Nākd Fruit and Nut Bars Review

Last month, the people at Natural Balance Foods contacted me, wondering if I would be interested in reviewing some of their "Nākd" fruit and nut bars. I had never heard of the brand, so after doing a bit of digging and asking a few questions, I agreed to give them a go!

Natural Balance Foods is a UK-based brand that has just recently started offering their products to US customers. Their Nākd Bars have no added sugar or syrup and are wheat, dairy and gluten free. 

What initially drew me to try out these bars was the small list of ingredients. Most of them are composed of dried fruit, nuts and natural flavorings.

I was a bit concerned about the "natural flavorings" at first, but the lady I communicated with gave examples of the natural flavor such as "extract from an orange" and "natural chocolate flavour from cocoa powder." 

The Nākd Crunch Bars do contain "soya protein crunchies." The added crunch was pleasant, but I personally try to avoid soy products.

Another thing to note is that these bars contain nuts that haven't been soaked for optimal nutrition and digestibility. I do think that these are a better choice than the majority of the snack/protein bars on the market, but I wouldn't recommend consuming huge quantities. You can read about the importance of soaking nuts here and here.

Also, some of the bars are listed as "GM Free" on the website, while others are not. I'm not sure if that means that those not listed as GM Free contain genetically modified ingredients or not. I'll let you guys know if I find out.

I thought I'd highlight for you guys my top five bars (in no particular order) from the ones I received:

1) Rhubarb Custard: I liked how this one was slightly tangy.

2) Cocoa Orange: To my surprise, this one tasted very much like a tootsie roll!

3) Ginger Bread: I thought the spices went really well together.

4) Berry Delight: I'm a raspberry fan, and again I enjoyed the tangy flavor. Reuben didn't care for it as much.

5) Pecan Pie: Pecans are my favorite nuts, so of course I enjoyed this one.

Now for a few that didn't quite hit the spot:

I couldn't quite like the cocoa mint - I felt that the mint flavor was a bit strong. Reuben said that the cashew cookie was: "Not horrible, but not very tasty." He also took the banana crunch to work one day and didn't like it at all. We liked the rest of the crunch bars - it's just unfortunate that they're made with soy.

In conclusion:

I think these are a fun option for on-the-go snacks, but I wouldn't want to eat copious amounts of them. They work out to about $1.27 a bar, which isn't outrageous but it isn't super cheap either. But they're using higher quality ingredients, so you wouldn't expect them to be as cheap as, say, a candy bar. I might consider purchasing them online at some point, but I'd be much more likely to buy them if I could find them at a local shop.

Shipping is free on their website until January 31st, 2015.

Thank you to Natural Balance Foods for providing these bars so that I could let you guys know what I think of them! As always, all opinions are my own. 

Friday, November 14, 2014

Nākd Fruit and Nut Bars Review

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Jovial Foods Review + Giveaway

A few months ago I reached out to the folks at Jovial, wondering if they would be interested in partnering with me to bring you guys a review of some of their awesome products. I was expecting to receive a few items, but just look at the bounty they sent me! 

Here's a quick overview of what Jovial is all about:

They're a small, family-owned company, founded by husband and wife team Carla and Rodolfo. When they realized that their daughter was sensitive to modern wheat (it caused her asthma, mood swings, chronic sinusitis and hair loss), they started creating high quality gluten-free foods. 

Then, they discovered Einkorn: a rare, ancient form of wheat. They found that their daughter could eat the Einkorn. Einkorn has a different protein structure than modern wheat, so some people that are sensitive to wheat can handle Einkorn. You can read more about ancient grains HERE.

Besides high quality Einkorn products, Jovial sells gluten-free pastas, organic olive oil, tomatoes in glass jars, and more!

Here is my review of the products they sent me:

Whole wheat einkorn penne. I'm usually not a huge fan of whole wheat pasta, but this was quite good. It wasn't bitter like many whole wheat pastas I've tried. 

Einkorn spaghetti. This is made with "white" eikorn. I must say that I was quite impressed with this pasta. I was able to achieve perfect al dente. Usually my pasta goes quickly from not quite done to very soft. This pasta was both firm and completely cooked. I could tell that it was high quality.

Einkorn wheat berries. These were so much fun to work with! They look different from modern wheat varieties.

I sprouted a package of the berries and made my own sprouted einkorn flour. It doesn't get much better than that.

Organic diced tomatoes. I really really appreciate that they're packed in glass jars. I don't like buying tomatoes in tin cans because of all the BPA. I can feel good about using Jovial's tomatoes! 

They even use a BPA free lid. I love their attention to details!

They included some tomato paste in a glass jar. This is great for thickening pasta sauce and it's SO handy that it's in a jar. Does anyone else get frustrated at those cans of tomato paste?

Organic extra virgin olive oil. This is made from 100% Italian organic ancient varieties of olives. It's high quality for sure. I didn't notice a big difference in taste, but I'm not an olive oil connoisseur.

Here are a few of the things I made with their products: 

With the einkorn flour I sprouted, I made a Blueberry Dutch Baby. This was delicious. Helen loved it. 

With the spaghetti, diced tomatoes, tomato paste and olive oil I made Spaghetti Bolognese (with grass-fed beef, of course). Because of the quality of the ingredients, I felt good feeding it to Helen (minus the pasta, since I don't give her un-sprouted grains yet).

I also made a blueberry cake for Helen with the sprouted flour. She adored it. I thought it was yummy as well, even though I cut out a lot of the sweetener from the recipe.

I made my no-knead bread with part of the einkorn flour I ground. It was very good.

Now for the big question: would I purchase these products?

Yes! I will definitely be purchasing Jovial products in the future. I am quite impressed with the quality. The olive oil is pretty expensive - it will be a special occasion item. I'll be savoring my bottle. 

If you're interested in purchasing some Jovial products, make sure you use the coupon code BSU2014

It will get you 10% off your order plus FREE SHIPPING! This code is good until the end of September. It excludes their KOMO grain mill and Culinary Getaway. 

Giveaway Time!

The folks over at Jovial have generously agreed to give away two (2) gift certificates for $25 each!

Here's what you need to do to enter the giveaway:

• Either like Jovial's Facebook page, or follow them on Twitter or Pinterest. You don't have to follow all three - you can pick just one if you like.
• Come back here and leave a comment on this post answering the following question: What's your favorite pasta dish of all time?

Rules:

• You must follow one of Jovial's social media pages AND leave a comment on this post.
• You must be a continental US resident and you must be 18 years of age or older. 
• You must provide a way for me to reach you if you win the giveaway (Your Twitter, Pinterest, email, blog, etc.).
• The giveaway will end on Tuesday, September 16, at midnight Central Time. No comments will be considered for the giveaway after that time.
• Using random.org, I will select 2 winners. If you do not provide a way for me to contact you, I will select a different winner.
• The winners must respond to my email within 72 hours or I will have to choose a new winner.

That's it!

Good luck!

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Jovial Foods Review + Giveaway

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