Founded by a father in search responsibly made and beautiful toys, Cate & Levi’s products are made from reclaimed wool whose colors and textures are individually selected. The process is environmentally responsible. Oh and 10% of the company’s products are donated to children in need. Can it get any better?

Cate & Levi also sent me a Walrus t-shirt. Boy, oh boy, is that ever a soft shirt! Although they’re prices are on the higher end, I definitely think it’s worth the buy. I love the company’s stance on design and responsibility and their quality is absolutely excellent. Any of their products would make excellent Holiday gifts! – Katie

I’m sure not many of us Moms are dying to sleep on our child’s crib mattress. I was with the majority of you, definitely not eager to sleep on Holly’s mattress, until the Coco Mat from Natural Mat arrived in the mail. After feel how cushy it was, I decided that I would happily spend a night on it. Although I didn’t, I still stand by that. The mattress feel so soft, yet supportive, and cozy!

As you may have guessed from the name, Natural Mat creates all organic mattresses and they mean it. Everything is 100% organic from the packaging to product. My daughter sleeps for 14-15 hours a day. That’s a lot of time! I love that her little face is laying against something organic and completely safe for all those hours. My only angst against this mattress is the cost. I totally understand why it costs so much because it’s handmade in England and made from only the best materials. I just wish it were more affordable. When I consider all the time that goes into making one mattress, the price does seem quite reasonable to me.

A couple of my favorite things about the Coco Mat are the fact that it has no springs and the removable, washable cover. Yes, no springs. I didn’t realize the springs in our first crib mattress (high-end, non-organic) were so easy to feel until the Coco Mat arrived. The removable covering is so ideal. Leaks happen. Everything happens. And the Coco Mat is not the least expensive mattress on the market, so it’s awesome to have that extra protection.

Speaking of extra protection, I also reviewed Natural Mat’s mattress protector. I was a little hesitant at first because it doesn’t fit the way a fitted sheet does, enclosing all of the mat. It’s more of a pad with elastics that loop around each corner. But I’m a believer now. It hasn’t come off despite many sheet changes and it sits flat. It’s soft and breathable. And it makes sense. Doesn’t it seem kind of silly to cover an organic mattress with a non-organic mattress protector?

Here’s some more information about the Coco Mat:

Natural Mat mattresses are handmade in the heart of the West Country in Devonshire, England, from the finest natural and organic raw materials.  COCO MAT, The most breathable and organic crib mattress is filled with organic coir from the only organic coir plantation in the world.  Coir is made from coconut fibers, which are coated in natural latex to make a supportive and breathable fibrous layer.  The coir is wrapped with soft lambswool which acts as an excellent thermal insulator, ensuring the mattress is cozy in winter and cool in summer.  The lambs wool is bathed in a mixture made from the extracts of lemon, lavender and eucalyptus making it completely anti-dust mite as well as maintaining the excellent thermal properties of wool. The mattress is covered in an unbleached cotton herringbone cover, which is removable and machine washable.  For more information visit www.naturalmatusa.com.

Whether you have a child that has allergies or a child that has none, I highly recommend this mattress. I wish I had Holly sleeping on this mattress from birth! Oh and prepare to become a bit of a mattress snob when you purchase a mattress from Natural Mat. You’ll never be able to go back to a plastic-covered, spring-feelable crib mattress again! – Katie

***Giveaway! Natural Mat is giving away an Organic Mattress Pad + Sheet and a set of Blanket Baby Music CDs to one lucky winner! A $180 value!!***

Here’s how to enter. Both of these are mandatory to enter. Please leave one comment stating you have done both. Once you have done both you may do any of the bonus entries:

1. “Like” Natural Mat on Facebook.


2. “Like” Baby Blanket Music on Facebook.

Bonus entries. Each is worth one. Please leave a separate comment for each one you do:

1. Follow Natural Mat on Twitter.


2. Blog about this review and giveaway. Leave a link to your post in your comment.


3. Tweet the following (leave a link to your tweet in your comment): @BoutiqueCafe @NaturalMatusa Review + Giveaway ($180 value!) http://bit.ly/9M8a9s

Giveaway closes on November 21, 2010 at midnight. The winner will be picked at random and contacted via email. She will have 24 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. Good luck!

Congratulations Rajee! You’re the winner!

Anni Daulter is the founder of Bohemian Baby, an online organic baby food
service. I reviewed Bohemian Baby a few years ago and four years later I still remember how fabulous their organic baby food was. It was tempting even for me, and I don’t eat baby food unless it’s added to an “adult” recipe! I knew with such fabulous, fresh baby food recipes, Anni’s new cookbook wouldn’t disappoint.

Cited as a “hip, holistic guide to creating delicious, healthy, and organic meals for children ages 6 months to 3 years,” Organically Raised “shows parents how to replace bland processed shelf staples with flavorful, pesticide-free meals that babies will love, laying the groundwork for a lifetime of good
nutrition and enthusiastic eating.” My favorite part of that quote? Pairing “good nutrition” and “enthusiastic eating.” That is something I for sure want my kids to pair!

One of my favorite sections in Organically Raised is “Hot Topics: Popular Mama Questions Answered.” From when to start feeding your baby solid food to what to do if you can’t get your little one to eat veggies, this section will set new (and “old”) moms at ease when it comes to their child’s nutrition. I also love the suggestions for on-the-go healthy snacks. I can always use more ideas in that department!

Each recipe has a handy little box with a nutrients list and the book is sprinkled with helpful cooking tips and tricks. The photos are gorgeous, or as my friend Quinn of Limelight Food Photography would say, “lick-the-pic” delicious. Another fave is the small section on healthy mix-ins like flaxseed and even dried seaweed. Who knew you could sprinkle ground, dried seaweed on dishes?

I didn’t get a chance to test out many recipes mainly because I don’t have all those healthy, organic ingredients on hand and was too lame (i.e., I never planned ahead) to add them to my shopping list. But I have bookmarked Lorrin’s Basil-Walnut Pesto Quesadilla, Poppy’s Three-Cheese “Fancy” Panini and Massimo’s Tuscan Rustic Pizza with Fresh Herbs, Veggies and Three Cheeses. (Can you tell we love cheese around here?) I’m also throwing in Mayasita’s Cuban Black Beans (we LOVE black beans and I have yet to make them completely from scratch, dried beans and all) and Joey’s Roasted Coconut Oat Balls. In fact, the ingredients for the first three are on my shopping list as we speak I type!

Organically Raised also includes:

• Important information about nutrition for children


• Common food allergies


• Feeding journal


• Inspiring “Mama Mantras”

I know many of you are already pros when it comes to creating healthy, organic meals for your children, but for those of us who aren’t, Organically Raised is a great place to start. Don’t believe me? Check out what moms cooler than me have to say:

We’ve also been using their Organic Blue Agave here and there, though I have yet to master the art of this sweetener.

With my preference for Wholes0me Sweeteners in general, it was a no-brainer to say yes when they wanted to send me samples of their new flavored agave syrups to review on the Daily Dish. Soon a gift package arrived complete with syrups, tee and tote:

Also in the set was their Organic Raw Blue Agave (already a fan!) and Organic Light Corn Syrup (have yet to try this one—haven’t made anything with corn syrup in it lately).

Because I’m still figuring out this whole substitution thing (and my first attempt at cookies was a disaster, all my fault and not Wholesome Sweeteners’), I went for the quickest, simplest way to try out the Vanilla Organic Blue Agave:

You can tell by that last frame my Diet Coke was so much happier with Wholesome Sweeteners’ vanilla flavoring rather than the stuff I usually put in it. Yes, it still has aspartame but what can you do other than drink the fully loaded version, and I simply HATE calories.

We tested the Maple Organic Blue Agave in oatmeal and it passed, though it wasn’t quite the same as plain ol’ brown sugar. Perhaps it’s that wholesome thing again, something our tastebuds could easily get used to. Oh, and we gave all but Vanilla a test run over pancakes one night. The biggest hits were Cinnamon and Maple. Strawberry left something to be desired over pancakes, but I think it would be perfect mixed into drinks (even the non-aspartame kind), teas or even salad dressings. Yum!

A little about Wholeseome’s Organic Flavored Agaves: they are low glycemic and 25% sweeter than sugar. That’s like two for the price of one! And if flavored Blue Agave syrups weren’t enough, Wholesome Sweeteners also offers a variety of other products, from raw honey to molasses (all Fair Trade Certified and organic). How can you not love something as sweet as that!—Emily

*** Giveaway! Wholesome Sweeteners is giving away one tote complete with their NEW flavored Blue Agave syrups! ***

Here’s how to enter. You can do as many of these as you’d like. Each one is worth one entry into our giveaway. Please leave a separate comment for each one you do:

•  Visit WholesomeSweeteners.com and leave a comment telling us what product you’d most like to try.
•  “Like” Wholesome on Facebook and leave a comment telling us you joined.
•  Follow Wholesome on Twitter and leave a comment telling is you’re their newest follower.
•  Tweet about this giveaway and leave a comment with the URL of your tweet.
•  Blog about this giveaway and leave a comment with the URL to your blog post.

Include a valid email address for our drawing. We’ll draw the winner from the comments and contact her via email. Deadline: June 16, 2010 (midnight). The winner will have 24 hours to claim her prize or a new winner will be chosen.

• Congratulations to Jocelin B., the winner of the Wholesome Sweeteners giveaway! Thank you to everyone who took the time to read the review and add a comment. Keep reading the Daily Dish for your chance to participate in more giveaways!

[me] & goji’s story is one of “dorm-crapeteria breakfasts,” Northwestern grads, Craigslist, a Swedish intern and muesli:

[we decided] to address the need … discovered in college. Our solution results in America’s favorite breakfast food, cereal, revamped with the nutritional focus of muesli and the flexibility of customization. Our solution is [me] & goji. We love this concept because it can benefit so many different people: both serious and unserious athletes, on-the-go moms, blueberry-haters and soy nut-lovers, Saturday morning cartoon connoisseurs and those with special dietary needs.

And these are just the pre-made mixes. Don’t forget you can create your own cereal using organic ingredients like goji oats, raw 5-grain muesli, quinoa flakes, cacao nibs, shredded wheat, dried fruits (goji berries, raspberry, banana, blueberry, currant to name a few), and nuts and seeds (pumpkin, flax, almonds, macademia, etc.). I swear that not even half of all the goodies you’ll find on the site!

[me] & goji sent me the popular Adam’s Apple mix, which includes their “flaxed & flaked” cereal base and cinnamon plus dried apple, cranberry, goji, golden raisin and pumpkin. Now, I’m not a huge fan of “fruity” cereals unless it’s Trix, so it was a bit too sweet and chewy for my taste, but I adored the cereal base (even if it did get soggy a bit too quickly) and even enjoyed the apple and pumpkin.

My husband didn’t get a chance to try it but I know he’ll be a big fan—he loves dried fruit. I think for me it will better serve as a dry snack than a cereal, but it was tasty enough to have me already planning a future order. (Mine will have more almonds and granola and less of that healthy fruity stuff.)

A typical [me] & goji capsule is about 15 servings versus your traditional 8-serving cereal box. Your base cereal starts at $4.99 and each additional ingredient is $.99. You can make a decent, organic—and in some cases gluten-free— batch of cereal for under $8. A box of organic cereal at the store will run you a good $5 or so, and that’s for half the servings and a totally lame, non-customized ingredients list. Oh, and those off-the-shelf brands probably aren’t donating 5% of profits to charities and using earth-friendly vegetable inks for their printing needs. (You can view a full list of [me] & goji’s efforts to make a difference here. And before I forget, you can view the good-lookin’ guys behind the company here.)

Need a great gift idea for graduation? Whether you’re there to see the hat toss in person or sending a gift from afar, a capsule of custom cereal shows you care more so than a $20 in what is probably a non-recycled greeting card.

All I can say is, go [me] & goji or go home.—Emily

* Promotion! [me] & goji is offering Daily Dish readers 10% off their order! Simply enter code GOJIGRAD when checking out!

Positively Organic’s children’s clothes (sizes up to 4T with seasonal sizes up to 6) are made using certified organic cotton. The company combines earth-friendly materials and sweatshop-free/fair-trade manufacturing with “bold graphics, bright colors and hip yet simple designs.” From henley and raglan tees to kimono one-pieces and yoga pants, Positively Organic is not your typical organic children’s wear line. When they say “bright colors and hip yet simple designs,” they mean it! I’m lovin’ the Earthgirl raglan tee, long-sleeve Cowboy tee and printed blankets.

Positively Organic sent Livi a cute long-sleeve tee and pants set. Though a size smaller than she usually wears, the outfit was designed well enough so she is still able to wear it…and wear it she has! We’ve already worn and washed this outfit two or three times, and each time it seems to get softer. The colors have held up well to both play and laundry detergent and this has become one of our favorite go-to outfits. (Trust me, she likes the outfit. What she doesn’t like is my taking her picture.) Though the pants are now a bit short I still love putting this outfit on her for slow, comfy days around the house.

Positively Organic’s collection is reasonably priced, which makes it even sweeter, and they have a pretty awesome clearance going on right now too. The fall line has some yummy colors like the bright raspberry in Livi’s outfit and some great styles like the corduroy cuff-up jeans for boys. And don’t forget those adorable kimono rompers! Along with offering customers stylish organic clothing for kids, Positively Organic also works with several causes supporting children’s welfare and environmental responsibility. Your children will look good and you’ll feel good when dressing your kids in the chic styles from Positively Organic.—Emily

* Promotion! Positively Organic is offering Daily Dish readers 15% off any regularly priced item! Simply enter code “cafe09” at checkout. Offer expires December 23, 2009.

Hello! My new organic towels from Welspun are here!

After the exciting release of my organic bedding, I’m so happy to expand the collection with my beautiful bath towels. Made with 10% organic exchange cotton, these towels are super soft to the touch. The bold and vibrant colors will brighten up any bathroom space even in the wee hours of the morning when waking up is so hard to do. These joyful designs will lift your spirits and get you going!

My new line will be available in my online shop, along with Bed, Bath & Beyond stores nationwide and on Bed, Bath & Beyond.com (with many more retailers to come!). Please visit my website for inspirational photos and all the great details.

Warmest Wishes,
Amy

The Healthy Pantry believes that “many common lifestyle illnesses resulting from eating the Standard American Diet (high calorie/low nutrient density foods) can be prevented, remediated or reversed with four fundamental dietary changes:

1. Reducing overall glycemic load of diet


2. Upgrading quality of dietary fats


3. Avoiding chemical, artificial and highly processed food products, ingredients or additives


4. Increasing micronutrient content and variety in diet

I would love to give you the complete lowdown on how they do this with their pre-packaged meal kits but it would take the entire page. Believe me, their nutritional philosophy is worth the read. You’ll be amazed at what you’ll learn about nutrition and how your food choices could be affecting your family’s lifestyle.

I’m all for improving the quality of food I feed my family but it has always seemed a task requiring more work than I have time or energy for. That’s why I love The Healthy Pantry—their meal kits take very little time to prepare, use quality, natural whole foods and are backed by sound nutrition. Their meal kits are basically simple bags (and an applesauce cup or jar of chutney once in a while) you open and mix with an ingredient or two from your fridge. They have a huge selection of meals, from whole grain apple cinnamon pancakes to chicken tenders with apple-baked beans to oatmeal raisin cookies. And customers can review each meal so you know what others thought of the recipe before trying it. Though some of the prices may seem a bit high for a mix, take into account someone else is buying, measuring, chopping those all-natural, healthy, good-for-you ingredients so you don’t have to. That’s definitely worth it, especially when school is back in session and weeknights get crazy!

The Healthy Pantry sent us a few of their meal kits to test, and though I didn’t have time to test as many as I’d like, we did try out their whole grain oatmeal raisin cookies (a bestseller) and pineapple meatloaf. The oatmeal raisin cookies were a cinch for my 11-year-old to make even with the “help” of her little brother and sister, and they were super tasty even for a “healthy” cookie. The dough was a bit trick to work with when it came to scooping it onto a cookie sheet (a little on the dry/crumbly side so we had some runaway raisins) and we found the baking time was way off for our oven and size of cookies (about 11 minutes instead of 18). But I’ve managed to eat about half a dozen a day, so it’s a good thing it made a lot!

*** Giveaway The Healthy Pantry is giving away a $100 gift certificate for use in their online store! To enter to win you can do a few things:

• Become a fan of The Healthy Pantry on Facebook and leave a comment telling us you’re their newest fan.


• Visit their site and tell us which meal kit you would like to try.


• Tweet about this giveaway and leave a comment with the URL of your tweet.


• Blog about this giveaway and leave a comment with a link to your blog post.

We’ll draw the winner from the comments and contact her via email. Deadline: August 20, 2009 (midnight). The winner will have 24 hours to claim her prize or a new winner will be chosen.

• Congratulations to Bonnie Walker, the winner of The Healthy Pantry giveaway! Thank you to everyone who took the time to read the review and add a comment. Keep reading the Daily Dish for your chance to participate in more giveaways!

My girls received the Shine Shampoo and Rainbow Soft Conditioner combo. Both have Sparklehearts’ naturally sweet signature scent and girl-friendly packaging. The shampoo contains pansy and violet extract, rosemary and natural coconut and sugar while the conditioner has Vitamin B-5, shea butter, jojoba and wheat protein. My girls couldn’t wait to try these out but of course I made them wait until they had used up their current shampoo and conditioner. (Looking back they went through it faster than usual…I think a lot of it went down the drain…literally.)

I asked them what they thought about their new Sparklehearts sparkly bath products and here’s what they first said (both in agreement): “I think they smell good but when you mix them together they don’t smell very good.” Huh? I was confused by what they said—were they mixing the shampoo and conditioner and putting them on together? Were they putting on one, then the other before rinsing out the first one? Apparently not. They explained they did the lather and rinse thing for both the shampoo and conditioner, and once they were done and out of the shower they didn’t like how their hair smelled. You’ve got me—I didn’t have this issue when I used the Sparklehearts shampoo and conditioner. Hey, our master bathroom shower was being cleaned and regrouted. (That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!)

My oldest daughter did walk off with this comment: “I like the outside of the bottles; they’re cute!” So score one for 100% recycled packaging decked out in shininess, sparkles and glitter! I’m good with a more natural smell because I know the product is a lot better for their bodies. I think my girls are just too used to their typical “toxic” haircare products! It’s about time Sparklehearts helped them kick the habit, don’t you think?—Emily

** Giveaway! Sparklehearts is giving away one product, winner’s choice! Please visit the company’s site and leave a comment telling us what inspiring quote the little Sparklehearts bird carried across the screen while you were there; include a valid email address for our drawing. We’ll draw the winner from the comments and contact her via email. Deadline: July 7, 2009 (midnight). The winner will have 24 hours to claim her prize or a new winner will be chosen.

* Promotion! Sparklehearts is offering Daily Dish readers 20% off their purchase! Simply enter code Blog20 when checking out at Sparklehearts.com.

• Congratulations to Kim M., the winner of the Sparklehearts giveaway! Thank you to everyone who took the time to read the review and add a comment. Keep reading the Daily Dish for your chance to participate in more giveaways!

DoshaCare combines the knowledge from the Ayurvedic tradition of India with the best of western science to for a lifestyle approach that focuses on “authentic radiance.” Their skin care line helps radiate your inner beauty and actually evolves with you. With a series of questions under “Ayurveda & Dosha Types” you can find out your primary and secondary Dosha (the page also goes into more detail about Ayurveda and Dosha) and then from there you can tailor your skin care to match. As your skin changes throughout the year (and we all know it does) you can change your regimen along with it.

I answered those questions and found out I was pretty much Pitta all the way, so DoshaCare sent me their Pitta Cleansing Bath to review. Designed to protect and soothe normal and sensitive skin, this cleanser is 98% botanical and organic. It contains turmeric for its antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, hyperpigmentation correction and softening properties; neem to promote skin elasticity; and aloe vera for hydration and soothing. It was a good thing the information sheet I received with it had directions, for I could not find any on the box or bottle. I know, I know—lather, rinse and hopefully not repeat but I am one of those that thrive on written instructions. But I did lather and rinse…and if I was wearing makeup, I had to repeat. Plus, I’ve kind of gotten accustomed to “less is more” with most cleansers I’ve reviewed, and this one took a full pump and then a second full pump to get my face completely makeup free.

It did leave my skin feeling soft and hydrated, though not as hydrated as I would’ve liked. Though the scent was rather strong (albeit natural), I found it very earthy and somewhat relaxing. My husband walked in once while I was using it and even noticed the scent-not in a bad way, but how often is a cleanser that strong? I would have loved to have tried out the full line to see if I felt more “balanced” and if I felt it really were tailored to me and my primary Dosha.

As much as I should embrace the DoshaCare approach to life I’m not sure I’m in a place to do so just yet. (That statement probably shows I definitely should take the time to become more centered!) The Pitta Cleanser (4.2 fl oz) costs $34—a bit on the high end if you’re using twice as much as the next cleanser. But it is customized skin care, and I can’t say that Avon or Oil of Olay or any other skin care lines have ever asked me how well I sleep, what my appetite is like or how I react to stress. There just might be something to this DoshaCare thing!—Emily

** Giveaway! We are giving away a gift set to one lucky reader! (Note: The gift set may not include DoshaCare products but will include something equivalent if not better!) Visit the DoshaCare website and click on “Ayurveda & Dosha Types,” then take the test to find out your primary Dosha. Leave a comment letting us know what that is and include a valid email address for our drawing. We’ll draw the winner from the comments and contact her via email. Deadline: March 17, 2009 (midnight). The winner will have 24 hours to claim her prize or a new winner will be chosen.

• Congratulations to Ann H., the winner of the DoshaCare giveaway! Thank you to everyone who took the time to read the review and add a comment. Keep reading the Daily Dish for your chance to participate in more giveaways!

Organics by Noah’s Naturals is setting a new standard in organic bath and body care with its line of products, which include organic blends like rosemary mint and coconut vanilla. But they don’t just smell good; these products help cleanse, revive and condition skin and hair with good-for-you formulations. For example, their Rosemary Mint Shampoo has Vitamin B5 (great humectant) and cone flower extract (natural healing properties, while their Coconut Vanilla Lotion has Vitamin A (improves texture, firmness and smoothness) and safflower seed oil (replenishes moisture). All I know is my travel kit (rosemary mint shampoo, conditioner and body wash) left my skin, hair and senses feeling fabulous!

Along with Organics, Noah’s Naturals offers an original line of bath and body products including an impressive lineup for facial care. I was sent their Hand Salve but was only able to test it once. (If it were winter I’d be all over it on a daily basis!) I don’t use a lot of wax-based hand moisturizers because I don’t love the often greasy feel, but Noah’s Naturals’ hand salve, which contains soy wax oil and beeswax, absorbed quickly and even the smallest dollop did a great job with moisturizing my scrubbed-the-house-all-day hands.

Noah’s Naturals is committed to being good for you and good for the environment. Besides only using nutritionally fortified formulas (e.g. pure essential oils, organic plant oils and emollients) and staying away from harsh chemicals (e.g. petroleum, parabens, propylene glycol), the Noah’s Naturals is also a member of One Percent for the Planet. The company donates 1% of their sales to environmental causes worldwide.

You can find Noah’s Naturals online and at select Wal-Mart stores. I’m basically saying you can purchase a high-quality product at an affordable price and donate to a worthy cause all at the same time. I love it when I’ve got a great excuse to shop!—Emily