The good, and then the…

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  We went to a friends house and celebrated with some other people from the base.  There was a ton of food, and lots of video game playing.

This post is an attempt to get rid of some of the pictures I have piling up on my computer.  There are a lot of them, so here is the good, and then maybe some of the not so good.

Mary's Gone Crackers are wheat free and gluten free.  I picked up this sample at FNCE, and then got back to the base and was surprised to see this product was now on the shelf at the commissary.
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They are small, round, and as you can see, packed with seeds.  The verdict: GOOD!  These were actually good and I would recommend trying them.
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Next up is the Kinder Happy Hippo.
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We bought these last year once because you have to admit, they just look cute.
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They are not only cute, but so good, and filled with creamy chocolate, like nutella, minus the hazelnut flavor.  The verdict: GOOD!
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This is a new Powerbar product.
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I like cranberries, so I thought this might be good to try, and I liked that it only has 130 calories, where so many other similar energy type products are much higher in calories.  I like the original PowerBar, probably because I liked the chewiness of it and it took forever to eat, but now I find that not only some what gross, but too high in calories for a single snack food.  The verdict: GOOD!  It could have been better, but I would eat this again, and even buy it for a snack to carry in my purse.
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Mixed in with food goodies are some other FNCE swag.  This is my PB jar scraper.  I think I put this picture up once before, but I think this is so cool.
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This is an avocado tool, so it cuts it open and peels it out.  I think some guacamole making is in my future.
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 Food Should Taste Good is a company I know many of you have heard of or tried already.  Over here on the base, we do not have access to this at all.  I was excited when I tried it at FNCE, and of course, the verdict there was GOOD!  I took this bag to go.  I must be saving it for a rainy day, and I am just really not ready to give this up yet.  Yes, I know if I don’t eat it, I will never enjoy it, but there will be no more after that.  Ok, that might be a little lie…I bought Ryan a bag of the jalapeno chips when I went grocery shopping stateside, but after that…no more.
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This is Late July, organic chips.  Stay tuned, I tried this last night, so a review will be coming.
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I still think my Pepsico cooler bag for groceries is pretty neat.  Do you ever use one of these?
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These are from La Tortilla Factory.  I’m not gonna lie.  The only reason I took these home was because it only has 100 calories and my usual product has 170.  I have no interest in whether it is fat free or carb free, I only wanted to try these and see how the 100 calorie tortilla tasted.  Bet you thought I was going to tell you know what I thought.  That meal is coming up, so stay tuned.
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ConAgra was all about the food safety at the convention, so I was pleased to grab this set of cutting boards, with separate boards for meats, veggies and fish, etc.
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Next up, and do not laugh, but this is my homemade From Scratch Mac and Cheese from last March.
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I froze the leftover because that many hours of labor for fresh, homemade mac and cheese did not belong in the trash.  I came home from Boston and was looking for something to eat, and I decided to try this out.
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Look at the pretty ice crystals. 
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I heated this up and it took quite some time.  Verdict: ALMOST GOOD!  It was good, but that was once you got past the consistency of the crumbly noodles.  They did not reheat so well, but the cheese was very good.  I am just glad I got a chance to eat this and it had not gone bad and did not go to waste.
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Vitatops: These are sugar free, low fat muffins with around 100 calories, and vitamins and minerals added to it.  I get this product every year at FNCE and every year I think that maybe I will like it better.
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Verdict: NOT SO GOOD!  I do not know what it is about this, but I find it too dry and not really chocolatey.  I try and try, but I just did not like this, or the other flavor I tried.  I did eat the entire one pictured here, but I had to through out the banana nut one I also tried.  Any thoughts on these?
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At least after that I have a good one to show you.  I bought these at the hotel gift store in Boston.
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These are chocolate covered little patties of cranberries and cashews covered in caramel.  Verdict: GOOD!
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I love cheese and salty snacks, so I was excited to be able to give Barbara's cheese puffs a try.  Verdict: GOOD!  Aren’t you glad I have more good products than not so good products.  I have never had any issues with Barbara’s products, and if you have not checked this company out, go ahead and give it a try.
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Anything labeled Snickers will probably taste good, and there is no doubt I have enjoyed the Snickers Marathon bar before.  Do I think this is healthy?  Heck no!  But at 150 calories, if I want a Snickers, this could be a way better option that eating a more calorie dense candy bar.  I eat these kinds of things very rarely, but I was glad to see that it had about the same amount of calories as my usual morning snack (usually 100-150 calories in the form of some kind of snack bar just before I head to the gym).
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Verdict: GOOD!  Did you really think this was going to be anything other than good?  Not a healthy choice, but not bad for an indulgence.
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Hooray for Annie's.  I never eat snacks like this, probably for the sheer fact that they often have gelatin.  The beauty of organic products is that you will not find gelatin, so I am good to go and can enjoy these. 
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Only 70 calories, although not a huge portion.
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But they were so cute.  Verdict: GOOD!  Yes, of course I liked these.
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How funny that my next picture is a giant steak?  No, I did not give in and eat a steak.  Ryan was proud of his beautiful steak, so he wanted me to take a picture.  Since I never make meat, Ryan sometimes gets a craving and will want to cook a steak.  I do allow steak cooking in the house, so lucky for Ryan, he could do his thing and prepare this.  The dog was thankful too.  Verdict (from Ryan): GOOD!
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My treat then was a nice bottle of beer.  Meet Super Bock, a Portuguese beer.  This is not an ordinary Super Bock, this is Super bock Gold.  I had never seen this flavor before, so I decided to give it a try.  Verdict: GOOD!
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I really just had to take a picture of this because I found it so cute.  If you are trying to figure out what exactly is going on here, this is a shwarma, like the thinly sliced meat you find in the middle east.  This is the Portuguese version.  I found it in the prepared foods section at the local grocery store.  I don’t eat meat, but I can still think a product idea is cool.
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This will make you drool.  I enjoyed this chocolate filled churro a few months ago, but I never posted the picture.  A food cart from Lisbon came over for a local festival and set up her cart by the marina.  This was sooo good.  Haha, verdict: SOOO GOOD!
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I have just a few pictures left to get caught up on.  This is a giant salad Ryan made one day for lunch.  It is so nice to know that my husband loves veggies as much as I do.  No, he was not able to eat this in one sitting.  This was to be for his lunches for a few days.
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Last up: These are pods for the Dolce Gusto machine we just purchased.  More to come on that!
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 QUESTIONS:  Have you ever tried any of the products I featured here?  If you are a vegetarian, do you allow meat cooking in your house?  Have you ever heard of Dolce Gusto?  What is your favorite new product?

6 comments:

Gina; The Candid RD said...

Yep, I've seen most of these products where I work. In fact, we were demoing the Olive crackers last week and I am so in love with them! They seriously taste like an olive, which is awesome in my opinion. A crunchy olive?! Love it!

sophia said...

I LOVE Kinder Bueno!!! I miss them from Singapore. I still remember when they first came out into stores...ah. Nostalgia.

I feel like I'm the only blogger who has NOT tried MAry Gone Crackers.

Emily said...

Sounds like you had a great Tgiving celebration! I have never tried most of those products before except Annie's bunnies. They are a fun snack to take on the go!

Simply Life said...

Wow, so many fun new products to try! Thanks for the info!

Kristen (swanky dietitian) said...

I am so jealous of your pb scraper! I didn't see that at FNCE! There was just so much. haha.
I like the Food Should Taste Good chips. I didn't pick them up at FNCE, but I have had them before.

Rachel Lauren said...

I love mary's gone crackers, black pepper flavor is my fav.

I tried the apple crumb vitamuffin that you sent me, it was... ok, kinda gummy and weird taste. the second one, apple cran I think?, I accidentally left it in pantry and was moldy when I went to try it. Figure I didn't miss much since I didn't like the other one. :(

I want a pb scraper!

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