Review: Nonuttin’

Right off, I love the name!!  Nonuttin’ says it all!  Their products are free of ELEVEN allergens!!  Yes, 11!  Their products are dairy free (including all derivatives such as casein and whey), egg free, fish free, certified gluten free, mustard free, peanut free & tree nut free (including employees signing a contract that they do not eat peanuts/tree nuts before work or bring them into any area of the No Nuttin’ facility), sesame free, shellfish free, soy free (including soy lecithin), no sulfites, wheat free, AND since the USA lists coconut as a tree nut, no coconut either!

Are you allergic to latex?  No latex gloves are used on any Nonuttin’ production line either!  Avoiding refined sugar?  They only use evaporated cane sugar!  So their products must taste like cardboard right?  It can’t be free of all these things, and actually taste good, right?  WRONG!  Their products are delicious!  Nonuttin sent Lizzie and I a bunch of their products to try and they were all delicious!  Our kids loved them all!

The first thing we tried was their Nonuttin’ All Natural Granola.  The girls loved putting it in their yogurt or just eating it plain.  Bean loved the Vanilla Cinnamon, and Bubbles favorite fruit is blueberry, so she really loved the Blueberry Maple.

  

The next thing we tried was their granola bars.  YES, they have granola bars!  AND they are peanut free granola bars!  Can you tell how excited I am about this?  If your child has a peanut allergy, you understand my excitement.  I have not found ANY safe granola bars for Bean at any of the stores around here.  They are always “made on the same equipment” or “may contain”.  Well these contain No Nuttin!  Their granola bars come in four varieties – Apple Cinnamon, Raisin (both pictured below), Chocolate Chip, and Double Chocolate Chunk.  Their granola bars are soft and chewy, and you can actually see the apple and raisins in them!  Definitely a favorite here!

  

Next we tried their oatmeal!  They come in these great little cups, with lids.  Just add boiling water (I just used really hot water), pour it up to the line in the cup, put the cover back on for a couple minutes and TADA, the perfect cup of oatmeal!  I was really leery of these at first.  I really thought they would be soupy, and I really dislike soupy oatmeal, but they seriously turned out perfect!  There are four varieties – Daily Hug (apples and cinnamon), Morning Mojo (apples, blueberries, apples, raw sunflower seeds, and cinnamon), Pacific Coast Morning (blueberries and cranberries), and Sunny Start (cranberries, raisins, and raw sunflower seeds).  We tried the Morning Mojo and Daily Hug.  Bean had the Morning Hug and loved it.  Bubbles tried the Morning Mojo, but was not thrilled about the sunflower seeds.  I like it though and finished it off for her!

   

Lizzie came over for a cookout, and we had to figure something for the kids to have for dessert.  The dessert had to be gluten free for Lizzie’s kids, peanut free for Bean, and dairy free for Bubbles.  It is always so very difficult finding a snack that all the kids can enjoy.  Often, we find a product that is allergen free OR gluten free, however these are the best of both worlds, and allowed all of our children to enjoy them!  They loved them, and even the dog wanted some!  LOL  Lots of smiling faces, and no one was left out!

Nonuttin is a great treat for field trips, on the go, as a quick snack, also they are great for kids to bring in as a safe treat for school for birthdays or for snack day.  All the kids could have these!  They are soft and chewy and sooo good, especially the Double Chocolate Chunk, and all the kids will love them!

Disclaimer: Nonuttin’ sent us the products pictured above to review, in exchange for our honest opinions of their products.  We were not compensated in any way, and all of the opinions were our own and not influenced in any way.

 

Product Review: Crunchmaster

**I was provided free product in exchange for my honest opinions.  I received no financial compensation and all opinions contained in here are my own and in no way influenced by an outside party.**

When I am looking for snacks that are safe for our house, I can NOT even begin to tell you how much of a pain it is to find ones that taste good!  I walk down all the aisles with the kids and of course they look and want everything.  And I know that even if I didn’t…they would see their friends with “normal” snacks and wonder why they have to be so different.  And sometimes, I can’t help but wish we could just buy whatever we wanted without looking.  Luckily though, I found a company that really has that in mind when producing their snacks.  Crunchmaster!!  Check out their website here.

The kids and I were so excited when our product got here… I could barely get a picture before the kids wanted to tear into them!

We were able to try Crunchmaster’s two new kids snacks, Cheezy Crisps and Grammy Crisps.  And we also got to try the Rosemary and Olive Ooil Multi Seed Crackers. We were very happy with each item, which is unusual.  For those of you that follow this blog regularly, you know how much of a challenge  it is for me to find something both kids will like and agree on.

The Cheezy Crisps were the first things the kids wanted to try, and I was all for it.  After checking the nutritional panel to see about a serving size, I was even more excited to give these to the kids.  60 of these crackers make up an adult serving for 120 calories!  That’s quite a s snack!  I portioned out half that amount for the kids and the full amount for myself and got to sampling.  Before I even tasted them,  I was worried that like so many other cheese snacks, they may have that fake flavor.   I was pleasantly surprised to find that they did not.  They are made with a great blend of real mozzarella and cheddar cheese and you can definitely taste them.  They are light and crunchy and have a fantastic texture.  There is enough cheese so that you know you are having a cheese based snack, but its balanced well and not ever overbearing.  These snacks are great all on their own.  The kids and I also mixed them in with some cereal and pecans and dried cranberries for a nice little trail mix.

Next up was the Grammy Crisps.  These have a suggested serving size of 25 crackers for 130 calories.  Still not a bad deal in my book, especially because both of their kid centered snacks are made with whole grain. So the kids each got a few and off we went to taste them and see how we can incorporate them into other things.  These by far were my favorite of all the Crunchmaster items we sampled.  They are nice and crunchy, and have this amazing blend of cinnamon and sugar.  These definitely took me back to when I was a kid and the cinnamon and sugar toast that we would have with breakfast. I was so happy to find something that allowed me to share these kind of flavors with my kids.  The kids could not get enough of them and were quickly coming up with some great recipe ideas.   These are amazing all on their own or in our nice little Smores mix.  The kids actually came up with this one…and we mixed the Grammy snacks, some mini marshmallows and mini chocolate chips and had our own version of easier to eat, no heat Smores!  This is something we will definitely be making again, it is a great little snack mix to have for play-dates or get togethers.

After the kids had their fun with the new snacks and building new recipes, my husband and I set out to try the more “adult” type snack from Crunchmaster, the Rosemary and Olive Oil Multi Seed Crackers.  They are super thin and all natural and nice and crispy.  They have a great blend of seeds including sesame, quinoa, flax, and amaranth.  They are great right out of the bag, with nice undertones of Rosemary and Olive Oil. I was a little nervous that the Rosemary would be overwhelming but it was not at all.  My husband was totally content to eat them just plain, but I could not help but wonder what sorts of topping would work best for these awesome little crackers. I tried various cheeses, and our favorite was a New York Extra Sharp Cheddar.  I also had a dinner to attend with some  friends and wanted to bring something along.  I used these crackers and make up some Bruschetta.  What a great combination!!! My friends at the dinner party could not get enough of them and just had to know what kind of crackers I was using.  They are such a great substitution for bread in dip like recipes and I cannot wait to try therm with other options.

All in all, before trying these Crunchmaster products I had come in contact with mixed reviews from other people I know who have tried them.  I was a little hesitant, but I am so glad that I was given the opportunity to try them for myself.  I am excited to say they are one of the better gluten-free snack companies out there.  For those of you interested in trying them for yourself ( and I highly recommend you do!!) check out this link for a great coupon! Also, please check them out and show them your support on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest!  And don’t forget to share your opinions with me!

Review & Giveaway: Skeeter Snacks (peanut & tree nut free)

Meet Skeeter!  He is a cute little squirrel with a nut allergy!  Poor Skeeter was feeling left out by his nut loving friends, so he came up with a nut free line of snacks!  His snacks were so good, all the other squirrels loved them too.  Skeeter Snacks maintains a strict allergen protocol, and all of their products are made in a nut free facility!  Their ingredients are carefully selected from suppliers meeting nut free standards.  PLUS Skeeter also employs batch testing to further assure that Skeeter Snacks are nut free.

Anyone who has a peanut allergic child knows how difficult it is to find peanut free cookies.  My girls love their cookies and milk, and there are so few choices out there that are safe when you have a nut allergy.  The makers of Skeeter Snacks deliberately narrowed their focus to peanut and tree nut free snacks so they could make a safe, yummy snack, that is affordable!  YES, a specialty cookie that is affordable!

Their cookies come in four varieties – Skeeter Doodle, Golden Oatmeal, Chocolate Chunk, and Chocolate 3. We were able to try all four delicious varieties. To try them for yourself, enter our giveaway!
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The first one we tried was Skeeter Doodle, which is Skeeter’s version of the Snickerdoodle.  They were so good.  They had a rich buttery taste with just the right blend of cinnamon and sugar.  It was love at first bite.  My girls loved them too and gave them two thumbs up!

The next one we tried was the Chocolate Chunk cookies.  They were equally as amazing.  They had a crunchy outside with a softer inside, and were full of chocolate chunks.  Forget those little bitty chips other cookies have.  My girls loved these too.  These are my younger daughter’s favorite!

Bean then chose the Golden Oatmeal cookies to try next.  These oatmeal cookies had a good mixture of oatmeal and raisins.  Move over grandma… these are almost as good!  My husband loves oatmeal raisin cookies, and he said these were right up there on the top of his list!

We then tried the Chocolate3.  It is a chocolate cookie, with chocolate chips, AND chocolate chunks.  I took one bite and swore I had died and gone to chocolate heaven.  These are a chocolate lovers dream!  I have found my all time favorite cookie.  My daughter, Bean, also said this cookie was her favorite.  Makes a momma proud!

You can check to see if Skeeter Snacks are available near by clicking here and using their store locator.  They are also available on Amazon!  Yummy snacks delivered right to your door!

The Skeeter Snacks website has a fun “For Kids” section, a “Resources” tab with great resources for peanut or nut allergies, and a “The Nut Problem” tab that discusses peanut and nut allergies.

If Skeeter’s on the package, you will know that the yummy snack inside is totally nut-free and made in a facility that is also totally nut-free!  Safe snacks for everyone to enjoy!!

Disclaimer: Skeeter Snacks provided me with a package of each of their cookies, in exchange for my honest opinions of their products.  I was not financially compensated in any way.  All opinions are my own and were not influenced in any way.