Archives: September 2011

30 Sep 2011, Comments (7)

Chocolate Chip Cherry Torte LARAbar

Author: Healthnuttxo

Look-ee what I got in the mail, as a complete surprise to me…

YEP- some Chocolate Chip Cherry Torte LARAbars! With a cute little bag, button, sticker and slice of information pie.

What a nice welcome surprise once I walked in the door and had a package waiting for me. Thanks, LARAbar!!!

Now, down to business. It looks like your standard LARAbar….

….but it’s not.

This one ROCKS!!!! I noticed the bar seemed softer than usual when I took a bite, but still had that sticky density we all know and (hopefully) love. As I kept chewing, I really loved this bar. It tastes like chocolate covered cherries!!

It was sweet and tart, with that classic date taste. But,  then you get a hint of  dark chocolate flavor and a teensy bit of crunch. I really felt like I was eating almost a cordial cherry, with chocolate covered coating. This is definitely one of my new favorite Larabars!! And, according to the wrapper, this baby is Gluten Free and gives 1/2 of a fruit serving. What’s not to love??

Overall, this gets 4 1/2 stars. Really delicious! I will definitely buy in the future!!

What’s your favorite food involving cherries? I cant say I would turn down a slice of cherry pie 😉

chipped nail polish. *sigh* forgive me??? 😉

28 Sep 2011, Comments (3)

Popcorn, Indiana Bacon Ranch Popcorn

Author: Healthnuttxo

So this ones for you guys. Bacon seems like it’s such a big deal. As in a big deal as in people love it.

To me? Eh.

While I do appreciate a good slice of turkey bacon, I never liked bacon as a kid. Always left it on my plate on the diner, and scrunched my nose when I saw the grease my dad would pour into a glass jar after making breakfast. But that’s just me.

So when I saw this product, Popcorn, Indiana Bacon Ranch Popcorn I knew it would be a perfect thing to review. Plus, well, ok….it sounded pretty awesome. And I’m all for snacking. Guess what store I bought it at. No really, guess.

Why, WHOLE FOODS of course! 😉

Anyway, here’s what a bowl of the bacony-ranch goodness looked like.

*sniff* *sniff*….does someone smell bacon?

This popcorn was unbelievably delicious. It had a soft crunch to it, and a light residue on top of each piece of popcorn. I barely found any pieces that didn’t have a good coating on it, which was a positive. Nothing like a plain piece of popcorn to bring down the flavor party. Yea, I said flavor party.

Anyway, there was a salty taste, and a sharp white cheddar cheese flavor. And yes….I tasted bacon. There were also onion flavors as well, and it just really had a powerful and delicious ( insert ADDICTIVE) tastes. It reminded me of the Smoked Gouda popcorn I really loved as well.

This popcorn gets 4 1/2 stars. Why not 5 you ask? Well, it’s called Bacon Ranch popcorn, and I sort of missed the “ranch” element. It was more of a cheesy-bacon popcorn to me, with a bit of onion flavor.  It’s also a touch high in fat and sodium. Regardless, beyond good, and highly recommended.

What about YOU- fan of bacon? or no?  I like Veggie Bacon too! 🙂

s

26 Sep 2011, Comments (0)

Birdbath Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookie

Author: Healthnuttxo

I shouldn’t have done it.

Coming home from the gym today, I passed by this bakery, Birdbath Bakery. I have such a weak spot for cookies. Cake? dont need it. Ice cream? pass. Brownies? no thank you. But cookies? I. Cannot. Resist. Cookies.

So after I elliptical-ed (is that a word? It is now!) for an hour (ok, ok, 45 minutes) I wanted to take a peek inside the bakery. Maybe get a muffin or something. And then I saw a stack of cookies in various flavors. Some of them were vegan, and some weren’t I ended up getting 2 vegan cookies, and 1 not vegan- the chocolate chip, for 5 dollars.

The staff was very friendly, and I overheard that if you brought your own container in, you get $1 off your purchase AND, I read on the website you get 25% off if you come by skateboard or bike! Eco friendly alert!! 🙂

You can check out their website here- they are pretty amazing!

ANYWAY, back to the goodies. I already froze the other two cookies to eat later, because I KNOW I would eat all 3 in one sitting if they were in front of me.

This cookie. Was amazingly-amazing.I mean, really, HOW could this (half a cookie picture- wonder where the other half went?? =p ) taste bad?!?

Also note the grease spots on the bag. THATS how you know something
tastes good!

This cookie had the slightest crisp on the outside, and was soft, gooey and rich on the inside. It had a buttery taste, and was rather sweet, but very delicious. I noticed it even had a slight pretzel taste to it- weird – but it worked. It added that very slight salty taste that accompanied the big, gooey chocolate chunks.

Overall, a delicious cookie. Aside from the pretzel taste thing going on, a perfect chocolate chipper in my eyes. And at 3 for 5 $, thats a little over $1.50 per cookie, which isn’t too bad. Plus I’m loving the eco-friendly aspect of this place!!!

I kinda love this place.

I kinda couldn’t stop eating this cookie. In fact I demolished it in about 5 minutes.

I kinda can’t go here unless I went to the gym that day.

I kinda dont want to know how many calories, fat and sugar is in this cookie.

Because…I kinda dont care.

It’s that good 😉

SO, if you ever have the chance to go to Birdbath Bakery, I highly recommend the chocolate chip cookie! This was the non-vegan version, but they HAVE a vegan one as well!!  5 stars

Ever been to a vegan bakery? Which one? What did you get?

24 Sep 2011, Comments (4)

Alexia Waffle Cut Sweet Potato Fries

Author: Healthnuttxo

Source

Oh yeaaaaa. Sweet potato fries. I saw these at Whole Foods and was immediately excited! Of course, at the time I didn’t take into account that I DONT have a pan to cook fries on at home, so these were purchased very quickly after discovering them at the store.

I say discovering because that’s what I feel like it’s like when I go to Whole Foods. I never actually know where ANYTHING is. Even when I normally get a few of the “regulars” in my shopping cart, sometimes the store changes, or I go to a different Whole Foods, or sometimes there are just foods that are “hidden” and need a little extra searching to find 🙂

ANYWAY (I like to go off on tangents apparently….), I made these Alexia Waffle Cut Sweet Potato Fries last nights with some chicken-less chicken nuggets (courtesy of Trader Joe’s), carrots, and way too much ketchup (oh well!).

I cheated a little bit. I didn’t follow the cooking instructions 100%, and put them on broil after it was cooking for a while. (I was hungry!)

My gut feeling said curly fries. My taste buds agreed.

Upon first bite, I thought, uhh? Did I buy curly fries? Are these really sweet potato fries?

Straight from the oven, these had crispy edges, with a softer middle, and were certainly quite greasy. There was a peppery flavor, which caused me to be suspicious that they were curly fries. They had a very mild sweet potato flavor, which really disappointed me! I didn’t want a peppery, savory tasting fry – I wanted a sweet potato fry!!! I think the “curly fry” aspect of the fry’s flavor came from the kick/ bit of spice they had. They also needed a pinch of salt (but really they didn’t, at 330 mg of sodium per serving!), which I think would help enhance the flavor of the sweet potato. They did go pretty well with ketchup, but, between the nuggets and these fries, I went through an awful lot of ketchup last night =P

Overall, these were ok. I liked they had some fiber and were relatively low in fat and calories for a serving. I dont think I would buy them again, but I’ll finish the bag. 3 stars

If you had to choose….. sweet potato fries or curly fries? I would pick sweet potato fries, but maybe this version instead (click here)

1 cup (85 grams) is 130 calories, 5 grams of fat, 330 mg sodium, 20 carbohydrates, 3 grams of fiber, 4 grams of sugar, and 2 grams of protein.

21 Sep 2011, Comments (2)

Trader Joe’s Creamy Polenta with Spinach and Carrots

Author: Healthnuttxo

I love Trader Joe’s. It seems like everytime I go in there, there is a new and exciting product to try. I trust Trader Joe branded products, as for the most part, they have always been really delicious and rather nutritious as well. Today’s choice? Trader Joe’s Creamy Polenta with Spinach and Carrots. I wanted something carby to go along with my chicken(less) nuggets for dinner and veggies, and felt that this fit the bill.

So, I opened the bag and was a little surprised at what I got. Giant Hershey Kisses of polenta. Oh you’ll see.

(thats a serving by the way, not the whole bag)

The polenta itself was creamy yet slightly gritty from the cornmeal. It was buttery tasting and slightly cheesy tasting as well.  The carrot and spinach aspect of the dish sort of disappeared. I couldn’t really taste much spinach, and couldn’t really taste the carrots at all.

What the polenta really needed was a pinch of salt. I added a few grinds of sea salt and out came MUCH tastier flavors. Of course, the Dietician-to-be in me yelled at me, saying I didn’t NEED to add salt to this dish that already contained a good deal of sodium per serving. Not to mention I was also having chicken(less) nuggets AND ketchup which had salt in them too. But oh well. I did it. And well, I certainly dont regret it.

Overall, pretty good. It was rather high in saturated fat ( 7 grams!!), but  I would buy it again. The serving size was a tad small for 200 calories, but, I feel all carby dishes like pasta or rice have small serving sizes too. It went great with my other sides, but really did need just an extra pinch of salt! 4 stars

Do you like polenta? How do you prepare it?


19 Sep 2011, Comments (2)

Cosi Lighter Side Tandoori Chicken Sandwich

Author: Healthnuttxo

The other day I went to visit my personal trainer.

It. Was. Awesome.

I was sore from head to toe the next day. Really. I THOUGHT I was in shape.

Regardless, post exercise, I went home and realized I was starving. But had hardly anything in my kitchen. A girl can only have scrambled eggs as a source of protein for lunch so many days a week. So I decided to go to one of my favorite spots, Cosi, and get a sandwich packed with some delicious chicken for protein.

Looking at the menu, I decided on the Lighter Side Tandoori Chicken Sandwich. It was chicken, a fat free vinaigrette, chunks of chicken, red bell peppers, and their beyond delicious whole grain bread (although white bread is also an option. But you know me- gotta get the whole grain when offered!)

By the time I got my sandwich, I was ravenous, which I think enhanced the eating experience even more. But I have a feeling this sandwich would have been delicious even if I wasn’t as hungry as I was.

You can check out the nutritional information here

As you can see, huge chunks of chicken, strips of peppers, and a fluffy yet crust bread. The chicken had a bit of heat to it, and was spiced mildly. It was chewy, with a little bit of tang, and had a bit of a peppery flavor as well. I liked that there was BIG pieces in the sandwich, and not little cubes or anything like that.

Moving on to the peppers, they were, ok. They were chewy but still had a bite to them, and were tangy but not too spicy which I liked. I wasn’t really crazy about the peppers, and could have totally eaten the sandwich without them.

Moving onto the bread. Oh my goodness the bread. Seriously, can  I just go in there and order bread? Because I’m certainly tempted. It was crusty on the outside, and fluffy on the inside with a slight olive oil flavor. The dressing even soaked itself in parts of the bread, which provided even more flavor. It seriously was delicious.

Overall, really tasty! It also came with carrots (or I believe chips was an option as well) on the side. With my sandwich, carrots, and a drink it came out to about 10 dollars. Needless to say, I was full for a few hours off of this sandwich, so well worth the money!  4 stars

17 Sep 2011, Comments (2)

365 Cheese Curls

Author: Healthnuttxo

I know how I’ve made comments in the past on how I do NOT like cheese. And well…

That’s still true.

But I don’t count cheese curls. Or cheese doodles. Or cheese puffs. Or whatever your preference on what you call your favorite salty, cheesy, crunchy snack.

Even though it may be made with cheese, CHEESE to me is the stuff that comes in the huge blocks that you have to slice yourself (or rather, have the deli slice for you). That kind of cheese turns me off. Especially goat cheese.

I’m sorry, cheese lovers, please dont hate me.

ANYWAY, how I fill the cheese void in my life is with cheesy snacks. Like these. The 365 Cheese Curls from Whole Foods.  Did I really NEED to buy these with the 8 million snacks at my house? No… But I’m me. I’m never satisfied. I always want more. So I  bought another snack. Oh well.

These were cheesy, and left a light residue on my fingers. Slightly salty, but in a good way. A way that makes me crave a Diet Dr. Pepper (or Dr. Zevia!) . They had a light crunch, with just the right amount of cheddar cheese flavor. Oh, and they were certainly addictive. Like, I’m done with my bowl but go back for a few more handfuls addictive.

These were delicious, if not perfect for cheese curls. I have had Cheetos in the past, and I think these taste almost identical. I would definitely buy these again! My only complaint, which I guess is just due to handling, was that there was a LOT of little pieces of curls, rather than “longer” curls. I mean pieces the size of the tip of my finger! But again, nothing major. Still delicious!  I also liked how these weren’t crazy high in calories, fat or sodium. 4 1/2 stars

If you had to give one up for the rest of your life, would it be cheesy snacks? or actual cheese? I think my choice is obvious 😉


15 Sep 2011, Comments (11)

Clif Bar Iced Gingerbread Energy Bar

Author: Healthnuttxo

Ahhh gingerbread. Brings me back to memories of Christmastime, either getting seriously sticky and messy decorating a gingerbread house, or baking delicious gingerbread cookies. I happen to be a fan of the deep taste of ginger and the slight crunch, and then a bit of frosting to add some sweetness. Delicious!

This particular bar is a seasonal one, and I’m assuming it’s available only around Christmastime. Why  I’m reviewing it in the beginning of September beats me, but, HEY- let’s just say I’m hopeful for the winter season to come (even though I DESPISE the cold. Gimme summer year round!! 😎 )

I opened the bar and was a bit surprised at what I saw. When I thought of “Iced” I thought there would be a layer of icing. Instead, it was more of a slight drizzle. A slight drizzle, in fact, that I barely tasted in the bar (was it really there? Or was it a figment of my imagination??)

As you can see, a few raisins scattered throughout the bar, with a light layer of icing.

The bar itself, was, eh, ok. It had a mild ginger flavor, but overall did have the flavor of a Gingerbread cookie. It was soft, and chewy, and rather dense. The raisins added a little bit of sweetness to the bar, but not much in terms of flavor. The taste actually reminded me of an oatmeal cookie, but with ginger.

It was ok, but certainly not my favorite. I dont think I would buy this in the future, for it was sort of lackluster, but it didn’t necessarily taste bad.  And, another thing to point out, 22 grams of sugar in one bar. OUCH! As a diabetic, I have to watch out for my sugar intake. I understand that some of the sugars may be from the raisins, but the first ingredient is Organic Brown Rice Syrup. Organic or not, sweetener is sweetener to me. And 22 grams is a bit much. But then again, this IS an energy bar- that energy has to come from somewhere!! (And I certainly had a ton of it during my spin class!!)

Overall, 3 stars.

What’s your favorite pre-workout snack? I usually stick to granola bars- easy on the stomach!!

12 Sep 2011, Comments (6)

Newman’s Own Organics Ginger Snap Cookies

Author: Healthnuttxo

New product!! ( insert whoops and hollers here!) Newman’s Own Organics contacted me and asked if I wanted to try some of their new cookies for free. Of COURSE I agreed, seeing as I’m a big fan of Newman’s Own Organics. They sent me two flavors to try for free, including these Ginger Snap Cookies.

**On a quick side note, apologies for the less-than-spectacular photography. It’s hard to get a smooth looking picture with those crinkly-type bags, but I did my best! **

I opened up the bag and was instantly greeted by a fresh smell of ginger. The smell actually reminded me of Christmas time, with gingerbread cookies! I decided to share these with a friend, who happily obliged to take part in the taste testing.

I hear such awesome things about Ginger. Like, for instance, I hear it has medicinal powers for the stomach. In fact, I had a bit of a stomachache today, and my friend suggested to have a few of these Ginger Snap Cookies. Wonder if the ginger in cookies counts? =P

After taking a bite, I knew one thing. These were exactly how a Ginger Snap should feel and taste. They were rather hard and crunchy (as my friend noted, a cookie meant to be bitten on the SIDE of the mouth!) with a high taste of ginger. Really- you can CERTAINLY taste the ginger. It even left a slight after “burn” once I finished eating the cookie!

The cookie was mildly sweet, and really quite good. I can picture them being delicious with an ice cold class of milk (or almond milk!). My friend noted that she thought they would be delicious with tiny pieces of raisins scattered throughout the cookie. Looking back on it, I agreed. It would bring a touch more sweetness to the cookie!

Overall, a really delicious Ginger Snap. I think the Ginger level was a wee bit too high for me, but for those who love Ginger Snaps, I am sure you will love these! My friend had about 6 or 7 of them before the taste test was over! Guess she was a fan  😉

4 stars

Are you a fan of ginger? How do you use/eat it?


10 Sep 2011, Comments (6)

Crumbs Bake Shop Frosted Black and White Cookie

Author: Healthnuttxo

I know, I know. HOW could I go into Crumbs and NOT get a cupcake that everyone seems to love?

Well…..

I dont know.

The Frosted Black and White Cookie (clocking in I believe at 390 calories for one) called to me. Did I need all the inevitable sugar and fat in this cookie? No. Was I going to eat it anyway? You betcha.

So I took the cupcake, oops, cookie, home after a long walk to pick up some groceries. I was hoping the icing wouldn’t get all mushed, and it stood up pretty well. It was that type of icing that hardens a bit, and wasn’t super runny. For whatever reason, I thought it was a good idea to break up the cookie before taking a picture. (If this was Twitter, I’d put a #oops following that statement…)

The cookie was soft and thick. The bottom cookie part had a vanilla sugar cookie flavor, but was more cupcake-y than cookie-y (is that a word?) in texture.  I actually really enjoyed this part. I could probably eat a cookie entirely of this cakey-cookie part and be very satisfied. It was sweet, but not too sweet and really delicious.

The white side of the cookie/frosting I wasn’t too crazy about. It tasted overly buttery (assuming there is butter in it), or almost like a tangy sweet whipped cream cheese. I wasn’t digging it, unfortuantely. The black side was better, but also had a bit of an off taste. It had more of a cocoa flavor to me than chocolate, but was pretty good, and also pretty sweet. The frosting was very delicate, almost whipped in consistency.

I have had the Mini Black & White Cookie from Crumbs before and thought it was awesome. Honestly, I think I would rather have one of those than one of these Frosted Black and White Cookies to satisfy my sweet tooth. The vanilla or white side of the cookie really threw me off, and just wasn’t digging it. This cookie costs be $3.00, and I can’t say I’m not disappointed =(  2 stars

Again, I dont know the exact nutritionals or ingredients, except I believe it was 390 calories. Which, is a MEALS worth of calories, but it was a treat! =)

Ever buy something thinking it would be delicious only to be let down a little (or a lot!)? What was it?


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