plane snacks and reviews

You KNOW I packed tons of GOODIES for my 14 hours day of traveling…

Sammie #1 (TJs hummus, dried cranz, and spin on the end piece of bread)

Sammie #2 (the same HLC as above, minus the heel piece)

Above: 2 HLC sandos, dried cranz, edamame, apricot Clif bar, blueberry crisp Clif bar

Below: dried fruit mix, TJs spiced chai tea, plum (unpictured apple)

Sunday AM: Rain. BART. Checked in. Sprinted across SFO like I was trying to qualify for London 2012. Boarded.  Taxi-ed on the runway for 30 hours.  Arrived in Chi-town.

Sunday PM: Arrived in O’hare airport gate B7.  Starbucks iced soy misto. Re-boarded.  Departed from gate B6.  Arrived in Newark, NJ.  Paid another exorbitant fee to get to Manhattan.

REVIEWS

Chocolate Coconut Raw Rev ingreds: cashews, agave nectar, dates, coconut, cocoa powder processed with alkali, almond, sprouted flax.

I think the only thing I liked about this bar was the fact that there weren’t too many ingredients.  Simple is usually the way to go in my opinion.  But, this tactic didn’t really work for them.  Upon opening it, I was shocked by how greasy it was…which is weird given what’s in the bar.  It reminded me of when you roll cookie dough in your hands before putting it on the pan.  As for the flavor, hmmm…how do I put this nicely.  No thanks.  The texture was similar to the first generation of chocolate power bars from the 90s and the taste wasn’t much better.  We all know I don’t like hate nuts, but there are times when I can tolerate them if they are subtle and contributing nicely to the rest of the dish.  This was not one of those cases.  Hopefully their other flavors will be more successful, because I wouldn’t buy this one again.

Blueberry Crisp Clif bar stats: kcals 240, fat 5g, carbs 43g, fiber 5g, sugars 21g, protein 9g

FAVE clif bar alert!  This bar had the perfect texture, chewy and crunchy with a sweetness that wasn’t overpowering.  The presence of nuts was noticed but not overwhelming (which is the only way I can tolerate them).  The size was good, too, considering it left me satisfied but not full (another bite would have been too much).  I wasn’t expecting it to taste so sweet, but it was a nice surprise, and I didn’t find it to be overly sugary.  It was gooey but didn’t leave my hands gross.  All in all, I felt like I was eating a more oat-y slice of blueberry pie (and healthier too, I hope?).  I think the organic roasted soybeans are what makes it so good.  Oats and soynuts, where else have you seen this combo I wonder?  Will I buy it again?  Duh.

As for the rest of the plane eats…the Island Inspirations dried fruit mix was WAY too sweet (I still finished the entire bag on the first flight, though).  I just prefer the bulk bin dried fruit, but it was in the parentals pantry and free is free so I ‘aint complainin’…

Eating the edamame without utensils = not so lady-like. 

Dried cranberries = too tart (my taste buds must be maturing, haha), I saved them to add to salads, a much better role for them I think.

The HLC sammies (hummus, lettuce, cranz) is climbing the ranks in fave sando.  Considering I had TWO of them (one of which was a heel piece of bread).  Now I hate to play favorites, but dayam.  This S%^T is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S.  There’s something about the combo of spinach and hummus that’s so great, and add in the sweet and tart cranberries, and you have got an all around perfect sandwich.  It’s like the summer version of the holiday leftovers sandwich.

Plane reads: my new book Dewey and a present from my Mom, Vegan Italiano cookbook.  I only drooled on one of them…and it wasn’t because I was asleep.

 

I had dessert within 10 minutes of walking through the door!  (Don’t pretend like this surprises you)

I also finished off these coconut date rolls.

I really missed dried fruit dessert plates my boyfriend while I was away.

In other blogger news:

Go to Bender’s site now to celebrate her blogiversary and win some cool stuff!

Also Kelly has a pretty great giveaway going on too!