The NEW Larabar's - Updated

Have you heard of the new flavors? The whole foodie community has been in such a buzz since Larabar announced their four new flavors and a few weeks ago when I went to Whole Foods, I was fortunate enough (they're hard to find, everyone buys them up fast!) to find some in each new flavor. So I grabbed two of each and ran to the checkout counter.

Photo Credit - Larabar Store

Chocolate Chip Brownie

This one reminds me a lot of Clif Nectar bar (which I don't think they sell anymore?! Sad.) but with chocolate chips and almonds, and no walnut chunks. It was delicious and was really full of chocolate chips. There were HUGE chunks of almonds which is typically unlike a Lara bar, where they are ground up. I actually found a WHOLE almond in mine! Chunky.

Carrot Cake
Over the years I've found out that I do not like the Lara bars with spices, like cinnamon or something. I love cinnamon in real life, but in a Lara bar it just tastes off to me for some reason. This bar did have cinnamon, so I was instantly hit with an interesting flavor. Overall, it was not the best representation of how great actual carrot cake is; while the ingredient list is very similar to the real thing, I think it lacked the carrot-yness of carrot cake. This flavor did not taste bad, I was just expecting more.

Photo Credit - Larabar Store

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Oh my goodness! The name says. it. all. This flavor tastes exactly like cookie dough thanks to the cashews, dates and chocolate chips featured inside! I normally avoid cashews but I decided to go for it try this flavor. I was not disappointed. A few other food bloggers have mentioned how sweet it is, and I do agree, but I still think it tasted good :) I will definitely be going back for more! It had a great texture and was not chunky like the chocolate chip brownie flavor.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip
Everyone has been saying how this is their favorite flavor, so I before tasting this one I had high expectations. It tasted like their Peanut Butter Cookie flavor but with lots of chocolate chips. It wasn't all that different or wowing as I expected. I did like the flavor of it and the chocolate inside, and will probably buy it again, but it wasn't too far of a departure from the Peanut Butter Cookie flavor which I really like. I also ate this one frozen, yum.

Peanut Butter and Jelly - coming soon

Tropical Fruit Tart
This flavor is definitely by FAR, one of the BEST lara bars on the market. While the fruit content makes the bar VERY sweet, the sweetness factor can be mitigated by putting it in the freezer and eating it frozen (which I love to do). It has a chewy texture and you can really taste the pineapple in the bar. The whole experience reminds me of the dried pineapple fruit you can buy at Trader Joes. Delicious! I will keep buying this flavor.

By the way, I like freezing Larabars; it makes a fun snack to chew! TRY IT. Now!

Beaches and Eats!

Hi everybody! I've been such a bad blogger, I'm sorry! I just completed my first full week of school, complete with labs, homework and gluten free birthday celebrations! To those of you who were wondering, YES it was my birthday, which I thought was obvious from my post, but apparently it wasn't! Now you know :)

Beach! The sun was out for a while before this photo.

In case you didn't already know, TODAY'S LABOR DAY! Which means... NO school! No classes! So therefore, my friends and I took full advantage and went off to the beach. It wasn't great weather, but it was super fun to be together. This particular beach had some KILLER stairs. It was definitely fun walking up and down; I welcomed the extra exercise. But unfortunately, no bathrooms? since it was a private beach, and it was in a completely residential area which made it a little bit difficult finding restrooms. And I even fed a seagull with my bear hands!!!! Apparently seagulls like Goldfish crackers! They have trouble eating them though if they are colored, so if seagull feeding is in your near future, make sure they are normal orange Goldfish, not the multicolored ones, haha!

After the beach, some warm dinner was in our future. We were actually craving Italian, and had been talking about it all day, (in contrast I've been craving Mexican food for days- weird) but we did not even end up going somewhere Italian! I had actually packed some dinner so I wouldn't have to buy anything or worry about finding a place that I could eat at with my allergies, which makes it easier for the crew, but everyone wanted to go to Pei Wei, which is branch of P.F. Chang's and if you are gluten free, you know P.F. Chang's is good. This is my first time having Chinese food in over 4 years! It was a very monumental moment. Sweet and sour chicken is one of my favorites! It was really nice to have some safe Chinese food and be eating the same thing as my friends, which doesn't happen often. I ordered extra broccoli and minimal rice. It was a lot of food and I ate the whole thing and I probably should have saved some for leftovers. It was definitely a good value for how much I paid. Next time I am going to follow my friend Natalie's advice and get the child size! As far as taste goes, I do wish the sauce had been less ginger-y, which is odd, because I love the taste of ginger.

Have I told you how much I love broccoli? :)

I totally owe you an update about my birthday and everything which happened that day. For now, let's suffice to say that it was one of the best birthday's I have EVER had! Usually people forget about my birthday so I don't typically celebrate it much, and this was a very nice change :) I am so blessed and thankful to have such wonderful friends!

Also, I have received some interesting proposal from a large company and I will be hosting a large GIVEAWAY soon! I'm so excited. My very first giveaway!! In the coming months I also hope to help them out with some product reviews. Double double excitement!

How was your labor day... relaxing? I hope so!
Have a good week!

Birthday 101

A gluten free birthday :)

Stay tuned for all the details later!