Crazed Taste Testing

I have tried all kinds of diets. And most of the time I don't stick to them. Most of us do not. And I know it is called a 'lifestyle change' now. But I promise you it all still feels like a diet to me.  I know I have to read all the labels to see what is good or not good for me.  And gosh, half of it I can not pronounce.  But I do know to look at calories, sodium, carbs, fat and protein.
Well I thought I would do my very own home study of 4 different snack bars.  A side by side comparison of what is considered healthy and how does it measure up in the taste factor.  Of course that means I have to taste all four.  Gosh....think I can do that!
I picked Kellogs Special K Blueberry Bar, Organic Larabar Jam Frakas Chocolate Chip Cosmocrisp bar,  Kellogs Cinnabon bar, PowerBar Harvest Whole Grain.  Seems that logic right off would say Organic is best, Whole Grain is next, then the Special K with Cinnabon coming in last.  I wonder?  I will use myself, Dear and College Girl as the tasting party.   Those two were doing blind taste test.  Of course I knew which bar was which. That way we have 3 opinions and hopefully one clear winner.
 

Well this came as a shock.  The lowest calorie bar was the best tasting bar!  Now that is a lesson learned for me.  It does not have to be the highest calorie or the most chocolate or decadent to really taste good.  I will say that the PowerBar was the largest of all 4 bars.  While the JamFrakas was the smallest yet very dense.  The other two Kellogs bars were light and easily fell apart.  I imagine that if your needing staying power you should go with the JamFrakas.  But for snack bars.....hummm maybe we should stay with the 90 calorie bar and really enjoy the flavor.

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1.03.01

I Can Have DONUTS Again!

Have you heard about Holey Donuts?

Well I did recently and really wanted to try them.

You see I am on this diet! Yes the dreaded 4 letter word was used--DIET!
And my all time fav food is donuts!
We all know donuts are not on diets.
Right? No WRONG!

Now we can diet and have our donuts too.
How? Well because Holey Donuts are low fat and lower in calories. The average donut has 15-20 grams of fat and as much as 480 calories? Holey Donuts created a donut with as little as 3-4 grams of fat and 150-250 calories. You'd actually have to eat 4 of their donuts to get the amount of fat in just one traditional donut. Even better is that they do not use artificial sweeteners or fat substitutes.

Well, I heard about Holey Donuts and contacted them.
I told them. . .
"I have been reading about your new venture with the low fat Holey Donuts.
I would be so excited to do a review on my blog. I am currently working on a
diet and exercise program. I have lost 27 lbs and 21 inches in the last 6
weeks. (BTW that is now 59 1/2 inches lost). And my favorite snack food is donuts. (You did celebrate National Donut Day!) Of course, I have had to cut out donuts since I have been on this diet. And I imagine that this will have to become a way of life.
Until.....I heard of your product. How amazing it would be to enjoy a
donut as a snack and keep the weight off. Please let me try out your yummy
goodness and tell others how they too can have their "donut" and keep the
weight off. "

Look at what they sent me! WHOOT! I am in donut heaven.
Holey Donuts is letting me try their donuts and tell you what I think.
I received 6 assorted donuts, 30 filled holes and 4 large cinnamon rolls.
The assorted flat had

Low Fat Classic Vanilla Frosted
Reduced Fat Vanilla Boston Cream
Reduced Fat Raspberry Graham
Low Fat Original Glazed
Reduced Fat Strawberry Shortcake
Low Fat Caramel Crumb

The donut holes assortment was

Low Fat Raspberry Vanilla Truffle Donut Holes
Low Fat Boston Cream Donut Holes
Low Fat Lemon Vanilla Donut Holes

and then there was

Jumbo Reduced Fat Cinnamon Buns

And we also received this card for FREE cinnamon buns on our next order!

So we (being College Girl, Nessa and I) tried out all 3 of the donut holes and the low fat carmel crumb donut. Now these come to you from being flash frozen so you want to let them thaw out or microwave them for just 5-10 seconds.
We chose the microwave route.
I have to say that the carmel crumb donut was thicker than I expected. It was more of a bread then the airy donuts I am use to. But...it had good creamy flavor. I did not mind something that was more substantial at all. And knowing that I was eating something that was much lower in fat made me very happy. There was only 3 grams of fat and 148 calories in this jewel. That is only 3 pts on weight watchers for those who count points.
Now I will take a donut over any 100 calorie pack of thin crisp cookies any day!
A dunkin donuts apple crumb donut has 7.5 grams of fat and 173 calories. SO there is a saving there.
Now the donut holes were a whole 'nother story. YES!
Me being the donut eater in this family of course did not take time to read the package first. No I had to just dive right in, I saw that one of the holes had some red filling. SO I ate it first. That raspberry filling was good! I enjoyed that it was sweet and still had a lil chill to it. The donut holes are not as thick as the donut so it was very enjoyable to me. Nessa had one and she felt they were a good alternative for a low fat donut. Nessa has had frozen donuts before where I had not. She felt that these were comparable but was glad to know that these were much lower in fat for us! Nessa was my biggest critic as she said there was no way a frozen non fried donut was going to be any good. Well, she would eat these! College Girl had the lemon filled (lemon is one of her favs) and said that I would have to guard all of them. She enjoyed it very much. I popped the last donut hole we had in my mouth and gasped.....no I did not read it was filled too. Oh that boston cream caught me by surprise. And I loved it!
Now 4 of these donut holes from Holey Donuts are 3 grams of fat and 158 calories....Dunkin Donuts Jelly filled Munchkins are 10 grams of fat and 240 calories. Again, it is well worth the saving is calories and fat to have a great alternative in donuts.
I compared the Holey Donuts Cinnamon Rolls at 5 grams of fat with 340 calories with Cinnabon 56 grams of fat and 1100 calories and was blown away. WOW, what a difference. Now Schwans has a frozen cinnamon roll too that is only 370 calories so not a big difference there but has 14 grams of fat and that is worth noting.

So as you can see I give them a thumbs up! Yes, that is me with my almost eaten crumb donut there. I finished it of course!!!!
And College Girl said. . .

That these were finger licking good!