Today's Review: More KIND Bars

I reviewed a selection of the KIND bars I was sent a few days back, and now I'm happy to say I've made my way through the rest of them. These are all natural, nutritional bars made from natural ingredients, available in a good variety of flavours. So here we go.

Ooh, this one looked a bit naughty. It pretty much looks like a chocolate bar, but instead it's a nice spread of almonds coated in dark chocolate and a hint of coffee. I was hoping the coffee wasn't going to be too strong, as much as I love it, and it actually blends in very nicely with the chocolate.

Chocolate and sea salt, it's a good combination, and it's especially evident here. The nuts take the forefront in this bar, but the chocolate is ever present, and the flavour is brought out with a lovely sprinkling of real sea salt. It's a little blander compared to the other offerings, but that's not a bad thing, it's a clean tasting bar with the right amount of sweetness.

I never used to like coconut, but I'm quite a fan now. An almond bar fused together with coconut and a dash of honey. It's extremely coconutty, which does make it a bit overly sweet, but the nuts mellow it out a little. One for the coconut fans, I guess it could be something of an acquired taste.

More sea salt in this one, and combined with caramel! Take note that in this bar the coating is "caramel flavoured", which I guess they did in order to make everything hold together better. It's definitely not real caramel, but it doesn't taste bad at all. It's another lovely sweet bar, accentuated by the sea salt, with the almonds giving it a good nutty body.

So there we have it, I've completed my journey through the KIND bar range. I can't say I disliked any of these bars, they're all tasty, and they all have great natural ingredients, and are gluten free and low in carbs. I'll definitely be picking some more of these up for a cheeky snack during my diet. 

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Finding A Hair While Washing Up

Washing up is a dirty job. Some people leave it to the dishwasher, but I myself don't have the space for such an extravagant appliance. So instead I spend most nights standing over the kitchen sink, wiping and scrubbing to my heart's content. Well, actually, until the washing up is done, I'm not content doing it.

I can't say I'm particularly keen on bits of food floating around my fingers while I'm trying to scrub, but it's something to be expected, an occupational hazard. What I cannot abide is when a hair finds its way into the bowl, and ends up on my finger. It doesn't even have to be wrapped round, just touching my finger is enough for it to stick there, a long, hairy intruder of unknown origin. It doesn't go away, even if I manage to get it off, it always comes back for more. So I lift my hands out of the water, attempt to pluck it off, and end up with it being stuck to another finger, like I'm in some sort of cartoon situation involving super glue.

Once my fruitless attempts at picking the thing off have been exhausted, there's only one thing left to do, flick it off with a shake of the hand, inevitably sending suds flying all over the place, because I'm too frustrated to just wipe my hands with a tea towel. Hairs are the worst thing to find in a washing up bowl. Why are they there? We don't eat hairs, which utensil or crockery did they end up in, and how? Just the worst.

My rating: 0/5

Today's Review: Five Guys' Bun-less Burger

I mentioned a few days ago that I'm on a low carb diet, and while I've posted a few snack reviews since then, they're just ones from the archives, and there won't be many carby, sugary food stuffs on my plate for a while. So far it's been going well though, so I expect I'll be re-introducing carbs not too far down the line. But today for my dinner I picked this up:

You may think things are dire if I'm eating a chunk of lettuce in my car. But a few bites reveals the good stuff.

Yeah man, there's a burger in there. You see, I was near a Five Guys, and having been there before I know they do good burgers. What I also remember is that they offer any burger bun-less, which is right up my street at the moment. So in I strolled and ordered a bacon cheeseburger, with some toppings thrown in for good measure. They're all free you know, but I went with the mushrooms and jalapenos for their nutritional balance. Then they asked if I wanted lettuce instead of a bun. That's a pretty neat way of solving the bun problem. Lettuce is probably the least dangerous food going, so it'll be good for dieters, celiacs and anyone else who has problems with buns.

The result was a pretty novel and handy way of getting a burger in my mouth. They used a substantial couple of leaves that covered everything nicely, and I managed to get through the whole thing with hardly any spillage of juices or grease. The burgers are as fantastic as always, so it's nice to see Five Guys offer this alternative to those who can't do bread. They even asked me a couple of times to make sure I wasn't going bun-less due to allergens, so their attention to detail is pretty great. If I could eat all my burgers like this while I'm dieting, I'd be pretty happy.

My rating: 5/5

Today's Review: Swedish Fish

Here's another one to mark off my list of American candies I've heard about on TV. I picked up this box from Mr. Simms a while back, and as yet haven't posted my review of them, so here we go. These are fish shaped, chewy sweets with various flavours. I'd say fruity, but sometimes it's hard to tell exactly what they were going for with the American stuff. Artificial flavours rule! Anyway, these do have the taste of those generic fruity sweet flavours, and mostly do a good job, but they are overly sweet in some respects. They are very flavoursome though, and the texture is great. They're like wine gums, but a bit softer, I'd say somewhere between wine gums and Jelly Babies, but without any of that powdery nonsense that makes me hate on the babies. This is a good box of sweets, a nice helping of American candy goodness.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Tim Tam Coconut & Lychee

Here's one I tried a while ago, but haven't got round to reviewing yet. A friend of mine brought these Tim Tams back from Australia, alongside a few other varieties. I realise I haven't reviewed the original Tim Tams before, but this flavour was too original to put on the back burner (well, more than I already have). If you haven't heard about Tim Tams, they're legendary Australian biscuits, akin to a Penguin in some ways, but better.

These Tim Tams consist of biscuit layers, coated in white chocolate and filled with a coconut & lychee cream. That stuff in the middle is fantastic, a very sweet offering that tastes distinctly of coconut with a lovely tropical twist. It's a lot more accurate and fruity than I expected, and is the highlight of the biscuit. The white chocolate complements it well, but it is a little thick, and all the elements working together does get somewhat sickly. The biscuit is there to provide some relief from the creaminess, and on the whole this is a great attempt at a tasty Tim Tam.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Staying Out Past Midnight

Ooh, I'm getting too old for this. I figured I'd be back home writing a review on the comfort of my sofa, but instead I'm writing this on the dimly lit walk between bars. But hey, we've all gotta have a bit of fun sometimes, right? So here's a very short, off the cuff review. I'll see you tomorrow with something more conprehensive. Happy weekend!

My rating: 3/5

Today's Review: KIND Bars

I was sent a selection of bars from the folks at KIND earlier this week, and I've been working my way through the different flavours. All these bars contain a variety of nuts and spices, with some little sweet extras thrown in on top. There's peanut butter, sea salt, vanilla and chocolate to name but a few, and they all sounded pretty tasty to me. The one thing that stopped me hoovering these up in one sitting is that their arrival coincided with me starting a low carb diet. Thankfully, these bars are all natural and nutritious, with each one clocking in at under 20g of carbs. So since I'm working through these at the very slow rate of one per day, I figured I'd talk about that ones I've had so far, and cover the rest in a few days. So here we go.

Each one of these bars is nutty, but this one kicks it up a notch with a dash of peanut butter. So on top of the great nut taste, there's an added creaminess, as well as some dark chocolate thrown in to make it extra sweet. A lovely nutty bar that tastes clean and natural. 

Almonds are the focus of this bar, and there's a slight drizzle of vanilla that adds a nice sweet hint on top. This one is a little more bland compared to the one above, but the little vanilla there is goes a long way to making this perfectly enjoyable, and the almonds are of a good quality.

That's right, it's maple pecans, in a healthier, non-pastry form. This one is fantastic, with real maple syrup that provides a very satisfactory level of sweetness. We all know maple and pecan go together, and it's no exception here, a great combination that has a bit of sea salt thrown in to really bring out the flavour. Delicious.

I tried one more flavour tonight, but I forgot to snap a picture before I shoved it in my face. It's a dark chocolate and cherry bar, which seems pretty decadent, but utterly fantastic. It's a cherry, cashew and almond bar, with a generous coating of dark chocolate. The chocolate and cherry are at the forefront of the flavour, and there's a touch of honey thrown in for good measure. It's a wonderfully sweet bar, and it tastes like it should be really unhealthy. It still has under 200 calories though, so it's not bad at all. It's probably my favourite of the ones I've tried so far, but they're all good.

These KIND bars are tasty, natural tasting, and pretty great nutrition wise. Being at the start of a diet that cuts out a whole lot of foods, these are perfect for a sweet snack. I'm looking forward to eating the rest of my selection.

My rating: 5/5