Tag Archive for Healthy Snacks

Pure Bars Review

Posted by Brande on October 2, 2011
in All Natural Products, Food and Treats, Health and Nutrition, Organic, Review

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

“Pure Bars are made with simple, whole ingredients and are gluten-free, vegan, kosher, and entirely delicious.”

“Pure’s Mission:  Pure is dedicated to helping everyone live a pure, healthy life. We are passionate about creating delicious, innovative products made with simple, wholesome ingredients.  We share our knowledge and ideas to inspire people to live a purer, healthier lifestyle, and give back to the community in a meaningful way.”

There are 2 kinds of bars:

“Pure Organic - Certified organic, gluten-free, raw, and vegan, our mouth-watering fruit-and-nut bars are the ultimate pure snack bar. Pure Bars provide completely clean and balanced nutrition in an enticing and entirely delicious bar. Made with only simple, real ingredients, Pure Bar will nurture your body, mind, and spirit.”

The Pure Organic Bar flavors are Chocolate Brownie, Wild Blueberry, Cherry Cashew, Apple Cinnamon, and Cranberry Orange

 ”Pure Naturals – Pure’s dedication to delicious, simple, clean nutrition continues with our innovative new line of all-natural, vegan and gluten-free fruit and nut bars. Pure Naturals come in an array of succulent flavors and are packed with 5-7 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber. Dive in to a thrilling new combination of nutrition and taste”

The Pure Natural Flavors include Chocolate Almond, Peanut Raisin Crunch, and Superfruit Crunchy.

You can visit Pure Bar on their website at www.thepurebar.com.  Pure Bars are available online or search for a store near you. 

My Review:

We received 1 bar of most of the flavors, with the exception of Superfruit Crunchy and Chocolate Almond.  They were really good, I’m always looking for on-the-go snacks that are healthy.  I like that they don’t have any unneeded sugars and are healthy for my whole family.  Our favorite was Apple Cinnamon and our least favorite was Cranberry Orange. The Cranberry Orange was a little too Orangy for us.  We enjoyed all of them and plan on purchasing them in the future! 

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Fruit and Oatmeal Bars from the White House Kitchen

Posted by Theresa, Owner on May 25, 2011
in Food and Treats, Recipes

I read an article over the weekend that shared a recipe from the White House Kitchen – Fruit and Oatmeal Bars – which are one of the First Lady’s favorite snacks. They sounded good, if you like snack bars. So for some nice blog content and so that I wouldn’t forget the recipe (and yes, I could have just saved it in Word! ;-) ), I decided to share it with all of you in hopes that many of you missed the article. (wry smile)

 

Fruit and Oatmeal Bars

Time:
About 50 minutes, plus time cooling

Ingredients:

 

  • 6 tablespoons grapeseed oil, or other neutral oil, plus extra for brushing pan
  • 2 cups rolled oats
  • ½ cup mixed seeds, such as pumpkin, sunflower and sesame
  • ½ cup honey
  • ½ cup dark brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup maple syrup
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 ½ cups mixed dried fruit, such as raisins, cherries, apricots, papaya, pineapple and cranberries (at least 3 kinds, cut into small pieces if large)
  • 1 teaspoon ground cardamom or cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons of butter

 

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9-inch-square baking pan with parchment paper or foil, letting a few inches hangs over side of pan. Brush with oil
2. Spread oats and seeds on another baking pan and toast in oven just until golden and fragrant, 6 to 8 minutes, shaking pan once.
3. In a saucepan, combine oil, butter, honey, brown sugar, maple syrup and salt. Stir over medium heat until smooth and hot. In a mixing bowl, toss together toasted oats and seeds, dried fruit and cardamom. Pour hot sugar mixture over and stir until well combined.
4. While mixture is warm, transfer to prepared pan, pressing into pan evenly with an offset spatula.
5. Bake until brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer pan to a rack and let cool completely. Using the overhanging foil or paper, lift out of pan and place on a work surface Cut into bars, about 1 ½ inches by 3 inches.

Source: Yahoo Weekend Edition Blog

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***Closed***Buddy Fruits Review & Giveaway

Posted by Theresa, Owner on May 6, 2011
in All Natural Products, Food and Treats, Giveaways

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

Our family tries really hard to watch our eating habits. We read labels and purchase organic, all natural, locally grown food as much as possible. We also do not buy a lot of convenience foods. Usually our convenience foods are a treat for trips or day outings. We bake and cook from scratch, unless our food co-op has some nice quick meals for those nights we just do not want to cook or have a busy day and need something quick and easy. If you are  a mom who looks for all natural snacks, without preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, GMOs or lots of sugar, dyes and additives, then Buddy Fruits is a cute little snack option for your children.

We took our Buddy Fruits on our trip to Minnesota a couple of weeks ago and we loved them. There are five flavors for their pure blended fruits, which is a little pouch with a plastic screw top and pretty much like pureed fruit. This is a great solution for children with small appetites and cannot finish their snack in one sitting. Simply screw the top on and a little later when their tummy is hungry they can finish off their Buddy Fruit. The five flavors include Apple & Multifruit, Apple & Banana, Apple & Cinnamon, Apple & Strawberry, Mango Passion & Banana. The only one some of the children were not crazy over was the Mango.

I loved the ease of use, the lack of spills or need of spoons for these snacks while traveling. Even baby could eat them right from the package! Little bit messy for him, but it still was easy to feed him while on the road.

Here’s the ingredients from the Apple & Multifruit:

Apple, banana, passion fruit juice, mango, strawberry, concentrated apple juice.

That’s it.

The other Buddy Fruit snacks are pure fruit bites. Very similar to gummies, BUT they are ALL fruit! No added anything. They come in four flavors: Orange, Pomegranate & Acai, Apple and Raspberry. Can you say yummy! They were another hit. These are not listed on Buddy Fruits’ website but are available on Amazon, as are the blended Buddy Fruits.

Here’s what is in the Raspberry pure fruit bites:

Fruits extract, apple juice concentrate, apple puree concentrate, raspberry juice concentrate, lemon juice concentrate, fruit pectin, glazing agent.

And it says it may contain traces of wheat starch.

A huge two thumbs up from our family on Buddy Fruits. I am hoping to stock up for our trips to the farm this summer for something easy to take with us on the run.

For more information about Buddy Fruits and their company, please visit www.BuddyFruits.com

Giveaway!!
Enter to win Buddy Fruit products!

Mandatory Entry: Visit BuddyFruits.com and tell me what you want to try from them.

Extra Entries (Please be sure and leave a comment and link for extra entries):

1 Entry:Follow Faith and Family Reviews On Twitter

1 Entry: Follow Buddy Fruit on Twitter.

1 Entry:Like/Friend Faith and Family Reviews on Facebook.

1 Entry: Like Buddy Fruits on Facebook and leave a comment on their wall saying what products you would like to try from them.

2 Entries: Follow Faith and Family Reviews on Google Friend Connect (on the our right side bar).

2 Entries: Subscribe to Buddy Fruits newsletter here.

2 Entries: Tweet about this giveaway. Up to three tweets per day. Include a separate comment for each and your tweet url with your comment. You may write your own tweet or use this one:

Enter to win Buddy Fruit all natural snacks! http://bit.ly/kzZnpQ @faithfamilyrevw! Please share!

5 Entries: Blog about this giveaway and link back this post.

1 Entry: For every comment you leave anywhere else on this blog, but please leave a link with your comment!

Details:

This giveaway will run from May 6th, 2011 to May 19th, 2011 at midnight CST. The winner will be chosen through Random.org. Buddy Fruits will send one winner their prize. Winner will be contacted via email on or before May 19th, 2011 and will be asked for their contact and other pertinent info. Winners will have 48 hours to send me their e-mail at [ffr] [giveaways] [at] [gmail] [dot] [com] (without spaces and parenthesis). Please note: This giveaway is offered to USA only.

Thanks and have fun!



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Bellybars from Nutrabella – Especially for Expectant Mamas

Posted by Theresa, Owner on May 31, 2010
in All Natural Products, Food and Treats, Pregnancy and Birth

This review is done in cooperation with The Healthy Moms Review Team that I am a part of. I did receive free products, but that in no way affects my review.

BellyBars

NutraBella Bellybars

All I have to say is yummy, yummy, yummy! I tried the Mellow Oat first which is oat graham and yogurt covering half of the bar. I love yogurt and oatmeal. With my iron still low these Belly Bars have 18 mg iron, plus 800mg of Folic Acid and 8 g of Protein.

I also received a Due for Chocolate milkshake. So for all of us chocolate lovers that is a definite bonus! It was very good, made with real milk without any growth hormones.

The bars and shakes are fortified with all the supplemental nutrients required in a normal pregnancy. The more notable nutrients we expectant mamas need the Bellybar has: 800 mg Folic Acid, 8 g Protein and 18 mg of Iron – something I need mroe of! While Bellybar products are made with no GMOs or growth hormones, they are not certified organic, even though they are labeled “All Natural” because ingredients like brown rice syrup, cane juice etc. No high fructose corn syrup and the like.

I actually think it’s ingenious for Nutrabella to cater to expectant mamas. I love bars like this, so even if they are not certified organic I plan to check to see if our local Walgreens carries them. I find bars high in protein give me an extra boost throughout the day.

For more information visit http://www.nutrabella.com/buy/index.html

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Allergy Free Snacks

Posted by Theresa, Owner on April 22, 2010
in All Natural Products

I received the following book in exchange for writing a review. While I consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, my review is my honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

HomeFree Snacks are allergy free snacks. HomeFree Snacks were specially created for kids with allergies to nuts, eggs and dairy. You know how you wonder what a product will be like once you try it, well I did my usual wondering about this product and really wasn’t sure what to expect when our family tried the snacks that were sent to us. We have not tasted very many dairy free, egg free, or nut free products. We happen to eat and enjoy all of those ingredients. HomeFree treats caught my interest because we do have friends who have had to change their diets due to having children with allergies.

These treats were a hit with our family. We honestly couldn’t tell the difference between them and our usual baked treats. We gobbled up most of the two packages of HomeFree Snacks that we received to review right away. The rest were saved for after church the following day.

The snacks we received were Soft Oatmeal Cookies and their Mini Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies. Both kinds were very yummy! We really loved them. Surprisingly, the oatmeal cookies tasted like oatmeal cookies. :-) You all have heard of the brand name, Teddy Grahams, right? Well, the chocolate chocolate chip cookies were mini cookies that we all thought they tasted like the chocolate Teddy Grahams, but without any chemicals and preservatives. I just wish they sold their treats in larger portions at a more discounted price to make it worth our family’s money to purchase them. I wouldn’t mind keeping a stash on hand just for busy days or for last minute planned trips.

All natural, organic ingredients too. Here are the ingredients of the Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Organic Mini Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie Ingredients: Organic whole barley flour, organic apple juice from concentrate, organic cane sugar, natural chocolate chips (sugar, chocolate liqueur, non-dairy cocoa butter, anhydrous dextrose, soy lecithin [an emulsifier], vanilla extract), oleic safflower oil, organic turbinado sugar, organic whole oat flour, organic tapioca starch, non-alkalized cocoa powder, organic apple sauce (apples, ascorbic acid – vitamin C), organic vanilla extract, baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), organic potato starch, salt, baking powder (non-aluminum), soy lecithin (an emulsifier), xanthan gum, rosemary extract.

Allergen Information: Contains soy lecithin. Our products are made in a dedicated facility containing no peanuts, no tree nuts, no eggs, no dairy, and no wheat*. However, due to agricultural practices, oats often contain traces of wheat. *This is not a gluten free product.*

Approximately 30 mini cookies in each package.

Organic Soft Oatmeal Cookie Ingredients: Each soft cookie is filled with 13 g whole grain (out of 48 recommended per day), and certified a good source of whole grain! Organic whole oat flour, organic whole oat flakes, organic turbinado sugar, oleic safflower oil, organic dried cane juice crystals, organic apple sauce (apples, ascorbic acid – vitamin C), organic apple juice from concentrate, organic tapioca starch, baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), organic cinnamon, xanthan gum, organic vanilla extract, salt, rosemary extract.

Allergen Information: Our products are made in a dedicated facility containing no peanuts, no tree nuts, no eggs, no dairy, and no wheat. Due to agricultural practices, oats at times can contain traces of wheat. *This is not a gluten free product.* This is also a certified vegan product.

There six cookies in a package.

A box of HomeFree cookies sells for $5.79.

About HomeFree

HomeFree Snacks is a company all about providing treats you can trust. The founder of HomeFree, Jill Robbins, is a mom and clinical psychologist. She realized how important it is for kids with allergies to have healthy snacks that were comparable to what their peers are enjoying. Often social events are difficult for children with allergies because they get left out of the snacky foods and this is the void that Jill Robbins desired to fill. She hopes you will enjoy seeing the smiles on your child’s face as they munch on her fabulous healthy treats.

HomeFree is also a charitable company that donates a portion of their profits to food allergy research and education. For more information visit www.HomeFreeTreats.com

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