Category: Reviews
Corn dog options
A few weekends ago I went on a small corn dog kick. They were in the freezer, they were quick and how much “damage” could 2 corn dogs do?
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I don’t want to say 460 is “high”, if you only have 2 dogs as your meal, that’s not terrible. But, it was a slightly higher number than I like for 2 little dogs. So, I wondered if there were any lower cal alternatives out there.
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Then I remembered back to a sausage patty comparison I did a few weeks ago with Morning Star and decided to see if they have corn dogs… And they do! Well, I picked a box up and have to say, they’re pretty good! Throw a little mustard/ketchup on there and you’d be hard pressed to tell a difference.
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Fit Crunch Bar
A family friend suggested I try the Fit Crunch bar, and I’m glad she did, it was good! It has a real good blend of flavors. No one flavor over powers the others. And, it’s the first “crunch” labeled protein bar I’ve tried that actually has a true crunch to it.
Clear American Drinks
Grabbed a few of these today. Tried the Cherry Lemonade first. It’s pretty good. It actually hit exactly what I was looking for. I was looking for a Celsius type drink without the caffeine, and this fills that very well. Found them at Walmart and they have a TON of options to choose from.
Kitchen Table Bakers – ParmCrips – Oven Baked – Aged Parmesan
Cal: 100 | Fat: 7g | Carb: <1g | Fiber: 0g | Sugar: 0g | Protein: 9g (Aged Parmesan flavor)
Ingredients: Parmesan Cheese
I saw someone suggest these on a weight loss site and thought I’d give them a try. They are very good. I would give them a 9 out of 10 (for me) as a protein snack. I have always liked those little crispy bits of cheese that happen to get overcooked in a pan. These crisps tastes just like that. Basically, I’m guessing, they put piles of Parmesan on a pan (or conveyor belt) and run it through an oven and simply melt it. So, if you like Parmesan and you’re looking for a crunch without the carbs and with rather low calories, this is it. This big bag costs around $9 at Sam’s. But, trust me, they are so rich, you only need 10 or so for a serving. This bag should last me a while. Plus, it’s a cheese based snack, which of course is pricier than a potato based snack.
FitJoy Protein Bar
Cal: 230 | Fat: 8g | Carb: 23g | Fiber: 11g | Sugar: 3g | Protein: 20g (frosted cinnamon roll)
This morning I decided to give the FitJoy Protein Bars a try. I picked up the Frosted Cinnamon and Chocolate Iced Brownie. It looks like they have about 10 different flavors, but these were the two I found locally. I started with the Chocolate Iced Brownie, which has a rather dense texture. It’s not quite as dense as a Quest Protein Bar, but still more dense than a brownie you might eat otherwise. It isn’t overly sweet, more of a subtle brownie flavor. Personally, I’d probably give it a 5 out of 10 stars. Next I tried the Frosted Cinnamon Roll. After trying the Oh Yeah! One Cinnamon Roll Bar I had pretty high hopes for this bar. And… it’s not a One Bar. It is “OK”, maybe a 6 out of 10. While it had a cinnamon aftertaste, I would be hard pressed to say it was a cinnamon roll bar. It was rather gummy and dense. I guess it might be like the center of a cinnamon roll that was under-cooked, yet over-cooked at the same time. As mentioned above, they have 8 other flavors. I’ll probably try them, if I happen across them, but I probably won’t be searching high and low for them.
Power Crunch Bar – Triple Chocolate
Cal: 205 | Fat: 13g | Carb: 10g | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 5g | Protein: 16g
A friend gave me one of these Power Crunch Bars a while back and it took me a little while to get a chance to try it out. I’ve finally had an opportunity to give this a try and… O – M – G! This thing is GOOD! These remind me of one of my all time light crisp flavor cookies – any type of Wafer Cookies.I have always enjoyed the light thin wafer crunch surrounded by the nice chocolaty flavor. With the name “triple chocolate” it really does have a darker chocolate flavor, which is good. I give this bar a 9 out of 10 for me when it comes to dessert type bars. I would eat this even if I wasn’t on a journey to lean. I will without a doubt be trying the other flavors Power Crunch has to offer.
Carb Killa Grenade Bars
Cal: 220 | Fat: 8g | Carb: 21g | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 2g | Protein: 22g
(white chocolate cookie flavor)
I saw someone mention that Carb Killa Grenade Bars were a key part of their journey to lean, so I have been searching high and low for them. I finally found them at a corporate GNC store. I would give these an 8 out of 10 for protein bars. They have decent stats and there are multiple flavors which are all very good. The Chocolate Cream flavor was a pretty smooth bar. It’s just as it says, chocolate with a slight cream flavor. I was hoping the White Chocolate Cookie would have more of a cookies and cream flavor than it did, but it was still good. I would say it was 90% white with 10% cookie crumb flavor. The Caramel Chaos was probably my favorite. It had a slight crunch and a slight caramel flavor to go with the chocolate outer coating. The Chocolate Crunch version was actually very similar to the Chocolate Cream flavor, with just a slightly richer cream undertone. It really didn’t have as much “crunch” as you might think a “crunch” titled bar would have. Every now and then I would get a little crunch, but not nearly what I had thought. Overall, I would suggest these to those on their journey to lean. The Pure Protein Bars was previously my top protein “candy bar”, but I would say these have taken over the top spot. The store I have to buy them from is not just around the corner. While I don’t know if I would go out of my way to get these, the next time I’m in the area of that store, I will be sure to grab a box full or so to stock up.
Ozeri ZK14-L Digital Food Scale
Ozeri ZK14-L Pronto Digital Multifunction Kitchen and Food Scale
This is the scale I bought for my home kitchen. It’s super easy to use right out of the box. It does use batteries, so you don’t have to plug it in, but eventually you will have to replace your batteries. It’s very light and very portable – if you needed it on the go. You place your plate/bowl on the scale, press the “tare” button to zero out the scale and then just add your ingredients. Or, if you want to use it in reverse, place your bowl full of ingredients on the scale, press tare to zero out the scale. Then, as you remove the ingredients, the negative number will be the weight of the ingredients you removed. Press tare after you add or remove each ingredient.
NuGo Stronger Bar – Peanut Cluster and Caramel Pretzel
Cal: 155* | Fat: 6g* | Carb: 18g* | Fiber: 5g* | Sugar: 6g* | Protein: 13*
* = booooooo (1/2 bar)
I picked these up yesterday thinking, caramel pretzel and peanut cluster… YUM! I was in kind of a hurry off-loading trucks at work, so I quickly ran in, grabbed the caramel pretzel, took a few pictures, then I ran back out to get back to work. As I was heading back out, already eating on the bar, I started looking closer at the nutrition label and quickly zoomed in on the “1/2” column. Why is there a “1/2” column? … “servings per container: 2″… WHAT?! Who in the world would call 1/2 a bar a “serving”?! That’s terrible! I mean, come on, if you’re going to call 1/2 the PACKAGE a serving, then at least package it as 2 bars. You tout 145 calories in nice big bold letters on the packaging, so you (probably) know you’re targeting a health conscious crowd and yet you’re going to slyly put “servings 2” on the back of the package?! Sheesh. Well, enough with the rant (I guess). On to the bars. Honestly – not even because I’m not happy with what I feel is deceptive marketing – I would rate these a 5 out of 10. Right in the middle of road. The weren’t wonderful, but they weren’t gross. They were somewhat flavorless. Kind of a cardboard texture. And not much of a strong flavor anywhere in the bar. I went ahead and finished off the first bar (caramel pretzel) as my “lunch”. Then, I had a bite out of the second bar (peanut cluster), just to trial it and then I pitched it. Being that it too was a 5 out of 10 like the caramel pretzel, I didn’t see a need in wasting my calorie “allowance” on it in the future. If it’s a choice between these or a snickers… I guess I’d go with these simply due to the protein content. Otherwise, I’d look for something else at the store.
Real Good Foods Enchiladas
December 31, 2017
All Posts, Protein Meal Reviews
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Eric
Real Good Foods has a new product out, and it is AWESOME! Real Good Enchiladas. Slow cooked meats wrapped in an all natural chicken & cheese tortilla, then smothered in made from scratch sauces and all natural cheeses — ONLY 4g Carbs and 20g Protein. Available in 4 varieties including; Shredded Chicken, Shredded Pork, Beef, and Cheese. I didn’t dislike any of them. With that said, I would say my favorites are 1) beef, 2) pork, 3) cheese, 4) chicken. The pork and the chicken have a very slight bite of heat in them… (very) slight, but it is there. The cheese are awesome, but I would advise, if your calorie counting, they are higher in calories than the other 3 flavors. The cheese are still calorically competitive to other packaged dinners in the market though. Overall, you can’t miss with these. Real Good Foods has knocked another one out of the park!
You can find their enchiladas and pizzas on their site, or use their locator to see if they are sold near you: http://realgoodfoods.com