Review - Betty Lou's Just Great Stuff Bars

Brand:  Betty Lou’s  

Flavor:  Just Great Stuff Superberry Acai Bar

Where to get it:  here @ BettyLousInc.com

                I’m already a huge fan of the Betty Lou’s family of products, and these bars are but a small exception…I can’t stand acai, so they never really had a change. That aside, if you like acai, these are just another great vegan staple from Betty Lou’s. They’re soft and chewy like a fruit bar, but they have more substance to them, similar to a Nakd or Lara Bar. Lots of good fruit and nuts ground up in these as well, so no funky weird ingredients. If you’re following a straightforward approach to your food, this is a great choice for a midday snack.

               

Tastes like:  Acai & protein powder

Taste rating:  6/10

Qualities:  Vegetarian, vegan, Gluten free, Made in the USA, USDA Organic

What’s in it:

Review - Naturalia Fruit Wich

Brand:  Naturalia

Flavor:  Pineapple Mango Fruit Wich

Where to get it: Looks to be available in HEB stores, I couldn't find anywhere online. 

                Another super creative fruit snack! It really does surprise me that a company can take literally just fruit and turn it into a unique snack. This snack contains pineapple and mango – nothing else, and it’s still super unique. It’s not a bar or leather, it’s crispy little chippies that taste like fruit, but don’t disintegrate like an actual chip. More than once, I’ve eaten so much pineapple that my mouth has taken on that weird-acid-pain-uh-oh feeling. The presence of the mango tempers that acidic pineapple situation quite a bit, which makes it really nice while still having the pineapple taste.

               

Tastes like:   Less acidic pineapple

Taste rating:  10/10

Qualities:   Gluten free, vegetarian, vegan, all-natural, raw, Non-GMO

What’s in it:

Review - Chef's Cut Buffalo Style Chicken Jerky

Brand:  Chef’s Cut

Flavor:  Buffalo Style Chicken Jerky

Where to get it: here @ ChefsCutRealJerky.com

                This review is going to be very short and simple. Do you like hot wings? Then you’ll like this jerky from Chef’s Cut. Boom, end of story. You can even eat it at your desk, in your bed, and in the car without making a mess or getting in trouble.

At 70 calories (1g fat, 2g carbs, and a whopping 12g protein) per ounce, this snack is damn near perfect.

               

Tastes like:  BUFFALO CHICKEN WINGS!!!!!!11!!!1!1!!!!

Taste rating:  10/10

Qualities:  Gluten free, Made in the USA

What’s in it:

Review - Stuff'd Dolmas

Brand:  Milas

Flavor:  Stuff'd Dolmas

Where to get it: here @ Amazon

                 I get really suspicious when I see a snack that I think should be refrigerated, but claims to need “no refrigeration” – chocolate milk (full of weird stuff to keep it from spoiling), cheese & pepperoni snacks (yeah…that is NOT cheese), etc. These adorable little packs of dolmas made me immediately suspicious for the same reason. The great thing is…the only thing in these making them shelf-safe is citric acid. That’s it. Everything else is a real-food ingredient. Oh, and the taste? AMAZING. The texture? AMAZING. Super tender, super flavorful, I can’t believe how good these are. In a world full of vending machine lunches, eat a pack (or 2!) of these with that bag of crisps, and you’ll actually feel like you had some real food. Preparation time:  ZERO MINUTES. Boom goes the dolmanite.

                 

               

Tastes like:  The most flavorful snack you’ll ever have

Taste rating:  10/10

Qualities:  Vegan, Vegetarian, Kosher, Gluten free, all-natural

What’s in it:

Review - Fabz Sea Salt Fava Beans

Brand:  Fabz

Flavor:  Sea Salt Fava Beans

Where to get it: here @ FanzSnacks.com

                A savory snack that I haven’t tried – HOW EXCITING! These little beans don’t disappoint either - nice & salty, great for snacking, and you get 7g of protein for your 130 calories. They’re also a lot more substantial than they look. You can’t really pound these by the handful unless you really, really like to chew for a really, really long time. I feel they are best savored one bean at a time. I also think these would be great in a trail mix…for me maybe some yogurt raisins, sunflower seeds, almonds…and perhaps some peanut butter chips. The possibilities are basically endless.                            

                 

Tastes like:  Salty bean smiles

Taste rating:  8/10

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

What’s in it:

Review: Sigona's Hachiya Persimmons

Brand:  Sigona’s

Flavor:  Natural Hachiya Persimmons

Where to get it: here @ Sigonas

                I have very recently made acquaintance with persimmons. If you’ve never tried them, it’s hard to really explain what they taste like. They look a bit like a tomato, but taste nothing like them. I like to put salt on ‘em, big surprise there. I love the little 1 oz. package size that these came in, but I wasn’t wild about the taste. Perhaps it’s because I salt fresh persimmons, perhaps it’s because I don’t really like persimmons? I don’t know, I also missed the juice a lot. I think if you were a person who LOVED persimmons, you would like these a lot.                        

               

Tastes like:  Dried persimmons (sorry, I fail at comparisons today)

Taste rating:  5/10

Qualities:  Vegetarian, Vegan, Gluten-free

What’s in it:

Review: Pure Organics Fruit Strips

Brand:  Pure Organics

Flavor:  Strawberry Apple Fruit Strip

Where to get it: here @ Pure

                There are quite a few fruit stips/roll ups/leathers/chews on the market right now. It seems that once the technology was figured out, a lot of companies realized that you don’t have to do a lot to dried fruit to make it palatable. However, not all of these products are created equal. While I admit it’s hard to find a bad one, I would argue that it’s equally as hard to find a remarkable one. I think Pure Organics makes a remarkable one. They taste great, but it’s really the texture that zipped up my eyebrows when I bit into it. These are a bit more gummy, a bit more moist, a bit less tooth-sticky. They nearly melt in your mouth, and the fruit flavors are crazy potent.

               

Tastes like:  A gummy bear and a Fruit Roll-Up played 7 minutes in heaven

Taste rating:  10/10

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

What’s in it:

Review: Gorge Delights Just Fruit Bar

Brand:  Gorge Delights Just Fruit Bar

Flavor:  Assorted

Where to get it: here @ Gorge Delights

                If it says “pear”, I will buy it. If it says “apple”, I will almost always buy it. These bars are super thick and super dense. There is not a thing in them but fruit, which is totally awesome. Apparently, I need a little something else though, because I didn’t love these like I thought I was going to. They weren’t yucky, but I wouldn’t buy them again, sadly. If you don’t mind a more muted, less sweet fruit flavor, you might love these bars. They are also uncrushable, which makes them perfect for bags and packs, and a great idea for a low-blood sugar emergency item.

               

Tastes like:  Super hardcore fruit leather. Fruit heavy leather.

Taste rating:  5/10

Qualities:  Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten-free, all-natural, Non-GMO, Made in the USA

What’s in it:

Review: Peeled Snacks Apple-2-the-Core

Brand:  Peeled Snacks

Flavor:  Apple-2-the-core

Where to get it: here @ Abe's Market

                Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness the union between everything Peeled Snacks makes and Bree’s mouth. Seriously, these guys can do no wrong. “But it’s just more dried fruit, what are you going on about?” I don’t know. I don’t know why these are so much better than any other brand. The aforementioned pineapple is fantastic, and the apple offering is equally great. Perfect texture, perfect moisture content, perfect sweetness level. And there’s nothing in here but apples. So…I can only assume that their process is next-level, and ooze tons of praise on the company that keeps making me so happy with their wonderful, simple snacks.

               

Tastes like:  Delicious, moist apples

Taste rating:  10/10

Qualities:  Gluten-free, Non-GMO, Organic, no artificial ingredients, vegan, vegetarian

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: 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: 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: Tealish Dessert Teas

Brand:  Tealish

Flavor:  Toasty Almond & Dulce de Leche

Where to get it: here @ Tealish

                Oolong, now that’s my jam. Black tea is my other jam. Herbal tea…is not really my jam. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised that I liked the Tealish (herbal) Toasty Almond as much as I did. Hit it with just a little bit of milk (pick a milk, any milk), put on your favorite pair of slipper socks, and sit your tired butt down. The Dulce de Leche variety is an oolong, and I loved it as much as I expected I would. Subtly sweet, but not syrupy, I wish someone could make cupcake frosting this light and subtle. They have an expansive line of other dessert flavors, as well as non-dessert teas, and a simply delightful website.

               

Tastes like:  A light caramel whipped cream cloud

Taste rating:  8/10

What’s in it:

Toasty Almond:  INGREDIENTS: Apple pieces, almond slivers, cinnamon pieces, flavoring, beetroot pieces.

Dulce de Leche:  INGREDIENTS: Oolong teas, caramel pieces (sugar, milk), flavoring, marigold petals.

Juice Cleanse Final Day (!!) Recap

Day 3 - I made it! Not a carrot, not an egg white, not a single piece of solid food passed my lips in 3 days. I can't believe it, it seems very surreal to me. I think the overall experience was a good one. If I did it again with Jus by Julie, I would select my juices ala carte next time. It's REALLY hard if you hate a particular juice, and it's on the menu all 3 days.

It also kind of bothers me that services like this are advertised as ways to "kickstart" a healthy lifestyle. If me, version 1.5 years ago had tried this, I wouldn't have made it through the first afternoon. I feel like if you've made peace with self-deprivation already, you will have a much better chance of being able to do a program like this. I ended up losing 7 lbs over the course of the 3 days, but I'm not going to weigh myself again for another few days to see how much of it is "real". Hopefully, my brain has gotten a much-needed reset and this plateau is dead on the floor.

Day 3 Intake:

Morning Glory – NOPE

Spicy Lemonade

Sweet Spin

Acai Blend – (10/10, 150 calories) YUM! My favorite juice of the cleanse. Banana is prominent flavor, but it’s perfectly tempered with the other ingredients.

Island Coconut – (10/10, 200 calories) This was also SO YUM! I would rather drink this than a milkshake. Not even lying.

Xtreme Greens

Nutritional Breakdown:

Total Calories:  730

Carbs:  162g

Fat:  14g

Protein:  12g

Day 2 of the juice fast!

Day 2, made it with no solid food intake AND no hypoglycemic episodes! Glory! I felt a lot better too, no headache and not as sleepy in the afternoon. I found myself abstractly hungry, I missed the actual process of eating food. Well, no one said it would be easy, did they? I also skipped the first juice because the thought of having to choke down more Morning Glory made me want to quit on the spot.

Day 2 intake:

Morning Glory - NOPE

Spicy Pome-Nade - (8/10, 100 calories) Tasted a lot like pink lemonade, seemed to have less of a kick than the Spicy Lemonade

Sweet Spin

Chia Berry

Not So Chunky - (4/10, 210 calories) I had high hopes for this, but it tasted more like unripe bananas mixed with peanut butter. It was pretty bitter and it kind of broke my heart.

Xtreme Greens

Nutritional breakdown:

Total Calories:  750

Carbs:  153g

Fat:  16g

Protein:  18g

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: Peeled Snacks Pine-4-Pineapple

Brand:  Peeled Snacks

Flavor:  Pine-4-Pineapple

Where to get it: here @ Abe's Market

                One thing that I’ve learned while whacking my way through the man-eating jungle o’healthy snacks, is that not all dried fruit snacks are created equal. There’s not a lot I can say about the pineapple offering from Peeled Snacks except that IT’S PERFECTION. The texture is perfect, the taste is perfect, I even like the color of the package. It’s just 100% organic pineapple. This is the best thing you can get, next to standing in a rainstorm and eating it fresh in Hawaii. Buy it by the box.

Tastes like:  Sweet pineapple

Taste rating:  10/10

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

What’s in it: