Raising the Bar: 3 New Bars and 1 Big GIVEAWAY

Over the past few weeks, I’ve taken up quite a collection of bars.  A few new and trusted companies have been so kind to send me some of their latest products to sample and review so I figured I would put them all together in one convenient post to share my thoughts with you all.

I sort of have a love/hate relationship with energy and granola bars.  I’m either really into them or not really interested.  It always seems to work out that when I do have bars in my house, I have an abundance of them but I usually wouldn’t think to eat a granola bar for a snack if I’m just lying around the house.  With that said, I do heavily rely on bars for travel and on-the-go and I always always have at least one stashed in every bag I own for emergencies.

First up…

Health Warrior Chia Bars 

Sara reached out to me a few weeks ago with the opportunity to try these new bars from Health Warrior. This start-up health food company is based in Richmond, VA and sells chia seeds and a line of chia seed bars that come in three flavors, chocolate peanut butter, acai berry, and coconut.

These bars are only 100 calories each and are fully loaded with omega-3′s and antioxidants. I wasn’t sure if the chia seeds would be incorporated throughout or visibly noticeable but when I opened one, I was surprised to see both features present.

Even though these bars are only 100 calories, you don’t necessarily feel like you’re getting your money’s worth in terms of volume for the calorie trade-off.  But don’t be fooled; they are small in size but large in satiety.

I decided to go with the coconut first and was pleasantly intrigued by the texture. The chia seeds are noticeable in every bite and give this little bar a lot of character.  As far as taste, this gets a 8 out of 10.  I’m a fan of chewy bars and appreciated its composition.  The coconut was distinct so if you are a fan of coconut, you’ll enjoy this bar.

Rickland Orchards Greek Yogurt Bars

Next on the list was some new flavors of Greek yogurt bars from Rickland Orchards. I met this company at the Fancy Food Show last summer and had the pleasure of working with them to sample their products a few months ago.  When I ran into them again at the Natural Products Expo in Baltimore, I was happy to see some new flavors in their line.

These granola bars are great but very sweet.  They make a fantastic option for an after-dinner treat or would probably turn any granola bar skeptic into an instant fan.  The nutritional stats are decent with only 140-160 calories per bar, 5 grams of fiber and 7 grams of protein. I have only tried the peanut butter and strawberry so far (since these were the new-to-me flavors) and taste-wise, I rate them at a 7.  Delicious but again, sweet! (Which could be an advantage for your own personal liking)

Flavors include:

• Apples and Honey
• Blueberry Acai
• Cherri Almond
• Cranberry Almond
• Orchard Peach
• Peanut Butter
• Strawberry
• Toasted Coconut

SoyJoy Cranberry and Dark Chocolate Cherry

SoyJoy recently released two brand new flavors and asked me if I would be interested in sampling them.

To be honest, I don’t recall ever having a SoyJoy bar until now so I really can’t compare these to the other flavors and I wasn’t sure what to expect out of them.

I’ve always heard good things about SoyJoy bars so I was excited to give them my own opinion.  I sampled them both over the past few days and definitely enjoyed them equally.  These bars are more of a cookie; the Cranberry resembled a shortbread and the Dark Chocolate Cherry reminded me of a Christmas cookie my mom usually makes.  As far as taste, I give the cranberry an 8 and the chocolate a 7.

Now for the fun part of this post, the giveaway!

Giveaway

Health Warrior is giving away three boxes of their chia bars (one of each flavor) and a Health Warrior T-shirt to one lucky SWYNTS reader.

To enter: Fill in the blank…

The Health Warrior Chia Bar I most want to try is ____________. 

For extra entries (one for each task completed, separate comment for each)

• Follow Health Warrior on Facebook
• Follow Health Warrior on Twitter
• Tweet the following: “I want to win @LaurenSWYNTS giveaway for @Health_Warrior chia bars.”

This giveaway will be open for entries until Wednesday, October 31st when one winner will be selected.

Disclaimer: I was graciously sent Health Warrior Chia Bars, Rickland Orchard Greek Yogurt Bars and SoyJoy Bars to sample as a curiosity. All of the opinions and reviews are that of my own. 

Tagged as: chia, Giveaway, granola bars, Greek yogurt, Health Warrior, product review, Rickland Orchards, SoyJoy