My family and veggie dogs, take them or leave them?
I was excited when I was contacted by MomsMeet to do a review of Lightlife Smart Dogs. I am always interested in finding healthy alternatives to what we currently consume and hot dogs are one of our more frequent selections.
The product I received to review:
Let me tell you a little bit about Lightlife.
The company began in Massachusetts in 1979, with the idea that they would create tasty and vegetarian dishes. They have stuck to their roots, grown in size and products and have continued to make their products from plants and not animals, thus they are meatless. Their products are Non-GMO and they continue to grow. Their products vary from Smart Dogs, Sausage and deli meat as well.
They also like to GIVE BACK to the communities and they contribute 5% of their profit to organizations that promote healthy people and a healthy planet.
About the Smart Dogs Veggie Hot Dogs:
*Certified Vegan and Non-GMO project verified.
*7 grams of protein and only 50 calories per Smart Dog (there jumbo dogs have a bit more).
*All the Lightlife products can be found in the refrigeration section of your store (right next to the salads).
*Prices for this product range from $2.99 to $3.99 (I found mine for $3.49).
What did we think?
Cooking them up on our griddle.
Product reviewers:
Me and the kiddo!!
Please note, this is our first attempt at trying a veggie dog of any kind, so we had to take that into consideration.
To start with, they did have a pleasant aroma to them, but to me, the texture was a little rubbery by touch. I was worried that because of that, they wouldn't brown up very well, but as you can see from the one picture above, they did brown. I would bet that they would really cook up well on a outdoor grill.
They cooked quickly. The aroma was still pleasant, truthfully, smelled like a hot dog to me and if I set them next to regular meat hot dogs, I think that most people would have a hard time telling them apart.
As for taste, to me, they are okay. They tasted somewhat like what you would expect a hot dog to taste. No after taste. Not chewy. But you could tell that they were a little different then a regular hot dog. Not a bad different, but just different.
Kiddo eating hot dogs is always an adventure. She doesn't like them on hot dog rolls, she doesn't like any condiments on them, just wants to eat them whole. Her thoughts, to be truthful, she wasn't impressed at first. Said that they didn't taste like hot dogs, but tasted like vegetables.
Thus her toothless first bite look
She took her bites, swallowed what she had and declared that, "no, I don't like them." So, I told her that was fine, it was something new and it is okay not to like a product.
Ten minutes later, she gets up, gets her plate and continues to eat the Smart Dogs.
She changed her mind and says that she does like them, but would love to try them next time cooked out on the grill. I told her, me too. I bet they would be wonderful cooked on it.
In the end on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the best hot dog we have had (based on all hot dogs, not just veggie dogs), we gave them a 7 1/2. Would we purchase them for our family? Yes, no doubt that I would purchase Smart Dogs to replace the hot dogs that we currently use. It is nice to have a healthy alternative to the foods that we already consume.
To learn more about Lightlife, please feel free to check them out on their social media accounts:
Disclaimer: I received this product, free of charge from the Moms Meet program, who in turn, received it directly from the sponsor. As a Moms Meet Blogger, I agreed to receive this product and post my honest opinions about said product. My opinions of this product do not reflect the opinions of May Media Group LLC or LightLife, and as always, all opinions are 100% our own.
Time for a giveaway!!! YAY!!!
Four winners will each received two coupons for FREE Lightlife products.
Rules:
*Open to residents of the US who are 18+
*Please, only one entrant per household.
*Giveaway will end on 7/12/16 at 11:59 p.m.
*Winners will be emailed by me at the end of the giveaway and have 72 hours to respond with address so that I can get the coupons mailed out.
*Please make sure that if you take credit for doing an entry on the rafflecopter form, you actually do what is requested.
Good luck!
