Gluten Free Food Reviews

Enjoy Life sent me these allergy friendly rice milk chocolate bars to review, and I was definitely curious. Could a chocolate bar without dairy, nuts or soy actually taste good? I was about to find out.

First and foremost, I think the idea of these bars is wonderful.  This is a nice alternative for those of us that have a very restricted diet, but still want a treat now and then. These gluten free chocolate bars are vegan, nut free, soy free, dairy free, casein free, sesame free, sulfite free, egg free, potato free, and shellfish/ fish free ( I had to giggle at the fish free claim on their package, since I have never come across a chocolate bar that did have shellfish or fish, but whatever). I also thought of children with allergies that may feel left out when their peers enjoy their favorite Hershey bar or candy bar.  They don’t have to be left out anymore!

Each of these chocolate bars is fairly thick and somewhat crunchy. They don’t provide as smooth of a melt in your mouth experience like regular chocolate does, but I did not mind. They are all quite sweet; the evaporated cane juice and raisin juice adds a sweet, but a different, taste experience.

A review of each other three flavors:

Enjoy Life Foods boom Choco boom Dairy-Free Rice Milk Gluten-Free Chocolate Bar:  This “milk” chocolate flavor is mild and not overdone. At first, the texture and flavor reminded me of the cheap chocolate I got in my Easter basket as a kid ( remember that?), but as I tasted it, the simple flavors from the ingredients came through.

Enjoy Life Foods boom Choco boom Dairy-Free Rice Milk Gluten-Free Crispy Chocolate Bar: Same as the plain chocolate, but with the addition of crispy rice, like a Nestle Crunch bar. This was my favorite. Yum!

Enjoy Life Foods boom Choco boom Dairy-Free Rice Milk Gluten-Free Dark Chocolate Bar: The flavor of this dark chocolate flavor is sharper with a slight bitterness to it. The texture reminded me of baking chocolate- it didn’t really melt in my mouth at all, when I ate it.

Overall, these bars can’t compete with Lindt or Ghiradelli, but they are an excellent alternative for allergy sensitive consumers.

Rating: 4 stars

Pros: nice flavor, great for those with multiple allergies

Cons: pricey ($2.12), texture is a little different than regular chocolate bars

************************************

Want to try this gluten free product for yourself?

Click the link below for ingredients and purchasing information:

Enjoy Life Foods boom Choco boom Dairy-Free Rice Milk Gluten-Free Crispy Chocolate Bar

from Gluten Free Mall

For more of my Enjoy Life reviews, click HERE

Right now I am in Utah with my family, searching for a new home in this part of the country. The one thing I have struggled with is what to eat. It is difficult to be out and about looking at houses and when I get hungry it became this big ordeal of where I “can” eat, and where everyone else wants to eat. I feel like I monopolize the dining options for everyone else. I hate it! Traveling and eating when gluten free isn’t that easy, especially when you want something more than a baked potato or a snack bar when you’re out and about. I must admit, my Gluten-Free Restaurant Guide has really come in handy when dinner time rolls around!

However, on the flight to get here the Kind bars really saved me. Most of them are really, really tasty and they don’t squish and melt in my carry on bag. Nice. I enjoyed the Almond & Apricot in yogurt so much that I bought one of each of the following flavors and this is what I found:

Sesame & Peanut flavor: This crunchy and sweet bar is made of mostly sesame seeds with peanuts hiding in the middle and bottom of the bar. The entire bar is partially dipped in chocolate with chocolate striped drizzled on top. The flavor was nice and just sweet enough to satisfy a sweet tooth. But beware, it is really crunchy and can be hard to bite into. Rating: 3 1/2 stars

Almond & Apricot: This is the flavor that won the 2005 snack award from Health magazine, so of course I had to try it. It is basically the same as the Almond & Apricot in Yogurt flavor, minus the yogurt. This bar is somewhat soft and chewy with a tangy apricot and sweet coconut flavor. It’s really tasty, and travels well. Rating: 5 stars

Fruit & Nut In Yogurt: This is a soft and chewy bar full of raisins, almonds, brazil nuts, walnuts with apricots. The bottom of the bar is dipped in a yogurt, and has drizzled stripes of yogurt on the top. Honestly, I don’t even like raisins, but much to my surprise, I really liked this bar! It is tangy and sweet, all rolled into one. This gluten free snack bar travels well and does not melt. Rating: 5 stars

Nut Delight: This gluten free snack bar consists of peanuts, almonds, brazil nuts and walnuts sweetened with honey. Unfortunately, this bar is so hard and crunchy that when I bit into it, it crumbled all over my clothes and seat on the airplane. Not good. I also found the flavor to be somewhat bland and boring compared to the other Kind flavors. I don’t think I will buy this one again. Rating: 2 stars

Almond & Coconut: This bar is also soft and chewy and travels incredibly well. I liked the sweet and crunchy flavor and texture of the bar. The flavor is mild, and the nuts and coconut compliment each other. Overall, it is a great bar, but I think I prefer the bars with the tangy apricot. Rating: 4 stars

Want to stock up on these yummy bars? Check out the selection at Amazon.com:

Can you believe it? Someone HACKED into my site- yes, this site! As a result, I completely lost my page one Google ranking for “gluten free food” and have to build my site credibility all over again. The worst part is that this will make it hard for some users to find me and share what they think of the gluten free food out there. Boo!

Thankfully I have a tech savvy husband with even more tech friendly friends, who are graciously helping me fix my site (bye bye wordpress!). However, I am still having trouble posting my original pictures of the gluten free food and products. So, to make a long story short, my reviews for the next week or so won’t have my personal photos included. But have no fear! As soon as the bugs are fixed I will add them. It’s too bad, because I have some great shots of some great products. Oh well, soon enough I hope!

OK, on to my review:

So, I spied these travel friendly Kind bars at my local grocery store and just had to try them. I am headed across the country next week and hoped these would make a great packable snack for my long trek. My family and I are moving out west this summer and we are going house hunting. I am a little nervous, especially since I am so used to the east coast now that this move could prove to be quite the adventure.

Locally these 1.6 ounce Kind snack bars sell for$2.25 each, but I got them on sale 2/$3. My first flavor I tried was the almonds & apricots in yogurt. It looked great and tasted even better! These gluten free snack bars are just the right size to pack into purse or store in a glove compartment.

Kind was awarded the “Best Snack 2005″ award by Health magazine. I also found it interesting that 5% of proceeds go to OneVoice Movement to help foster peace in the Middle East. Nice.

APPEARANCE: The bar itself is made up of huge chunky whole almonds, smooth apricot flavor, shredded coconut and coconut chips, and puffed rice dipped in a “yogurt compound” made up of sugar, palm kernel oil, skim milk powder and yogurt powder. The bottom of the bar has been dipped in the “yogurt” and with diagonal drizzled lines of the yogurt in the top. It actually looks very pretty and super yummy

FLAVOR & TEXTURE: I was surprised- this Kind bar really packs a punch! Immediately you experience a “sweet tart” from the apricot an yogurt flavors that is balanced out by the almonds. The apricot flavor is quite strong, but blends well with the other ingredients. The center of the bar is fairly soft and chunky and with a crunchy undertone and the smooth yogurt ties it all together.

Be aware though, that this Kind snack bar should be consumed only in moderation. I was shocked to discover that this gluten free snack bar packs in 13 grams of fat and a whopping 6 g. of saturated fat. However, I guess I should not be that surprised since the main ingredients are almonds and coconut! At least it does have 4 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber.

CONCLUSION: Really, this has become one of my favorite snacks- the flavors are wonderful and leaves me satisfied. This is one of those gluten free products I wouldn’t mind buying a case worth for on the go snacks and traveling.

Pros: excellent flavor and texture, perfect for traveling, satisfying

Cons: can be pricey, high fat/saturated fat content

Rating: 5 stars

Want to try these gluten free Kind bars?

Click on the Link below:

Ingredients: Almonds, yogurt compound (sugar, palm kernel oil, skim milk powder, soy lecithin), apricots (apricot paste, glycerol, pectin apple fiber, citric acid), homey, shredded coconut, coconut chips, glucose, puffed rice, chicory fiber, soy lecithin