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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.