Cranberry Pecan Ancient Grain Granola from Purely Elizabeth

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

Product Information:

Get ready to enjoy some of the best granola on the planet. Made with all natural, organic and gluten-free ingredients, including: quinoa, an ancient grain considered a complete protein; amaranth, high in b vitamins; chia seeds- providing excellent sources of omega-3 fatty acids, fiber and antioxidants; and raw virgin coconut oil containing medium-chain fatty acids that get used as energy rather than stored as fat.

I received a pouch of this granola in my January Box from Knoshy.

Tea Suggestion:

Because I ate this granola as a breakfast cereal with milk, I decided that a breakfast tea was the way to go!  Recently, I discovered Glen Arbor Breakfast Tea from Whispering Pines Tea Company, and it’s a great breakfast tea.  Very woodsy and rustic, a perfect complement to a granola cereal!

What I Think:

This just may be the best granola I’ve ever tasted.  I was surprised with the first taste, because while it LOOKS like just about every other granola out there, the flavor is much better.

The cinnamon is well-defined.  The oats have been baked to a nice crispy texture.  A tasty nutty flavor from the pecans, and just enough plump, juicy flavor from the cranberry to give it contrast.

My one complaint:  I would like a little more cranberry in this.  That’s something that’s easily remedied by adding a handful of Craisins to the bowl, and even though I’d argue that the right amount of cranberries should be in the granola already, the flavor of the granola makes it worth it to me to open my package of dried cranberries and add a few to the bowl.

My Final Thoughts:

I really liked this.  It was a delicious granola, and I’m going to be picking up more from Chuck’s Produce, as I’ve noticed this on the shelves the last time I was there.  I’m definitely going to be wanting more!

Summer Berry Flapjack Snack from Graze

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

What’s In It:

rustic rolled oat flapjack with berry-infused cranberries

I received these Flapjack snack bars in my February box from Graze.

Tea Suggestion:

Since these oat bars have a very ‘breakfast-y’ snack sort of taste to them, I went with a black tea, this Australian Daintree Black Tea from McIver’s.   I love the way the rich, molasses-y sort of flavor melds with the flapjack snack!

What I Think:

I like the flapjack snacks from Graze.  In my post about my February box, I mentioned that they’re kind of like granola bars … well, they are … and they aren’t.  They have a granola bar look to them, and some similar ingredients to a granola bar, but the taste and texture reminds me more of a bowl of oatmeal that has been converted to convenient bar form.

The oats tastes sweet and nutty.  It has a rustic, hearty taste and texture to it.  I don’t eat oatmeal made from rolled oats often, because I prefer steel cut oats, but, I like the flavor of rolled oats in granola bars, oatmeal cookies and these.

And after mentioning oatmeal cookies … these not only remind me of a bowl of oatmeal, but a thick, soft oatmeal cookie but without the sweet dough.  It’s like it has all the goodness of an oatmeal cookie without the stuff that you shouldn’t be eating.

The berries in this are cranberries that have been infused with other berry flavors.  I definitely taste cranberry … do I taste the other berries?  Yeah, I think I taste notes of strawberry, perhaps, and maybe blueberry.

My Final Thoughts:

I “liked” this snack.  It’s really yummy and satisfying.  Like I said previously, it’s a little bit like a bowl of berry studded oatmeal in bar form.

My January Box from Knoshy is Here!

The box actually arrived a few days ago … they aren’t running late, I am!  I know that every month I write out my gushing praise of this company, but, trust me, the gushing praise is well deserved.  I love Knoshy!

This month’s box was crafted with health in mind – starting the new year off right with healthy snacks!

This month’s box included:  Apple-2-the-core dried apple snacks from Peeled Snacks, an 11 ounce container of Zico Coconut Water, TWO energy bars from Off The Farm (I love Off The Farm bars!), a package of Vampire Killer Kale Chips from Brad’s Raw Foods, a pouch of granola from Purely Elizabeth, and a chocolate bar from Theo Chocolate.  (YES!  Chocolate!)

It would seem that “healthy snacks” seems to be a similar theme with my two boxes that I received this month, but, that’s OK.  However, I would have probably been more thrilled with a tea time box (January IS hot tea month, you know!)  Then again … I’d be thrilled with a tea time box any time.  Ha!

I can’t wait to start knoshing on these boxes!

Brewers Bar from Granola Lab

Picture from Knoshy.
Click on the Pic to go there.

Product Information:

Granola Lab’s Brewers Bar is a unique, chewy-crispy fruit and seed granola bar made with barley malt (also called spent grain). To brew beer, barley malt is first soaked in water to create a mash. The resulting liquid is further processed into everyone’s favorite alcoholic beverage, but the malt itself is discarded.

The spent grain is collected from Kelso Beer Co of Brooklyn and baked into these bars along with dried apples, apricots, dates, pumpkin, sesame and hemp seeds. It’s mostly organic, vegan, and doesn’t contain any nuts. 

Tea Suggestion:

I thought that a nice, earthy white tea would be a good choice to drink with this Brewer’s Bar, so I selected this Silky Silver Needle Tea from Teasenz.  It is a light, refreshing tea that allowed the sweetness of the fruit and the flavors of the seeds to come forward.  A really nice tea time – unusual, yes! – but, enjoyable.

What I Think:

My various subscriptions have offered me many different opportunities to try a bunch of different granola/energy type bars.  Some I’ve liked more than others, while some were just sort of “meh” or maybe less than “meh.”

This bar is different from any that I’ve tried thus far.  The grain used for these bars is the spent malt from a brewery which gives the bar a different base flavor as well as a different texture.  I like the flavor of this.  I mean, I usually enjoy the oat-y flavor of most of the granola bars out there, but, this is tasty too.

There are also lot of seeds to this and that gives the bar a sort of crackly crunch that I enjoy.  One seed that I was particularly pleased to see as an ingredient is hemp seeds because I think that hemp is a product that we need to further explore.  And there are lots of fruity notes in this too:  I taste the apple and the apricot and the dates add a nice sweetness.

My Final Thoughts:

A really tasty and interesting bar.  I found this one different from the usual bar … and in this case, different was really good!

Fruit & Seed Flapjack from Graze

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

Ingredients:

rolled oats, margarine (vegetable oil, water, salt), demerara sugar, apricots, dates, currants, raisins, sunflower seeds, golden syrup, pumpkin seeds (contains gluten)

I received these mini flapjack bars in my first Graze box.

Tea Suggestion:

Because these “flapjacks” remind me a bit of an energy bar, I decided to go with something invigorating to drink, and I chose this Vietnam Black Tea from Single Origin Teas.  I like the way the natural spice tones of the tea accent the fruit and seed notes of these snacks.  It was a really enjoyable tea time!

What I Think:

What I’m thinking is YUM!  These are essentially soft and chewy granola bars, loaded with toasted oats, raisins, apricots, dates, currants, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds.

The oats are a prominent flavor and they lend a nice toasty flavor to the bar.  The photo suggests more pumpkin seeds in these than I’m actually finding in my three bars (The tray comes with three small bars – about three or four bites worth, depending on how big your bite is).  I’m finding some pumpkin seeds in these, but I’m wishing there were more.  I definitely do taste the sunflower seeds, and the raisins.  I don’t taste a lot of dates, but, I do get a hint of apricot every now and then.

My Final Thoughts:

It’s sweet and fruity and it’s a little bit like a tasty oatmeal that I can take with me.  I’m not really crazy about the addition of margarine, I prefer butter.  I’m not really crazy about the “golden” syrup which implies additional sweetener.  These two additions don’t scream out “healthy” to me, although I’m sure that these are healthier than say, a commercially produced granola bar.  I like that they aren’t overly sticky (a sign to me that there’s too much sweetener in the bar.)  That said, these do seem to have less sugar and sweeteners than the commercially produced granola bar.  Tasty, I’m going to give these a “like.”

Blueberry Almond Awesome Bars

Product Description:

These Blueberry Almond granola bars are a delicious as a breakfast bar with a cup of coffee or enjoyed as a snack throughout the day. Made with organic oats, agave nectar, dried wild blueberries, almonds, flax seeds and a touch of sea salt.

I received an Awesome Bar in my March Knoshbox.

Tea Suggestion:

With a granola bar like this … I wanted something equally as wholesome and nourishing, so I went with this Green Tea Powder from Nuvola Tea!  I don’t know that the flavors here necessarily were “complementary” but I still enjoyed the combination … it was a very energizing tea time!

What I Think:

This is – indeed – pretty darned awesome!

The texture – it’s not sticky the way some soft granola bars can be.  I get every ingredient … I taste every ingredient.  The oats have almost a nutty, toasted quality to them.  I taste almond, I taste blueberry, I taste the thin chocolate coating on the bottom of the bar.  The agave nectar and brown sugar provide sweetness without making for a cloying, overly sweet bar.  I can even taste the hint of sea salt.  And yes … I do taste the love that went in to these!  (Love is listed as an ingredient on the label!)

My Final Thoughts:

One of the tastiest granola bars I’ve tried.  It has a wholesome, nourishing quality to it, but it is still delicious enough to be enjoyed as a treat as well as a healthy snack.

My January Petit Amuse Box is here!

Well … actually, it arrived a couple of days ago.  It had been mis-routed, the postal carrier delivered it to the wrong house … fortunately, I have honest neighbors and they brought me the box. 

If you’re interested in receiving a box of gourmet samples delivered to your door every month, learn more here.

This month’s box brought me samples of four different products:  a pouch of Original Granola from Oat Cuisine, two items from La Vigne Organics – Dried Persimmon Slices and Kumquat Fruit Leather, and a Porky Pop from Black Pig Bacon.  (As in a bacon lollipop!  Yes!)

I’ve previously reviewed the Kumquat Fruit Leather, so I won’t review that one again, but I did enjoy it so I’m looking forward to enjoying it again.  As for the rest of these goodies, I can’t wait to get started!

Happy Jack Granola from Nate’s Naturals

Product Description:

This limited seasonal release sells out at every Connecticut farm market Nate’s Naturals attends. After making granola for over 20 years, they decided to start selling the delicious creations in 2008. An electrical engineer by trade, Nate knows that even the smallest details matter.

Made with organic rolled oats, wheat germ, oat bran, sunflower seeds, honey and a touch of molasses. They then add real pumpkin puree, pumpkin seeds and pumpkin pie spices. These natural & local ingredients are then baked slowly to toasted perfection.

I received a pouch of this Happy Jack Granola in my October Knoshbox.

Tea Suggestion:

While snacking on this granola right out of the bag, I chose something refreshing to sip along with my snack.  I chose this green tea: Kenya Rift Valley Green Tea from Grey’s Teas because I hoped that the fruit notes of the tea would accent the granola in a beautiful way … brighten the flavors and help coax the pumpkin notes to express themselves.  I was right – the sweet pumpkin notes seemed to really pop! – and I was very pleasantly rewarded.

What I Think:

For the purposes of this review, I tried this granola a few of different ways.  First, I tried it right out of the pouch by the handful.  YUM!  Then, I tried it sprinkled atop some plain, unflavored yogurt, and finally, I tried it as a cereal:  in a bowl with milk.

Generally speaking, I like granola, so I was pretty sure I’d enjoy this offering from Nate’s Naturals.  I didn’t really get a good look at the product or read any information about it until I opened the pouch to try it … so I was surprised to learn that this is a pumpkin granola.  I can’t recall ever trying a pumpkin granola before!

I think I prefer this as a yogurt topping than as a cereal, mostly because I wasn’t really fond of how the pumpkin seeds tasted in the milk.  It was OK as a cereal, but it really was amazing as a yogurt topper.  The tangy notes of the yogurt provided a delicious contrast to the sweetness of the granola, and I loved the different textures:  smooth, creamy yogurt, chewy raisins, crunchy granola … I had purchased this tub of yogurt originally to make smoothies, but I might end up using it all for with this granola before I get a chance to blend a smoothie!

Then again, it is really tasty as a snack, right out of the bag.  It is crunchy but not too hard, and I love the toasty taste.  It is sweet and lightly spiced, and every once in a while, I bite into a cranberry and I get a lovely tart note that sort of brightens it all up.

But what makes this granola truly special is the pumpkin.  Not just pumpkin seeds or pumpkin pie spice, this is made also with pumpkin puree, and you can taste a little bit of pumpkin goodness in every single bite!  It isn’t an overwhelming taste, but it does give a really nice, unique flavor to this granola.

My Final Thoughts:

I really enjoyed this granola.  It makes an awesome yogurt topper, and it’s quite tasty right out of the bag.  I see that Knoshbox is currently sold out of this granola, which is too bad, because this is delicious … something I’d definitely consider repurchasing!

Toasted Orchard Granola Bars from Nate’s Naturals

Picture from Knoshbox. Click on the pic to go there.

Product Description:

These bars are wheat-free, all-natural and made with local apples from Bishops Orchard in Guilford, Connecticut. The flavors and aromas of the bars will bring back memories of apple picking in the orchard and drinking warm cinnamon apple cider on a cool autumn night.

They’re made with: organic rolled oats, Connecticut wildflower honey, organic oat bran, organic sunflower seeds, almonds, pecans, golden raisins, cranberries, canola oil, natural vanilla, organic lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, malt syrup, cardamom, sea salt and ginger.

I received this bar in my October Knoshbox, and they can be purchased on the Knoshbox website for a limited time.

Tea Suggestion:

This granola bar has a lot of flavor on its own, so I didn’t want to choose something that might have a competitive flavor profile.  I chose this High Country black tea blend from Trail Lodge Tea, and it was an ideal choice.  The richness of the tea complimented the sweet, toasty flavors of the granola bar, and the earthy tones of the bar highlighted the tea’s earthier qualities.

What I Think:

When it come to granola bars, I typically prefer the softer variety over the crunchy.  This granola bar seems to fall somewhere in between the two … it’s not as hard as the commercially produced granola bars that you’ll readily find in the grocery stores, it isn’t pressed the way those bars seem to be.  You know what I’m talking about right?  It seems like the ingredients for those granola bars are compacted into a solid, brick-like form that is almost as hard as a brick.   That’s not the case with these bars, You can see all the ingredients, and they don’t appear to be quite as SMOOSHED together as the brick granola bars, but these DO have a certain toothy crunch to them that makes them similar to the crunchy granola bars.

But, what makes them crunchy are the chunks of nuts (I can taste the almonds and especially the pecans!  YUM!) and the toasted oats and sunflower seeds.  The texture is brought on naturally, not by over-processing.

My Final Thoughts:

I love that I can identify each ingredient that is listed in the above list.  I can taste the honey, and the cranberries and each of the spices too!  It’s really a warm and delicious tasting bar – definitely very “Harvest-y” … a perfect granola bar for this time of year (and for the Autumn Harvest themed Knoshbox!)  While I do generally prefer my granola bars to be slightly softer, I like that the crunchiness of this bar comes from the toasted textures of the ingredients.

Overall, this is an enjoyable, hunger-satiating granola bar … and one that I enjoyed enough that I might purchase it again.

Cinnamon Clove Bar from Simple Squares

Photo from Knoshbox. Click on the pic to go there!

Product Description:

We teamed up with Kim at Simple Squares to bring you her amazing new cinnamon clove whole food bars. They have no wheat, gluten, dairy, soy or refined sugar. They’re kosher, and make an excellent treat to snack on any time of the day.

We paired them with aged Gewurtztraminer (pronounced “Guh-vertz-tra-mean-er”), a unique white varietal which has aromatic notes of allspice, cinnamon and baked fruit. It’s concentrated color is one of the darkest you’ll see in a white wine, and when aged its cinnamon and honey flavors are amazing.

This product was part of my September Knoshbox tasting box; however, it is no longer available on Knoshbox (sold out!).  It can be purchased from Simple Squares on Amazon.

Tea Suggestion:

As this was the last product that I had left from the September Knoshbox (the Wine Pairing themed box), I decided to continue with the wine pairing theme and I selected a white wine-inspired tea to enjoy with this Cinnamon Clove bar.  I chose this White Tea Riesling from Vintage TeaWorks, and it was a stunning collaboration of flavors!  The fruity flavors of the tea really melded in a beautiful way with the spiced notes of the Simple Squares bar.

What I Think:

This isn’t the first Simple Squares product I’ve tried, I’ve been fortunate to try the Coconut Simple Squares Bar as well as the Rosemary Simple Squares Bar, so I was confident I would most likely enjoy this Cinnamon Clove Bar.

And I do!

Just like the Coconut and the Rosemary Simple Squares, these are simple bars, composed of just a few ingredients:

Organic Cashews, Organic Almonds, Organic Honey, Unsweetened Coconut, Organic Vanilla Extract, Sea Salt, Organic Ground Cinnamon, Ground Cloves.

I like that this is nutty, sweet, and warm with spice.  It has a nice crunch and a pleasant chewy consistency, and it doesn’t feel sticky as I hold it in my hands … I don’t feel like I need to run off and immediately wash my hands after finishing the bar, it doesn’t leave that sticky feeling on my fingers the way some “soft” granola bars can.

The cinnamon and clove tastes pleasantly spiced without out tasting overly spicy.  It makes a great pairing with tea, because there are some complex flavor notes that accentuate the complexity of the tea.  I’m eating this with the aforementioned tea, but, I think this would also taste great with a Darjeeling or a Dark Oolong.

My Final Thoughts:

I’ve enjoyed all the Simple Squares Bars that I’ve sampled, and this one is no exception.  In fact, this one might be my favorite yet.  I love the zesty spices that taste warm without tasting too spicy.  This is delicious and very satisfying.