Fiona's Natural Foods Almond Chocolate Chip Quinoa Bars

I saw this bar at my local Whole Foods with the "I'm a Local" tag below it, and I knew I had to get one in my belly and on my little food review website.  After all, I love almonds, I love chocolate, I eat way too many energy bars, and I sort of like quinoa.

Fiona's All Natural Almond Chocolate Chip Quinoa Bar

Intriguing. I thought the quinoa concept was promising for an energy bar. That was, until I took my first bite.

This was hard to eat. There was way, way too much of an "all-natural" taste to these bars. I thought the flax seed taste completely overwhelmed the flavor of the other ingredients. I can definitely taste the quinoa, but its natural nuttiness and chewy texture are muted. One redeeming quality to this bar is the generous amount of sweet chocolate blobs it contains throughout.

This isn't low in calories - it's not supposed to be - but it does have decent nutritionals. Not decent enough, however, to justify my eating it again. Oh, and the $2.69 price tag is killer.

And Fiona, please check your spelling:

Yes, that says evaporated can juice.

Fiona's is based in Boulder (of course), and focuses on traditional granola rather than bars or quinoa. Maybe that's the better way to go with their products.

Website:
http://www.fionasgranola.com

Justin's Nut Butter Peanut Butter Cups

I've been perplexed about these latest offerings from Justin's Nut Butter since seeing them pop up in Whole Foods a couple months ago:

Justin's Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

Two-cup packs of peanut butter cups. They come in dark chocolate, too.

Why, Justin's?

This is the first time Justin's has branched our from their nut butter base. And up until now, everything Justin's has put on the market has been completely unique. Not only have they created flavors like chocolate peanut butter and maple almond butter, but their one-ounce individual packets have revolutionized nut butter packaging.

Shameless self-promo: you can read my gushing Maple Almond Butter review from a weeks back here.

So why is their next step as a company to duplicate a chocolate treat that has existed for decades? Even worse, there's already an organic peanut butter cup on the market, which is also sold in the conventional two-cup pack, and also comes in both dark and milk chocolate. Is the demographic of organic peanut butter cup seekers really that large?

Well, Justin's, if that's what you want for your brand...I will have to taste test these new peanut butter cups.

And the verdict, you ask? Hey, that's not really a fair question, because you can't really go wrong with a chocolate covered blob of peanut butter.

Justin's Peanut Butter Cups Exposed

As a chocolate addict, I was impressed with Justin's first foray into the world of solid chocolate; the milk chocolate exterior had a perfectly silky and creamy texture. The peanut butter filling was a little flat, but maybe I'm just used to the cloying sweetness of a Reese's.

These new peanut butter cups taste OK, but I doubt I'll ever buy them again. I'd rather have a treat with some imagination put into it. If you're looking for peanut butter and chocolate, Q.bel's Peanut Butter Milk Chocolate Wafer Rolls or Pretzo Change-O All Natural Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars are better options for tastebud excitement.

Website:
http://www.justinsnutbutter.com/

Mix1 Lean Performance Shakes

I've been a regular drinker of Mix1's "light" protein shakes for over a year now, but they're only something I buy if and when they go on sale.

I've always found the drinks to be reasonably tasty considering their low calorie content and impressive nutritional stats. Plus, they're portable, making them a good remedy for the 3pm slump at work. However, anyone not interested in a "diet drink" might find them too watery and flavorless.

Besides the lean performance shakes, Mix1 also offers "all-natural protein shakes", which have more calories, different nutritional stats, and come in a wider variety of flavors. But I need to balance out things like the Bronx pizza's effect on my 5'2" frame, so I stick to the low-cal stuff.

Mix1, like so many local companies, hails from Boulder. And being from Boulder, the founders of Mix1 really, really, want you to use Mix1 as a recovery drink, for when you wake up one day and decide to participate in an ironman, or climb Mr. Kilimanjaro, or just squeeze in a quick marathon before heading to work. And of course, their drinks are completely all-natural.

Anyway, last weekend at the grocery store, I noticed the lower price, and I went into spend mode.

It wasn't until I got home that I really took a close look at the bottle, and realized things were a little different:

New packaging and apparently a new formulation. And a new label. Oh, and a different flavor.

Mix1 used to market their "light" drinks as "Hi-Antioxidant Fiber" drinks. Now, they're "Lean Performance Shakes". And they used to offer, I believe, an orange flavor and a dark berry flavor. Both were equally good. Now, they have an orange twist and an acai-pomegranate flavor. I'm cringing just writing acai-pomegranate. Could they have created a more shamelessly trendy flavor?

But one thing I have no complaints about is the impressive nutritional stats and easily-pronounceable ingredient list. With its new formulation, the calorie content has also dropped from 115 calories to 90 calories. I was a little worried that the taste would suffer accordingly, so it was time to put the new incarnation to the taste test.

The verdict: definitely an improvement in consistency and texture, and the lower calorie content is a plus. I was impressed that the new formulation actually seemed thicker than the previous version. Also, one thing I really disliked about Mix1's earlier embodiment was that every bottle would have a stubborn accumulation of hi-antioxidant, fibrous, all-natural sludge at the bottom. Thorough shaking of the bottle usually dispersed some of it, but it wasn't really worth the effort, even if I ended up with slimy bits in my last few sips.

And the acai-pomegranate flavor itself? Well, I'm not really sure what acai is supposed to taste like, since I've stayed away from the superfruit fad. It really tastes just like what I remember the Dark Berry flavor tasting like a few months ago. It's mildly sweet, still a bit watery, but it is, again, a low-calorie "light" drink.

Overall, the new lean performance shakes are a substantial improvement over the hi-antioxidant fiber drinks. They're an easy, portable option for getting a substantial dose of fiber, protein, and other nutrients, even for those of us who aren't extreme endurance athletes. But I'm sticking to the orange twist flavor.

Website:

http://www.mix1life.com/

Justin's Nut Butter

I can't let this website exist any longer without a mention of Justin's Nut Butter. I eat the stuff at least several times a week, it's delicious, it's from Colorado, and it's a pretty big deal.

Justin's debuted at the peak of the "100-Calorie" portion craze with their wonderful mini-packets of nut butters. Except that Justin's isn't just for calorie-counters. The true genius in squeezing nut butters into pre-portioned packets is that it not only appeals to the diet-concious, but also a completely separate demographic of outdoorsy healthy types that just want nutritious nut butter on the go.

I'm part of their customer base that appreciates the packaging preventing me from eating myself into nut butter oblivion. My favorite is this little guy:

Justin's 90 calorie Maple Almond Butter. I eat it on apples and bananas, in yogurt and cereal bowls, and on Banana Walnut Hemp Manna Bread.  The 90-calorie portion is perfect for a small snack. However, the 0.5 oz, 90-calorie packets can be much harder to track down than the regular old jars and 1-oz packets. The only place I've found them is at Whole Foods, and at $0.69 per packet, they get expensive quickly. 

Justin's claims to be based in Boulder, but I can't find them. And I guess they're not visitor-friendly, either. Their products are apparently produced nearby in Louisville, and there's no tours or visits available at their facility. Disappointing, but I won't let it stop me from eating nut butter packets left and right.

Website:
http://www.justinsnutbutter.com/

Blueberry Muffin Larabar

FINALLY.  Blueberry Muffin Larabars debuted months ago, and I haven't been able to track one down until last Friday. 

Believe me, my inability to get my hands on one of these bars was not for lack of trying.  I searched everywhere.  Only one place - my local Whole Foods -seemed to carry them, but they were constantly sold out.  I did have one close encounter there, when I witnessed a frantic-yet-elated woman grab the only remaining Blueberry Muffin Larabars on the shelf, before scurrying away like a squirrel with the last acorns of the season.  I had missed my Blueberry Muffin opportunity by a few devastating seconds.

That was weeks ago, and I thought maybe it just wasn't going to happen for me.  But last week I was in the right place at the right time. It was my turn to be that frantic woman buying all the remaining Blueberry Muffin Larabars at Whole Foods.

The verdict? Absolutely worth the wait. They are perfect.  The duplication of blueberry muffin taste with so few all-natural ingredients is impressive. They're more moist than most Larabars, and slightly lower in calories (only 190 instead of 200-230).  They also contain a couple ingredients not normally included in Larabars: lemon juice concentrate, which adds a slight tartness, and vanilla, which makes them taste like a home-baked good.

See my updated Larabar review and rankings.  Blueberry Muffin is now #1 of the "non-chocolate-chip" Larabar flavors.

Website:
http://www.larabar.com/

Evol in a Bowl

The other day, I grabbed one of these at my local Whole Foods:

Evol is moving beyond their standard burrito line, toward "other frozen foods".  I had to check it out.

After a few minutes in my microwave, dinner was served:

Evol's Bean and Cheese Enchilada Bowl comes in at 420 calories, and is packaged in a 100% compostable bowl.

It was good, but greasy tasting.  It tasted like a greasier version of a similar dish made by my beloved Amy's. And no joke about the compostable bowl - it had already started to desintegrate as I ate the last of my beans.

According to the article in the Colorado Daily, Evol's "niche" in the frozen foods section appears to be natural and organic meat dishes.  So maybe I didn't give them a fair chance by trying a vegetarian bowl.

But for now, I'm sticking to Amy's.

Website:
http://www.evolfoods.com/

So Little, Yet So Evol

Who knew something so beef-tastic could come out of Boulder?

I would review the other flavors, but I haven't tried them.  I'm too busy wolfing these little nuggets.

For less than $2.00 and 1 minute of your time waiting on the microwave, you too can have a delicious, miniature, 180-calorie shredded beef burrito. I like them for breakfast at work, but I do get some funny looks while everyone else heats up their oatmeal packets.

Website:
http://evolfoods.com/

Larabars

I remember sometime around 2004 when a friend announced to me that she'd just stumbled upon a great new line of (energy? nutrition? not-granola? not-protein?) bars, made here in Colorado and with only a few ingredients - all raw - in each bar. I was skeptical.  Where was the high fructose corn syrup sweetened "granola" filling, and the chocolately coating made of fractionated palm kernel oil?  

At that time, I was not interested.  However, as I've moved toward eating minimally processed foods, Lara and I have formed a special bond.  I eat these tasty, portable, mostly-date-plus-nuts-and-other-fruit bars about two or three times a week.

Late last year, Larabar debuted new flavors containing chocolate chips in their standard fruit-and-nut backbone. I was a little horrified; the inclusion of added sugar in their bars seemed like a reckless departure from their all-raw, all-vegan roots.  But who am I kidding? I love chocolate chunks in anything I eat.  In fact, I love them so much, that my reviews below have the chocolate chip flavors in a completely separate category. I can't compare apples to chocolate chip cookie dough!

Below, a ranking of all 16 current flavors of "non-chocolate-chippy" Larabars in the order I love them, with my two cents thrown on for many of them:

Note - List was edited April 3, 2011 to include Blueberry Muffin flavor

#1: Blueberry Muffin - See my review of this flavor.
#2: Peanut Butter Cookie - Seriously does (ok, in a peanuts-in-a-date-matrix sort of way) taste like a peanut butter cookie.  And I love peanut butter.
#3: Cashew Cookie - Has anyone ever heard of a cashew cookie? I haven't.  But these are delicious.
#4: Banana Bread - I could eat banana bread by the loaf.  Or by the sack full.  Or by the wheelbarrow full.  But in the absense of a wheelbarrow full of actual banana bread, these are a great substitute.
#5:  Chocolate Coconut Chew
#6: Lemon Bar
#7: Peanut Butter & Jelly - As you can tell from above, I love peanut butter. But I'm actually not a huge cherry fan (cherry is the "jelly" in these bars).
#8: Key Lime Pie - My husband is a huge (real) key lime pie fan, and he loves these
#9 Carrot Cake - I had really, really high hopes for these bars.  But they've let me down a bit. Too much "tropical fruit tart" taste and not enough carrot cake-y ness.
#10: Pecan Pie
#11 : Tropical Fruit Tart
#12: Coconut Cream Pie
#13: Apple Pie
#14: Ginger Snap - WOA this is some strong ginger snap flavor.  Not bad but very intense.  I can only get excited about these once in a while
#15 Cinnamon Roll
#16: Cherry Pie - Really just personal preference that this one is dead last, but I'm not a huge cherry fan. (In Cherry Pie's defense, my husband loves them and was outraged over my negative review).

And the chocolate chip flavors:
#1: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough - WHO KNEW DATES + CASHEWS + SALT = COOKIE DOUGH? Genius. Tastes shockingly similar to the real deal.
#2: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip - Reese's Peanut Butter Cup fused with dates and mutated into Lara form. What's not to like?
#3: Chocolate Chip Brownie - Very strong cocoa taste in the matrix. Wasn't too crazy about these at first but they've grown on me.

Website:
http://www.larabar.com/