Review: Toosum Bars

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I love snack bars! Skeptical? Just check out my comprehensive list of the many, many, many bars I have tried, photographed, and reviewed over the years.

Clearly, I like bars.

But when you're just feeling a little peckish and you don't want a big bar, or you're packing a snack for a kid at school and a full sized protein or granola bar is just too big. And who wants to eat half the bar and leave the other half in an open packet, to dry out?

Luckily, there's a solution.

The healthy, gluten-free snack bar:

Toosum bars are the perfect size for a small snack or a brown bag pack-along.

Toosum bars are 100 calorie gluten-free oatmeal bars. They call themselves 'bites with benefits' and live up to the claim. All four flavors (blueberry & greek yogurt, coconut & banana, cherry & plum, and cranberry & acai) are made of gluten-free, whole grain oats, brown rice flour, and healthy nuts, seeds, and dried fruits. 

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Style Post: Fall Fashion

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It's finally fall! I love the crisp morning air, the leaves changing colors and tumbling down around me, and pumpkin spice everything. Also the fashion!

Fall Fashion: Boho Chic Dresses in Autumn

There's something about the beginning of a new season that feels so magical. It makes me feel so alive and so blessed to get to live in this beautiful world.

It's all the better frolicking through Cambridge in a floaty dress, the sort of dress that will be totally weather inappropriate just a few degrees (or 1 or 2 weeks) from now!

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Review: Vitalicious Deep Chocolate VitaTops

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Sometimes it can be hard to marry a vicious sweet tooth and the desire to eat healthy. Fruits make a delicious and healthy dessert, but sometimes you just want chocolate!

VitaTops Deep Chocolate is the solution. It's whole grain, loaded with vitamins (but tastes way better than taking a multivitamin) and so, so chocolatey. I had tried (and enjoyed) VitaTops before, so I was excited to try the new formula. 

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Review: Hak's Paks

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When you're working full-time and juggling some pretty time-consuming side things, having time to cook healthy meals can be a challenge! 

Luckily, Haks' One Pot Cooking Sauces make it easier to juggle busy weekday schedules with cooking healthy meals at home. Eating out every night isn't cost-effective at all! 

I tried Hak's Paks in three flavors: Chipotle Bourbon, Caribbean Jerk, and Korean BBQ.

I like that the ingredients lists are pretty short and natural. No crazy chemicals or unnecessary artificial colors or flavors. All Hak's Paks are all-natural with no-GMOs, no preservatives, and no gluten.

 Cooking Fast, Easy, and Healthy:

Hak's Paks make cooking really easy. Just boil a pound of veggies, meat, fish, tofu, etc. and pour the contents of the Hak's Pak evenly over the boiled base. 

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Review: Arctic Zero's New Pints!

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I was SO bummed when, after an absolutely gorgeous labor day weekend full of lovely strolls on perfect high 60s-low 70s days, the summer decided to make a return visit and burn me up with 90-something scorcher days.

So I was SO thrilled when a surprise package from Arctic Zero showed up on my doorstep! Exactly what I wanted to help me cool down on these hot days.

The Flavors:

The original creators of healthy, high protein, low-sugar and low-fat 'ice cream' are constantly coming up with new brilliant ideas and their Chunky pints are the perfect addition to their line! 

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September Degustabox Unboxing!

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Degustabox is my favorite monthly subscription service! Every month, like a surprise care package from an in-the-know-foodie friend, a big box full of full-sized new treats (10-15 kinds!) shows up on my doorstep! 

I'd never even heard of many of the products before and, in two months of deliveries, I've already discovered some new favorites.

New Foodie Finds: 

Can we start with my favorite one? Good, because I am. 

Let's have a moment of silence to honor this amazing bar, which came to its delicious demise right as the mid-afternoon energy slump hit at work. I'm learning a lot at my new job and I need to be fully alert and fueled to do so! 

I was ravenous on Thursday and paired this with a granny smith apple for a satisfying, well-rounded snack that powered me through the rest of the work day and until I got home for dinner at 7! So yummy.

It's oaty, whole-grain, the perfect amount of sweet, and so good. I normally hugely favor snack bars with chocolate in them (or that are entirely chocolate-based) but I didn't miss the chocolate in this at all. I'd love to eat this as a work snack every afternoon!

Next up is a childhood favorite:

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Where to go Apple-Picking Near Boston

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I love apples! I love fun outdoor activities in fall! Add one and one together and clearly I'm a big fan of apple picking.

For the past few years, however, I've been a city girl. Getting to an apple orchard was easy in high school, when I lived in (practically) rural New Hampshire, but now farms are fewer and further in between.

But never fear! There are still many great places to go apple picking in Boston. Here are a list of the top five!

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Recipe: Shakshuka (Israelian Poached Eggs in Tomato Sauce with Chickpeas and Feta)

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September is National Breakfast Month!

This is clearly my month to shine, because I make breakfast for dinner far more often than is likely acceptable for a twenty-something-year-old. What can I say? Breakfast foods are the best foods and I'm okay with never being a proper grown up if that would mean I can only have breakfast once a day!

This dish, an Israelian favorite for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, straddles the line between breakfast for dinner and a sensible grown up's meal. That's a compromise I can live with!

Even better: it's simple to make, full of healthy plantbased nutrition from chickpeas and tomatoes, a cheap meal that beats ramen by a mile (feta is the most expensive ingredient, but the core ingredients are canned chickpeas, canned tomatoes, and eggs), and you can eat out of a cast iron pan like a farmer!

I used Nellie's Free Range Eggs to make this a meal that's healthy, humane, and free of residual antibiotics or other icky things from the chicken's diet. I chose Nellie's Free Range Eggs because they're easy to find (I got mine from Whole Foods) and always free range, and free of hormones or antibiotics, and kosher certified. They're also great quality, delicious eggs!

Read on for the recipe. It's a 35 minute dinner!

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