Review: Quest Nutrition White Chocolate Raspberry Protein Bars

Brand:  Quest Nutrition

Flavor:  White Chocolate Raspberry

Where to get it: here @ Bodybuilding.com

                Quest bars are a great snack with low (net) carbs and lots of good protein. I’m slowly working my way through the flavors, and my second whack at these was this White Chocolate Raspberry flavor. I love me some white chocolate, yes I do. My favorite yogurt, of which I consume about 5 containers weekly, is a carb-conscious white chocolate raspberry. I liked these bars okay I suppose, I just found them to be a bit too sweet. The raspberry flavor is great, and I got pretty giddy when I actually found myself crunching down on some REAL raspberry seeds. If you really, really, REALLY like potent raspberry sweetness, you will die for this bar. I ate it in thirds over the course of a week, because that was about the right amount of raspberry sweetness for me at one time.

               

Tastes like:  Super sweet, super raspberry

Taste rating:  6/10

What’s in it:

Review: Primal Strips Meatless Jerky

Brand:  Primal Strips

Flavor:  Hickory Smoked & Texas BBQ

Where to get it: here @ FakeMeats.com

                Can we talk about texture for just a moment? Sometimes, things taste good, but they have an unbearable texture. That would be clams in white wine and butter sauce for me. I adore seafood, but I just can’t with clams and oysters, for textural reasons. I know soy is a wonder when it comes to making meatless products, but I still didn’t expect the texture of these Primal Strips Meatless Vegan Jerky snacks to be so completely on-the-money. IT’S CRAZY. It’s just like beef or turkey jerky, but not quite as hard to pull apart, tooth-wise. I guess that means it actually has BETTER texture. I could not have predicted this. Low-calorie and lots of good soy protein too, and they actually taste pretty darn good. They were a little sweet to me, more like a teriyaki than a BBQ/smoke flavor, but I definitely didn’t feed any of these to the dogs, much to their dismay.

               

Tastes like:  A less-dry, teriyaki beef jerky

Taste rating:  7.5/10

Qualities:  Gluten free, Non GMO, Kosher, Vegetarian, Vegan

What’s in it:

Review: Glorious Chobani Greek Yogurts

Brand:  Chobani Greek yogurt

Flavor:  Various

Where to get it: Your local grocery store, but their site is http://www.chobani.com/

                I’ll just come right out and say it:  I love everything Chobani does. The Greek yogurt market has EXPLODED in the US in the last 2ish years, and if I’m awarding the crown, I am giving it to Chobani without extra time in the deliberation room. For one, it’s available in almost any grocery store - unlike some other “highly recommended” Greek yogurts. If I have to drive 2 hours to find a store that sells “the best” Greek yogurt, it’s not the best. Maybe it’s good, but I need access, man!

Chobani also impresses me for their variety. 0%, 2%, 100-calorie, and now they have a line with steel-cut oats already mixed in (!). My person and I saw the latter option in the store for the first time about 2 weeks ago and looked at each other skeptically. We each bought one container, thinking “eh, this is probably going to be a disaster.” It wasn’t. It was delicious. We went back to the store THAT NIGHT to get more. The apple and banana are my favorite oat ones (he fancies the blueberry), and they have comparable calories (160 vs 140) to their 0% and 2% lines. Ever calorie-counting, I more often eat from the 100-calorie line, and still get *12* grams of protein. 12 grams in 100 calories?? Fantastic job, Chobani. I’m yours.

               

Tastes like:  A tastier way to get protein than about 90% of protein powders on the market

Taste rating:  10/10

Qualities:  All natural, Gluten free, Kosher, Vegetarian

What’s in it: Depends on flavor/line.

Blackberry 0%:

Banana Maple w/ Steel Cut Oats:

Review: Enjoy Life Plentils, Margherita Pizza

Brand:  Enjoy Life Plentils

Flavor:  Margherita Pizza

Where to get it: here @ AbesMarket.com

                These are probably my favorite of all the “chip substitute” snacks I have tried. They have a great texture, and the flavoring is strong enough to satisfy my flavor cravings. They don’t taste like potatoes cobbled together with flavorless air like a lot of the other products I have tried. I ate some of these plain, which was good, but then I made some tuna salad and scooped it up with the Plentils, and that was REALLY good. I also feel like these would be great on a sandwich, if you’re the kind of deviant that puts chips ON sandwiches. I am that kind of deviant, so there will be no judgment from me.

               

Tastes like:  Light & airy herb crunchies

Taste rating:  7/10

Qualities:  Gluten Free, Non GMO, All natural, Halal, Kosher, Vegetarian, Vegan, Made in the USA

What’s in it:

Inventive Dieting Can Be More Sweet Than Sour

Growing up in an American middle-class family in the 80’s and 90’s, I ate a lot of McDonald’s. My drug of choice was always the Chicken McNuggets. I tried other sauces, but what really made my heart sing was always the Sweet N’ Sour sauce. I was (am) so in love with this sauce, that I would literally not eat the McNuggets if they forgot to put the sauce in the bag, thus forcing my grandparents (usually) to trudge back to the McDonald’s and procure the sauce.

Now I’m an adult, with type 1 diabetes, who’s on a perpetual diet. (Sad panda, right?? Hey, it could always be worse. Never forget that.) There is literally no room for McDonald’s in my life. I can make a better salad at home than any fast food joint can make, so squash that angle. Nothing else there is “healthy,” and I mean nothing, no matter what they tell you. (Don’t get me started on their oatmeal with approximately 9,000 grams of sugar in it. I said approximately.)

Guess what though? Chicken McNuggets are still delicious. Have you ever thought of a snack from your childhood, and then eaten it as an adult, and then had your romanticized notions of how good it was SHATTERED because, for example, Twinkies are a dry, hot mess? Let me be first to tell you, this doesn’t apply to the McNugget monster. Still good, but oh so bad.

So here I am. Craving, pining, crying…trying not to crack. BUT WAIT. Something happened one night. I had an extra tub of Sweet N Sour in the fridge from a previous day when I actually did crack, and hit the drive thru (happens to the best of us, and I’m not even the best of us). Boneless, skinless chicken breast (BSCB) is pretty much the foundation of all diets that aren’t against eating meat, and mine is no exception.

I took my BSCB and started dipping little forkfuls into the Sweet N Sour tub o’heaven. YES. THIS WORKS. As my face transformed into the hilarious visage of an enraptured carnivore, a new road to happiness opened. I still like the McNuggets and I’m sure that I always will, but since the discovery of how much of my love was sauce-based, I haven’t been through drive thru for them even a single time, IN ALMOST A YEAR.

McDonald’s will sell you sauces a la carte (at least in my town) for 15 cents each. I sheepishly asked my person if he would do me a huge favor, because I was horrified at the thought of going to the restaurant and making such a weird request. He was happy to oblige (a bit of an attention-seeker, that one), and proudly came home with a bag full of 30 Sweet N Sour sauces for my slathering pleasure. According to his report, the employees were quite amused, and had to run to the back to look up the code. I’m so glad he went for me. You have no idea.

The point is…sometimes the things you feel unfulfilled without, are things you don’t have to go without. If a small tub of sugar with almost no nutritional value helps you eat lean protein dinner after dinner – eat it. If a piece of swiss cheese helps you eat 99% lean ground turkey burgers instead of 85% lean ground beef burgers – eat it. And that All Bran you’re trying to slog through each morning instead of Captain Krunch…it tastes a lot better with a teaspoon of real sugar on it, and the extra 16 calories aren’t going to slow your weight loss down one bit.

What's in it:

Review: Zouq's Curry Crunch Snack Mix

Brand:  Zouq

Flavor:  Curry Crunch

Where to get it:  here @ Zouq.com

                I love curry flavor, but I usually find actual curry a little too rich after a couple of bites, which I blame solely on most chef’s overuse of coconut milk. The awesome thing about this snack mix is that you get all of that delicious curry flavor, with none of the ooooog, too much! feeling. Zouq also splooshed a little something sweet in here, making it so much better than just a straight-up curry flavor. The tidbits are little, it’s a “sleeker” snack mix, if you will, and I absolutely loved it. Hits the spot for salty or sweet cravings, and I’m excited to see what other products they make that I might snarf up.

               

Tastes like:  Sweet and savory curry

Taste rating:  9/10

Qualities:  Vegetarian, Vegan, Gluten free

What’s in it:

Review: The Naked Edge Veggie Go's

Brand:  The Naked Edge

Flavor:  Veggie Go’s (variety)

Where to get it: here @ Abe's Market

                If *I* mixed carrots, apple & ginger together with nothing else, I’m fairly certain that the end result wouldn’t even be edible. Somehow the lovely folks at The Naked Edge take bare bones, natural ingredients, and turn them into one of the best snacks I have found in my quest for weight loss cuisine. These are a lot like Fruit Leather (we’ll talk about those in a future review), but they only have 15-20 calories per snack. Mind = blown.

               

Tastes like:  Fruit leather on a diet (but that mythical diet where you’re never hungry)

Taste rating:  10/10

Qualities:  Gluten-free, Non GMO, Kosher, Made in the USA, All natural, Organic, Vegetarian, Vegan

What’s in it:

Review: powbab baobab superfruit chews

Brand:  powbab

Flavor:  baobab superfruit chews

Where to get it: here @ powbab.com

                Even if these powbab baobab superfruit chews had no other redeeming qualities, they are an extremely tasty way to get 100% of your RDA of Vitamins C and E– which I think everyone agrees is a good thing, regardless of your nutritional school of thought. That being said, they are FULL of other good stuff too, and did I mention that they’re tasty? According to the package, one small chew packs as many antioxidants as 2.25 tomatoes, 2.5 cups of spinach and half an orange all added together. I eat one of these a day, and I feel special when I do it. If you’ve got room in your food budget for an extra $20 or so a month, spend it on these little guys! (They also have a subscription service that will save you a few bucks.)

               

Tastes like:  A supercharged Starburst

Taste rating:  10/10

Qualities:  Vegan, Fair Trade, Gluten-free, Non GMO, Made in the USA

What’s in it:

Review: Yum A Roos Caribbean Crop

Brand:  Yum-A-Roos

Flavor:  Carribean Crop

Where to get it: here @ Abe's Market

                Have you ever gone to a baby shower and played that game where you taste the different baby foods and then try to guess what flavor they are? If you have, then you know how horrible most baby food is. While these snacks aren’t for actual babies (because they have no teeth, I presume), I think they are intended for toddlers who are past the choking-risk age. Don’t quote me on this stuff, since I don’t know anything about children. I am making these assumptions because these little snacks are very healthy, but they taste so bad. The peas are the worst part (and you thought it would be the banana, didn’t you?) and I was looking all over for something to eat just to get the taste out of my mouth after one mouthful of these guys. Simple, organic ingredients…get them for your kids if they will eat them, but skip them for yourself.

               

Tastes like:  How do I get this out of my mouth?

Taste rating:  1/10

Qualities:  Organic, Made in the USA, Vegan, Gluten-free, Non GMO

What’s in it:

Review: Vintage Italia Pasta Chips

Brand:  Vintage Italia Pasta Chips

Flavor:  Marinara

Where to get it: here @ Pasta Chips

                I love all things cracker, but I’m not a big fan of chips, oddly enough. I don’t usually seek out chip-like snacks, but I received these in a monthly snack subscription box, so I thought I would give them a shot. The texture of these is a lot like a baked cracker, and I freakin’ loved them. They come in other flavors (which I haven’t tried yet...and I plan to!), but I don’t know how anything could improve upon the marinara flavor. Slightly herby, a little tomato-sweety, I bet they’re good dipped in tzatziki sauce, but I didn’t make it that far. I love the tiny snack bag size (1 oz.) too, because if I had the full-size bag at my disposal, I’d probably go on a bender.

               

Tastes like:  A Wheat Thin and an angel had a baby

Taste rating:  10/10

Qualities:  All natural, Kosher

What’s in it:

Review: Dixie Carb Counters Skinni Spaghetti

Brand:  Dixie Carb Counters

Flavor:  Skinni Spaghetti

Where to get it: here @ Netrition.com

                I have been a MUCH happier dieter since I discovered that there was such a thing as “protein noodles”. I’m working my way through all the different kinds I’ve found to nail down a favorite, but any way to eat something that actually tastes like traditional spaghetti without all those nasty carbs is okay with this girl. Dixie Carb Counters Skinni Spaghetti is made from soybeans, and I didn’t like it as much as I did the Explore Asia noodles made from mung beans. If you get too big of a mouthful, you can really taste the bean flavor with these noodles. It’s not a deal-breaker, but I definitely recommend using a lot of pasta sauce and chunky ingredients to help cover up the fact that it’s not wheat-based pasta you’re shoveling down.

               

Tastes like:  Bland-ish noodle-shaped beans (smother these in sauce & veggies)

Taste rating:  6/10

What’s in it:

Review: Emmy's Chocolate Chip Macaroons

Brand:  Emmy’s

Flavor:  Chocolate Chip Macaroons

Where to get it: here @ Emmy's Organics

                Raw stuff turned into other stuff is usually gross. It just is. I applaud those who can subsist off of a raw diet, but I will never be one of those people. I was expecting these cookies to taste like either dates or seeds, because that’s what all raw stuff tastes like. BUT WAIT. There must also be some raw sorcery in these Emmy’s Chocolate Chip Macaroons, because ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…they are wicked good. I can honestly say that I would rather eat these than a traditional, cooked macaroon – which are almost always overcooked and dry to me. Just 100 calories per little cookie puck, toss a pack of these in your desk drawer for that 3pm pick me up!

               

Tastes like:  Heaven

Taste rating:  10/10

Qualities:  Raw, Vegan, Gluten-free, Non-GMO, Kosher, Organic, All-natural

What’s in it:

Review: Kind Oats & Honey Bars

Brand:  Kind

Flavor:  Oats & Honey

Where to get it: here @ Advantage Nutrition

The “rectangle” style of Kind bars are mostly grains, whereas the “bar” style of Kind bars seem to be mostly nuts. These are so yummy, I like to break off tiny pieces and eat them almost like trail mix. The coconut in them adds more texture than flavor, so it doesn’t taste at all like a tropical-flavored bar. I also really like that they’re flat and thin, as opposed to long and thick (filed under:  things that sound dirty but aren’t). Plus, you can toss it in your bag, and it can’t get squished, because it already comes squished. Bonus.

               

Tastes like:  A really, really REALLY good granola bar

Taste rating:  9/10

Qualities:  Gluten-free, Non-GMO, All natural

What’s in it:

Review: Barnana Banana Snacks

Brand:  Barnana

Flavor:  Peanut Butter Banana

Where to get it: here @ Barnana

What a very interesting little snack! The pieces were a lot bigger than I was anticipating, about the size of a fresh medjool date. The composition is simple, dried (to about raisin-wetness) bananas wrapped in a shiny peanut butter coating. I couldn’t taste a lot of the banana flavor in these sadly, and I would probably not purchase them again, but I did find them utterly fascinating. I think they’d make a great snack pre-workout, or for kids before/after sporting events.

               

               

Tastes like:  Peanut butter, but a little different

Taste rating:  6/10

Qualities:  Gluten free, Non-GMO, Kosher, No artificial ingredients, Organic

What’s in it:

Review: I Heart Keenwah Snacks

Brand:  I Heart Keenwah

Flavor:  Ginger Peanut Quinoa Clusters

Where to get it: here @ Abe's Market

                Peanut brittle has fallen a bit out of fashion, in my opinion, but there are a handful of specialty companies bringing brittle back, baby! I Heart Keenwah is doing a pretty good job of keeping the old-fashioned taste for dying in a cut glass candy bowl on your grandmother’s end table. The ginger in these makes them exceptional, and I LOVE that they come in tiny snack bags. If you’re at all a fan of peanut brittle, you won’t be able to put these down.

               

Tastes like:  Peanut brittle, without the stickiness

Taste rating:  8/10

Qualities:  Gluten-free

What’s in it:

Review: Biena Chickpea Snacks

Brand:  Biena

Flavor:  Honey Roasted

Where to get it: here @ Biena

                When I was little, I went to church every Sunday with my grandparents and great-grandparents. This mostly entailed crawling around on the floor under the pews, and getting scolded for pulling my dress over my head during the service. One of my most beloved childhood memories are getting the little treat bags that my great-grandma would give to me every Sunday morning, in hopes to distract me long enough to get through the sermon, I assume. One of the things that were ALWAYS in the treat bag, was a small baggie of Honey Nut Cheerios. This snack is so reminiscent of that cereal that I was in love at first bite. I’m a repeat orderer of these.

               

Tastes like:  Honey Nut Cheerios, but bean-y

Taste rating:  10/10

What’s in it:

Review: Yuki No Yado Snow Senbei

Brand:  Yuki No Yado Senbei

Flavor:  Cream Frosted

Where to get it: here @ Yahiro Mart

                “Healthy” is a very subjective word. Sometimes, it just means low-calorie…and that’s the excuse I’m using to review these here on my “healthy snacks blog”.  It’s okay if you disagree with me, I still love you.  I do. I also love these senbei.  I ate a package of these “by accident” because it came in one of my monthly subscription snack boxes.  I swiftly scoured the internet for somewhere that would sell me mass quantities of these magical little Japanese crackers. They really don’t have any nutritional value, AND there is MSG in them to boot (boo!), BUT they really hit the spot during that lull after lunch where I just HAVE to have something that’s quasi-junk food. At only 73 calories for the whole package (2 pieces), I deem these guilt free!

Tastes like:  Salty, crunchy, sweet corn

Taste rating:  10/10

What’s in it:

Review: Smartfood White Cheddar & Kettle Corn Popcorn

Brand:  Smart Food

Flavor:  White Cheddar and Kettle Corn

Where to get it:  here @ FreshDirect.com (I had some trouble finding the box with both kinds online, check your local grocery store)

                Popcorn is a dangerous snack.  Do it wrong, and it’s worse than chips.  Do it right, and it usually tastes like garbage. I was excited to come across these little bags at the store, only 90-100 calories each! It’s hard to moderate with the *scary horror music* BIG BAG of this stuff, and I usually find myself in “Doing It Wrong!” territory before the first commercial break. With these smaller sizes, you can’t do it wrong…accidentally. When the bag is empty, it’s empty. There are significantly more kernels in the white cheddar bags, but I still really like the kettle corn bags as well. Both make great snacks.

Tastes like:  Popcorn that won’t make you hate yourself

Taste rating:  10/10

What’s in it:

Review: Kirkland Signature Freeze-Dried Fuji Apple Slices

Brand:  Kirkland Signature

Flavor:  Fuji Apple Slices

Where to get it: here @ Costco.com, or in stores 

                The difference between dried and freeze-dried (aside from the obvious textural difference), is sweetness, in my opinion. Sometimes I don’t want a super sweet snack, but I’m a true Washington girl, and I love that apple flavor. These are a little bit tart, but not Granny Smith levels of tart. They also come in cinnamon, and those are just as delicious. The calories basically don’t even exist…if you put down 3 bags of these in a day, you’d still be kicking fat’s fat ass.

Tastes like:  Dry, crunchy apples (in a good way)

Taste rating:  9/10
Qualities:  Vegan

What’s in it:

Review: The Daily Crave Veggie Sticks

Brand:  The Daily Crave

Flavor:  Veggie Sticks

Where to get it: here @ Soap.com

                Potatoes are a vegetable. Sadly, that's the "veggie" in this veggie sticks. Due to the packaging and the name, I think I was expecting these not to only taste like potatoes. I don’t know what I wanted them to taste like, something unique and different, I suppose. Once I got over the fact that I wasn’t consuming magical carrot-beet-turnip sticks, these were pretty good. Lots of salt, which I find absolutely crucial in some of these healthy snacks – otherwise they end up tasting a lot like Styrofoam. If you’re craving a salty potato snack, these won’t break your diet. If you’re craving something new and different, maybe try Googling a recipe for homemade magical carrot-beet-turnip sticks instead.

Tastes like:  Salted puffy potatoes

Taste rating:  5/10

What’s in it: