Tasty Tuesday Review: Orchard Bars

I am always looking for new ways to be healthy. Not that I am trying to reinvent the wheel or anything. But in this day and age, when EVERYTHING claims to be healthy (and many times these things are not), you have to work harder to make sure what you are eating is truly good for you. Now that I am a parent, this is especially true, as I want my kids to get a good start with eating right.

We also have an increasing amount of people in our lives who follow special diets: vegetarians, vegans, and gluten-intolerant. I do not have to follow this specific diets personally at this point in my life, but I like to be as accommodating as possible to anyone who needs to eat in a certain way. I find they have enough trouble as it is finding food, particularly when they are visiting other people/eating outside of their homes. I keep vegan and gluen-free products on hand in my pantry whenever possible.

I was recently given the opportunity to try Orchard Bars, produced by Liberty Orchards in Washington. I've been all over the map, having tried many different kinds of fruit bars, granola bars and cereal bars. While I was happy to try them out, I was not convinced they would be any different than other things I've tried.

Can I say I was wrong?

The bars arrived, giving us 3 different flavors to try: Blueberry-Pomegranate Almond, Strawberry Raspberry Walnut, and Pineapple Coconut Macadamia. I read the labels thoroughly (as I always do with manufactured food) and was QUITE impressed. Their labels had a lot to boast: no GMO's, Vegan, Gluten-Free, no trans-fats, no cholesterol, no preservatives and they utilize 60% organic materials. That's a good bar! Every bar is made up of fruit, nuts and seeds, all packed full of nutrition.

The label impressed me, but now it was time for the taste test. Hubby, Little Chica and I opened the bars, and each took a bite-sized sample. I was surprised to find that the bars looked much like a compacted fruit-leather with nuts and seeds inside. We took our first bites. AND IT WAS AMAZING. Hubby was particularly taken by the texture, and we all loved the taste. You could taste all the individual flavors, and they tasted as they should. The Raspberry tasted like fresh-picked berry's, not like the chemically-produced flavor many bars have today. You could discern every nut and seed. And the fruit-leather texture made it feel like I was eating candy.

From that moment, we decided these bars would be our newest pantry staple. Not only were they delicious, but I can feel good feeding them not only to my kids, but to anyone who comes over with a specific dietary need.

Or, for my own late night snack.

Liberty Orchards provided free samples for me and my family to try.