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.