How many fruits and veggies do you REALLY eat daily? No, I don’t personally count the 3 pieces of freeze-dried fruit in your cereal or the bag of potato chips you had as a fruit or vegetable serving, although some may. I try to eat as many fruits and veggies as possible, but understandable, sometimes it is hard to reach that quota of a daily reccomended serving.

SO, I was excited to try Fruitmania Fruit Drink, a free sample I got that also came with Smart-meal snx PROGEL, which I shall review at a later date. According to the box, this is a drink that has “12 fruits and vegetables and essential nutrients”, “No artificial sweeteners, no artificial coloring, no preservatives” is dairy, fat, lactose, gluten, wheat, yeast and cholesterol free AND has “no aspartame”. To top it all off…the letters on the box say “over 2 lbs. of fruits and vegetables packed into every bottle!”

Hmm. I was skeptical. I’m always skeptical. Even if there are this many fruits/veggies, how would it taste?! Bitter? Overly sweet? Like spinach juice? Here’s a closeup of what it looked like.

Not exactly appealing…however, it smelled kind of like a cherry/strawberry fruit-roll up I used to eat as a kid. But how did it taste?

Not bad, but not exactly fantastic. It had a strawberry-cherry flavor, and was sweet yet toned down at the same time. It left an after-taste in my mouth, kind of like when I drink an artificially flavored/sweetened fruit drink or something like that, although it stated it had no fake sweeteners on the box. It had the texture of an almond milk, where it was smooth but had a little bit more thickness than water.

It was only a 2.5 oz bottle, so I think if I had this again I don’t need to sip on it slowly, and can just drink it rather quickly, or maybe add it to a smoothie. It didn’t taste bad at all, but didn’t taste as “natural” as I thought it would.

After reading over the ingredients, I saw it had Stevia in it, which I would account for that less-than-just-fruit-juice flavor. However, it really isn’t bad, and if given in the future I would drink it as a pre or post gym pick-me-up. I also read the fine print- which said “1 Bottle is infused with: 12 concentrated fruits and vegetables and 5 grams of prebiotic fiber”. So, the mini bottle is basically just fruit/veggie concentrates, with a few other ingredients, which doesn’t give me the same satisfaction as actually eating the whole fruit or veggie, but still isn’t bad.

So overall, 3 stars.

How many fruits and/or veggies do you eat every day? I’d say most days I get 2 servings of fruit, 4-6 servings of veggies. Not bad if I don’t say so myself!

Who doesn’t love trail mix? Crunchy, sweet, salty, savory, and satisfying- all in one! I was pleasantly surprised when I saw a box on my front step from Enjoy Life, and inside was their  Not Nuts! Seed and Fruit Mix in Mountain Mambo and Beach Bash varieties.

Take a closer look. Here’s the Mountain Mambo

camera fail. blurrrrrry!

And heres the Beach Bash flavor

Alrighty, let’s get down to business. The first one I tried was the Mountain Mambo. It had apple pieces, raisins, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and more.

The apple pieces were so yummy! Soft and chewy, and perfect addition.

The raisins were a little off tasting. Not super sweet like I’m used to, and I was a bit disappointed. Especially since in the bag, there was a LOT of raisins. Seriously- I got a big blob of raisins right in the middle all stuck together!

The sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds were very fresh tasting and crunchy, and not really salty at all. However, not salty doesn’t mean they weren’t flavorful!

Then, I shook up bag a little and found…

Chocolate chips!

These were yummy! Smooth chocolate, and tasted like a milk chocolate would.

Another surprise was I found  VERY few cranberries. Only got like 2 in the bag ! However, the two or so I got were quite tasty, and not too tart. So for this variety….

3 ½ stars

Next up, the winner in my eyes, BEACH BASH variety.

Seriously, in a word,- yum.

There were sunflower seeds, pumpkin, apricots, pineapple, cranberries and more. On a brighter side, there were definitely more cranberries in this one and yummy too! Sweet, not tart and chewy!

The pineapple pieces were BEYOND delicious. Seriously- I want a bag of just the pineapple! It was soft, and sugar sweet! I may or may not have picked all the pineapple out of the bag the first day I got it….. oops

The apricot pieces? eh. Kind of hard and dry and tart. Not  a fan. Would rather more pineapple…

Overall, 4 stars

Overall, yummy! Both are NUT FREE, wheat free, dairy free, egg free, soy free, peanut free! And yum-my! I like beach bash better. I would totally buy it!

What would you put in your ideal trail mix? Mine would be dried pineapple pieces from above, glazed pecans, cashews, reeses pieces, and pretzels!

I think I should start off by saying I don’t like dark chocolate.  I will eat it, but I find it too bitter, hardly sweet, and just unenjoyable for my taste buds. My taste buds much prefer milk chocolate, and white chocolate (with my FAVORITE white chocolate review here!) Nutrition courses via an accredited online college for people who have decided they want to
pursue their knowledge about health and nutrition further. It is helpful to learn from each other as well as experts and books.

So, before eating this, in the back of my head I thought, aw man, DARK chocolate? Boo! But who am I to judge based on the name? Who knows what it will taste like? It could be cookie heaven.

And it was…

As you can probably see, it was a bit crumby, and broke apart very easily. Kind of like the other gluten free cookie by Fabe’s. It was dense, and a bit “piecy” as I chewed it, but wow was it DE  LIC  IOUS. And yes, delicious is three words now, you didn’t know that? ; )  (kidding). Literally, this cookie melted in my mouth as I ate it. It was very sweet, and tasted like a brownie. Or just like chocolate frosting. Actually, how about a brownie WITH chocolate frosting on it. SO GOOD!

Seriously, Fabe’s knows how to make cookies. Yes, there are some crumb issues going on, so I wouldn’t reccommend eating this while your wearing white or at a friend’s house who can’t stand crumbs anywhere. In fact, I advise you don’t eat this cookie at that friends house, or I predict he or she will be very angry at you. However, feel free to eat it on your way out the door because you can’t wait until you get home. It’s that good. It’s so good I made up an imaginary friend for you who doesn’t like crumbs. Your welcome.

ANYWAY, this one gets 4 1/2 stars. Again, the crumb/consistency of the cookie is a bit off, but the flavor is right on. And the nutritional facts will set you back 280 calories if you polish off the whole cookie (hey…don’t point your finger at me. I only ate 3/4 of the cookie this time! =) ). Regardless, I think you should try this if you have the chance to!

I got this cookie to try for free from the company.

Along with the delicious Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookie I was sent for free from Fabe’s, they also sent me some others, including the Sweetened by Nature Gluten Free Cranberry Orange Cookie. According to the wrapper, this cookie is also  vegan, egg free, dairy free, all natural, and has no refined sugar.

I’m always a bit skeptical when something says it’s free of a lot of ingredients, as are some of my friends who I have heard comment to me in the past. Well, if it has no refined sugar, no eggs, no dairy, no gluten…what’s it made of? And HOW could it possibly taste good?

Well. I don’t know….doesn’t this look delicious?

Well – no worries here, Fabe’s has you covered. This particular cookie was actually quite delicious. The first thing I noticed is that it was VERY crumbly. It literally started to fall apart as I opened the wrapper, but I liked how it was a bigger cookie. However, there are 2 servings (read 1 serving if you’re me) in this cookie.

There were are a good amount of cranberries, which were chewy and sweet, and slightly tart. The cookie had a melt in your mouth consistency, and had a different texture than any cookie I ever had. It was almost like a crumb cake in texture. It was VERY sweet, but delicious, with a predominant orange zest flavor, and a  coconut flavor as well!

Overall, Fabe’s has proved that even without eggs, dairy, gluten or refined sugar, yummy cookies can be made. If I hadn’t eaten the whole cookie myself (ooooops….) I would bring it over to my skeptical friends to prove them wrong. This cookie gets 4 stars, because I wish it was a tad less crumbly. Also, this cookie has two servings, and it’s WAY too hard not to eat both. So delicious!

Cranberries- are you a fan? I would say I’m on the fence. If they are sweet and dried, I like them. But if they are too tart, I could definitely do without them!

And, well, I’ve eaten my fair share of green vegetables over the years and I’ve yet to see any transformation. Just saying.

But anyway, hoping to come to the green rescue is the Amazing Grass Organic GreenSuperFood Whole Food Energy Bar. According the the wrapper of the bar, it is organic, raw, vegan, gluten free, dairy and soy free, and has no sugar added.

It had a slighty fruity smell, almost like a date. The bar was very dense, but also soft to chew. The taste was pretty fruity, and surprisingly sweeter than I had expected. It reminded me sort of like a raspberry flavored fruit leather, but softer, and definitely not as sweet. It also reminded me of what the inside of a fig newton tasted like, but again, not as sweet. The tiny pieces of walnuts that were in the bar I liked, because it added a bit more flavor.

Overall, not too bad, but not my favorite. It was lackluster for me, but the nutritional facts were impressive. Chock full of awesome ingredients, such as organic dates, organic wheat grass, organic flax lignans and more. I felt as if it truly was a bar from nature, and green inspired. However, it wasn’t so good as to where I would buy it again (although I recieved this sample for free). And even though it was sugar free, I felt like I wanted to drizzle icing on it. Curse my sweet tooth. 2 1/2 stars

Have you ever watched the Ninja Turtles? Which one was your favorite? Leonardo was mine =)

Adding to the other crunchy Enjoy Life cookies I was sent, the Chocolate Chip and Sugar Crisp, I was also sent the Enjoy Life Crunchy Double Chocolate Cookies to try for free as well.

First off, I loved that there was a good amount of chocolate chips in these cookies, they really were double chocolate, and not something like “chocolate-cookie-with-a-sprinkle-of-chocolate-chips” thrown in.

They were crunchy, but not super crispy where crumbs got every where when I took a bite. I felt that they were softer than the other two varieties of cookies that I tried. They were chocolatey for sure, but not so super chocolately as something like devil’s food  cake would be. It reminded me kind of like a crunchy brownie in a way, as for what it would taste like.  There also was a little bit of a slightly salty/sweet combo going on as well.

Overall, I actually really liked these! Give me a jar of peanut butter  to smear on them alongside a glass of milk, and call me one happy camper. I liked that these had 2 cookies for a serving, were only 110 calories, and only 8 grams of sugar. Not too shabby! 4 stars

If you had to choose…. Double Chocolate Cookies? or Double Chocolate Brownies?

Recently I reviewed the Enjoy Life Crunchy Sugar Crisp Cookies, which I thought were pretty good. Enjoy Life also sent me a box of the new Crunchy Chocolate Chip cookies to try for free as well.

These cookies, as stated from the front of the box, are dairy free, nut free and gluten free, as well as being made with natural ingredients. They looked pretty tasty from the cover, and who am I to ever turn down a chocolate chip cookie?

These cookies were certainly crunchy and sweet. I liked that there were a good amount of chocolate chips as well, which were smooth, but had an off taste. There was also a good amount of vanilla flavor in this that kind of threw me off, and a bit of a brown sugar flavor, which helped sweeten the cookie.

Overall, I think I liked the Sugar Crisp cookies better, these overall were just a bit awkward for me.  They are also a tad high in saturated fat ( 3.5 grams per serving), but on a positive note, 2 cookies are only 120 calories. These get 2 1/2 stars from me

Question- Do you like your chocolate chip cookies with a LOT of chocolate chips, or not that many? When it comes to homemade, I prefer not a lot of chocolate chips, but store bought cookies, the more the better! =)

The other day I went to Whole Foods (which is quite a bit of a drive from my house) with $12.00. I had intentions to only buy one thing (a pot pie) and then leave. I have no idea why on EARTH I thought it was a good idea to go in with only $12.00, as that was the day it seemed my Whole Foods had a whole bunch of new products. Since I had enough to buy one other thing, I was torn  between these Peas of Mind Veggie Wedgies Baked Carrot Fries and a few others. However, these looked the most unique, and at 4 servings a bag, I thought I could eat them at least more than once.

Some info on these fries from the bag…

I baked these in the toaster oven. I noticed that they really didn’t get super crispy, and there was literally NO grease at all (which makes sense, since they are fat free).

They reminded me of sort of a bread stick in texture, they were smooth on the outside but sightly crunchy on the edges. I decided to have a cheese omelet and some ketchup with these fries as well

I have no shame. I went for multiple servings of ketchup that night.
Good thing we buy the economy sized bottle =)

So, onto the taste. I was so excited for these for a few reasons- low in fat, good way to get some extra veggies in, gives me an excuse to eat ketchup (just kidding). I tried one as is, no ketchup no nothing. And, well. bland. Very bland. Disappointingly bland. I really only tasted a hint of carrot flavor, and the first thing I thought was that these needed salt. They were slightly crunchy/smooth on the outside, with a more mushy interior. Kind of weird, actually, but not too bad.

Next, I dunked them in ketchup. This would explain why I went through, oh, I dont know, a good 1/4 of the bottle of ketchup that evening. They were good, but only when there was a lot of ketchup.

Overall, these were ok. I might eat them again given I had something to dunk them in or season them with, but I probably won’t buy them again. I do like that they are a healthier option to greasy french fries and that they are versatile in seasoning them up. However, they were not amazing enough for me to want to buy them again. 2 1/2 stars

My question- how do you think I should eat the other half of the bag? Any ideas? I was thinking about going the sweet route, and maybe adding some butter and brown sugar?

]]> http://healthnuttxo.com/2011/06/25/peas-of-mind-veggie-wedgies-baked-carrot-fries/feed/ 8 http://healthnuttxo.com/2011/06/24/amys-kitchen-tofu-scramble-with-hash-browns-veggies/ http://healthnuttxo.com/2011/06/24/amys-kitchen-tofu-scramble-with-hash-browns-veggies/#comments Fri, 24 Jun 2011 16:41:27 +0000 Healthnuttxo http://healthnuttxo.com/?p=2953

Yea, Yea I know what your thinking. Tofu? Ew.

Well, here’s me pleading you to reconsider. Or you can be anti-tofu if you want. That is until you try THIS dish. This dish completely transforms tofu from the “flavorless sponge” (as my friends refer to it at least), to delicious.

Doesn’t this look scrumptious?

Ok, minus the soggy tomato.

Let’s break it down into compartments. I’ll start with the soggy tomato. Honestly, the only part of this dish I didn’t like. But is it really fair I didn’t like that aspect of the meal? I’m really not a fan of tomatoes. Ketchup? Yes. Tomato sauce? Yes. But actual tomatoes. Nooooo. I guess the fact that it was soggy didn’t really help. But no problem, I just replaced that part of the dish with a heaping side of broccoli =)

Now, onto the hash browns. YUMMY. Great potato flavor, almost like a toasted or cooked potato flavor, and some aspects had a very slightly burnt flavor. The consistency was soft, but not mushy, and although not overpowering in flavor, I really enjoyed it.

Now, onto the winner. THE TOFU. It was legitimately delicious. A peppery, garlicy and oniony flavor, it was very rich and had an “eggy” flavor as well. There was also bits of carrots and spinach that added a bit of flavor. One thing to point out that it was greasy, which really contributed to the rich feel. HOWEVER, it really was so good. And there was a generous portion of the tofu scramble and the hash browns, which I really enjoyed.

Here’s the nutritional facts. LOVE how much protein there is, and so few carbs, but it
certainly is high in fat!

Overall, 4 1/2 stars. REALLY good, and certainly worth a try! This meal is also gluten free, dairy free AND vegan! =)

What about you? Fan of Tofu or no? If so, how do you eat/prepare it?

I was offered to try some of the new CRUNCHY cookies from EnjoyLife to try for free here on HealthNutt.

I received them in 4 flavors, and the first one I tried was the Sugar Crisp. These cookies are gluten free, dairy free and nut free as stated on front of the box. I took a look at the nutritional information, and was pleased. The serving size was two cookies,and  there was 7 grams of sugar. There was no fiber and 2.5 grams of saturated fat per two cookies, but they were also only 110 calories.

I pulled a cookie out of the tray. I liked that
they came in a tray so that the
cookies don’t get mushed and get crumbs
everywhere.

Very crunchy, with visible sugar granules. They had a toasted sugar cookie flavor, with almost a bit of a snickerdoodle or shortbread flavor as well. I enjoyed the fact that these cookies were sweet, but not overly sweet, and had a vanilla flavor as well. Something to point out would be that they had a teeny bit of an aftertaste that I couldn’t quite put my finger on, but it wasn’t something that stopped me from liking the cookie.

They had the kind of consistency that sort of dissolved very fast as I chewed it- very airy and crispy. I’m tempted to dunk them in milk or smear some peanut butter on them for some extra enjoyment =)

Overall? 4 stars

What’s your favorite kind of cookie? Crunchy or Chewy?