Nakd Bars

So this is a different sort of post for me. I was asked if I would be willing to review Nakd bars.  These healthy treats are made by Natural Balance Foods of the UK. They are looking to expand into the US market, hence the review! 

The bars are gluten and dairy free. They are also vegan and 100% natural with no added sugar or syrups. As a health nut with both dairy and gluten sensitivities, I was excited to try these! In addition, they are also iron rich which we need. To learn more about iron rich foods, please click the link.

Nakd Bars

How cute is the box saying Hello Gorgeous?

The ingredient labels are easy to read on the packages and I have listed them below by bar. Dates are used in all. I suppose that is what give them all a perfect, soft texture that also holds the bar together. Besides great texture in all along with healthy ingredients, I love their natural sugar fix. Perfect for the afternoon pick me up!

So here goes with the 14 bars I sampled! These are listed in order of my favorites to least favorite. This would vary for others since we all have different taste buds, but these were my thoughts.

Cocoa Orange
40% dates, 40% cashews, 14% raisins, 5% cocoa with natural orange flavor
This has always been a favorite flavor combo for me and the bar was a win!

Caffe Mocha
55% dates, 26% cashews, 12% raisins, 6% cocoa, natural flavors
This one would be perfect with a cup of coffee. It has that delicious coffee chocolate flavor!

Berry Delight
47% dates, 31% cashews, 17% raisins, 3% raspberries
This was delicious if you love raspberries!

Strawberry Crunch
43% dates 17% soya protein crunchies, 17% raisins, 17% cashews, 4% apple juice, 2% strawberry
Strawberry has always been a favorite fruit for me and this bar was a win with it's strawberryness.  I do like those crunchies too which are also in a few of the other bars.


Ginger Bread
48% dates, 32% almond, 18% pecans, ginger, cloves and cinnamon to spice
Loved! If you love the flavors of typical baked goods at Thanksgiving and Christmas time, this is for you. I loved tasting the holidays!

chocolatey flavors to pick from

Cocoa Mint
48% dates, 29% cashews, 17% raisins, 6% cocoa, natural flavoring
This is very minty with minty after taste. Mmmm! Another thing I have always been a fan of is chocolate and mint together.

Cashew Cookie
51% cashews and 49% dates. Cashews are my favorite nut. I would say the dates overpowered here but I still enjoyed it. It is nice and sweet in a natural way.


Pecan Pie
52% dates, 28% pecan, 20% almonds
This was the most nutty to my taste buds. It has a great sweetness with the dates.

Cocoa Delight
48% dates, 29% cashews, 17% raisins, 6% cocoa
While this was chocolatey it was not like a candy bar. It would satisfy a chocolate craving in a healthy way.

Bakewell Tart
49% dates, 35% cashews, 19% raisins, natural flavoring
Didn't think I would like this one since I'm not a tart fan, but I loved it!
Anyone who loves tart would probably enjoy it. Plus it will wake you up with its sour ways!

fruity flavors to pick from

Rhubarb and Custard
55% dates, 25% cashews, 19% raisins, natural flavoring
Sweet with tart undertones! Another tart treat I liked. Tantalizing on the tastebuds.

Apple Crunch
43% dates, 17%  soya protein crunchies, 15% cashews, 14% raisens, 7% apple, 4% apple juice
I was anticipating a strong apple flavor didn't quite get it. The bar was ok.


Banana Crunch
43 % dates, 18% soya protein crunchies 15% cashews, 15% raisins, 6% banana, 3% apple juice
I'm not a huge banana fan which is why this is towards the bottom of my list. However a banana fan may love this one (my boyfriend did)! 


Cocoa Crunch
43% dates, 16% soya protein crunchies, 16% raisins, 15% cashews, 5% cocoa, 4% applejuice
I did not care for the taste of this one!

Interested in trying them for yourself? You can shop at Natural Balance Foods to have them delivered to your door. You can start with a sampler package to find out which ones you like best. Shipping is free within the U.S.

I hope you enjoyed this review. I certainly had fun with it! No I didn't eat them all yet. I sampled and froze the remainder of each one for later enjoyment. They are great out of the freezer too!

Have a great week! ~Val

Polenta Dish

Earrings Studs

I love this earring studs set for Fall. Particularly the leopardskin jasper and the unakite. These are set on stainless steel. Available in my Etsy shop!
Polenta Dish

It had been a while since I made something with polenta so it was time for more of this comfort food.

For this one, I cooked up the ground corn in water and added a little butter and olive oil to make it creamier. I also used salt, pepper and parmesan cheese to add flavor. This went into a 13 x 9 pan to cool and set while I went out to run errands.

The toppings were simple!

I tossed the mushrooms and bell pepper first to soften. Then tossed in the spinach until it wilted. Lastly the chickpeas were added to warm up.

Then the toppings were put on top along with the best part....goat cheese!!! Such an easy dish that is so healthy.

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you have a fabulous week ahead! ~Val

This Week's Blog Post

Turquoise Necklace

I love this fun necklace! For the pendant I used a unique sterling silver bail that was crafted in Bali. It has 2 loops to suspend whatever from. So I freeformed wire and hammered it for texture also adding 2 dyed crazy agate chips. The strand has natural green turquoise and crazy agate that go beautifully together. This is available at Miss Val’s Creations.

Gluten Free Eggplant Parmesan

It has been a while since I have talked about one of our favorite dishes, eggplant parmesan! Jim and I now make this gluten free so I figured it would be a good idea to mention so others struggling with gluten can see that eggplant parmesan can still be part of their diet!

I make a batch of gluten free bread with this recipe found here from the Gluten Free Goddess. After slicing the bread and drying it out at a low temperature in the oven we then make breadcrumbs with the food processor. At the same time we are adding dried spices to taste until we have it the way we want it.

Now Jim pretty much does all the work from here since he enjoys it (how lucky am I?). I just fetch stuff, wash dishes and drink wine during the assembling of the masterpiece. 

Jim removes the skin. I think the skin is the reason many people do not care for eggplant. Many restaurants seem to keep it on! Yuck. 

Then they get dipped in eggs and the breadcrumbs. Then fried until golden brown in vegetable oil.

Then it is time to layer. I had the brilliant idea of adding ricotta cheese this time! I learned after we made this that we are not the first to do so. Oh well.  We felt innovative. It is layered with red sauce, shredded mozzarella and ricotta. Yes we go light on the sauce. Heart burn is one of the many things my body deals with so light on the sauce helps. 

I was invited to pin on a Pinterest board with vegetarian and vegan dishes. Of course I immediately accepted this invite. Now I am overwhelmed with ideas from this board. People are so creative in the kitchen!!! I have shared of couple of my dishes on this board and many people have repinned them. I wonder if anyone will actually try those dishes?!?! I will have to pin this one for other gluten free vegetarians.

Alice

Leaving you with a photo of my pretty girl Alice! I have the worst time trying to take a picture of her since she is very nervous kitty! I tried to catch her when she was tired.

 Have a wonderful, creative week. Thank you so much for stopping by! ~Val

This Week's Blog Post

Magenta Pearl Earrings

I just posted these pretty magenta pink pearl dangle earrings available at Miss Val's Creations.

Falafel

Jim did a project for me at my house and payment was homemade falafel! I printed a few gluten free falafel recipes online and came up with a custom recipe.

I put the following in my the smoothie maker (this was the closest appliance I had to a food processor!):

• 2 cans of chickpeas 
• 1/8 cups of freeze dried cilantro 
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper 
• ½ tbsp cumin 
• 3 tbsp brown rice flour 
• ¼ c water

I did not use any onion or garlic since my stomach can not handle them, but typically garlic would be in this as well.

Then I blended it up and rolled them into balls (flattened) and baked them at 350 F for 15 minutes.

I was attempting to bake them as one of the recipes instructed since that sounded healthier. However, they were not crisping up. Then Jim stepped in and we ended up frying them a bit on the stove until we got the consistency we liked!

Tahini was new to me too. Straight up is so bitter! We mixed the following for our dressing:

• 1/3 c tahini 
• 1/3 c water 
• some dried parsley 
• 3 capfuls of apple cider vinegar 
• a dash of olive oil 
• a spoonful of yogurt
• a pinch of dried ginger, coriander and salt

This was a total experiment but it ended up tasting great!

I have noticed that butcher shops have the niche market of gluten free products. That is where I found these delicious wraps from Food For Life! These are comparable priced to normal wraps and I love that they are frozen so I can just grab one when needed. The price is comparable to traditional wraps!

We loaded the wraps with falafel, tahini, lettuce, tomato and cucumber.

I can never wrap these…luckily Jim was around to do the job. Success and deliciousness!!!

New Kitchen Toys

So after attempting to grind chickpeas in the smoothie maker, I bought this new appliance! This Hamilton Beach food processor had great reviews online so I should be able to get a lot of use out of it!

I have blogged about my coffee making issues in the past and had switched to pressed coffee so I do not need to worry about a electric device not working properly! My taste buds prefer the flavor of pressed coffee over dripped too. Well the one I used for a while cracked! An online search for unbreakable presses brought me to this Thermos beauty! It is also insulated to keep coffee warm for hours. What a buy!

Gluten Free Crackers

It is fun finding new, reasonably priced gluten free goodies!

Both these crackers are absolutely delicious and oh so good with cheddar! I actually prefer these over most crackers that are wheat based. The Crunchmaster ones on the right are super crunchy!

Thank you for stopping by! Have a beautiful fall week. We are already seeing a bit of foliage in Massachuetts so I am looking forward to all sorts of color!  ~Val

 

This Week's Blog Post

New Bracelet

This focal piece is ocean jasper. It has really cool orbital markings! I used natural fossil stone beads to accent it.

Available at Miss Val’s Creations.

Flowers at The Steven Coolidge Place

We made a follow up visit to The Steven Coolidge Place which I blogged about back in the spring.

The gardens here change throughout the season.

These pink flowers have the cutest shiny pink buds! It was very breezy that day so it was difficult to take pictures

Yellow pom-poms!

I find this fuchsia pink flower ugly (I have never said that of a flower before), but interesting! Despite its oddity, it has beautiful color.

I have no idea what these green pod things.

Hosta blooms.

Here are some more pretties!

New Wines

These are new to us! Our favorite wine store (Wine ConneXtion) has complimentary wine tasting every Saturday afternoon so of course we are regulars! Last week all the bottles to taste were red (which is what our taste buds prefer).  

This Cline Ancient Vines Zinfandel (2010). Its flavors include dark berries, coffee, chocolate and vanilla. Perfection! These are from vines in Oakley, California.

This Australian red, Pill Box Red, is a delicious blend of Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. It has a lot of depth with its rich flavors. Yes, we chilled it slightly. What a refreshing treat!

Gluten Free Lasagna

We enjoyed our first gluten free lasagna with the red wine! This is brown rice pasta from Hodgson Mill.

I was relieved that its taste and texture is just like that of whole wheat pasta!!! Pasta has always been a love of mine so now I can start making pasta dishes again!

Neither Jim nor I are experienced lasagna makers but this was pretty good for our first attempt! Jim grilled some asparagus in an awesome cast iron grill stove top pan I have. Mmmm!

Thank you for stopping by! Have a great week!  ~Val