Full on disclosure: this post is sorta sponsored.
A few weeks ago I was sent a care-package! How exciting!! It was packed with “CLIF CRUNCH” Granola Bars in a handful of flavours: Blueberry Crisp, Peanut Butter and White Chocolate Macadamia Nut. I was asked to sample them as a back-to-school snack.
Good news and bad news. Let’s save best for last.
First off, they’re full of nuts. So sending them to school would be quite the safe-snack transgression. And with so many children suffering from lethal allergies there’s no way I was rebelling and ignoring the “no nuts” food policies at our school. Believe me, there are puh-lenty of other…ahem… nutjobs who might, but I’m not one of them.
Secondly, they are very very crumbly. So eating them in the car was out. Too shmutzy and again, I’m not having any anaphylactic reactions on my watch if I can help it.
Doesn’t sound promising, does it?
I left them sitting on my kitchen counter and they were soon discovered by my 7 year old. He took a bite of the peanut butter one and introduced it to my 4 year old. Together the two of them ate their way through most of the samples, stopping only to offer their older brother a bite of blueberry. He wasn’t in, but I was. And guess what? It was pretty good. Didn’t have that “boo-berry” faux-taste. Instead, it was like a super crunchy oatmeal cookie. Meanwhile, my two kids devoured the nutty ones. I couldn’t believe it! I’m a baker and they’re used to, I think, the best homemade cookies and bars around. While they don’t turn their nose up at an Oreo or – sometimes – a bear paw, I’ve never managed to get them to eat anything remotely granola-bar-ish.
CLIF CRUNCH bars are made with 70% organic ingredients. They’re free of trans fats, hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup and all kinds of artificial crap – colours, flavours, preservatives. At $4.99 for a box of 5 double bars, they’re not crazy pricey either. They can be found at most grocery stores in the natural aisle as well as many health food stores, making you feel super-righteous when you buy them.
As far as granola bars go, there waaaaay better than those old-skool nature valley ones. If allergies are a non-issue and you find yourself looking for a healthy-ish treat definitely give these babies a whirl.
