It’s safe to say that I have eaten at least one apple a day, every day, since I was in middle school. Yep- they ARE my favorite fruits! And quite a lot of years and a LOT of apples were eaten in that time! That’s what I was happy to try the Crispy Greens Crispy Apples with my breakfast this morning, as well as the Crispy Asian Pears.

What I liked about these is that the ingredients is just fruit. No salt, preservatives, or sugar added, it’s just freeze dred fruit. According to the bag, both of them are also gluten free, vegan, dairy free, and peanut free.

I decided to have these with my cereal this morning. Here’s what they looked like out of the bag. (Ignore my ugly handwriting =P )

The Apples

The Asian Pears

As you can see, there was a texture difference. Not huge, but certainly there.

The Crispy Apples were just that- crispy. They also had a nice little crunch to them. They were sweet, yet tart, and pretty good. The Crispy Asian Pears were very soft. Almost as if they were the apples, but I left the bag open over night and they softened up. They just didn’t have the same crunch and crispy consistency that the apples had. However, the flavor was really yummy! They tasted just like a juicy pear would. They were also very sweet. In fact, I couldn’t get over just how sweet they were, and to think there was no added sugar!

Overall, pretty good! I added them to my cereal with almond milk and a banana, and thought they made a great addition. Gotta love that it’s just fruit, and no added sugar or preservatives! 4 stars

10 grams (1 bag) is 40 calories,  0 grams of fat, 8 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram  of fiber, 7 grams of sugar and 0 grams of protein.

Have you eaten one of the same things every day? What is it?

I got these to try, for free, from the company.

EnjoyLife offered me something new they came out with to try for free, the Double Chocolate Crunch Nut & Gluten Free Granola. Being the nut about granola that I am, (and the fact that chocolate was involved), I couldn’t wait to try it.

This cereal is very “allergy friendly”, as the package states, as it is free of  ”wheat, dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, egg, soy, fish, shellfish” and “also made without casein, potato, sesame and sulfites”. Wow. It’s amazing how they can still make tasty products even with excluding so many different types of food!

Once I got the package, I immediately dove in and gave it a try. Here’s what it looked like

Look at all those yummy chocolate chips!

At first, I thought it was a bit bland, since it’s not super sweet. But, as I ate it, it really is delicious, and I couldn’t STOP eating it! Handful after handful, I ate the yummy granola. I loved the fact that there were a LOT of chocolate chips, no scrimping there for sure, and they were smooth and sweet. The texture of the granola was crispy, crunchy, and it had a mild chocolate flavor, that again, was not overly sweet.

Overall, very good. It was kind of like a bag of chocolate candies, once I started eating a few handfuls, I kept saying “oh, just a little bit more”, and then proceeded to take even more handfuls! I love that this is made with good ingredients,has a bit of fiber, and is a decent portion size given that it involves both chocolate and granola. 4 stars

What’s your favorite thing that’s “double chocolate”? I love double chocolate chip muffins!

EnjoyLife offered to send me some of their cookies for free, and one of them was the Lively Lemon cookies. According to the box, these are wheat free, peanut free, dairy free, tree nut free, soy free, fish free, egg free and shellfish free, as well as being gluten free. I don’t have any food allergies, but I was still up for trying them anyway.

I opened the box, and saw kind of small-ish cookies with yellow spots on them. They smelled very fresh and lemon like. I took one out of the box and was a bit disappointed at how small they were. For a comparison, here’s what they looked like compared to a Snapple cap.

More like bite-sized cookies to me!

These cookies were super soft,  no crunch here. They were chewy, except for the little yellow bumps that were a bit harder. They were sweet with a lemon zest flavor, and pretty good. It was strange that they were really moist, yet dry at the same time- odd? Overall, they were pretty good. Not amazing, but pretty good. I had a friend try one an she said they were “very good in their own way” but they “had something missing”. I agreed.  3 1/2 stars.

What’s your favorite thing that is LEMON flavored?

2 cookies is 130 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, 21 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 11 grams of sugar and 1 gram of protein.

Here’s a picture I took of them below-So as you can see, pretty good with the toppings, and rather thin bars. According to the packages, the bars are gluten free, Dairy Free, Egg Free, Tree Nut Free, and Peanut Free. Last time I tried one of these I remember the bar sort of fell apart as I ate it, so I hoped these bars would be better.

I tried the raisin first. The raisins were really tasty- chewy and sweet. This bar didn’t fall apart as I had expected and was actualyl quite delicious! It was crunchy and chewy at the same time, and sweet with a good cinnamon flavor. It reminded me of an oatmeal raisin cookie- Yummmy!!

Next up- chocolate chip. This one was also really tasty- sweet, milk chocolate flavor, that was also chewy and crunchy, but not as crunchy as the raisin, and overall really good. Delicious!

Overall, very good products! Sometimes when I get a food product that caters to so many allergies like being dairy free, gluten free, etc. it often has a funny texture or sometimes has an off taste- but these were very good! I would totally eat both of these as a snack, and they are both only 120-130 calories each. Sounds good to me! 4 stars!

Raisin- 1 bar is 120 calories, 4 grams of fat, 20 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 7 grams of sugar and 2 grams of protein

Chocolate Chip- 1 bar is 130 calories, 5 grams of fat, 19 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 6 grams of sugar and 2 grams of protein.

Oh, and if you haven’t entered the coupon giveaway and you want to, here’s a link to do so! : )

I was sent to try these bars for free from Nonuttin’.

Source

Introducing, one of the most allergy friendly bars I have probably ever eaten. Enjoy Life sent me some of their boom CHOCO boom bars to try for free, one being the dairy-free rice milk with crispy rice bar. This bar is soy free, dairy free, nut free, gluten free, and according to the back of the wrapper, “they contain NO: wheat, dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, egg, soy, fish or shellfish. Also made without casein, potato, sesame, and sulfites”. How’s THAT for a chocolate bar?

So of course, I was a bit iffy to try it. I mean, milk chocolate is usually what I eat and like, and this bar had NO dairy? Hmm..

So, I opened up the wrapper and saw 4 rather large squares of chocolate. I took the plunge and took a bite and…

mmmmmm.

Sweet, creamy, delicious. This has no dairy? I would have never known! A great chocolate flavor, a great milk chocolate flavor (minus the milk of course), and really good. There weren’t a ton of crispies in it, which I actually liked because I feel as if sometimes the add-ins take away from the actual chocolate. But the crispies themselves tasted like white rice crispies, and left a little bit of an aftertaste.

Overall, 4 stars. Delicious! I think that anyone might like this bar, and it’s great that it caters to people with special dietary needs. It is a bit high in saturated fat (10 grams per package), and sugar (16 grams per package), but then again, it is candy, and probably not meant to be eaten every day.

1 package  is 220 calories, 15 grams of fat, 22 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 16 grams of sugar, and 1 gram of protein.

What’s your favorite type of chocolate bar? Please leave me a comment below!

Evaporated Cane Juice, Non-Dairy Cocoa Butter, Natural Chocolate Liquor (non-alcoholic), Rice Chips (rice flour, rice bran, raisin juice concentrate, honey, salt), Rice Milk Powder (rice syrup powder, rice starch, rice flour, salt, carrageenan), Salt.

NoNuttin’ makes snacks that have a lot to offer. For example, according to the package of the Double Chocolate Chunk Granola Bar I was sent to try from NoNuttin’, this bar alone is “Gluten Free, Peanut Free, Tree Nut Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free”.

Well? Let’s give this a try!

The bar is on the smaller side, long and somewhat thin (about the width of my two fingers). It’s brown in color, with visible oats, and pices of chocoalte on the top part of the bar. It has a rather soft consistency, and fell apart easily as I lifted up the bar after I took it out of the wrapper. The chocolate on top tasted like a dark chocolate, and was more bitter than sweet. The texture of the bar is chewy, and the oats sort of have that rolled oats consistency, like how they are before I make homemade oatmeal. The taste is better than the texture. It has a sweet, chocolatey flavor, with a hint of vanilla.

I probably would have enjoyed this bar more if it wasn’t as chewy, and the chocolate pieces were sweeter. I’m giving it 3 stars. I DO like that it has a lot of things, such as being gluten free and dairy free, and that there is only 6 grams of sugar per bar.

1 bar (30 grams) is 120 calories, 4 grams of fat, 20 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 6 grams of sugar and 2 grams of protein.

Time for me to bake, er, bake and review, some cookies! : )

Another box of baking mix I recieved (please see previous post) for free was the Cherrybrook Kitchen Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix. This mix, according to the front of the box, was vegan, dairy free, egg free, and nut/peanut free! What I also enjoyed was the front of the box had Arthur on it- one of those cartoons I remember watching as a kid! I could just feel this was going to be one of those nostalgic baking experiences!

So, I took out 1/2 cup of butter, 1/4 cup of water, and the mix, and put it in a bowl. I started to mix with a spoon and smelled the delicious chocolate aroma- ooh, I was getting HUNGRY! I  saw there was a lot of chocolate chips, that were rather large too, and was impressed!

As I was mixing, I did notice it was a bit crumbly and dry, so I decided to add a little more water as I was having difficulty stirring it. Then, I decided to just mix by hand, which was convenient since the next step was to roll these cookies into small balls.

After baking, I saw that these cookies did not spread out as I had expected them too- they rather “puffed up”. Normally when I bake cookies, I space them far apart expecting them to expand in a circle. With these, they expanded a little, but mostly rose up.

But, that didn’t affect the taste! They sure were good- buttery rich tasting and sweet but not too sweet. Since there was a lot of chocolate chips, they also had a good chocolatey flavor. They also became crispy and crunchy cookies, rather than super soft cookies. I do prefer soft chocolate chip cookies over crunchy or hard, but these were still enjoyable. I can see myself eating these with a nice glass of milk! 4 stars

Have you ever watched Arthur? Or what was your favorite cartoon growing up? If you’d like to answer, please leave a comment below!

Ingredients in mix: Unbleached Flour (wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), Evaporated Cane Juice, Granulated Brown Sugar, Non Dairy Chocolate Chips ( sugar, chocolate liquor, dextrose, cocoa butter (no dairy derivatives), soy lecithin, pure vanilla extract), All Natural Vanilla Flavor, Non-Alluminated Baking Powder, Sea Salt.

Who likes CAKE? I know I do! : )

Cake is great. For birthdays, bake sales, or even just to bake for fun (like I often do!). I was given a box of Cherrybrook Kitchen Chocolate Cake Mix to try, and I was very excited. This cake mix was a bit different than ones I have used in the past- according to the front of the box, this cake mix was all natural, vegan, dairy free, peanut/nut free, and egg free!  I also thought the front of the box was adorable- it looked as if there were two cartoon children standing on top of a piece of chocolate cake, flying a “piece of chocolate cake kite”. Adorable!

What I noticed first after reading the instructions, was that this cake mix was made to make either 12 cupcakes or one 9-inch cake. I decided to use a pan instead of cupcakes, as I wanted to cut them into squares when I was finished. I also decided to swap 1/2 cup of applesauce for the 1/2 cup of vegetable oil that was called for. I sometimes do this when I bake breads or cakes- I can’t tell the difference!

I poured the cake mix, water, and applesauce in a bowl. The cake mix itself looked like a soft brown cocoa powder, and smelled absolutely delicious- just like a chocolate bar. I started mixing, and was puzzled at first. Why aren’t these bumps going away? Then- surprise! They were chocolate chips! I had no idea they were in the cake mix!

Then I poured the cake batter, which was a good consistency- easy to pour- into my pan and put it into the oven. When it was done cooking, it certainly puffed up! They were a deep chocolate brown, with “crispy-type” edges bordering the pan.

After letting them cool, I tasted a piece- these weren’t bad!  I tried another piece the day after, and noticed that they were much more like brownies than cake- as in they were quite “fudgy” in consistency and flavor! The chocolate chips added a nice touch too! Sweet enough as is, I didn’t even need to put frosting on my piece to enjoy it. I really liked the edges of the cake- they were slightly more chewy and crispy than the rest of the cake- but still yummy! Overall, this product gets 4  stars. Pretty good, and easy to make! : )

Unbleached flour [wheat, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid], evaporated cane juice, non-dairy chocolate chips [sugar, chocolate liquor, dextrose, cocoa butter (no dairy derivatives), soy lecithin, pure vanilla extract], natural cocoa powder, all natural vanilla flavor, baking soda, sea salt.

I.M. Healthy Soynut Butters are a great alternative to peanut butters, and come in several flavors. Original (creamy & chunky), Honey (creamy and chunky),  Unsweetened (creamy & chunky) and Chocolate. According to the website, “Because it is safe for the individual with a peanut or nut allergy, but equally important, it is accepted as “peanut butter” by those who can eat peanut butter. That is critical for any institution wrestling with the peanut allergy dilemma because it allows the institution to effectively replace peanut butter, but not loose any of its key advantages. And it gives the individual peanut butter consumer a safe substitute for any “peanut free” environment.”

These sure sound good!

The people over at I.M. Healthy generously sent me some of their jars of soynut butter to try, like the Honey Creamy, Honey Crunchy, Chocolate, Original Creamy and Unsweetened. I was most excited for the honey flavored types, as I love things that are sweet! So, I tried those first

Honey Creamy- CERTAINLY lived up to my expectations. This was absolutely delicious. Super creamy, and no overpowering soynut taste. It was actually not too sweet, with just a hint of honey. The texture was nice and thick, a good spread for toast for sure. It also has FOUR grams of fiber per serving! 4 1/2 stars

Honey Chunky- Same great flavor as the Honey Creamy, but with delicious crunchy soy nuts! I actually really enjoyed this one, as I liked the texture and crunch. It was a tad bit saltier than the Honey Creamy, and only 170 calories calories for 2 tablespoons. Nice!!  5 stars

Chocolate- this one has a nice blend of chocolate and soy nut flavors. You can taste the soy nut, but it wasn’t too overpowering. It was pretty sweet, the sweetest of the 5, and creamy. A good chocolately spread, I think it would be delicious on fruit or crackers. 4 stars

Original Creamy- This one was salty & sweet, with a tang. I actually enjoyed it, even though you could taste more of a soynut flavor than the others. I would probably try this one with jelly  for a soynut butter & jelly sandwich 4 stars

Unsweetened Creamy- this one was my least favorite of the 5. It was certainly the thickest and creamiest, but also the blandest. It did sort of remind me of peanut butter when there is no salt or nu sugar added, but literally just the peanuts, but I preferred the other flavors to this one. 3 stars

Overall, I enjoyed these soynut butters. I think they are definetely worth giving a try if you have peanut allergies, or if you just want to change things up a little! I really reccommend the Honey Chunky variety. I loved taking a spoon and dipping right from the jar!

Honey Creamy-2 Tbsp is 190 calories, 14 grams of fat, 10 carbohydrates, 4 grams of fiber, 4 grams of sugar, and 7 grams of protein.

Roasted Soybeans (Non-GMO), Naturally Pressed Soybean Oil, Maltodextrin (from Corn), Honey, Granulated Cane Sugar, Monoglycerides (derived from Vegetable Oil), Salt.

Honey Chunky-2 Tbsp is 170 calories, 11 grams of fat, 10 carbohydrates, 3 grams of fiber, 4 grams of sugar, and 7 grams of protein.

Roasted Soybeans (Non-GMO), Naturally Pressed Soy Bean Oil, Maltodextrin (from Corn), Soy Protein isolate, Honey, Granulated Cane Juice, Mono and Diglycerides (derived from Vegetable Oil), Salt

Original Creamy- 2 Tbsp is 200 calories, 14 grams of fat, 10 carbohydrates, 3 grams of fiber, 3 grams of sugar, and 6 grams of protein.

Roasted Soybeans (Non-GMO), Naturally Pressed Soy Bean Oil, Maltodextrin (from Corn), Granulated Cane Sugar, Monoglycerides (derived from Vegetable Oil), Salt.

Unsweetened Creamy-2 Tbsp is 190 calories, 15 grams of fat, 6 carbohydrates, 5 grams of fiber, 0 grams of sugar, and 9 grams of protein.

Roasted Soybeans (Non-GMO), Naturally Pressed Soy Bean Oil, Maltodextrin (from Corn),  Monoglycerides (derived from Vegetable Oil), Soy Lecithin and Salt.

Chocolate-2 Tbsp is 190 calories, 14 grams of fat, 12 carbohydrates, 3 grams of fiber, 9 grams of sugar, and 6 grams of protein.

Roasted Soybeans (Non-GMO), Naturally Pressed Soy Bean Oil, Maltodextrin (from Corn), Granulated Cane Juice, Cocoa, Mono and Diglycerides, Natural Vanilla.

No Nuttin’ Foods Inc. makes snacks that can be enjoyed by almost everyone, as they made products that are gluten free, nut free, egg free, dairy free, and are also all natural and healthy, too! These snack range from granola bars, to trail mixes, to granola clusters, and come in several yummy flavors.

The company sent me a few snacks to try, so I decided to try the Vanilla Caramel Granola Clusters and the Apple Cinnamon Granola Bar. Those sounded most appealing to me. Vanilla Caramel? Count me in. Apple Cinnamon? We all know I love apple anything!

First up- Vanilla Caramel Granola Clusters. They came in an individually sized bag, with about a large handful of clusters. They smelled pretty good, like a light caramel. I put a few pieces in my mouth and was actually surprised. These weren’t crunchy. I sort of expected at least some kind of crunch, including they were supposed to be granola clusters. They were more chewy and kind of stuck to your teeth a bit as you ate them, almost sticky in texture. Perhaps they would have been better in yogurt rather than straight from the bag, but not too bad. They weren’t too sweet, and they only had 5 grams of sugar per serving. They had a very light vanilla flavor, but mostly a caramel flavor to me. 3 stars

Apple Cinnamon Granola Bar- Well, I opened this up, and half the bar fell off. These bars fall apart super easy! It was a bunch of crisp rice and oats, held together very loosely by brown rice/rice syrup. The texture sort of reminded me of a rice krispie treat- but as if you were making them homemade. However, the flavor saved this bar. It was sweet and had a nice apple & cinnamon taste, that was actually very good. I would have liked it better if the bar had more staying power, but overall not bad. 3 stars

Overall, these aren’t bad. They are a good option if you cannot tolerate gluten, and cannot have peanuts or nuts. I liked how the granola clusters and granola bar were low in sugar, but I just didn’t really care for the texture of either too. Also, they are both kind of low in fiber and protein, but if paired with some fruit or yogurt/protein, they could be good snacks.

1 packet of vanilla caramel granola clusters (30 grams) is 130 calories, 5 grams of fat, 19 carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 5 grams of sugar, and 2 grams of protein.

Pure oats, rice syrup, expeller pressed canola oil, brown sugar, organic crisp brown rice (organic brown rice, organic brown rice syrup, sea salt), natural vanilla flavor.

1 apple cinnamon granola bar is 130 calories, 5 grams of fat, 19 carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 5 grams of sugar and 2 grams of protein.

Pure oats, rice syrup, expeller pressed canola oil, organic crisp brown rice (organic brown rice, organic brown rice syrup, sea salt), dried apples, brown sugar, organic cinnamon.