Amy's cheese pizza toaster pops

Sometimes I would look at a pop-tart and wonder if there is a savory version of it out there. Lo and behold - there it is - Amy's cheese pizza pop-tart.

It has a lot of gooey bright red tomato sauce which freaked my son out. My daughter ate it fine and then finished her brother's too.

Fage greek yogurt with super fruits

Fage came out with a line of superfruit yogurts - blueberry-acai, strawberry-goji, mango-guanabana and cherry-pomegranate.

Unlike most other other greek yougurts out there these feel light - like a whipped yogurt. They each have around 16% sugar and I am OK with that. The twins love their new dessert.

Puranpoli from Deep Foods

Puranpoli (or bobbattu as I knew it) was a childhood favorite. Back then my mom would make it from scratch - the dough had to sit in a tub of oil for X number of hours! When I found this light version from Deep foods I had to try it.

Of course it was not as good as I remembered it, but very acceptable. It is not too greasy or too sweet. My son loved it but my daughter refused it after the first bite.

Bob's Red Mill 10 whole grains flour

I am a big fan of Bob's Red Mill's 10 grain hot cereal. Iam always trying to incorporate it everywhere. So when I learned about their 10 grains flour I had to try it.

With 32% fiber and 40% protein for the day in each cup it is now a staple in the house. I use it to make pancakes, bread and am even incorporating it into desserts.

And this is my 300th post!

Newman's Own Honey Flax Flakes

These honey flax flakes from Newman's Own are big enough for the kids to eat dry as a snack. They also have them with milk for breakfast - I crush them down a bit before adding the milk.

Honey flax flakes do not have any high fructose corn syrup but do have sugar and honey - each serving has 8 grams of total sugars.

New England Naturals' chewy granola bars

I bought these maple nut granola bars from New England Naturals for the grown ups and the twins demanded bites. They liked them and the antioxidant bars are pretty good too.

Apple clusters from Trader Joe's

These dried crispy crunchy apple clusters from Trader Joe's were a big hit. In general, the kids like crisp dried fruit. They call them 'foot chips' and are always clamouring for them whenever I open the pantry door.

Clif kid Z bar, chocolate brownie

The twins actually did not like these choclate brownie Z bars from Clif Kid. It may be because they are really chocolate-y. I will gladly finish them.

Prana bars

Raw enzyme, organic, unprocessed, non-gmo, soy free (soy allergies?), no sugar added, gluten free, dairy free, vegan, all natural. I. had. to. try. it.

Turns out, it is actually really good (the picture was an after-eating-it one.) The twins thought so too.

Milled flax seed from Hodgson Mill

The twins are on a strike from eggs. So another way for me to sneak in their omega 3s. I sprinkle some of this milled flax seed on their yogurt and they are none the wiser. With each tablespoon they get 2 grams fiber and 1300 mg of omega 3s.

Wai Lana's little yogis bars

This is the kid-version of stuff they already like. Wai Lana's little yogis bars have less texture and are smaller than the adult version and the twins ate them up.

Mrs. May's Trio bars

Nuts, seeds, and fruit. Whats missing are grains - but that is OK since we all dutifully eat 10 grain cereal in some form or another every day. I bought these trio bars for the adults to snack on but the kids saw me eating a 'cookie' and wanted a bite. My daughter was fine but the texture was too much for my son.

Soynut butter from I. M. Healthy

I have been thinking about substituting butter in their breakfast muffins because everyone eats them and I am not so sure about all that cholesterol from the eggs and butter. So when I saw this unsweetened soynut butter from I. M. Healthy I picked it up.

It looks like peanut butter and smells like it too. The taste is a very subtle peanut butter taste and it is working well with my baking.

The twins also eat it in a SBN (soynut butter-nutella) sandwich. Works for me as nutella has more sugar than I like. And it boosts the protein content too….

Oat cookies from nairn's

After my not-so-successful bout with oatcakes, I found these oat cookies from Nairn's. With 58% whole oats, 10% currants and demerara sugar (known as turbinado sugar our side of the ocean) one serving has 6% of the daily recommended sugar.

Both of them liked these. They are really starting to do well with texture - I should start incorporating raisins and dried fruit bits into their oatmeal and bread.

Mango puree from Trader Joe's

I finally found it! I did not believe it existed but kept looking for it anyway. Pure, 100% one-ingredient mango puree. No preservatives, no added sugar, citric acid, vitamin C etc. Thank you Trader Joe's!

The twins love it straight, stirred in yogurt, shaken with milk and just about anyway I offer it to them.

Mushroom lover's burger from Morning Star Farms

I love mushrooms - all kinds while DH hates them all. I am hoping the kids will like them so I can actually start incorporating them into the family meals.

My son ate half his burger, took out the mushroom patty and finished his bread. My daughter refused to touch hers till I took out the patty. Oh well…..I read somewhere that you have to try 10 times before some toddlers will eat some things.

Salba

A too-good-to-believe grain. If you have heard of Chia, then the way I understand it, Salba is it's first born much cared for big brother.

Salba seeds really have no taste. I sprinkle half a teaspoon into their yogurt and also sprinkle some on their 10 grain muffins before baking. No reaction from them…….

Organic fig bars from Oskri

These organic fig bars from Oskri are one of my favorite kind of products, just one ingredient. I found them to have a very slight bitter after taste - very slight though. The twins didn't really like them either.

So now, I soak them overnight in milk, fork mash and add them to my 10 grain breakfast recipe.

Walkers mini oatcakes

Just 1 gram of sugar per serving and 86% oatmeal! I had to get the twins to try them and if Iam real lucky it will become one of their favorite snacks. Well, one can wish and daydream…….

My son happily ate the mini oatcakes, but my daughter……she took a bite, made a face and then offered it to her brother. She never ate another one. Sigh!

Liberte goat cheese

Another great product from one of my favorite companies. This goat cheese with active cultures is smooth and creamy (could not believe it is low fat) and not as firm as regular yogurt.

The twins loved it. They eat yogurt every single day but still noticed that this was no ordinary 'yogurt.' My son declared that he liked it 'veyyy much.'

Immaculate's chocobillys chocolate chunk cookies

When offered a huge basket of goodies to choose from, my son rooted around and very emphatically picked this packet - chocobillys chocolate chunk cookies from Immaculate baking company.

Let me count the ways he got it right - all natural and no artificial ingredients, no trans fats, organic flour, artsy, socially conscious …. and now how much he got it wrong - chocolate chunk cookie. Enough said.

Multigrain mix from Trader Joe's

The multigrains in this multigrain baking and pancake mix from Trader Joe's are wheat, whole wheat, rolled oats, yellow cornmeal, wheat bran, oat bran and brown rice flour. What I don't like about it is that the first ingredient is unbleached enriched flour. What I truely hate is the sodium - 500 mg for 1/3 cup of mix, 21% for an adult. Which is why I won't be buying it again.

The kids love any kind of pancakes as long as they come with a good amout of 'syllllup.'

Glenny's cashew and almond bars

The twins are doing great with texture now. That means I have to totally watch what we are eating. Because they have taken to asking for bites every once in a while.

These cashew and almond bars from Glenny's are made with whole nuts (almonds can be quite a mouthful for 2 year olds) and raisins, dates and crisp brown rice. The sweetness also comes from honey and brown rice syrup. Flax powder and sunflower oil round up the ingredients.

My daughter took to them immediately but my son not so much - he would chew and chew and spit out the almond skins. Then he would demand another bite.

Jamun fruit drink from Deep Foods

When I saw this I was so excited since I had not seen, heard about or had a Jamun in more than 25 years. I remember gorging on them as a kid during summer climbing into the branches of the tree. They are tart and turn your tongue a very cool purple.

Not only did this Jamun drink from Deep taste nothing like the real thing (has artificial blueberry flavor - why? oh why??) but has 21 grams of sugar per serving and only 10% Jamun pulp. It tasted vaguely of blueberry incense - not that I ever inhaled blueberry incense, but that is what came to mind.

I did not even introduce it to the kids. It was that depressing.

Crunchy peas from Bhuja

There it is - snow accumulation higher than the kids. And that is after I knocked it off a couple of times so that they could see beyond.

They were bored and would whine and whine and ask for cookies. So I gave them crunchy peas from Bhuja. They were not that spicy and they would eat and eat and still be ready for proper food. Well, I sat with them for half an hour the first time and taught them to eat one at a time. And chew, swallow and finish it before picking up another one.

Nana's cookies and cookie bars

After my posts about the twins not doing well with Nana's products, I heard from their team. They pointed out that those were their gluten-free products that tend to be more smooth textured. They also offered to send some of their other products for the twins to try and so they did.

Nana's cookies are a meal in themselves. They are huge, thick (but not heavy/dense), moist, and chewy with just the right amount of sweetness. I have a rule about feeding cookies to the twins - no more than the size of their palm. So I had to break each cookie into four pieces - less than 100 calories and ~5 grams of all natural sugar per serving!

The peanut butter cookie they both loved. The coconut chocolate chip my son stuffed into his little mouth right away. My daughter examined the chocolate chips closely, took them out carefully and set them aside. First she ate half her cookie, then all the chips and then finished her cookie. A first-of-it's-kind behaviour - Iam still trying to figure out what it means.

The fudgy wudgy bars have actual chocolate chips in them and the twins declared they liked the 'chokalat cookie veyy much.'

I like the fact that Nana's only sweetens with fruit juice and have no hydrogenated oils or GMOs. Also they use non-aluminum baking powder (another new thing learned, and I will switch too for better taste especially since I tend to go a little overboard with it.)

Fruit and veggie bars from Tasty brand

A 'cookie' that combines fruits and veggies, AND made with organic whole grains, no GMOs or hydrogenated oils? Also, sweet potatoes and dates baked into the dough and sprinkled with oats and wheat bran? Iam so in and so are the twins.

French fries and ice-cream in Paradise

Just got back from here. Still reeling from the -4F and gazillion inches of snow that greeted us at the airport.

The twins had a true vacation - chips, fries, ice-cream, cookies, cake and virgin cocktails at the kids pool. But they are back on track now and my daughter took one look at her 10 grain (actually 11, because I throw in some quinoa) cereal and declared somberly "holidays, all done."

CRUNCHY n YUMMY freeze dried fruit

I have been buying Trader Joe's freeze dried 'stawbeyyes' for some time now and I wanted to try something else. The ones from CRUNCHY n YUMMY are as tasty but are also much smaller pieces. Translates into a lot more mess for me to clean up. I will stick to Trader Joe's for some more time.

Kim & Scott's bagels and pretzels

When I saw the cream cheese stuffed bagels from Kim & Scotts, I wanted to surprise my husband one morning and hand him a favorite breakfast for the road without worrying about the mess. Then I started reading the ingredients list (unbromated flour, and I learned something new!) and liked that as well.

We both like the cream cheese but the kids like cinnamon roll and apple cinnamon. I am searching for their chocolate crumb……

VitaTops

I remember buying boxes of VitaTops whenever they went on sale. That was years ago though and so when I saw these again recently, I picked up the deep chocolate (for me) and the golden corn (for him.)

Of course the kids demanded bites and my daughter loved the deep chocolate and my son the 'korrn kake.'

Nana's cookie bars and bites

Nana's cookie company sweetens all their products with fruit juices and since my daughter is going through a monkey phase (as in she is excited when she sees one and gives a hug and kiss to her stuffed one every morning and night) I picked up their curious George goodie. The Lemon Dreams was an impulse buy.

My daughter was more interested in the box and refused to even take a bite. My son started eating and when he was almost done threw up the entire thing. It was the texture - too smooth and it got stuck to the roof of his mouth. Will try again when they are older.

Granola Thins from Nature Valley

When I saw these crispy granola thins, I thought the kids would like/prefer them over the harder (crunchy) nut clusters. They hated these….and the peanut butter coating melted in their little hands and made a big mess.

Granola nut clusters from Nature Valley

Another snack I bought for the adults that the kids wanted to try. These granola nut clusters from Nature Valley are really crunchy but that didnt phase the twins.

Date Syrup by Organics are for Everyone

I use turbinado sugar for beverages and baking (well, honey too.) Wanting to see if I could totally eliminate sugar from the twins absolutely favorite breakfast, (because they sometimes demand it everyday, and not necessarily for breakfast) I started experimenting with dates. Since they didn't like the minced bits of dates, I started to puree them - a painful process that starts with soaking the dates 24 hours before.

When I came across this date syrup from Organics are for Everyone, I immediately jumped at a chance to see if I could use it for my 10-grain muffins recipe. It's consistency is that of blackstrap molasses but the taste is like caramalized sugar.

I have since incorporated it into my recipe with slight changes to account for the consistency. Now the twins want it on everything - pancakes, waffles, toast, parathas…

Wai Lana Yogi raw fruit and nut bar

Another line of snack bars using all natural products and no preservatives or enhancers. I found this apricot and cashew and nana banana both of which the twins loved.

Genesis Today Acai berry juice

One more product from Genesis Today. This one has acai, grape, apple, pinepple, pear, blueberry, pomegranate, cranberry and cherry. The kids get it, like all other juices at this point, diluted with milk. They were especially tickled with the pretty color and drank it without any fuss.

Trader Jose's gorditas

I picked up these gorditas from Trader Joe's for the adults. The kids took one look and demanded I feed them 'paancakkes.' I like most of Trader Joe's products but this one was a miss - there should be more filling and the calories/fat are just not worth so little filling.

The kids didn't like what they thought were pancakes either.

Trader Jose's chicken & cheese tamales

I can make a mean salsa (hello Chipotle copycat recipes!) and decent fajitas (lived in Texas for a while) but tamales, no way. I really like these chicken and cheese tamales from Trader Joe's. The twins peel off the outer layer and eat it with relish but the chicken and cheese stuffing travels to the edges of the high chair.

Iam starting to see a pattern here I think.

Trader Joe's vacuum fried pineapple chips

Unlike the freeze dried fruits from Trader Joe's, these pineapple chips are vacuum fried. The chips have a wonderful caramalized taste and are not greasy at all. BUT they are cut thick and very crunchy and that threw the twins off. They will eat them some days and won't touch them on other days.