Banana Split Baby Mama Drama from Mama’s Magic Mix

Photo from Mama’s Magic Mix website.
Click on the pic to go there.

Ingredients:

freeze dried bananas and strawberries, salted peanuts, caramel puffs & chocolate covered graham crackers

I received a pouch of this snack mix in my January Love with Food Box.

Tea Suggestion:

With this salty and sweet snack, I went with something light and crisp:  White Tea!  And one of my favorite White Teas as of late is this Makaibari Bai Mu Dan from Tea People.

What I Think:

This mix is not at all what I expected when I opened the package.  What I expected was granola, I suppose, although now that I read the package again I don’t know why it is that expected this to be granola because it doesn’t actually say granola anywhere on the package.

It’s a “mix” of dried fruit, nuts, crunchy graham cracker-y “cookie” like things that are coated with chocolate (although there were only 2 of these in the bag), and at the top of the pouch there were these “puffs” of sweetness that tasted a bit like a sweetened cereal.

I had about six of those tasty cereal puff things that sat right at the top of the package, and when I looked into the package when I first opened it, it appeared that these were the only thing in the package so I was surprised when I fished out a strawberry piece … and all the puffs were gone!  Had I known that there was more to the package than just those puffs I would have poured the mix into a bowl and saved some of those puffs for last because like I said, they were the tastiest part of this weird mix.

I enjoyed the individual ingredients of the mix.  The cereal puff things were tasty.  They were actually the tastiest part of this mix.  Then there was a layer of freeze dried strawberries and I liked those, as well as the three pieces of freeze dried banana.  The peanuts … were peanuts and they weren’t bad.  They weren’t really salty though, and I guess that’s what I missed there.  The chocolate coated cookie things were alright although they were a bit … lacking in something.

But overall, this … just seemed like a very disjointed sort of snack mix.  Nothing really seemed to work together.  Even the dried strawberries and bananas didn’t really seemed to work together and that always seems to be a classic fruit combination.  The peanuts just didn’t work in this.  I liked that the fruit was freeze dried because I do enjoy the light crispness of freeze dried fruit, but when combined with the peanuts and the other components … it just all seemed a bit like a jumbled mess.

My Final Thoughts:

This was alright.  It was edible.  Is this something I’d buy again?  No.  I found it to be a rather confusing combination of foods that didn’t really seem to go together at all.

Apple-2-The-Core Dried Fruit from Peeled Snacks

Product Description:

Peeled snack’s Apple-2-the-core are one of our favorite healthy snacks to eat on the go. Stash a bag in your purse or car for healthy snacking at any time. These dried apples are organic, gently dried and all natural- no sugar added.

I received a pouch of these snacks in my January Box from Knoshy.

Tea Suggestion:

I think that these tasty pieces of dried apple would taste good with just about any tea, but I wanted to choose a pure tea so that the flavoring wouldn’t compete with the flavor of the apple.  I chose this Hoji Cha Gold from Kyoto Obubu Tea Plantation, and I loved how the nutty, sweet flavor of the tea complemented the sweet flavor of the apple.  A really nice pairing!

What I Think: 

After having tried the Pine-4-Pineapple from Peeled Snacks, I was fairly certain I’d enjoy this dried apple snack from Peeled Snacks.  And I do!

The apple has been sliced and they’re fairly thick slices so I get lots of apple-y flavor in every bite.  These aren’t like the crisped apple chips that you can find in just about any grocery store these days (I like those too though!)  These are softer and chewier, and the way these have been crafted allow for a lot of true-to-the-fruit flavor.

That is to say that this tastes like apple.  It doesn’t taste like sugar.  It doesn’t taste like cinnamon or caramel or anything else (not that there’s anything wrong with cinnamon or caramel … love ’em!)  These snacks have one ingredient:

Organic Apples.

Nice ingredient list!

My Final Thoughts:

I really like these dried apples.  I love the texture:  soft and chewy!  I love the sweet taste, and there’s just a hint of tartness to them too.  I love how the drying process has concentrated the flavor of the apple so I’m just getting APPLE in every single bite.  There’s only one thing I don’t like about these snacks … I don’t like that the pouch is now gone.

Bananas Foster Snack from Graze

Ingredients:

fudge pieces, honey almond slivers, pumpkin seeds and banana coins

I received this Bananas Foster Snack in my December Graze Box.

Tea Suggestion:

For this yummy, sweet and salty snack, I decided to go with something that was both sweet and a little bit savory:  this Genmai Hojicha from Sara’s Tea Caddie.  The warm, toasty notes of the tea accentuated the nutty notes of the almond slivers and pumpkin seeds.  A really nice tea time!

What I Think:

This snack surprised me with the very first bite.  And with that first bite, I immediately clicked on the “like” box on my Graze products page.

I sort of mindlessly grabbed a few pieces out of the tray and popped them into my mouth … and the banana – is soft!  It’s a dried banana … but it isn’t a banana chip like I thought it would be.  It’s not hard, dense and crunchy like a typical banana chip.  This is soft and chewy and delightfully banana-y!

I love the sweet and salty quality of this snack, and the varying textures: the honey almond slivers and the pumpkin seeds add a little bit of crunch.  The fudge bits and the honey from the almonds add some sweetness.  The nuts add a salty taste.  The banana adds a great banana flavor and chew to the mix.  It was chewy, crunchy, salty, savory and sweet all in one bite!

My Final Thoughts:

The more I munched on this snack, the more I enjoyed it, and by the time I finished the snack, the “like” was upgraded to “love”!  I love the different textures and the way the flavors all work together in this snack.  Yum!

Apple Cosmo Snack from Graze

Photo from Graze.
Click on the pic to go there.

Ingredients:

lime infused raisins, cranberries and apple

I received a tray of this snack in my December Graze Box.

Tea Suggestion:

I enjoyed a glass of iced tea with this fruit snack from Graze.  And the tea that I had in my fridge this afternoon was this Strawberry Zabaglione Iced Tea from Southern Boy Teas.  The fruitiness of the tea together with the fruits – made for a very fruity afternoon!

What I Think:

A tasty snack.   The apples are soft and chewy and are pleasantly sweet.  The cranberries add some tartness, and the raisins taste more of lime than of raisin, but that’s quite alright with me.  It’s like eating a bright, tangy piece of lime but with the chewiness of a raisin.  Very unique.

The lime infused raisins are actually my favorite part of this snack.  I love how they just brighten it all up.  When eaten together, the three fruits taste a little bit sweet and a little bit tart leaning just this side of tart.  And while it is a little more tart than it is sweet, I’m not disappointed by this (and I usually am not too crazy about tart!) because I like the way each component in this snack complements the other ingredients.  It’s a really tasty medley of flavors.

My Final Thoughts:

I enjoyed this snack while it lasted, but, I am not sure if I liked it enough to “like” it on Graze.  Enjoyable, but, I’m still hoping for the fruit snack that just knocks my socks off from Graze.

Sweet Corn Crunch Dried Snack from Sensible Foods

Product Information:

Little crunch dried kernels of corn never tasted so good! The crunch dried process removes water while maintaining the natural flavor of the product. There are no preservatives in the product, and there’s only 2 ingredients! The bag is easy to store and makes for a great salad topping!

I received this snack in my November Love with Food box!

Tea Suggestion:

I chose to sip some iced tea while munching on this Sweet Corn Crunch, and the iced tea that I had chilling in the fridge when I opened this bag was this Vanilla Cola Iced Tea from Southern Boy Teas.  I don’t know how “ideal” a pairing this was, but the iced tea was delicious, and the snack was tasty, so I enjoyed it.

What I Think:

Wow!  These are very different from what I was expecting.  I guess I was kind of expecting something more along the lines of HalfPops or CornNuts, but this snack is like neither one.  It’s more like the cut corn you’d serve at dinner, only instead of tender and juicy, this is light and crisp.

It doesn’t have that very toothsome crunch of a CornNut.  This is a very delicate kind of crunch.  Light and crispy, like a chip, only not like a dense corn chip … more like a light potato chip but with the flavor of corn and in the size of a corn kernel.

It’s sweet and has a really enjoyable texture.  It is a very satisfying snack.  It’s deliciously different, but familiar enough that it doesn’t taste “weird.”  A really good snack!

My Final Thoughts:

I’d definitely buy this again if I saw it at the store.  I really liked the texture, and I liked the flavor.  It was a fun and tasty snack.

Billionaire’s Shortbread Snack Mix from Graze

Photo from Graze.
Click on the pic to go there.

Product Description:

fudge pieces, blanched almonds, milk chocolate drops and cranberries

I got this snack mix in my first Graze Box!

Tea Suggestion:

I went with a deliciously light, vibrant green tea to enjoy with this sweet “trail mix.”  The High Grade Dragon Well from Yezi Tea was an excellent choice.  The tea was refreshing and lightly grassy, and made a nice contrast to the sweet-tart cranberries.  The natural nutty flavors in the Dragon Well married deliciously with the blanched almonds, and the chocolate and fudge … well, they just made the tea time that much yummier!

What I Think:

I was so excited to start digging in to my snacks in my first Graze Box!  And of course the first snack I had to try has chocolate in it!

I was very interested in the Graze program when I first heard about it, mostly because I love trying gourmet foodie subscriptions like this, as well as the uniqueness of this particular program (You can’t get these mixes anywhere else … unless you make them yourself!) … but what else I really liked about this program was that the kind of snacks that it offers is exactly what I was looking for … something healthy to snack on while sipping on tea.  Because I drink a lot of tea.  A lot of it … and I like to find foods that are healthy and easy to snack on while I sip the tea.  Something tasty and preferably, something I didn’t have to make myself.  (Big bonus points for that one.)

This “trail mix” has four ingredients:  blanched almonds, dried cranberries, chocolate drops and fudge bits.  I would say that in my tray, all four ingredients were fairly represented.  I didn’t see like 75% of one ingredient, and scarce little bits of other ingredients.  

It’s a tasty combination of flavors.  When each item is eaten individually, the ingredient I like least is the blanched almonds, mostly because they’re blanched almonds, and I prefer my almonds toasted, roasted, salted … but not so much blanched.  Even so, these aren’t that bad, especially if I happen to scoop up one of the other ingredients and pop both the almond and one other ingredient in my mouth at the same time and allow the flavors to meld together.  My personal favorite with the almond is the cranberry.

But what’s really delightful is if I pick up one of each item in the mix and pop all four ingredients in my mouth at the same time. The combination of these four ingredients at the same time is quite tasty.

The cranberry is tart and chewy.  The fudge is sweet and chewy.  The chocolate is sweet and creamy.  The almond is nutty.  It’s a tasty combination of sweet, tart, chewy and nutty with a hint of creaminess.

My Final Thoughts:

I liked this alright, but I don’t know if I like it enough to “like” it on the Graze website.   But I ‘am glad I tried it.  I like the size of these snack trays!  This is just the right amount of trail mix to satisfy me when I’ve got the munchies … it works great as a tea-time snack.

Orange Dried Fruit Crisps from Simple & Crisp

Product Information:

These natural orange crisps from Seattle, Washington are a delicious cracker alternative. Orange slices add a burst of citrus to cheese plates, cocktails and craft beer. Pair with our favorite cheeses: Jasper Hill Cheddar, Willow Hill Autumn Oak and Cypress Grove Midnight Moon.

I received a package of these dried fruit crisps in my September Knoshbox.

Tea Suggestion:

I love the bright and complex flavor of these crisps!  I went with a chocolate-y tea to enjoy with them mostly because the idea of chocolate and orange really appealed to me at the time.  So I brewed up a cup of this Choco Nut Black Tea from the Ambessa Line from Harney & Sons.  It was indeed a deliciously decadent tea time!

What I Think: 

Wow!  These are amazing!

At first … I was … a little hesitant.  These are very thinly sliced pieces of orange that have been dried.  Peels and all!  I even see bits of seeds in some of these slices, and that just … seemed … weird.  But then I kept reading praises of these on Knoshbox’s facebook page so I decided to break open the package and give ’em a try.

And they’re really, really good!  They’re crispy, a little bit chewy, and even a little bit juicy once you bite into them.  I can feel that “burst” of juicy flavor – even if I don’t feel the juice itself – when I bite into the pulpy section of these crisps.

It’s a very bright and invigorating sort of taste on the palate … my palate seems “energized” when I eat these.  It is sweet, tart, and a little bit bitter.  A really interesting contrast when eaten on their own, these also made a nice “cracker” for cheese.

I didn’t try these with the above suggested cheeses.  Instead, I tried them first with a bit of room temperature goat cheese and found this to be a nice pairing.  The tangy quality of the goat cheese brought out not only the tangy notes of the orange, but also the sweetness.

My Final Thoughts:

I really enjoyed these.  I was skeptical at first just because … I wasn’t sure how I’d like the orange peels (well, specifically the pithy part), but they add a hint of bitterness to the bright citrus sweetness.  I really liked these with the goat cheese.

Organically Grown Utah Cherries from All Good Provisions

Product Description:

Organically grown cherries, straight from the farm! These delicious dried cherries are coming to you from Utah’s organic farms thanks to All Good Provisions.

In 2011 this Park City, Utah startup began their journey to bring healthy snacks to the world. They’re proud contributors to 1% for the planet, where a percent of their sales go to support global environmental efforts.

I received a pouch of these cherries in my August Knoshbox.

Tea Suggestion:

These dried cherries make a great tea time snack along with just about any tea, but, I chose a pure tea since the cherries pack enough flavor on their own.  I love the way the toasty flavor of this Autumn Houjicha from Yunomi along with its nutty tones and hints of caramel complimented the sweet-tart flavor of the cherries.  A really unexpectedly delightful flavor combination!

What I Think:

These have a sweet and tart taste, with a texture that reminds me of Craisins except that they aren’t quite as sticky as Craisins … nor are they quite as tart as Craisins.  Because … well … these are cherries!

What surprised me from the first moment I bit into one of these dried cherries is just how much juicy flavor they offer!  They pack a real punch of cherry taste in each little morsel!

Cherries aren’t really a fruit that I often look for as a dried fruit as I tend to prefer them as a fresh fruit.  What can I say?  I grew up in Southern California, and every summer, as our school vacation came close to being over … my father and step-mother would take all of us kids (I had three step-siblings and one half-brother) south to Cherry Valley and we’d pick bushels and bushels of fresh cherries.  It was a pretty good deal to pick the fruit ourselves – we got the cherries for a fraction of what you’d pay in the store, and the quality was better because these were picked right at their prime … plus, we were known to pop a few in our mouth as we were picking them!  YUM!

So, I’m not really one to eat a lot of dried cherries.  I love ’em fresh (or frozen … they’re really yummy frozen … like little tiny, bite-sized popsicles!)  But these … these cherries could make a believer out of me.  I like the way these taste.  It’s making me think how they’d be in a bowl of oatmeal made from steel cut oats (I can’t eat the rolled oats oatmeal anymore … I love steel cut oats!) or perhaps in a chocolate chip cookie.  Now that … sounds amazing.

These are really tasty!

My Final Thoughts: 

Yeah, I’m liking these!  I’ll admit that I wasn’t like overjoyed that these were part of the Knoshbox for August … I was kind of ho-hum about it and much happier to dig into the cotton candy or the kettle corn, but, these are really good!  They’d be a great addition to a homemade trail mix.

Honey Roasted Chick Pz from Nutty Bean Co.

Product Information:

Amazing!  Who would have thought that honey roasted chickpeas can taste so good and be so addicting.  You will not be able to stop eating these super crunchy sweet and salty yet guilt free treats.  You’re getting 4 grams of fiber and 4 grams of protein per ounce.

I received a package of these Chick Pz in my February Goodies Box.

Tea Suggestion:

When trying these chickpea snacks, I wanted something clean and refreshing to sip, so I chose Blissful Buds Green Tea from Mellow Monk.  The sweet and savory taste of the tea made a nice accompaniment to these crunchy snacks.

What I Think:

I admit that I was kind of excited to try these … not because I particularly like chick peas or anything… but because I thought they would be different and really interesting.  Unfortunately, they didn’t live up to my expectations.

They’re alright, I guess … they kind of taste like a bland version of honey roasted peanuts.  The crunchy coating is tasty, sweet, and is similar to a candy coating that you might find on honey roasted peanuts.  The chick peas have a nice crunch to them … which is further enhanced by the crunchy coating.  But these lack depth.  It’s like the flavor kind of stops once you get beyond the sweet, crispy coat of salty, honey and toasty taste.  The chick peas … well, they taste like chick peas.  Slightly meaty, kind of mealy, and a little boring.

My Final Thoughts:

Overall, they aren’t bad.  They’re just … not all that exciting.  I can see the appeal of this product, especially if one is sensitive to peanut consumption.  Since I’m not, I personally would prefer to eat honey roasted peanuts than the chickpea alternative.  OK … but not great.

Cherry Berry Crunch Dried Fruit from Sensible Snacks

photo from Sensible Foods. Click on the pic to go there.

Product Details:

100% Fruit – 100% Fat Free – Gluten Free – No Added Sugar – No Additives/Preservatives – Crunchy, Sweet & Delicious

This product was part of my Goodies Tasting Box for September.

Tea Suggestion:

Because the dried fruit is so flavorful and such a strong taste, I decided to go with something on that had good flavor but wasn’t a strong, overpowering flavor so that the snack and the beverage were not competing with one another.  I selected this tasty Hazelnut Vanilla Oolong from Zenjala Tea Company.   The sweet, creamy vanilla and nutty tones provided an excellent contrast to the bright, flavorful fruits of this product.

What I Think:

I am really liking this snack … and so far, it may just prove to be my favorite product in the September Goodies Box.  These fruits are freeze-dried, which I like better than the dehydrated fruit, because I love the crunchy texture that the freeze-dry process imparts on the fruit.  I’ve tried a few freeze-dried fruits up until this point:  apples, strawberries, and pineapple … and of these three, pineapple is definitely my favorite.  It tastes like candy!

This package of Cherry Berrry Crunch doens’t have pineapple, but it does have apples, strawberries, blueberries and cherries.  Of the four fruits, there is far more apple.  I found this kind of interesting since the mix is called “Cherry Berry” … and based on the name I would expect there to be more cherries and berries than apples, but, I’m not entirely surprised, since apples are cheaper than cherries, strawberries and blueberries.

And the apple is nice in this.  It is sweet and crunchy, and when eaten by the handful with the cherries and berries, the apple gives off a mellow enough flavor that the flavor of the cherries and berries really shines through.  The cherries aren’t really strongly flavored, though, which kind of surprised me – I expected a slight tangy-tart note from them but they’re rather mild.  The blueberries are only slightly more tart and flavorful than the cherries.  Of the fruit, the strongest flavor is the strawberry, and it is bright and very sweet and has a tart finish.

My Final Thoughts:

This was a very tasty mix, although I found myself wishing for more flavor from the blueberries and cherries.  The strawberries seemed to dominate the entire pouch, and as a strawberry lover, I didn’t really mind that, but, I think it would have been neat to taste more from the blueberries and cherries.   If I see this in the store while shopping, I might pick up a bag.  It is an enjoyable, healthy and energizing snack-time choice.