Enjoy Life! Chewy Bars

These tasty little bars and perfect in so many ways. 

First - the flavors are delicious. My two favorites are up above. The caramel apple tastes sweet but isn't overwhelming. Sunbutter Crunch tastes lovely and creamy. There is also Very Berry and Choco Loco flavored bars. The Very Berry is tasty and you get a nice taste of fruit in the bar. The Choco Loco is super rich and very chocolately. 

Second - The bars are perfectly portioned. They are small but pack a mighty punch, It's the perfect size to satisfy a sweet tooth without any guilt!

Third- They are all either 110 or 120 calories which is perfect for those who don't want to eat a big snack. 

I love these! I think I have about five of them currently in my purse. There are the perfect thing to grab when you are out running around and realize that you haven't had anytime to eat. They stop me from doing what I normally do which is grab something junky. With these bars I can have a candy bar taste with absolutely no guilt!

Verdict? YUMMY!

Not Nuts! Seed & Fruit Mix from Enjoy Life!

Enjoy Life! was amazing enough to send me out their new product Not Nuts! I was really excited because I love any kind of fruit, nut and seed mix. I practically survive off the stuff. I easily clear a bag of mixed stuff a week.

I thought this was a great idea since I know so many people who are allergic to nuts. As much as I might feel that being gluten-free is hard I cannot even imagine being nut-free. Nuts are in almost everything and nut allergies are terrible and immediately life threatening.

Not only are they nut free they are also free of the wheat, dairy, soy, egg, fish & shellfish. And no worries about cross contamination since Enjoy Life! has a dedicated facility - got to love that!

Enjoy Life! has two flavors in their Not Nuts! line:

Mountain Mambo which contains:
Sunflower kernels, pumpkin seeds, raisins, apples, chocolate chips (allergan free!), and cranberries.

This was by far my favorite. I loved the combination of the little tiny chocolate chips with dried cranberries and dried apples. You get a little sweet taste with a little salty and just enough crunch with the pumpkin and sunflower seeds.

Beach Bash which contains:
Sunflower kernels, pineapple, pumpkin seeds, cranberries and apricots.

I love everything in this mix except the dried pineapple. I love fresh, juicy pineapple but cannot stand dried pineapple. I always feel like dried pineapple loses its sweetness and all thats left is sourness. But that's just me - some people love dried pineapple and if you do then you will enjoy this mix. I did like having the taste of dried apricots and cranberries with the crunchiness of the sunflower & pumpkin seeds.

These mixes are both very tasty and are a great healthy little snack. I love that I can get my sweet fix in a healthy way - okay yes, the Mountain Mambo has chocolate but hey - the rest is healthy so it negates the chocolate!

Verdict: Yummy!

Enjoy Life Crunchy Cookies

I have always really enjoyed Enjoy Life's soft baked cookies. They always reminded me of something from my childhood lunchbox. They were soft and lovely and I especially loved the apple ones.

Imagine my surprise when I found out that Enjoy Life decided to branch out and create a line of crunchy cookies! Best of all there were flavors that I haven't even seen in a pre-packaged gluten free cookie.

Sugar Cookies?

YES!

Thin, crispy, vanilla graham?

YOU GOT IT!

I couldn't wait to rip the boxes open and taste all of my new acquisitions.

All of the cookies have this fantastic thin, crispy action.

Chocolate Chip:

These were not my favorite. The crunch was great but there was something lacking in the flavor. Like maybe they needed more vanilla extract?

Crunchy Double Chocolate:

I'm so shocked that the chocolate cookies were not my favs! I've always been a big time chocolate cookie girl. But these just didn't do it for me. Maybe they were too chocolate-y?

Sugar Crisp:

Oooooohhhh...these were yummy. They reminded me of a slightly over-cooked sugar cookie - which is absolutely a fantastic thing! The flavor was delicious and the thin crispiness was just heaven.

Vanilla Graham:

These were the by far my favorite. They had real graham cracker taste not like every other gluten free graham cookie on the market. The vanilla taste was subtle and combined amazingly with the graham taste. I even think you could do a s'more with these and be pretty excited about it.

Verdict? Half Yummy, Half Okay

Enjoy Life! did send me chocolate mega chunks to review. However, I was under no obligation to provide a favorable review.

Enjoy Life! Semi Sweet Chocolate Mega Chunks

There is a high level of skepticism in my family whenever I announce that something is "dairy free."

I'm not sure what they think its going to taste like but I'm guessing they think it will taste like dirt or garbage or something. So when I announced I have made gluten free cookies dairy free - no one wanted any part of it. 

Until I started forcing people to eat them - mostly with severe guilt trips. 

Then you would hear "OH YUM! THIS IS DAIRY FREE???"

These chocolate chunks are no joke. They are large and in charge - they are like four chocolate chips lumped together. They melt great and taste awesome!

Verdict? Yummy!

Enjoy Life! did send me chocolate mega chunks to review. However, I was under no obligation to provide a favorable review - these really are awesome!!!

Enjoy Life! Double Chocolate Crunch Granola

I really haven't touched granola since my diagnosis.

There was all this back and forth about oats and are they okay or not?

Then came the line of gluten free oats - which turned out to not really be gluten free....

So yeah - granola - kind of a danger zone.

But this right here - no oats at all.

The little crispy, crunchy bits are made from brown rice. Totally 100% safe!!

When I was first tried this I was taken aback because it didn't have the kind of taste I've come to associated with granola. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. The taste is more like if someone let cocoa pebbles bake a little bit longer and then rolled them up with luscious chocolate chips.

These definitely satisfy that deep chocolate craving and I think these would be amazing as marshmallow treats.

Verdict? Yummy

I have to disclose that Enjoy Life! did send me this granola to review - however I am under no obligation to provide a favorable review I really did think this was tasty :)

Enjoy Life Cookies

I think I've had just about every flavor of Enjoy Life Cookies. When I was first diagnosed with celiac they were pretty much the only game in time. So unless you felt like baking a dozen cookies (which I NEVER feel like doing) you bought a box of these bad boys. 

I have mixed feelings about Enjoy Life. I know that so much of our enjoyment with food is really from memories. I remember eating a soft baked apple cookie months after being diagnosed with celiac disease and feeling so happy to be eating a ready made cookie that didn't taste like sawdust. It's like a little hot water bottle right on my heart. 

However, I can't let warm and fuzzy memories dilute my opinion. I do think that for a soft baked cookie these really aren't that bad. I think there are better gluten free cookies on the market and there are also worse cookies on the market. These reside happily in the middle. I think they are geared more towards kids and thats who I think would find these really tasty. As an adult I think you tend to be looking for more from your food - at least I do. I want to taste the ingredients and have an "experience" with everything I eat. Which might sound crazy but I think with celiac disease the more tasty gluten free things I eat the more I have a hard time swallowing those that aren't quite as tasty. 

Verdict? Good for the cookie craving and totally yummy for kids