I don't have any recipes to share today, but I did want to tell you about a very popular snack in our family. Drum roll please..... the Lara bar! Brant first introduced me to the Lara bar a few years ago and we've been eating them ever since. What we love about the Lara bar is 1) They are tasty 2) Very few ingredients 3) No additives or preservatives 4) Comparable in price to other energy bars 5) Large selection of yummy flavors.
I have just a small sampling of the many types of Lara bars in the picture on the left. Currently, I have chocolate chip cookie dough, chocolate chip brownie, apple pie, lemon bar, cashew cookie, and cherry pie Lara bars. You can check out all the flavors at www.larabar.com. In the picture on the right are the ingredients in the cherry pie Lara bar: dates, almonds, unsweetened cherries. And that's all!!! Now let's look at the ingredient list for the PowerBar Harvest Energy Oatmeal Raisin Cookie- I used to eat these in college before I ever cared about looking at the ingredient list in foods.
Ingredients
WHOLE OATS, BROWN RICE SYRUP, SOY CRISPS (SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE, RICE FLOUR, BARLEY MALT, SALT), EVAPORATED CANE JUICE SYRUP, YOGURT COATING (SUGAR, FRACTIONATED PALM KERNEL OIL, WHEY, NONFAT MILK, CULTURED WHEY, SOY LECITHIN, NATURAL VANILLA FLAVOR), RAISINS, ALMOND BUTTER, INULIN (FROM CHICORY), SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE, HONEY, AND LESS THAN 2% OF PEANUT BUTTER, OAT FIBER, VEGETABLE GLYCERIN, NATURAL FLAVORS (CONTAINS MILK), CINNAMON, RICE FLOUR, MINERALS: CALCIUM PHOSPHATE, POTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, FERROUS FUMARATE (IRON), VITAMINS: ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), VITAMIN B6 HYDROCHLORIDE, RIBOFLAVIN (VITAMIN B2), THIAMINE HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B1). CONTAINS ALMOND, MILK, PEANUT AND SOY INGREDIENTS. MADE ON EQUIPMENT THAT ALSO PROCESSES WHEAT.
While there are certainly much worse foods you could eat than this PowerBar, there are certainly much healthier alternatives- such as the Larabar. Anything with a super long ingredient list like the above makes me cringe and generally, I avoid like the plague. Again, I'm not perfect and certainly make unhealthy choices, but in general, I prefer avoiding processed foods.
So back to Munchkie. She LOVES Lara bars! Her favorite flavor is peanut butter cookie which is made up of just peanuts and dates. She probably could eat 3 or 4 of these a day if I let her! Whenever we go to the grocery store, I either bring a Lara bar with me or buy her one to keep her occupied. Brant's favorite flavor is cherry pie and mine at this time would probably be the lemon bar flavor. Costco sells a box of 18 Lara bars that has the cherry pie, apple pie, and peanut butter cookie flavors, which is where we usually buy them. You can also get them at pretty much any grocery store- I've seen them at Fred Meyer, Trader Joe's, Safeway, Whole Foods, and Albertson's. If you could not find them in a local grocery store, you could always order them online.
Anyway, that's all for today folks. Have a wonderful St. Patty's Day weekend!
So back to Munchkie. She LOVES Lara bars! Her favorite flavor is peanut butter cookie which is made up of just peanuts and dates. She probably could eat 3 or 4 of these a day if I let her! Whenever we go to the grocery store, I either bring a Lara bar with me or buy her one to keep her occupied. Brant's favorite flavor is cherry pie and mine at this time would probably be the lemon bar flavor. Costco sells a box of 18 Lara bars that has the cherry pie, apple pie, and peanut butter cookie flavors, which is where we usually buy them. You can also get them at pretty much any grocery store- I've seen them at Fred Meyer, Trader Joe's, Safeway, Whole Foods, and Albertson's. If you could not find them in a local grocery store, you could always order them online.
Anyway, that's all for today folks. Have a wonderful St. Patty's Day weekend!
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