to this little store as I've heard it tastes better than soy or rice milk. I'm trying. I don't think I'm going to be perfect by any means on this one, but I'm trying. Anyway, still in shock about the miniwheats. You learn something new every day, right?