25 Days of Oats, Any Takers?

The temperature is starting to drop below freezing in the mornings, and a warm bowl of oatmeal is not only extremely comforting, but also delicious and economical. Since every blogger seems to have their own favorite method for making oats, I thought it would be fun to have a "25 Days of Oats" series where (ideally) 25 bloggers would make their own seasonal bowl of oats and feature them here and on their own blog starting on December 1st and going up to December 25th. If you'd be interested in making a "holiday oat bowl" just leave a comment or send me an e-mail (startinghealthy@gmail.com) and we can try to get something organized in the next 2 weeks or so. Be sure to let anybody else who may be interested know.


On another note, I got a package today from Gnu who sent me a box of their fiber bars to try out! I've been wanting to try these ever since I saw them online but none of the stores in my area seem to carry them. I'll be putting up reviews for them in the upcoming weeks.

Edy's Limited Edition Pumpkin Ice Cream

If you're the type of person who has a hard time controlling themselves around ice cream, stay far away from this one. Edy's Slow-Churned Pumpkin ice cream has a great, creamy taste despite only having 100 calories per serving. The pumpkin is noticeable, but isn't overpowering and doesn't taste fake as you might expect a low-fat ice cream would. If you plan on buying this, be sure to check the label carefully if you want the 100-calorie version. There's a "fun flavor" and a "slow churned" version of it, with the latter having 100 calories per serving and the former having 120. Go ahead and pick up this limited edition ice cream before they take it off the shelves.

Full nutritional information available here.

Kashi TLC Honey Almond Flax

I can't really complain about the taste of this bar because it pretty much tasted like the name describes it. With that being said, it's a pretty boring granola bar. It tastes like oats and almonds with a hint of honey, and "healthy" is the best way I could really describe the the taste. I'd rather have the peanut butter version, if only because it has a more distinct flavor.

Full nutrition information can be found here.

Special K Peanut Butter Chocolate

This was the first time I've bought a Special K meal bar, but it was the only decent looking thing I could find in the gas station I stopped at. This bar tasted surprisingly good, I was expecting it to be extremely fake tasting, but it was actually somewhat like a peanut butter buckeye. It was far from a satisfying peanut butter/chocolate replacement though, both flavors were fairly weak and still had a somewhat fake taste. The texture itself was alright, but it was a bit too "airy" for me, I like it when bars are chewy/dense. It kept me satisfied for around 1.5 hours, which was a bit disappointing. The nutritional stats are similar to a Luna Bar, with 10 grams of protein and 180 calories per bar but with a worse ingredient list. Overall, I doubt I'll be buying this bar again, I'd much rather have a Luna bar over this, which are unfortunately not carried in as many convenience stores.

Full nutritional information available here.

Chocolate Chip Clif Bar

I don't know if it's just my area that does this, but it seems like every convenience store carries 3 "default" Clif flavors (peanut butter, chocolate brownie, and chocolate chip), leaving the other flavors pretty hard to find at times. Out of those easy to find flavors, Chocolate Chip would probably be my favorite. It's quite a bit denser than a cookie, but I thought it tasted a lot like a chocolate chip blondie. I've read that microwaving them for 10 seconds makes it much softer, so that might have to be next on my "to try" list. Like all Clif Bars, it's pretty filling and is easy to eat on the go.

Full nutritional information here.


Are there any foods in your area that are hard to find? For me, there aren't any stores that carry Gnu Bars, Clif Nectar bars, and the Jocolat Larabar flavors, all of which I'd really like to try.

Luna Bar Berry Almond

I was pretty disappointed with this bar, I thought I would enjoy it a lot more than I did. I knew things would be rough when I opened the package and had to peel it off the bar itself - this is one of the stickiest things I've ever had. Not only is it sticky, but it's purple. Be sure you're not holding any papers (or a book) while eating it, because the goop will quickly stain it. The flavor itself wasn't too bad though, it tastes sort of like what you might expect a Kix cereal bar to taste like. The flavors were pretty artificial tasting though, so don't expect it to really taste like any naturally occurring fruits. The bar was also very flimsy, it started "sagging" as soon as I took it out of the package. I can't really recommend buying this bar unless you're willing to look past the messiness of it. For me, granola bars are meant to be on-the-go convenience foods, which this certainly wasn't.

The nutritional information can be found here.


In other news, there is a Amazing Grass giveaway going on at Live, Love, Violin. Be sure to check it out!

Trader Joe's Vanilla Almond Crunch Granola Bar

Another granola bar to review. This time it's from Trader Joe's and it's their "Vanilla Almond Crunch" flavor. I'm not sure if the vanilla was lacking or if it's just too subtle a flavor to really pick up, but I didn't really get any big hit of any flavor other than the typical granola/nut taste. It didn't taste bad but it didn't impress me much either. As far as granola bars go, this isn't the most convenient one to take with you somewhere. It's very sticky, which means your steering wheel or whatever you're carrying could get a little dirty, and it's not sturdy at all - mine were a little damaged just from being in the box I bought it in. It seems smaller than a Kashi TLC bar, but it also has slightly fewer calories (130).

Full nutrition information can be found here.

Kashi TLC Peanut Peanut Butter

Welcome to the first StartingHealthy review! This one is on Kashi's chewy granola bar line, called TLC. They're available at almost any grocery store and are a bit pricier than Fiber One bars, but about the same as other "organic" granola bars.

The one I had today happens to also be my favorite, the Peanut Peanut Butter flavor. The "butter" in the title is a bit misleading, since this doesn't really taste like all the other peanut butter products on the market, but more like raw peanuts. If you're fine with that, it's definitely worth a try. The bar itself is pretty chewy, enough to hold it together without too much crumbling as you eat it. It's a decent size for the 140 calories it has, and it held me over for 1.5 to 2 hours. Overall, this is a great snack for when you're on the go between meals, the only thing I didn't like was that it seemed to stick to my teeth a lot.

Full nutritional information available here.