We were so impressed with Sir Kensington’s soon-to-be-released Fabanaise, an all-vegan mayo thickened with aquafaba, the vicious liquid created when cooking beans, that we awarded them with one of New Hope Network’s prestigious Editor’s Choice NEXTY Awards at Expo West.

But it’s not just the cool-bean technology that caught our attention. We also love that Sir Kensington’s partnered with hummus-maker Ithaca Hummus to source their aquafaba, a byproduct of cooking their chickpeas that had previously been a waste product. Two thumbs way up on this collaboration! 

A newcomer to the natural products industry, Alpendough makes scrumptious cookie dough with coconut oil. Their three dough flavors are organic, vegan, gluten-free and free from all the top allergens. Yes, that means you can eat the raw dough straight from the carton without any hesitation! But baking the dough into cookies makes for an equally impressive treat. We scarfed down more than one sample of their perfectly soft and chewy snickerdoodles at Natural Products Expo West.

The company packages their doughs in recyclable containers and reuses boxes and bubblewrap from their local grocery store for shipping. Another fun discovery was that Alpendough sources their gluten-free oat flour from legendary natural products company Bob’s Red Mill. In full transparency (because why not?), Alpendough even labels “Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Whole Grain Oat Flour” right on the ingredients list. 

Calling all parents! Packing your kid a healthy lunch that includes all-important vegetables and protein just got umpteen times easier. Not only has Peas of Mind announced the release of their new crispy veggie tots (Carrottots, Caulitots and Broccotots), but they’ve also teamed up with mom-trusted brand Hip Chick Farms to create healthy, responsible meal kits for kids.

It’s genius! Meal kits are all the rage and we have no doubt kids will gladly gobble up these veggie-protein meals that feature Peas of Mind bite-size veggie tots and Hip Chick Farms chicken nuggets, popcorn chicken and chicken meatballs (Bonus: no cutting involved). 

Long-time makers of vegetable-based meat-like foods, Gardein (garden + protein) recently excited vegetarian and vegan eaters with their pocket meals, such a plant-based pulled porkless pockets and veggie pizza pockets. The newest product in this convenience line is soon-to-be-on-shelves Vegan Scramble Breakfast Pockets. Vegan eaters everywhere are already champing at the bit for this grab-and-go breakfast.

But the best part? Gardein is stuffing these eggless scramble-veggie pockets with Daiya’s super creamy and melty vegan cheese and Follow Your Heart’s VeganEgg. We’re already super fans of Daiya’s cheese shreds—which is a stand-out ingredient in their gluten-free pizzas—as well as Follow Your Heart’s plant-based scramble-perfect egg replacer—which was a finalist in our NEXTY awards. So we’re fairly certain this product is the TRIPLE whammy of natural brand mash-ups!