Nutella

In 2003, my mother and I went on vacation to Turkey to visit our family and friends during the summer. To add a little more context to this, my entire family from both sides of my parents were born and basically raised in Turkey. I was the first one from both sides to be born in America. We are not Turkish, we are full blood Armenians.

So now that you know that I can get back to my trip to Turkey. It was summer break, and I was out of school so we stayed there for nearly two and a half months to get the full benefit of our plane ticket.

We spent the first and last two weeks of our visit in Istanbul where my dad's side of the family is, but we traveled to Samandag, Hatay, Turkey and spent most of our summer there with my mom's side of the family.



We were eating breakfast one day and my uncle bought us Nutella. I've hadn't heard of it before but I saw that it had chocolate in it so I instantly spread it on some homemade bread, tandir ekmeği, and fell in love. Turns out that during the second World War, the creator found that he didn't have enough cocoa beans to make the spread, but he had endless fields of hazelnut. So he mixed them together and voila. An Italian Pastry maker, he had a dream to make cheap, affordable candy that was delicious, he put this Nutella blend into a candy that we love today, Ferrero Rocher.

When I got back to the land of the free, I only found Nutella exclusively in some local middle eastern markets. They were also the actual Nutella imported from Italy, which for some reason has a bolder taste than the one manufactured in the US. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the stuff. Nobody had any idea what it was. Actually, Nutella became really popular in my area two years ago. Three years ago people would look at me funny when I said that I had Nutella for breakfast.

Well now that everybody knows about it they have created National Nutella Day on February 5th. So celebrate.

The taste of Nutella is amazing. It's definitely very thick and creamy. There is a perfect balance of chocolate and hazelnut, neither overpowering the other. It's also perfectly sweetened. I enjoy eating it in many ways. My cousin liked to eat it straight out of the jar. I basically like it on anything, but my favorite way of eating it is with Honey Wheat Pretzels. I just love dipping them together and consuming them as a snack or dessert. Another way I absolutely love eating Nutella is substituting it as jelly in my peanut butter sandwiches.



One thing that everybody should realize is that this stuff is not as healthy as the Nutella comercials make it out to be. It has nearly 0 nutritional value for the calories. People all over Europe understand this, and even they eat it in moderation as a treat. This product should be regarded as a treat and eaten in small quantities. I know it's hard and feel for you, but slow down. America's obesity problem does not need to get worse with this stuff.

This is probably the longest review I have written so far. It's not because I'm in a particular writing mood, it's just that I love this product so much. It just has so much to offer. It's like the best thing that can happen to a chocolate and nut lover like me. If I could have one single complaint about it, it would be that the oil separates from the spread. This problem isn't too bad in the colder months, but during the summer I sadly give Nutella up. I don't have air conditioning in my home so my Nutella will separate like colors in a lava lamp.

Lundberg Buttery Caramel Rice Cake

The first time I heard of rice cakes was in 6th grade when my class read books from the Fudge Book Series by Judy Bloom. I remember my teacher was surprised that I had no idea what they were, thanks to the fact that my father never let me buy packaged foods.

But now that I don't have to listen to him I can make my own judgements on what to eat and what not to eat. So I was at that local health food store and I found some of these Lundberg Rice Cakes. I've tried Quaker rice cakes before and thought they were okay, but not that great. But for some reason that day I wanted a pack.

So I chose the Eco-Farmed Buttery Caramel variety. Sounds good right? Let's discuss with what that 'Eco-Farmed' part means. Lundberg makes organic and eco-farmed products.

That's the basic chart on their website outlining it all. I figured it be easiest for me and for your understanding if I just post that up there. Basically, the eco-farmed products are a bit more eco-friendly.

Lundberg makes their rice cakes with freshly milled brown rice and packing almost double the amount of rice in one rice cake than other brands do. They pop them on their farm so it's not a factory based product.

They use simple and clean ingreients:
Eco-Farmed whole grain brown rice, dried cane syrup, unsulphured molasses, natural buttery caramel flavor.



All natural, eco-friendly, organic, fresh, how about now for the taste?

Well at first I wasn't too impressed. The buttery caramel flavoring was a bit too light, but you did definitely taste more rice. They were indeed fresh and crunchy. They seemed to have less sugar than the average processed brand that you get at the store, but they were quite fantastic for having such a short ingredients list.


I liked them. I have always liked simple foods. I think the American diet has way too many ingredients in them, as well as way too much sugar. I am ashamed to say that I have fallen for the sugar fever that America has, but I can proudly say that I love the low-sugared pastriess too.

So buy a pack of these, or one of their many other flavors, and enjoy.
I love them topped with peanut butter for breakfast.
Cream cheese or laughing cow sounds good on the saltier varieties.

Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Strawberry Cereal Bar

One of the first cereal bars that I tried in my entire life was Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Cereal bars. They used to be so popular that everybody was eating them. They had a phase, like the Pop tarts had a phase, and cupcakes had a phase.

But now they are sadly sitting on the shelves eagerly waiting for that one in a million customer to pick one of them up. I was one of those one in a million the other day. I decided to pick up the classic strawberry flavor.

I don't know why people still don't love these. They remind me of Fig Newtons, which are a love of my life. They are simple whole grain bars covering a sugar filled fruit center.

The strawberry one was lovely, and very sweet with a slight tart flavor to it. The filling didn't even taste that artificial.

Each bar has only 120 calories, 3 grams of fat, 24 grams of carbs, 3 grams of fiber, and 2 grams of protein.

For craving a sweet snack, these are a great choice. You can get a nice box of these for less than $2 at your local supermarket.

I say go pick them up. Reminisce on some memories.

Back to Nature Honey Nut Granola

On my trip to a local health store I found these cookies by Back to Nature in the clearance isle. They were there because their expiration date was coming in two days. I got a $4.79 cookies for 99 cents. I took advantage of my deal and bought them.

I heard of Back to Nature, but I have never actually tried their products. Their business started in 1960 from Pasadena, California. They offer cereals, crackers, nuts, and cookies. They got popular for making delicious snacks with simple ingredients that don't contain any preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, or hydrogenated oils. 100% natural with wholesome goodness, what's not to love?


So what I purchased was the Honey Nut Granola cookies. I honestly expected them to be crunch due to the granola part of the description. I didn't read the back though where it says:
" Chewy granola cookies with the delicious crunch of peanuts and a touch of honey. Sweetened with cane juice and fruit juice and baked with 100% whole grain, these cookies make a great snack!"
That gives away the chewy part doesn't it?

They have 12 grams of whole grain per serving. A serving is 1 cookie, so as you can imagine, these cookies are relatively big compared to Oreos. Each cookie contains 140 calories, 7 grams of fat, 18 grams of carbs, 2 grams of fiber, and 3 grams of protein. All the ingredients are all natural.

So I opened the cookies and they smelled wonderful, exactly like a peanut butter and honey sandwich. There were 8 of them in there and I already didn't feel like sharing. I took my first bite and fell in love. Screw Pepperidge Farm, these cookies are da bomb!

They were so moist and chewy. You can chewy on some of the grains on occasion. There was a heavy nut flavor which I love and you can easily savor the sweetness of the honey.

I'm drooling all over my keyboard right now. I must have some more!
They have tons of other varieties of cookies. I'm dying to try them all!
You have to buy these. They are mouth watering.
They bring warmth to your insides.
I can't stop raving about them
Go get 'em!

10/10 for sure!