Review: Go Raw Cookies, Snax, Granola, Pumpkin Seeds, Bars and Chocolate

I contacted Go Raw and received a package from them a couple of weeks ago with some goodies to review. I was not expecting to get as much as I did and am very excited to share with you some of what Go Raw has to offer.

If you haven't heard of a Go Raw before, they are a company that specializes in making raw foods which means none of their products have been heated at a temperature above 118 degrees Fahrenheit in order to preserve all of the natural enzymes in the ingredients. Go Raw products are 100% organic, vegan, gluten free, non-GMO, sugar free, soy free, nut free and kosher. They produce all of their products in a raw-vegan, gluten-free, wheat free, nut free and dairy free food manufacturing facility located in Mountain View, CA. When I received an email from Go Raw they sent me the process in how they create their products:

Sortex:
We start with the highest quality confectionery grade 100% organic seeds
(local/fair trade when available) but even then there is still a chance
that impure seeds, rocks, glass and other foreign particles have slipped
into the mix.  Our State of the art Sorting machine determines the purity
of our seeds with exceptional accuracy within a split second. On the basis
of color, shape or other optical properties, defective items and foreign
material are identified and separated from the product stream. Leaving
only the best seeds to make their way to the next step.

X-Ray Machine:
We have implemented an X-Ray machine to scan for any foreign particles
that may have tried to sneak in. We want our final product to be of the
upmost highest quality possible and are taking every precaution to achieve
this. This X-Ray machine has been approved by our Organic Certifiers and
is completely safe.

Washing of the Seeds:
Washing of the seeds is taken very seriously here. Seeds are from the
ground thus very dirty. We want to ensure that they are completely clean,
so we have a special seed washing machine that thoroughly washes them 3
times in purified water.

Sprouting: While all raw foods contain enzymes, sprouts are the most
enzyme dense food on the planet. The most rapid part of growth of a plant
is during its initial stages as a sprout, dehydrating the seeds at this
stage of their cycle preserves this precious state and passes along these
vital enzymes.

Mixing:
Once our seeds have been sorted, washed, and sprouted, we mix in the other
Organic ingredients.

Hand Spread Products:
Products are shown with the utmost respect and carefully spread out onto
trays by hand.

Custom Dehydration System:
We were unable to find a dehydration system that lived up to our standards
so we custom designed our own. Our Dehydration system is fully regulated
and controlled to maintain the proper humidity, temperature and water
activity levels to achieve a superior product. Our Dehydration system
maintains an average temperature of 97 degrees, ensuring that our sprouted
seeds are still alive and well. If you plant them they will grow!

Packaging:
All of our products are packaged in house by our dedicated staff.

Refrigerated Storage:
All of our ingredients and finished products are kept in refrigerated
storage to ensure the highest level of quality is maintained.


The first products I tried were the cookies, chips and snax. I received lemon, masala chai, carrot cake, ginger snap, super chips, spicy and pizza flax snax. One thing all of these had in common were how fresh they tasted right out of the bag, I have never eaten a packaged food that tasted as fresh as these.

Lemon Super Cookies: This one was one of my favorites, the lemon taste was so strong and tasty I kept reaching in the bag for more! The lemon oil that it contains gives it a burst of flavor in each bite.

Masala Chai Super Cookies: I have never tasted chai tea before but my mom who is a chai tea fanatic said these reminded her of a cup of chai tea in a crunchy cookie form. It had a nice spiciness to it with a coconut undertone.

Carrot Cake: These had a nice subtle sweetness with spice from the nutmeg but I wish it had some cinnamon in it to give it more of a flavor.

Ginger Snap: Anyone who has dealt with gi problems knows ginger is a big thing to have to help nausea. I am a ginger addict, I have ginger candy, chews, tea, mints and have even made my own gingerbread biscotti to nibble on, on those difficult days. I was most excited to try this flavor and it didn't let me down. It has a strong ginger flavor and tasted like a healthier much better ginger snap cookie. Eating a few of these has helped settle my stomach.

Spirulina Super Chips: This was my second favorite flavor out of the bunch. It has a strong banana flavor that pairs nicely with the coconut that it also contains.

Spicy Flax Snax: I was unable to try these because I'm sensitive to spice so I gave them to my parents to try and they said they were crunchy, savory, salty with a nice amount of spice in each bite. They especially enjoyed the flavor of the lime juice and cilantro.

Pizza Flax Snax: Similar to the spicy flax snax I was unable to try these so again I gave them to my parents who said it smelled exactly like pizza and had the same flavor of it as well. The oregano and tomato powder really stood out in each bite.

 Original Granola: When I first saw the bag of granola I expected it to have honey or agave as most typical granolas have so I was really surprised to see that it had neither and was naturally sweetened with dates and raisins. I wasn't expecting it to taste very good since it didn't have any sweetener but I was pleasantly surprised that it had a sweet taste in each bite and had a nutty taste to it even though it is nut free. I eat this mixed in with my cereal or oatmeal, yogurt with fruit or just plain. It makes a great filling breakfast or snack.

Sprouted Pumpkin Seeds: These pumpkin seeds are crunchy, salty and addicting! I love pumpkin seeds and these had a distinct taste to it due to the celtic sea salt. I made raw pumpkin seed butter with these in my food processor and also ate them as a snack by the handful.

 Live Pumpkin Bar: This was one of my favorites, it was sweet and salty with a nutty taste of the pumpkin seeds. Just like the other bars it had a firm touch to it and it was thin but it was chewy. The ingredients were also visible to the eye so you know exactly what you're eating.

Apricot Bar: This was sweet, sticky and had a strong taste of apricot.

Live Granola Bar: This is very similar to the granola except in a portable form. It had a subtle sweet flavor that went well with the nutty taste of the granola.

Banana Bread Flax Bar: I love bananas! This was my favorite bar and it reminded me of a chewy, nutty slice of banana bread. It had a great sweet taste of banana that went well with the flax.

Spirulina Energy Bar: This tasted exactly like the spirulina super chips, if you don't like the overpowering taste of banana you'll enjoy this better than the banana bread one because it tastes very similar but the banana is more subtle.

Oh chocolate! Yum! My favorite part of the package. This chocolate only contains two ingredients, cacao and agave nectar. I tried this along with my family and the first thing that they said was "this is real chocolate!", unlike the super processed chocolates such as Hershey's this has a true chocolate taste from the cacao. It sweetness wasn't overpowering and just one piece satisfied me. If you're used to eating Hershey's or other chocolate that has a ton of sugar this might not excite your taste buds at first.

Overall I would highly recommend Go Raw Products. They produce fresh, superior and raw foods that everyone in the family can enjoy. If you visit their website you will find more products that I didn't review and you will be sure to find something you like.


*I did not pay for these products and it was sent to me for review purposes. This review is strictly my opinion and I was not paid or influenced in any way.

Review: Glutino Strawberry Toaster Pastry

Growing up one of my favorite treats to eat for breakfast were toasted strawberry pop tarts. The sweet strawberry filling and icing was the perfect combination. I was never a fan of the other flavors and looking back it wasn't the healthiest of breakfasts but it was definitely one of my favorites. Now that I'm eating healthier I haven't had a pop tart in a while and especially now that I have gone gluten free. I heard about Glutino's toaster pastries through other blogs and have been wanting to try them and finally got to pick them up at Whole Foods Market on sale for $3.99. Glutino has two flavors available, apple cinnamon and strawberry. If you haven't heard of Glutino it is well known gluten free brand in the gluten free world. They have a variety of gluten free products such as pretzels, crackers, breads, breakfast bars, cookies, cereals and so on!

Each box contains five toaster pastries. Unlike pop tarts they do not have icing on top which makes it easy to convince myself that they're a tiny bit healthier ;) They also contain four grams of fiber and 12 grams of sugar which isn't bad for a sweet treat. It has a long list of ingredients but to be honest unless you're eating these every single day which I wouldn't suggest I wouldn't worry about it as an occasional treat. 

I tried these toaster pasties toasted and right out of the package and would recommend toasting them for best quality. I was expecting it to have a harder crust like a pop tart and was surprised for it to have a buttery flaky crust instead. The buttery flavor was so pronounced I actually had to recheck the box to see if it had dairy which it doesn't since I have also taken dairy out of my diet. The filling was my favorite part of the toaster pastry because it had a naturally sweet fruit flavor unlike the sickeningly sweet high fructose corn syrup filling of my childhood. Eating it right out of the toaster oven made me feel like I was eating a personal flat strawberry pie. Eating it right out of the package was okay but I wouldn't eat it like that again. The buttery flaky crust was also very pronounced cold. Overall I would recommend these toaster pastries as an occasional treat however if you're looking for an exact replica of a pop tart you will be disappointed but if you used to be a fan of toaster strudels this would be the perfect replacement.

Review: Larabar Alt Protein Bars

Happy 4th of July to everyone in the States! Today I'll be reviewing Larabar's new line of bars called Alt Protein Bars. When I first contacted Larabar about receiving free samples of these to review on my blog I was excited for them to arrive because I'm a huge fan of Larabar (reviews to come!) due to their short list of ingredients. If you don't know what a Larabar is, it is a bar that is made up of blended up nuts, dried fruits and spices no more than nine ingredients and nothing else! No artificial ingredients or preservatives. All Larabar flavors are gluten free and there are plenty to choose from! For more detailed information on their products visit their FAQ page and you can get all your questions answered!

Many people are on a search for good quality protein bar (me included) and the people at Larabar took notice of that and decided to create their Alt protein bars. Larabar Alt are gluten free, dairy free, all natural, vegan, kosher, non-GMO, have no added sulfites, no preservatives, fillers or colorings. Alt bars don't contain soy but due to being produced in a facility that makes other products that do contain soy they cannot certify their bars as soy free. The protein source in the Alt bars is pea protein.

The four flavors Larabar has released are cinnamon apple crisp, peanut butter cookie, lemon pound cake and pumpkin pie. Out of the four I was most excited to try the pumpkin pie one and most hesitant to try the lemon pound cake.

The pumpkin pie flavor lived up to my expectations with the spices (especially the cinnamon! mmmm!) and pumpkin flavor but also had a strong taste of peanuts in each bite.

 

The next flavor I tried was the peanut butter cookie. This was my second favorite flavor out of the four. It has a huge peanut butter flavor and anyone who is a huge fan of peanut butter like me will really enjoy this.

The next flavor I tried was the cinnamon apple crisp. I was really excited about this flavor as well because I love apple pie/crisps. Unfortunately for me it fell short from my expectations, I didn't really taste the apple in the bar because it was overpowered by the peanuts, it tasted like the peanut butter cookie bar to me except with some cinnamon added to it.

Lastly I tried the lemon pound cake flavor. This is the flavor I was putting off for last because I was so hesitant to try it. I've tried lemon flavored protein bars in the past and they all have had a lemon cleaner type smell and taste to it which tasted really gross. Surprisingly the lemon pound cake flavor ended up being my favorite one out of the four! It tasted exactly like lemon pound cake! I grew up eating lemon pound cake and have memories of it's dense lemony (is that a word?) flavor. This bar made me feel like I was eating a healthier version of lemon pound cake. Overall I would definitely recommend you try Larabar Alt protein bars. The ingredients are so much better than most junky protein markets that are sold in stores and only include basic ingredients such as nuts, spices, natural flavorings, oils, pea protein, brown rice flour and syrup. The only cons to these bars are that it is a little dry and is high in sugar but some of the sugar comes from the dried fruit that each bar contains. Thank you again to the kind people at Larabar for sending me these bars to sample and review on my blog!

*I did not pay for these products and it was sent to me for review purposes. This review is strictly my opinion and I was not paid or influenced in any way. 

Quick Review: Banana and Almond Butter GoMacro Macrobar

I'm a huge fan of food bars and make it a personal challenge to find ones that are minimally processed and have good ingredients. On a recent grocery trip to Whole Foods I saw these Macrobars on sale for $2 each and grabbed the Banana and Almond Butter one to try.

Some of the reasons it caught my attention is because it is high protein, vegan, gluten free and non-GMO. I'm a big fan of almond butter as well and as long as it's done well banana flavored products can taste great too. When I opened up the wrapper the first thing that I smelled was the banana and the bar had a shiny slightly greasy touch to it probably because of the fats in the almond butter. It reminded me of a bigger and flatter Larabar due to the ground up appearance of it. 

Taste wise it gets two thumbs up from me. I can taste the almond butter, walnuts, raisins, and banana in almost every bite. I was hesitant about the banana because I've tried many banana flavored foods that taste artificial but the banana taste in this was very natural and delicious. It was enough to fill me up for breakfast and hold me over until lunch time. For 270 calories I would probably recommend this as a meal replacement due to how filling it is or maybe add some fruit on the side to make it a more complete meal.

My only complaint is that it is high in sugar and brown rice syrup is the first ingredient on the list. If it was replaced with another dried fruit like dates I probably wouldn't mind the sugar content as much because it would be coming from a less processed source. Besides the brown rice syrup the other ingredients are pretty good and are definitely a whole lot better compared to other protein bars. Besides being vegan, gluten free, non-GMO it is also USDA Organic, Kosher Certified and Soy Free. Overall I would recommend this flavor Macrobar and would be interested in trying the other flavors they have available.

Review: Crunchmaster Grammy Crisps, Cheezy Crisps and 7 Ancient Grains

Hiya! I'm back from my sister's wedding which was beautiful and now have more time to write down product reviews for you guys :) My first post back will be a Crunchmaster review as stated in the title. Shortly after trying Mary's Gone Crackers I was on the hunt for a new cracker to try and discovered Crunchmaster crackers. I tried the sea salt multigrain crackers and I was hooked! I looked on their website to see what other flavors/products they had and decided to email them to ask if they would be willing to send some of their products to try and I quickly got a response back saying yes! I asked to try the Grammy Crisps, Cheezy Crisps (also known as Kids Crisps) and 7 Ancient Grains crackers since I have not seen any of those in my local grocery stores. Crunchmaster Crackers make gluten free crackers and use exclusive proprietary rice baking techniques to bake their crackers "Usuyaki" style. They only use Californian grown GMO free rice, sesame, quinoa, amaranth and flax seeds. All of their crackers are made on dedicated, certified gluten free rice cracker production lines at their plant in Rockford, IL or Henderson, NV using only gluten free ingredients.

I love cinnamon sugar so I was excited to eat the Grammy Crisps and it was the first one I tried.The Grammy Crisps are certified gluten free, peanut free, 100% whole grain (21g per serving), saturated fat free and cholesterol free.  If you have ever eaten Crunchmaster crackers before they're the same square shape and size and there was plenty in the box. The taste of these are great, they're crunchy, subtly sweet and addicting. It reminded me of a healthier cinnamon toast crunch cereal and I love that these aren't sickingly sweet. While eating these the cinnamon sugar sticks to your fingers which makes it fun to lick off once you're done eating :) Overall the ingredients are pretty good and I would consider this a healthier choice for an occasional treat and I bet you could use these to replace Golden Grahams in Golden Grahams S'mores.

The Cheezy Crisps are also certified gluten free, peanut free, 100% whole grain (22g per serving), saturated fat free and cholesterol free.  Due to being on a dairy free diet as well I recruited my mom to try the Cheezy Crisps. Unlike their other crackers the Cheezy Crisps are little triangles and were covered in a bright orange cheesy powder. They are about half the size of their regular square crackers but there were plenty of them in the box. The texture and crunch were the same as the Grammy Crisps and my mom said there was a lot of cheesy flavor and reminded her of a better tasting thin crunchy Cheeto. The ingredients list on these are a lot longer due to the cheese and has some ingredients I would prefer not to see like corn syrup solids and maltodextrin but out of the long list those are the only two I have a problem with but unlike Cheetos and Doritos it does not contain any artificial food colorings.

The 7 Ancient Grains crackers are low sodium, certified gluten free, saturated fat free, cholesterol free, vegan/dairy free and contains 24g of whole grains per serving. These have the typical square shape as Crunchmaster's other crackers and seemed to have fewer in the box. You can also see some of the seeds in each cracker. I love the ingredients list for these and I would consider this a real food and a great option to pair up with cheese, avocado, deli meat, soup, salads etc. They are crunchy, slightly salty and reminded me of a regular rice cracker. I probably wouldn't eat these by themselves since they are on the bland side but paired up with other foods I would.

 Overall the Grammy Crisps and Cheezy Crisps get two thumbs up from me and I would highly recommend buying them especially if you have kids. The 7 Ancient Grains crackers were okay, they didn't stand out to me and I wouldn't go out of my way to go buy them but I would eat them again. A big thank you to Crunchmaster for sending me these products to review on my blog!

*I did not pay for these products and it was sent to me for review purposes. This review is strictly my opinion and I was not paid or influenced in any way. 

Back Soon!

Sorry for the lack of reviews! I've been super busy and will be leaving tomorrow for my sister's wedding so nothing new will be posted up yet! Things are going to wind down shortly after and I will post a lot more reviews of products that I have received/purchased. Some of the foods include Crunch Master, Go Raw, Larabar Alt, more Udi's breads and even a random Aldi find that I was excited to discover yesterday! I'm excited for everything that will be posted soon :)

Quick Review: Lucy's Maple Bliss Gluten Free Cookies

I'm not much of a cookie/sweets person but I'm a big fan of things that are maple flavored. While walking through Whole Foods Market I came across Lucy's Gluten Free Cookies and saw they were on sale for $3.50 so I quickly snatched up the maple bliss flavor. Lucy's Gluten Free Cookies are gluten free (obviously), vegan, kosher pareve, allergy friendly and contain 0 trans fats and cholesterol. Each package contains 15 cookies which is good amount for the price and the size of the cookie.

 The ingredients list is pretty good considering these are gluten free cookies and I love that it contains real maple syrup and not just flavoring. I'm also really happy to see Non-GMO corn and organic soy milk/soy beans. The nutrition is good and doesn't have too many calories or sugar per serving if you can stop at one serving ;)

These cookies get two thumbs up from me. They are crunchy, sweet with a hint of saltiness and delicious! I prefer soft chewy cookies but these were actually really good and I didn't mind the crunch. It has a sweet/salty combo going that I love and makes it super addicting! Overall I would highly recommend you buy these. Besides the maple bliss flavor, there is also chocolate chip, ginger snap, chocolate, cinnamon thin, oatmeal and sugar cookie.