I like a good bowl of crunchy granola with some milk and sliced banana. I also like to take a banana and dip it into the granola, eating the fruit bite by bite, dip by dip, sitting at the kitchen table watching the birds at the feeder outside.
Of course, although I try not to be, I am a typical America. If I can get it to go, eat it in the car, I like it. Granola bars are the perfect food for eating on the move. I have been thinking about them because as part of Foodbuzz, I signed up to be a "food taster." I sign up, they send me free food, and I taste it. This food blogging is rough, but someone has to do it.
So the first product sample arrived several weeks ago: Quaker Oats New True Delight granola bar line with three flavors: Dark Chocolate Raspberry Almond, Honey Roasted Cashew Mixed Berry, and Toasted Coconut Banana Cashew Macadamia Nut. Each has a 140 calories, 5 or fewer grams of fat, 2 grams of protein, 3 grams of fat, and at least 4 words in its name. All of the bars were shiny with corn syrup and had 8-10 grams of it.
Once the package of sample granola bars arrived--two of each flavor--I began to notice just how many granola bars surround me on a daily basis. They are like varieties of marmalade: I always have lots around. I have two kinds in my locker at work. I have six kinds at home, another kind in my gym locker, several in my canvas lunch bag, and one in my car. I am always trying new ones. They are portable. Very portable. And they may have expiration dates, but they never seem to get stale. However if they travel around too long in my bag, they can get mushed flat to the wrapper or crumble in pieces when I open them.
Granola bars are everywhere. As I pushed my cart through my small town grocery store the other day, there were two separate large displays of them. Fudge-dipped bars have the most sugar and are the least resilient. They melt if left in a warm car, and gum to the wrappers if they are trampled in my bag. The kids like those best. I prefer bars that have chocolate chunks and dried fruit. They tend to have fewer grams of sugar and more grams of fiber.
I was excited to test the new granola bars. Treats! I started with the Toasted Coconut Banana Macadamia Nut. The name was almost as long as the granola bar. I have a number of food preferences. One of them is that I only like bananas and strawberries as actual bananas and strawberries. I don't like banana bread, and I don't like strawberry jam on my toast in the morning (although I will eat if if breakfast is brought by room service on a tray and there is no little jar of marmalade). I really liked the Toasted Coconut Banana Macadamia Nut. I love coconuts and macadamia nuts, and their flavors were the prominent ones with the hint of banana in the background.
Next I tried the Honey Roasted Cashew Mixed Berry. Cashews are okay, but they are not a nut I would have in the house if it weren't for the fact that my husband likes them. This wasn't a bad granola bar by any means, but it wasn't my favorite. One thing I noticed with this bar is that, unlike most processed food, these granola bars look like the picture on the wrapper when you slide them out.
Last I tried the Dark Chocolate Raspberry Almond. This granola bar has a lot going for it. I prefer dark chocolate to milk any day, and it blended well with the raspberries and almonds. This was my favorite of the three, and the one I went to the store and bought for myself. This is the granola bar I eat in the afternoon to keep me out of the vending machine at work. My favorite candy bar out of the machine has twice as many calories, more than twice the amount of fat, only 1/3 of the fiber, and 20 more grams of sugar than this True Delights bar.
Check them out at http://quakertruedelights.comand get your free sample. And check out Foodbuzz while you're there.
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