Review - Organic Living Superfoods Salt & Vinegar Almonds

Brand:  Organic Living Superfoods

Flavor:  Salt & Vinegar Almonds

Where to get it: here @ OrganicLivingSuperfoods.com

                I love salt, I love vinegar - I don’t really love potato chips. They always kind of make me feel like…blerg. With these raw sprouted almonds from Organic Living Superfoods, salt & vinegar have FOREVER found a new home for me. These nuts are absolutely, amazingly, totally, and completely delicious. I literally cannot overstate this. Usually when I get random packs of slivered almonds to review, I taste one or two…and then promptly dump them on a salad. NOT THIS TIME. Please do not put these on a salad. Please enjoy them just as they are. Do not let the subtle but perfect flavor get doused in a heavy vinaigrette. They are 100% perfect, right out of the bag.

Also to note, their website has SO MANY COOL THINGS. Go there.

               

Tastes like:   The best thing salt & vinegar has ever been on

Taste rating:  10/10

Qualities:   Raw, vegetarian, vegan, USDA organic, gluten free

What’s in it:

Review - Health Warrior Chia Protein Bars

Brand:  Health Warrior

Flavor:  Chia Protein Bars

Where to get it: here @ HealthWarrior.com

                I really like chia seeds. They don’t taste like much, but I kind of love how they get stuck in my teeth and then turn just a teensy bit gummy. Don’t judge me, sometimes it’s the little things in a day that make me happy. I am really starting to dig it when companies don’t try to go overboard with their protein products. Your body can really only absorb so much protein at a time before it turns into fat like everything else, anyway.10g of protein in these bars, and all plant-based, so everyone can enjoy it. No weird protein taste like those bars that pack in 20+ grams. They are flavored, but I found the flavors to be totally mellow, just enough to keep them from tasting too plain or too savory. Grams of sugar are totally realistic as well, just 10, same as the protein. This is a great-tasting and super well-rounded bar.

               

Tastes like:   A mellow bar for everyone

Taste rating:  7/10

Qualities:   Gluten-free, vegan*, vegetarian, Kosher, Non-GMO

*The bars are labeled as 100% vegan, but the Honey Almond flavor contains organic honey, so I don’t see how that could be true in the case of that flavor. Honey does not appear to be present in the other flavors.

What’s in it:

Review - Protings

Brand:  Pro Tings

Flavor:  Sea Salt

Where to get it: here @ Protings.com

                Finally, a crisp that’s not just a potato product marketed as health food. This is a legitimately healthy alternative to potato chips. 130 calories in the 1 oz. bag, and a whopping 15 g of (vegan!) protein. To me, the taste was just alright though. The chips are extremely brittle, leaving very few intact chips in the bag, and many, many tiny pieces. Additionally, the picture on the cover looks nothing like the actual product. The cover looks like pita chips. The actual chips are darker brown, studded with flax seeds, and kind of curled up around the edge. As I mentioned before, they’re really brittle, but kind of sog up in your mouth quickly. I think these are probably best eaten with a yogurt dip or pico de gallo of some kind, rather than straight from the bag.

               

Tastes like:  Brittle bean board

Taste rating:  5/10

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

What’s in it:

Review - Stonefire Naan Crisps

Brand:  Stonefire

Flavor:  Naan Crisps

Where to get it: here @ Amazon.com

                I love Stonefire Naan – with butter, with cheese, with peanut butter…I’m definitely a bread head. The struggle is real, though, so I can’t just go eating all the naan that I want with every meal like I’ve got some kind of hamster metabolism (more like a hibernating bear, ugh). These little bags of Naan Crisps have just 60 calories and are the perfect fit for a little snack when paired with your favorite hummus…or even plain (they have enough salt to make them good all by themselves). Totally non-important side note – I really love the packaging as well. I’m not sure if it’s the font or the color scheme, or just the whole thing together, but it gets me interested. (Just in case you’re paying attention out there, Stonefire.)

               

Tastes like:  Crunchy, salty naan

Taste rating:  8/10

Qualities:  Kosher, vegetarian

What’s in it:

Review - Funley's Super Crackers

Brand:  Funley’s

Flavor:  Pizza N Stuff Super Crackers

Where to get it: here @ Funleys.com

                I think that I expected these crackers to be more of a Cheez-It-type situation, and I may have done them a disservice coming in with this mindset. They really aren’t anything like those – they’re less flaky & fairly dense. They also don’t have a ton of flavor to them, which I was definitely expecting since I tried their pizza version. I actually ended up eating them with some carrot sriracha hummus because hey, a cracker is still a cracker, no need to toss the bag just because they don’t taste like the utter junk food you were expecting them to be. I am a little wary of the claim on the front of the package that they contain “superfood carrots in every bite”. Are carrots a superfood? Is there a hard-standard for what IS a “superfood”? I’m not sure, but if there is, I don’t think carrots really meet the criteria. They’re better than potato chips for you, sure, but they aren’t exactly kale…

               

Tastes like:   Mostly thick cracker with a little bit of seasoning

Taste rating:  5/10

Qualities:   Non-GMO, Kosher, all natural

What’s in it:

Review - Cracked Nut Butter

Brand:  Cracked Nut Butter

Flavor:  Brownie Batter & White Chocolate Raspberry

Where to get it: here @ VitaCost.com or here @ CrackedNutButter.com (Different things are available on each site.)

                How many protein products have you had that claim to be “Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough” or “Cake Batter”? I know I’ve tried scores. And how many have even come close to tasting like dough or batter? For me, pretty much none.

                Until now.

                Holy crap.

                This is happening.

                What we have here, is Cracked Nut Butter in raw confectionary flavors, spiked with protein. Actually, they have more grams of protein than sugar, but you’d never know it. The Brownie Batter seriously tastes like actual brownie batter. The little sucky pouches are DANGEROUS, because I find myself just mindlessly, joyfully sitting at my computer, sucking on them like they’re 70-calorie applesauce packs. They definitely aren’t that, but they really aren’t terribly nefarious, especially for how stinkin’ delicious they are.

               

                Great before working out, great after working out, great for a before-bedtime treat…these are just incredible.

               

Tastes like:  Batter and dough and %$!@*! heaven

Taste rating:  10/10

Qualities:  Gluten free

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 - Good Kid Bar

Brand:  Good Kid Bar

Flavor:  Apple Cinnamon

Where to get it: here @ goodkidfoods.com

                 I’ve tried a few nut-free bars now that are created specifically for kids with nut allergies, and also for school-safeness, I assume, and none of them are very good. I’m not really getting the correlation of how nuts have to be present in a granola or snack bar to make it taste good, but apparently that is the case. This is another example of a very meh nut-free bar. Texture…just sort of “there”. Taste…alright, but has a weird aftertaste that I have no idea how to place. There are just too many other bars to choose from to choose this one, sadly.

               

Tastes like: 

Taste rating:  5/10

Qualities:  Gluten free, Non-GMO, vegetarian

What’s in it:

Review - Laughing Giraffe Organics Snakarola

Brand:  Laughing Giraffe Organics

Flavor:  Curry Cashew Snakarola

Where to get it: here @ TheLaughingGiraffe.com

                 Now we’re having fun! It’s not really a granola, I’d call this more of a snack mix. Now that I’ve written this out, I’m seeing why they call it “Snackarola”. Well, I’m glad we got that all worked out! The pieces are big-ish, you can just fish them out of the bag with your fingers and pop them right into your mouth, as opposed to doing the “pour & dump” that you’d have to do when eating granola straight from the bag. The flavor is a slightly sweet curry, with just the slightest hint of heat in the back of your throat once you’ve swallowed your bite. If you’re a curry-phile, you’re probably going to demolish this bag in one sitting, pretty easily. I’m only so-so on curry, so I’m definitely going to be on the lookout for some other flavors of this, but the quality and desirability of this mix is quite obvious, even to me. Snack on!

               

Tastes like:  Sweet curry with an afterburner

Taste rating:  7/10

Qualities:  Non-GMO, Gluten-free, USDA Organic, vegetarian, vegan

What’s in it:

Review - Chipz Happen

Brand:  Chipz Happen

Flavor:  Parmesan Garlic Tortilla Chips

Where to get it: here @ ChipzHappen.com

“Dude, these are GOOD.”

“What are they?” (my person asked)

“They are tortilla chips, but they’re like…FLAVORED.”

“Oh.”

“There needs to be like, a lot more of these. In different flavors.”

“There are, they’re called Doritos.”

                No. No. Nonono! These are SO MUCH BETTER than Doritos, on so many levels. As you can plainly see, these are so good that my grammar took a pretty solid hit for a minute there. The first thing that lets you know that this isn’t a radioactive orange Dorito-type situation is the declaration on the bag that they use no artificial ingredients. The rest is all in the product – the chips are thicker, they taste like actual corn that hasn’t been processed from here to Mumbai, and the coating is the color of food – delicious parmesan cheese, salt, and what I assume can only be magic dust. Naturally occurring magic dust, of course.

These chips are hands-down one of the best products I have ever had the privilege of reviewing. I am not overstating this. The small (1.5 oz.) bag has 220 calories and 12g of fat, so I would advise that you limit yourself to the small bags if you’re watching your calories, because I know I wouldn’t stop after 1.5 oz. if I had the larger bag in front of me.

                There are an absolute TON of “nut bars” on the market equaling the calories and exceeding the fat of these chips, and I’d pick these EVERY TIME. Don’t worry nut bars, you still have a place in my life. After all, you don’t squish in my purse, and these little darlings most definitely would. I would never mistreat them thus.

D E L I C I O U S.

fin.

               

Tastes like:  Salty, corny, magical magic

Taste rating:  10/10

Qualities:  Non-GMO, vegetarian, gluten-free, No artificial ingredients, Made in the USA

What’s in it:

Review - Eat Real Quinoa Chips

Brand:  Eat Real

Flavor:  Quinoa Chips

Where to get it: here @ Tesco.com

                Nutritionally-speaking, these aren’t really a standout – sometimes a bag of chips is just a bag of chips. They do taste good both alone and also with salsa or dip though, and finding flavored chips that are also vegan can be a real challenge, as many of them contain milk ingredients. If you’re looking for a change of pace with your savory snacks, this is a great bag to grab. If you’re looking for a savory snack that reduces your caloric snacking intake, you’re probably going to want to pass on these.

                 

               

Tastes like:  Great savory chippies

Taste rating:  7/10

Qualities:  Non-GMO, vegetarian, vegan, Gluten free,

What’s in it:

Review - Somersault Snack Co. Santa Fe Salsa Somersaults

Brand:  Somersault Snack Co.

Flavor:  Santa Fe Salsa Somersaults

Where to get it: here @ SomersaultLifeCompany.com

                                I’m usually on the fence when it comes to these new jumbles-of-seeds-as-snacks thingamajigs, but these are 100% delicious. Just enough seeds to be seedy, just enough seasoning to not be ONLY seedy, the ingredients are a perfect balance of savory and seed-er-y. The “Santa Fe Salsa” isn’t super spicy either, so you can actually taste the ingredients, unlike other snacks that are clearly trying to cover up what they’re made of. I would definitely nom these again, and I will for sure be seeking out some of Somersault’s other flavors.

                 

               

Tastes like:  Some oats and seeds went on a vision quest

Taste rating:  9/10

Qualities:  All-natural, Non-GMO

What’s in it:

Review - Bobo's Oat Bars

Brand:  Bobo’s Oat Bars

Flavor:  Lemon Poppyseed

Where to get it: here @ BobosOatBars.com

                                 

                As an openly anti-chocolate woman, I was super stoked on this lemon poppyseed oat bar from Bobo’s. I love oats, and this guy is VERY oat-y. The lemon poppyseed flavor is very slight, but I’m okay with that. I usually pretty happy with basically any level of lemon poppyseed, so if Bobo’s wants to make me a “SUPER LEMON POPPYSEED EXPLOSIONZZ!!” bar, I’ll go ahead and hoover that too. All of that was a pretty weird way for me to say, I super liked this bar a lot. And it’s vegan! I’m not vegan, but I love animals, so if I can find things that I like that also do no harm, well, you just can’t complain about that. The pack a heavy calorie punch – 380 for the whole bar, but they do come in smaller, snack-like sizes. Bobo’s is going on my short list of, “please feed me more of this, please.”

               

Tastes like: 

Taste rating:  8/10

Qualities:  Gluten free, vegetarian, vegan, non-GMO, Kosher

What’s in it:

Review - Mariel's Kitchen Blisscuits

Brand:  Mariel’s Kitchen

Flavor:  Lemon Cookie Blisscuits

Where to get it: here @ MarielsBlisscuits.com

                Now, you may see down below that I say these taste like “vodka cookies,” and think, “Don’t threaten me with a good time!” I promise you that I am not actually, threatening you with a good time. These have such a weird flavor. The lemon is there, sure, but something else is also there making them taste like clear liquor. The ingredients seem pretty innocuous, so I don’t know if it’s just me being weird, or if I got a bad batch, but wow, there is no reason I could see ever eating these on purpose.

                 

               

Tastes like:  Vodka cookies

Taste rating:  3/10

Qualities:  All natural, Made in the USA, Gluten free,

What’s in it:

Review - Alive & Radiant Kale Krunch

Brand:  Alive & Radiant

Flavor:  Kale Krunch Quite Cheezy

Where to get it: here @ Amazon.com

                                Kale is the prettiest girl at the dance right now, and for good reason. It’s delicious, it’s healthy, and it’s crazy versatile. The recent wave of kale-based snacks punctuate that versatility, and I assure you, I’m happy to try them all! This “cheezy” Kale Krunch tastes great, and is full of good stuff (it contains no cheese at all, and is vegan). All the ingredients are things you can picture in your mind – this is the new thing that I do. If I read a label, and a food-type image does not come to my mind pretty quickly, well…sometimes I eat it any way, to be honest. However, I won’t be extolling the virtues on the ingredient panel for my blog posts, at least.             

                But back to the snack at hand! Cheese-y and nutty tasting, the only improvement I could make on these would be to add a tad more salt. It is known that I am an absolute salt fiend, though, so I don’t want to lead you to believe that these are lacking in flavor – they definitely aren’t. If you’ve never tried kale, this is a great way to start, because it doesn’t taste “green” or “like dirt”.   

                 

               

Tastes like:  Crunchy, cheesy nuts

Taste rating:  8/10

Qualities:  Raw, Vegetarian, Vegan, Kosher, Gluten-free

What’s in it:

Review - Mediterranean Snacks Lentil Crackers

Brand:  Mediterranean Snacks  

Flavor:  Cracked Pepper Lentil Crackers

Where to get it: here @ Abe's Market

                When I ate the first cracker, I thought (as I so often do), “These could use some more salt.” But when I ate the second, third, and then the remainder of crackers, I thought, “How do they do that??” The flavor on these little guys is DEAD ON for the white, peppery country gravy that I broke up with a long time ago. This is good and bad – the crackers are pretty much delicious, but they did make an image of a slathered country biscuit bounce around in my mind for the rest of the afternoon. I’m a formerly obese American, sometimes I can’t help myself. The good news is that I didn’t cave in to that biscuit image. The OTHER good news is, these crackers are a total winner.

                 

               

Tastes like:  Crackers dipped in peppery “biscuits and gravy” gravy

Taste rating:  9/10

Qualities:  Non-GMO, Gluten-free, Vegetarian

What’s in it:

Review - Kay's Naturals Protein Pretzels

Brand:  Kay’s Naturals

Flavor:  Cinnamon Toast Protein Pretzels

Where to get it: here @ KaysNaturals.com

                When I was in grade school we were often served this strange-looking blob of sticky rice with our lunches. As far as I could tell, it was just cinnamon, sugar, and rice, but I have been unsuccessful at recreating the concoction in my adulthood. Enter these protein pretzels from Kay’s Naturals, and BOOM! I’m right back to being a happy, porky 4^th grader. Now, obviously pretzels are not rice, but the flavor is so much the same that I absolutely squealed with glee, to the surprise of most of my coworkers. I didn’t even both to try to explain to them why a bag of seemingly ordinary pretzels was giving me such delight, I don’t think they’d get it.

                Oh and before I get too carried away (too late…), I should mention that if you want to eat pretzels, these are CRAZY full of protein – 12g in the 120 calorie-size bag. They only have 15g of carbs – I say “only” because they are PRETZELS and they have almost as many grams of protein as they do carbs. That’s pretty kickass.

                 

               

Tastes like:  Cinnamon sugar rice from the lunch lady

Taste rating:  10/10

Qualities:  Vegetarian, Kosher, Gluten free

What’s in it:

Review - Slow Food For Fast Lives Bars

Brand:  Slow Food For Fast Lives

Flavor:  Various

Where to get it: here @ Abe's Market

                I’ve had savory bars before, so I don’t have that mental roadblock of expecting all bars to taste like some combination of cereal, chocolate, and peanuts. I thought I would really like these, as I read through the ingredients. I was so wrong. A penny with a hole in it couldn’t have been more wrong than I was. Holy spit it OUT, Batman. The spice flavors are the prevailing flavor in all 4 of the bars that I tried, and not in a good way. It was like doing the cinnamon challenge with curry, at one point. I love the packaging, and the bars look attractive when you unwrap them, but dang, I just can’t with these.

                               

Tastes like:  Horrible rotten spices

Taste rating:  0/10

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

What’s in it:

Review - Little Bread Hen Flatbed Crackers

Brand:  Little Bread Hen

Flavor:  Flatbread Crackers

Where to get it: 

                 “Little Bread Hen,” what a great name! I really love it, and I also like the packaging and the small portion size available in these. They’re great little dipper crackers, but they don’t have a traditional cracker crunch. The texture is more akin to rice crackers, a but shiny on the outside, and chewy-ish before you get to the crunchy part of them. They have a good amount of salt on them, and taste just fine. If you like the mouth-feel of rice crackers, I highly recommend these little bits from Little Bread Hen.

                 

Tastes like:  Crunchy gummy crackers

Taste rating:  6/10

Qualities:  Gluten free, no artificial ingredients, non-GMO, Made in the USA

What’s in it:

Review - Terra Nut P'Nut Punch

Brand:  Terra Nut

Flavor:  Pnut Punch

Where to get it: here @ TerraNut.com

                Little teensy power house! These have just 3 ingredients – peanuts, oats, sugar, and what a perfect little snack they are! They seem small, but I warn you, do not pop the whole “log” into your mouth at once. The texture is a bit powdery, so bite gently, but you won’t regret it. Somehow, the initial “dryness” fades away as you chew. I’m guessing that’s the handiwork of the sugar. With the perfect balance of sweet, peanut, and somehow salty tastes, these tiny bombs are perfect for a snack, a pick me up, or a treat at night.

                 

               

Tastes like:  Sweet peanut dust

Taste rating:  8/10

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

What’s in it: