Snickers Marathon: Smart Stuff Trail Mix Bar

This is the Snickers Marathon Smart Stuff Bar that I got grabby handed for in the previous post. Karma decided to teach me a lesson about being too impulsive (TM My Name Is Earl). Here's the problem: It's comprised of multigrain crisps, milk chocolate, dried cranberries, toasted oats, caramel, peanuts, soy protein crisps, dried blueberries and almonds. Blueberries + chocolate = a super perfumey flavor that masks all the other flavors. Really, just the cranberries alone would have been fine; there was actually only one tiny strip of cranberry in the entire Snickers Marathon Bar. Definitely not my cup of tea. So yes, Karma, I promise to have a little more self control next time I go shopping. 

LÄRABAR: Key Lime Pie

"Cool, creamy and tangy. Every bite overflows with tropical flavors, just like a slice of real key lime pie."

"Dates, cashews, almonds, unsweetened coconut, lime juice concentrate."





I purchased a Larabar at Winn-Dixie the other day. I was interested in this product because it was no sugar added, vegan and raw. I really like key limes, too.

I was not impressed by the bar's appearance. Quite frankly, it looked like chewed up food to me. The Larabar had a sticky feel and smelled similar to an apple granola bar. Surprisingly, it was quite delicious. There was a definite lime taste. The crunchiness of the nuts and the soft, chewy texture were a tasty contrast. I didn't notice anything "cool and creamy", though.

Taste aside,I have two issues with the Larabar. The first one is the 20 grams of sugar per serving. That's a bit too much for me. The second problem is this:


"Who knew a treasure of the Keys could be so good for you?"
"Dates, cashews, almonds, unsweetened coconut, lime juice concentrate."

There's a huge difference between between key limes vs regular (Persian) limes that just happen to be from the Keys. When's the last time you saw a key lime that big ? I really dislike when companies mislabel their products that way.

Cascadian Farm Organic: Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

This afternoon, I received a sample of Cascadian Farm's chocolate chip granola bar. The package promised "USDA Organic", "chewy organic" and "whole grains."

The granola bar had an heavy, artificial honey smell. However, the taste was much better. It was sweet, but not overly so. Another plus was that the bar had a large amount of chocolate chips.

I was going to buy a box of the granola bars tomorrow. But then I read the ingredients list. At twelve grams of sugar per bar, that kills my desire to buy Cascadian Farm granola bars.

Kashi Cereal Bars: Baked Apple Spice

"Sweet apple, baked up warm and toasty with a sprinkling of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves"

Yesterday I had a coupon for a free box of Kashi bars. I decided to buy the baked apple spice variety.

The crust, which is made of whole grains and sesame, was soft and wheaty. The filling reminded me of a less sweet Fig Newton. My only gripe was that there seemed to be less filling in these than the blackberry version I tried previously. Other than that, this was a pretty tasty snack.

I would definitely buy Kashi's Baked Apple Spice bars again.

YouBars vs Element Bars

If you're interested in custom made energy bars:

YouBars official website

Element Bars official website

New York Times article on YouBars

Gadling Article on Element Bars

Sources:

"With These Nutrition Bars, Every Order Is Special", by Lisa Napolin, The New York Times, 2/20/2008

"Like energy bars? Element Bars lets you design your own", by Scott Carmichael,Gadling, September 18, 2008

Kraft Live Active Blueberry Almond Bars

Thank you to my mom for this review of Kraft's Live Active Blueberry Almond Bars:

I loved these bars ! A lot of times when a granola bar has "frosting" on it,it makes the granola bar too sweet ! This one has the perfect amount of sweetness coming from the frosting to compliment the granola part of the bar !! I would definitely buy these bars and I am no fan of granola bars with any kind of glaze or frosting on them !!

Quaker True Delights: Dark Chocolate Raspberry Almond

Previously I reviewed the banana & macadamia version of Quaker Delights. This week I tasted the dark chocolate, raspberry & almond variety.

The box of raspberry bars promises "whole,sweet, Heritage raspberries...crunchy toasted almonds and chunks of 45% cacao premium dark chocolate." The bars indeed had lots of delicious chocolate pieces. The raspberry flavor of the granola was natural tasting and subtle. However, the actual raspberries were minuscule. Most of the bars had just one or two almonds, or none at all.

I am on the fence whether I'd buy this product again.

Quaker Taste Test

Thank you to Peter and his family for being my taste testers recently:

Quaker Granola Bites: Chocolate Flavor

the granola bites had a crunchy bite,the taste of it was just ok

Quaker Mini Delights: Chocolatey Mint, 90 Calorie Packs

the Quaker chocolate mint cookies had a horrible taste

Quaker Cinnamon Life

the life cinnamon cereal we all liked even my aunt tried them she loved them lol

Quaker Simple Harvest: Honey Roasted Nut Bars
Quaker Chewy Peanut Butter and Chocolate Bars

the granola bars i don't like peanut butter or any type of nuts in it,but my dad liked them very much

Quaker True Delights: Toasted Coconut Banana Macadamia

I came across Quaker True Delights at Super Wal-Mart this weekend. These granola bars come in a black box. There are two other varieties available. I would tell you what they were, but I don't see them on the Quaker website right now. I'll have to look again next time I go shopping.

Anyway, getting back to the point...I really liked these bars. They have a pleasant banana bread flavor. There's a good balance between the amount of dried bananas and the macadamia nuts. This product did not have a grainy taste like the Chewy Peanut Butter and Chocolate bars. And it mercifully lacked a thick, artificial coconut flavor that many products have.

Thumbs up for Quaker True Delights !

Quaker Chewy Peanut Butter and Chocolate Bars

Tonight I sampled Quaker's Chewy Peanut Butter and Chocolate Granola Bars, With Protein. Each bar is .98 oz and is made with whole grain oats.

This bar got mixed reviews in the AMW family. I liked the peanut scent, but felt the peanut flavoring was too much. I thought the soy rice crisps made it too grainy tasting. My mother had the opposite opinion. She said the bar had the right amount of peanut taste. We both agreed the bars had the right amount of chocolate chips.

For me, this product fell under "will eat if nothing else is available." Definitely not terrible tasting, but not a prize winner either.

Quaker Simple Harvest: Cinnamon Brown Sugar

As you've read in my previous review, I was on the fence about Quaker's Simple Harvest bars. I decided to give Simple Harvest a second chance. I tried the Cinnamon Brown Sugar, With Apple and Cranberries variety.

Like the Honey Roasted Nut version, this bar too says "All Natural: Multigrain Chewy Granola Bar, *Oat, Wheat, Barley." But then I looked at the ingredient list. There were 10 grams of sugar in a serving. That's three more than the Honey bar. You must be wondering what caused such a difference. Look at what's in the Cinnamon Brown Sugar bars: "Whole grain rolled oats, brown rice sugar, crisp rice, sugar, apples, molasses, honey, sunflower oil, barley, apple juice concentrate, whole grain rolled wheat, soybean oil, cranberries....brown sugar, salt, vanilla, cinnamon."

Ingredients aside, I found myself unimpressed yet again. The bar had a funky, artificial apple smell. There were plenty of dehydrated apple pieces in each bite. The apples were soggy and unpleasant, almost gooey, when mixed with the other ingredients : P The apple flavor overpowered the entire bar.I neither tasted nor smelled any cinnamon or brown sugar. The size and amount of cranberries was paltry. This bar brought to mind a poorly made oatmeal cookie.

Another thumbs down for Quaker Simple Harvest: Cinnamon Brown Sugar bars.

Quaker Granola Bites: Chocolate Flavor

Quaker Granola Bites initially sounded tasty to me. I like granola, chocolate and bite sized snacks. What better pairing for me, right ?

The first problem I had was the appearance of the Granola Bites. If you are eating right now, you might want to skip this next sentence: It looked like someone vomited cereal and rabbit pellets. And threw chocolate chips into the mix. If you can't picture that, consider yourself lucky.

Appearances were not deceiving in this case. The food tasted as awful as it looked. The bites tasted like Cocoa Krispies, only heavier on the faux cocoa taste.

The final killjoy was the ingredient list. Who doesn't love to see "...partially hydrogenated palm kernel and palm oil...high fructose corn syrup" and "adds a dietarily significant amount of trans fat."

I'll pass on the Quaker Granola Bites. I need to find a good granola recipe instead

Quaker Simple Harvest: Honey Roasted Nut Bars

Quaker has a line of Simple Harvest Granola Bars. One of the flavors available is Honey Roasted Nut. The package touts it as "Multigrain Chewy Granola Bar: Oat, Wheat, Barley." Some of the other ingredients are whole grained rolled oats, brown rice syrup, crisp rice, cashews, peanuts, sugar, pecans, molasses and honey. Each bar has 7 grams of sugar.

The first whiff of the Simple Harvest bar revealed a peanut scent. A Pay Day candy bar came to mind. It was not an overbearing, heavy peanut scent. The taste of the peanuts were noticeable first, followed by a touch of honey and the cashews. The pecans were not noticeable. I disliked the lingering peanut taste of the granola bar.

Over all, The Honey Roasted Nut bar tasted better than the Apple Cinnamon version. I felt the Honey Roasted Nut bars were good, but not great. I probably won't buy those again.

Kashi Cereal Bars: Blackberry

I recently received a coupon for a free Kashi product. I decided to use the coupon for a box of Kashi's Blackberry Graham Cereal Bars. The bars are considered "soft baked snack bars" The box touts "3 grams of fiber", "nothing artificial", "made with real fruit" and "7 whole grains."

The crust is made from whole oats, barley, long grain brown rice, etc. The blackberry filling is made from pear juice, molasses, blackberry puree and apple powder, plus a host of other ingredients. I find it slightly deceptive that the box says "Real Fruit: Sun-sweetened blackberry with a touch of tang."

Ingredients aside, I didn't care for the bars. The crust tasted fine, but the filling tasted like artificial grape flavoring. Also, each bar contains 9 grams of sugar and 125 mg of sodium. I will stick with buying fresh blackberries instead.

South Beach Living: Cinnamon Raisin Cereal Bars

As some of you may remember, I reviewed Kraft's South Beach bars and found them rather terrible. However, I have been proven wrong, to a certain extent.

I recently bought the cinnamon raisin variety of South Beach's bars. It smelled so good when I opened the package. I was reminded of a Hardee's cinnamon-raisin biscuit. The actual flavor was a surprise, too. The frosting was just the right amount of sweetness. The amount of raisins was reasonable. The soy nuggets [read: the crispies] were crunchy, sweet and had the perfect kiss of cinnamon flavor. I would definitely buy South Beach cinnamon raisin bars again : D

Fiber One Chewy Bars: Oats & Chocolate

I know what you're thinking: "Ewww, fiber and chocolate !" The picture on the box isn't exactly endearing: 2 lumps of a rather messy, gooey granola bar, melted chocolate, and "35 % of the Daily Value of Fiber." If that's not an appetite killer right there : P And obviously that ruled out finding taste test guinea pigs for this post.

But Fiber One Chewy Bars really taste good. They're a little chewier and stickier than other granola bars. But they're sweet and chocolatey and not that bad. Word to the wise: don't eat an entire 1.4 oz bar in one day : X

South Beach Diet Meal Replacement Bars

Kraft sent me coupons for their South Beach Diet Replacement Bars. So I decided to pick up two bars at Winn Dixie last night.

The first one I tried was Vanilla Creme. The package shows something similar to a long Rice Krispie treat with a vanilla coating on the bottom. Don't let that fool you. The vanilla frosting has very little flavor, save for a cheap anise-like aftertaste. The crispy part was very grainy. If you've eaten the powder from a box of Cheerios, that's what it tasted like. The label says those were soy protein crisps.

The second bar was Caramel Peanut Crisp. It was only slightly better than the vanilla bar. Upon opening the package, I smelled a pleasant aroma of caramel and peanuts [think Pay Day bars]. The crispies had an unpleasant burnt peanut taste. Those were only a little less grainy than the vanilla bar. Also, the peanut butter frosting had a smoother, more pleasant texture and a more pronounced flavor than the vanilla bars, but not by much.

Now let's check out the nutritional labels of the bars:
- Vanilla Creme = 340 mg of sodium and 15 % of your daily saturated fat
- Caramel Peanut Crisp = 350 mg of sodium and 13 % of your daily saturated fat

My conclusion ? Both bars were horribly nasty. They were overpriced at 2 for $5 without the coupon : P Skip the diet bars and pack a balanced, healthy meal in your lunch bag. Otherwise you'll find yourself licking the frosting off the bar and wishing you'd brought something substantial to eat.