Review: Food Should Taste Good Macadamia Chai Real Good Bar

I've said it many times here, yet I'll continue to say it:  I love being shocked by finding new products in the aisles at my stores.  I've often see chips, popcorn, etc. that's been produce by Food Should Taste Good (hilarious AND true name, by the way), but I've never seen anything of theirs in bar form.  That ended this past weekend as I was perusing my local Kroger and stumbled upon this Food Should Taste Good Macadamia Chai Real Good Bar.  The bar set me back (not really) a whole $1.00 and it comes in at 1.42 ounces with 220 calories and four grams of protein.  It's gluten free, non-GMO and made with Fair Trade certified cocoa if you are interested in that too.  I'm not (although I should be), so to each their own.

Review: Slow Food For Fast Lives Moroccan Bar

I've mentioned in previous Slow Food For Fast Lives review that they were generous enough send me a sampling of all their bars and that sampling continues with today's review.  I've had some surprising successes with the bars I've already looked at, but I will fully admit that the thought of this Slow Food For Fast Lives Moroccan Bar scared me after I looked at the listing of ingredients on the wrapper.  I know those ingredients are reflecting of Moroccan culture and that's wonderful, but just the fact that they were all rolled into one package made me a bit apprehensive.  Anyway, the bar itself was 1.4 ounces with 170 calories and four grams of protein.  It's also all natural, gluten free and vegan.

Review: KIND Strong & Kind Thai Sweet Chili Almond Protein Bar

He's been mentioned here before but I'll mention again that Junk Food Guy runs a pretty damn fine blog.  Not only does he review products, but he also talks about sports, life, etc.  I've done a lot of reviews, but I only really do quick hitter-type reviews, so just looking the sheer volume of reviews and other things that he's done is astounding to me.  Anyway, I've learned via his Twitter feed that he's a big fan of savory snack bars, so today's review that adds to my KIND review series is an ode to him.  I was able to pick up this KIND Strong & Kind Thai Sweet Chili Almond Protein Bar at Kroger on sale for $1.25 and the bar is 1.6 ounces and has 230 calories and ten grams of protein.  It's also gluten free, among other things, so it's also got that going for it.  This one also shows up as right in the middle on the Spice meter on the wrapper, so I guess I shouldn't expect to be on fire when I'm done, so that's good.

Review: Slow Food For Fast Lives Indian Bar

Regular readers of the blog may have noticed that I'm not posting as frequently anymore.  This is due to the fact that my real life has led me to take another job and I haven't had as much time to dedicate to the blog and have even had thoughts about walking away entirely.  But, those thoughts have not come to fruition because of a few reasons.  First, I kind of like the income that I derive from the blog and I'd probably miss that nice little "bonus" that I get each month.  Second, I sometimes get contacted by readers that have nothing but the nicest things to say (Hi Tracey P.!) and I always appreciate that and those kind words keep me chugging along.  Third, I also sometimes receive offers of new (and free!) products to try out and as a guy that loves free stuff, as I've mentioned countless times before, I love getting those opportunities.  It's one of those opportunities that leads me to the source of today's review as I take a look at this Slow Food For Fast Lives Indian Bar.  This bar is 1.4 ounces, has 180 calories, five grams of protein and is also, all natural, gluten free and vegan.

Review: Bakery On Main Truebar I'm An Apricot Almond Chai Bar With Nothing to Hide

There's something to be said about not hiding anything.  I mean, look at Richard Nixon.  Had he not conspired to hide The Watergate break-in, perhaps he would have never had to resign the presidency in disgrace.  On the other hand, hiding in a giant wooden horse allowed the Trojans to beat Sparta in ancient times.  So, is there really a right answer?  I don't know but apparently Bakery On Main feels that hiding is a bad thing as I've got another review from their Truebar product line that lays it all out there for the world to see with this Bakery On Main Truebar I'm An Apricot Almond Chai Bar With Nothing to Hide.  I got this bar for $1.99 at Marsh and it comes in at 1.40 ounces and has 160 calories and three grams of protein.

Review: Patak's Original Korma Curry Simmer Sauce

I've got to say, I've had some real successful experiences with Patak's products here on the blog. Some have been better than others, but as a whole, they've been quite good. It's those positive experiences that led me to pick up this twelve ounce jar of Patak's Original Korma Curry Simmer Sauce at Kroger for $2.99. I like reviewing these not only because I've had good experiences, but also because they help me expand my culinary experiences with Indian food, which is a cuisine that I had zero interaction with for my entire life up until these past few tears. Since this curry is cream based, it's a little higher up on the calorie scale compared to some of its brethren at 280 calories per half cup serving, but that's fine in the grand scheme of things.  If the heat of Indian food scares you, there's not much to fear here as this one score's as "Mild" on Patak's heat scale that they conveniently place on all their jars.

Review: Patak's Original Tikka Masala Curry Simmer Sauce

When I was in the process of moving a while back, I was trying to go through my cabinets and eat as many of the things that I had stored up for reviews as possible.  Among those things, were a few jars of Patak's simmer sauce that have led to some reviews and also this most recent review with this jar of Patak's Original Tikka Masala Curry Simmer Sauce that I picked up at Kroger for $2.99.  Each jar is fifteen ounces and contains three servings at 130 calories per serving and clocks in at a medium on the Patak's heat scale.  My prior experiences here on the site with Patak's products have been very positive, so I had some fairly high expectations heading in.  Tikka Masala is also more popular in Great Britain than it is in India, so maybe I should consider this a new ethnicity of foods instead of classifying this as Indian like I usually would.  What do you think?

Review: Patak's Original Rogan Josh Curry Simmer Sauce

My experience with ethnic food, specifically Indian food, has been very limited here on the blog even though reviewing those types of foods was one of my original missions when I first started that blog.  Still, I have done some reviews relating to one or both of those things and it's an increased focused on that mission here in 2013 that leads me to do another Patak's review with this review of a fifteen ounce jar of there Patak's Original Rogan Josh Curry Simmer Sauce that I picked up at Kroger for $2.99.  Each jar contains three servings and each serving is a relatively budget-like (in my mind) 100 calories.  On the Patak's spice scale, this rated as a medium as well.  Rogan Josh is typically served with lamb, but I decided to use it like a lot of Indians would, meaning that I stuck to being strictly vegetarian and mixed it with plain Ramen noodles (not something a typical Indian would do).

Review: CLIF Special Twentieth Anniversary Gary's Panforte Bar

For those of you that don't know, this is the twentieth anniversary of CLIF bar and because of that, they're been releasing a special twentieth anniversary, limited edition blend entitled Gary's Panforte bar named their founder and named that way to be reminiscent of his cycling journeys through the mountains of Northern Italy so long ago.  By Panforte, Gary means that this bar is full of fruits, nuts and spices and it's based on an 800 year old recipe from Italy.  I got this one through a free promotion on their Facebook page celebrating this anniversary and it is the CLIF bar standard 2.4 ounces.  This one's a little different though as it has a more robust 260 calories and less protein than usual with only five grams.

Review: CLIF Iced Gingerbread Energy Bar

I've already covered the two other seasonal offerings by CLIF in my reviews of the Peppermint Stick bar and the Spiced Pumpkin Pie bar, so now it is time for the final review of the offerings, the Iced Gingerbread bar.  Ordinarily, I'm not the world's biggest fan of gingerbread (I tolerate it), so I'm curious to see how this one turns out.  As usual with CLIF bars, it's 70% organic and is the standard 2.4 ounces in weight.  It contains 250 calories and nine grams of protein as well.  I picked this one up at a crazy sale at Kroger for $0.50.