Key Lime Pie snack from Graze

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

Snack Ingredients:

lime infused raisins, sponge pieces, mini meringues and green raisins

I received this snack in my February box from Graze.

Tea Suggestion:

When I eat pie, I like to sip on hot black tea.  And even though this is a snack mix and not technically “pie” – I decided to brew myself a cup of Malty Assam Tea from Tea People.  A really lovely pairing!

What I Think:

YUM!  This might just be my favorite snack that I’ve gotten from Graze yet!

There are two different kinds of raisins:  dark raisins that have been infused with lime, and green raisins.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen “green raisins” before.  They look like gold raisins to me, and taste like them.  Sweet and plump.  The lime infused raisins are my favorite of the two raisins though, I love the bright, citrus-y note they add to this snack mix.

The sponge … isn’t as sponge-y as I recall other ‘sponge’ from graze to be.  These are actually crunchy … like a Nilla wafer.  Tasty and they add a pie crust flavor to the mix.

I love the meringue!  Crisp and light and airy!

This snack is fun to eat when I put one of each element into my hand and eat it all at once … it is very “key lime pie” ish!  But I also enjoy popping each item into my mouth individually and exploring the flavors.

If I were to change anything about this particular snack, it would be to have more lime flavor to it.  Maybe there could be some lime in the meringue bits or the cookie bits.

My Final Thoughts:

I “loved” this snack on my Graze account.  I hope they send it to me again soon.  I’d be happy to have it in every box.

Vampire Killer Kale Chips from Brad’s Raw Foods

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

Product Information:

There is no better way to start the new year with a healthy snacking plan! Our favorite kale snack is hands-down these organic kale chips from Brad’s Raw Foods. The ‘vampire killer’ is crispy, nutty and has a great garlic flavor. Organic, kosher, and vegan.

I received a package of these kale chips in my January box from Knoshy.

Tea Suggestion:

When I eat chips, I usually like a glass of iced tea to go with it … and kale chips are no exception.  The iced tea I had chilling in my ice box when I snacked on these kale chips was this Cherry Limeade Iced Tea from Southern Boy Teas.

What I Think:

I really like kale chips.  I’ve had a few different kinds in the past, and I’ve enjoyed what I’ve tried.  My family has been less receptive to the idea of kale chips.  Which is both a blessing and a curse:  when I do happen to buy (or receive as part of one of my monthly subscriptions) a package of Kale Chips, I get to enjoy them for myself and not have to worry about them disappearing before I have a chance to taste them.  That’s a blessing.  But on the curse side, because I’m the only one who likes them … I don’t buy them often because I don’t like buying things just for me.

I like the flavor of these Kale Chips … I love the garlic-y taste!  The cheesy flavor is there too, but it is less apparent … or perhaps I should say that it doesn’t stand out quite the same way as it does in some of the “cheesy” flavored kale chips that I’ve tried in the past.

But the garlic-y notes are delicious.  Not too sharp on the garlic, just enough to let you know that what you’re tasting is garlic … it’s an easily identifiable flavor but it doesn’t go overboard and make your mouth feel like its in desperate need of a thorough brushing, flossing and a handful of breath mints before anyone’s gonna kiss you.

On the downside, I didn’t like that most of the kale pieces were small “crumb-ish” size.  It was a bit more like eating a handful of peanuts than it was like eating chips, you know?  I also didn’t like that I came across a couple of large stems in my package.

My Final Thoughts:

I loved the flavor of these, I just wish that there was a bit more attention paid to the details of the chips.  Less large stems in the package and more large, leafy crisps.  I have seen this product in Chuck’s Produce, and have been tempted to purchase because I did enjoy the flavor … but I’ve found myself looking for another brand that carries a similar garlic-y flavored kale chip because I didn’t like having a package that was mostly crumbs.

Original Jer’s Square & Pretzo Chango-O Jer’s Square

I received both of these squares from Jer’s in my January Love with Food box.

Original Jer’s Square Information:

Jer’s Original Squares are crafted with all natural Valencia peanut butter mixed with crunchy rice crisp covered in premium milk chocolate. Now, you can have Jer’s Squares 4 oz. boxes on hand at work, at home, or on the go! That’s what we call “out of the box” thinking!

My Thoughts:

This is yummy!

The peanut butter center is lightened up with the crackly crunch of rice crisp.  The chocolate is sweet and creamy, the peanut butter is too, but there is enough “salty” to it to give it a nice savory quality and to cut through some of the sweet.  I’d take these over a peanut butter cup any day!

Pretzo Chang-O Jer’s Square Information:

Pretzo Change-O Milk Chocolate squares are crafted with sweet and salty pretzel bits mixed with all natural Valencia peanut butter covered in milk chocolate. These 4 oz. boxes are great for sharing, putting into a candy dish at your house or office, or stashed away for that quick fix when needed. After all, that’s how we’re able to pack big flavor into such a little package.

My Thoughts:

The Pretzo Chango-O is also a milk chocolate candy.  Instead of the crispy rice in the original square … this has salty pretzel bits which adds more salt to the treat.  The center is a little denser than the original was because of the pretzel bits, and it’s crunchier.  But I love the additional salty notes to this square.  Of the two, this one was my favorite, but I loved them both! This is truly a salty-sweet treat!

My Final Thoughts:

I want more of these!  That is 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.

Eleanor’s Apple Crumble Snack from Graze

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

What’s In It:

raisins, cinnamon and honey almonds and apple

This snack was in my January Graze Box.

Tea Suggestion:

When I’m eating a “crumble” … I can think of no tea I’d rather have in front of me than a black tea … perhaps a warmly spiced chai?  So I chose to brew this Bourbon Chai from Vintage TeaWorks.  It’s honeyed sweetness melded wonderfully with the sweet flavors of this mix, and the spices accentuated the warm cinnamon notes of the almond.  This tea turned this snack into a dessert!

What I Think:

This is pretty good, but perhaps I’m a little spoiled on some of the previous fruit snacks that I’ve had from Graze previously, because I found myself wanting the flavor infused raisins that I’ve tried before.

The almonds are definitely my favorite part of this snack.  They are “candied” with honey and cinnamon, and that candied coating is absolutely scrumptious!

The apples and raisins are sweet.  The raisins are nice and plump golden raisins.   The apples are dried and chewy, and have a delicious, juicy taste to them.

My favorite way to enjoy this snack is to grab either a raisin or a piece of apple and eat it with an almond so that I get fruity goodness along with that delicious candied almond.  I wish there were more almonds to this!

My Final Thoughts:  

I enjoyed this snack (especially with the chai that I brewed to go with),  but I found myself wanting something a little more.  The candied almonds were delightful, but, everything else – while tasty – missed some of that excitement that I have experienced with the other snacks from Graze.  I didn’t “trash” this product, but, I didn’t like or love it either, I’ll keep it at a “try” status.

My February Box from Knoshy is Here!

My box from Knoshy actually arrived a few days ago.  This month’s theme is “Movie Night” and while I love the theme … some of the items in the box are curious choices for the theme.  I can see the connection with two of the items … the other two have left me wondering!

The first item that makes sense to me:  Parmesan & Rosemary flavored Microwave Popcorn from Quinn Popcorn.  I mean, who doesn’t want popcorn when watching a movie?  I’ve tried the Vermont Maple & Sea Salt Popcorn from this company, so I was really excited to try this flavor.

The second item that makes sense:  Pop Corn Pop chocolate bar from Chuao Chocolate.  Again … popcorn!  And of course, a candy bar is always a welcome treat at the movies!  I’ve tried at least one or two flavors from Chuao Chocolatier, and they are the producers of one of my very favorite chocolate bars (the firecracker bar!) so I’m thrilled to be able to try something else from them.

The next item in the box is a Basket o’ Marionberries from Willamette Valley Confectionery.  Now, don’t get me wrong – I LOVE these things.  I’ve tried them before, and I was thrilled to find them in my box this month, but, what do they have to do with Movie Night?  I guess candy is something yummy to eat at the movies?  I don’t really get a clear connection, but I’m happy to be have these yummy confections again, so I’m not complaining.

The last item in this month’s box is a “footlong” marshmallow from Quin Candy.  The flavor of the marshmallow is Water Avenue Coffee – meh.  OK.  I’m not a fan of coffee, and I don’t get how a coffee flavored marshmallow has any connection with Movie Night at all.  After perusing the Quin Candy website (I love that this company is LOCAL!) I found a couple of candies that would be more in keeping with the Movie Night Theme, like perhaps Cherry Cola Gumdrops (soft drink at the movies?  Yes!  Coffee at the movies?  No!)  or how about Popcorn Caramels?  (Yeah, it would be probably really beating the popcorn thing into the ground.)

Oh well, I like hand crafted marshmallows, so I’ll give ’em a try.  A coffee flavored marshmallow should be tasty in a hot chocolate, right?  And I’m really excited about the other products in this month’s box!

Cookies & Cream Snack from Graze

Ingredients:

mini chocolate cookies, roasted hazels, white chocolate buttons and sunflower seeds

I received this snack in my January Graze Box.

Tea Suggestion:

This was a yummy tea time snack with a cup of single estate black tea like this Lovers Leap Estate Indigo from Eden Grove.  The tea is a flavorful Ceylon and the rich flavor complemented the tasty Cookies & Cream concept of this snack.

What I Think:

This is a tasty “trail mix” like snack that is different from any trail mix that I’ve ever tasted.

First, you have tiny little crunchy chocolate cookies that are quite yummy on their own, but also tasty when you eat them with any of the other ingredients too.  They’re crunchy and sweet, but not too dense or hard.  Quite delightful to pop in the mouth and eat … a box of these would be gone in short time, so it’s a good thing that I have a limited quantity in front of me.

Then there are nickle-sized discs of white chocolate.  Creamy and yummy.  White chocolate is not my favorite way to eat chocolate, but, I like these little discs and they add a tasty “creamy” element to the cookies & cream idea behind this snack.

There are lots of sunflower kernels to this snack and that’s quite alright with me.  I don’t know that I’ve ever eaten a cookie with sunflower seed kernels in them … but, I like the crunchy, nutty sweetness that these seeds bring to the “party.”

There are even a few hazelnuts, and these are a nice addition too.  Crunchy and delicious, I love to eat one and then pop one of the cookies in my mouth, it’s a tasty flavor combination.

Neither the hazelnuts nor the sunflower kernels were particularly salty, and I found myself wishing that there was a bit more salt factor to this sweet snack because I love the combination of salty and sweet.

My Final Thoughts:

I “liked” this one.   It’s not my favorite snack from Graze, but, I enjoyed it enough to want to have it again on occasion.

Blueberry Vanilla Energy Bar from Off The Farm

Photo from Off The Farm.
Click on the pic to go there.

Product Information:

Ingredients: brown rice syrup, blueberries (blueberries, sugar, sunflower oil), oats, currants, pears, almonds, crisp rice (rice flour, sugar, malt extract, salt, mixed tocopherols), apples, chia seeds, sesame seeds, tapioca syrup, natural flavors, sunflower oil, sea salt, citric acid.

I received this energy bar in my January box from Knoshy!

Tea Suggestion:

When I eat energy bars, I like to drink green tea.  Green tea is an invigorating tea, so I find that that extra boost of energy that I get from the green tea is nice to go with the “energy” of the bar.  I chose this Organic Mountain Indonesian Green Tea from Tea at Sea to drink with this bar.  The sweet, buttery flavors of the tea went nicely with the whole grain goodness of the bar.

What I Think:

I was really excited to find not one but two energy bars from Off The Farm in January’s Knoshy box.   Normally, my attitude toward energy bars is kind of blasé, but I make an exception for the energy bars from this company, because I really enjoyed the Apple Cinnamon bar that I’ve tried previously.

This is tasty!  Lots of seeds, lots of nuts, and lots of fruity flavors.  I don’t taste as much vanilla as I expected to since this bar is called “Blueberry Vanilla.”  But there’s a bounty of blueberries in this … it’s packed with them!

My Final Thoughts:

Really delicious.  I love the big, juicy blueberries, I love the crunchy seeds of the bar … I do wish there was more of a vanilla note to it, but, I do like the berries.

My February Love With Food Box has Arrived!

I’m running a little bit behind because I took about a two week hiatus from posting there!  This box arrived a couple of days ago, and this month’s Love with Food theme is “A Kiss to Build a Dream On.”  There are lots of delicious chocolate-y type treats in here (perfect for a Valentine’s-y type box) as well as a few savory selections.

Right at the top of the savory list is a bag of Beanitos (White Bean with Sea Salt flavored).  As some of you might recall, I’ve tried the Black Bean with Sea Salt Beanitos, so I look forward to trying these.  Also on the savory list (and the last thing on the savory list!) is a pouch of Mario Pitted Snack Olives.

These olives were the first thing I tore into after opening the box:  they are green olives.  There were six olives in my pouch and they were pretty tasty.  The package says that there is a hint of savory pepper but I didn’t taste a lot of pepper until the aftertaste, where it sort of tingled on my palate.  I enjoyed the olives, and I like that the pouch doesn’t have a lot of “brine” in it … makes it an ideal lunch bag snack.

Everything else in the box I’d consider “sweet” snacks:  A bag of honey graham snacks from Back To Nature, a bag of chocolate covered blueberries from Emily’s, A chocolate chip biscotti from Biscotti de Suzy, two chocolates from Tcho, and chocolates from Gavottes.  I am loving all the chocolate selections here!

Also, as a special gift from Love With Food is a nifty little chip clip in the shape of a heart with the Love with Food logo on it.  Love this!

Hi I’m Skinny Minis

 

Product Information:

I’m a grain based snack packed
full of whole grains to bring you
a heart healthy treat.
I also have up to 40% less fat
than regular potato chips, YAY!!

I received a bag of these snacks in my January Love with Food Box.

Tea Suggestion:

As with most salty snacks like these, I like to drink iced tea!  And the iced tea that I have in my fridge is this Cherry Limeade Tea from Southern Boy Teas!   The tea is sweet, a little bit tart, and fruity while the snacks are crunchy and salty … and it made for a very enjoyable snack time!

What I Think:

These are interesting.  They look like straws.  They taste like corn chips, but without that dense texture of a corn chip.  These have a puffier, crunchy texture that reminds me of my favorite round onion flavored snack.  You know the snacks I’m talking about, right?  And that’s really cool, because, I think I might like the texture of those snacks as much as I like the flavor of them … maybe I like the texture just a little more than the flavor!

And I’m enjoying these.  Not just the crunchy, puffy texture, but also the sweet multi-grain taste.  There is a nice level of saltiness, and I love that they’re only 100 calories for this bag.  These are the kind of snacks that I can really enjoy because they’re not only tasty but they are guilt-free too.

My Final Thoughts:

I like these.  I’ll be on the look out the next time I’m shopping at Whole Foods or Chuck’s Produce.  I’d definitely pick up a bag if I found them in the store.  I’d be interested in trying their other flavors too, especially the sweet onion and the sweet potato flavors!