Kodiak Cakes - Bear Country Cookies - Oatmeal Dark Chocolate

With an amazing image of an angry bear on the natural fiber textured cardboard box, and touting "all natural", I couldn't pass up this pre-mixed package of cookies. All I needed to add was 1 egg and a stick of butter. Easy enough, right? After all, I am but a single guy on a shoestring budget.
Baker Mills' Kodiak Cakes label promises ingredients that are all-natural, with no preservatives, no trans fats, blah blah blah. Recipes like the hardy homesteaders on the American frontier would've made. Real sugar, brown sugar, whole wheat flour, whole oats, etc. Nice. So, I picked up these cookies, took them home, and baked some up. Simple as can be. And how delicious! Gave samples to several friends, and everyone was enthusiastic. So, wholesome, natural, and tasty as hell? Winner!
I also tried their brownies (perfectly good, too, especially when adding some walnuts to the mix), and the pancake mix (the flagship product, also a fine whole-wheat mix, and a filling meal themselves). Highly recommended. As close to homemade as you could get, without making them from "scratch".
I just wish Kodiak Cakes were more widely available! Surely Whole Foods or local groceries would do well with these wonderful treats.
Now, I see they have their own syrups available. I wish I could find those!

Anyhow, for more info, check their site:

hKodiak Cakes website

"Bag It" (director: Suzan Beraza)

This smart and enlightening, yet thoroughly engaging and entertaining documentary began as a study on the effects of all the disposable plastic bags we have used for years. Think about it. Every time you went to buy groceries, you got a stash of throwaway plastic bags. Sure, if you're like me, you "recycle" them as cat litter bags, trash can liners, etc. But do we really ever question where these bags go? The director has a valid point. We throw them away, but where, exactly, is "away"? There is no such thing.

We have created a vast sea of floating plastic garbage, ensnaring and stifling sea life for miles and miles, and in several spots around the world. But does that affect any of us, who live in the mainland? Out of sight, out of mind, right?

Director Beraza enlists the affable "everyman" Jeb Barrier to narrate and host this film, and it's a real winner. But before you turn away shouting "guilt trip from the environmental tree-hugging extremists", this one is optimistic and hopeful, and certainly "must-see" viewing for anyone looking to educate themselves on the world and our unnecessary impact upon her.

Diverging from the simple plastic bag, "Bag It" also looks at plastics at large. Cheap, useful, and, in modern times, an essential part of our survival, this chemical-based building material has been a blessing and a curse on our culture. But as stated earlier, the likeable host here, Barrier (and his wife) provide enough comic relief and humility to make what could be heavy-handed easy-to-digest and to show that we have the ability, knowledge, and technology to make things so much better for our children. Do yourself (and your friends and family) a favor and see this!

"Bag It" is set for National Public Television screenings beginning this month, too, so check your local listings or search your DVR...

To purchase DVD/merch


To find the nearest public screening