Organic and GMO free bar reviews

I am lazy, I'll admit it. I need fast easy food. I won't eat sometimes just to avoid having to prepare something. All of the bars I will be reviewing today came from Big Lots. Big Lots has lots of organic food for reasonable prices, however they don't always have the best flavors of said organic products.

Odewalla brand Berries GoMega superfood bars I have see them for 6 dollars a box, I picked them up at Big Lots for $2.50- Their texture is dense they are very fruity (which I shouldn't dislike, but I still have synthetic taste buds) They taste very very... healthy. I have to make myself eat one, but they are fairly good for you if you eat them as a meal which I believe is intended. (210 calories, 6gr fat, 36 carbs, 5gr fiber, 16gr sugar DV of A 10% Calcium and Folate 25% and E a whopping 50%). I felt like a child who was being forced to eat something they hated grudgingly ordering my teeth to chew and begging my throat to swallow. 

Health Valley Organic Strawberry Bars don't know the retail I purchased them $1.50 for 5 bars. They are dry like a pop tart is dry. They are like a nutri-grain bar. We also purchased these once upon a time in apple cobbler and found that flavor unpleasant. The strawberry is a hit, but I would recommend some almond milk to go with.

Lara Bar Chocolate Chip Brownie $8 for the 16 bar pack at Big Lots (see what I mean about big lots) that pack I believe to be in the $20 range. I had trouble parting with $8 for a box of bars we'd never tried, but they are fairly good. The first ingredient is dates, which you can taste, but is well masked by chocolate. I enjoyed the almonds and walnuts found throughout and though I believe the company is owned by another company that is disreputable, I am not displeased with my purchase. This tastes healthy without being off-putting, you aren't getting some processed fiber1 faux brownie, but it is one I would also call a meal replacement (200 calories, 9gr fat, 23gr sugar, 4gr fiber, 4 gr protien) No half bad.

Nature's Path Choconut and MMMaple Pecan at $2.50 a box are little heavenly dessert bars, I tossed the boxes and am too lazy to retrieve the nutrition facts so I will provide you with a link to their site http://us.naturespath.com/. These are freaking good. I could eat them all day. They have a texture like homemade rice crispy treats that you didn't let get cool enough before you ate them and they have killer flavor. We bought 3 boxes because I had a gut feeling we'd love them and there are only a few left in the bar bowl.

Big Lots is my jam.

Dinner for Two and tips for the week

What you need:
1 frying pan
1 sauce pan
cheese grater (these stretch cheese so far, and a nice soft cheese like muenster stretches even further)

Ingredients:
Your favorite vegetarian chicken patty 1 each (I usually go with Boca because of the lower price)
2 1oz blocks of muenster
2 cups of corn
1 cup of peas
14 frozen cheese ravioli (I love Target Market Pantry Cheese ravioli and at $1.48 you can stretch it for nearly 6 portions
1 tsp coconut oil
1 tsp faux butter of choice
1 tsp minced basil
2 tsps of water
3 cups of water
Salt and pepper to taste

Prep:
*First melt the coconut oil in your frying pan and saute your chicken patties on medium then low until crispy approx 10 mins while preforming the following tasks
*Put 3 cups of water in your sauce pan on high
*Mix your vegetables and dry seasoning of choice with 2 tsps of water in a microwave safe bowl and toss in the microwave for 3 minutes, stir and microwave for 3 more and let stand in the microwave until ready to serve
*During the second go round of the veggies your water should be at a boil or close, toss in your ravioli and when they float they are done (it doesn't hurt them to sit in the water off the heat if they manage to weasel by you and get done faster than you are ready for them)
*When the veggie mix is pulled out add the tsp of faux butter and minced basil and mix well

Half your veggie mix between two bowls (in our house I eat with the bowl I microwaved in to save dishes because I am lazy)
Portion out your ravioli and top with 1 oz each shredded muenster (once more I do this because I am lazy I could have done it before hand but then I would have to clean whatever the cheese waited on(when I get cheese from the store I cut it into 1oz portions so I never have to dirty knives))
Top with your chicken patty!

Took me about 15 minutes from start to finish, including the cleaning up

You can substitute left over chicken for faux chicken
Add different veg (sometimes I pre-make sauteed corn, onion, carrot and onions, so that I can add it to dishes throughout the week without having to dirty a pan for each meal)
Stewed tomatoes and bell peppers with Parmesan in place of muenster
Steamed  broccoli




Random Tip
Pyrex glass storage containers rule! Storage that it reusable, economical, safe, durable, AND you can bake tiny cake in them? If you haven't bought yourself any glass bake ware you are missing out! Forget buying plastic containers that contain who knows what and then you have to toss after a few uses. Pyrex saves me so much money, I take the 20 dollars I would normally spend on different and I can get a whole new set with lids. You can find them at yard sales, and if you have some money to spare you can get all sorts of groovy 70's vintage Pyrex! That's how long this stuff lasts. Pyrex is microwave safe, safe in a preheated oven, and the only drawback is that will crack if you go from hot to cold too fast (lesson learned pouring cheese sauce over boiling hot roasted potatoes)
Happy Homemaking!
<3AlphaBrett