Desert Pepper Trading Company salsa’s

Desert Pepper makes the best salsa’s, and luckily they’re also pretty easy to find. The best flavor, I think, is the Corn Black Bean flavor – it’s not very spicy, but still really delicious. It’s great on some Light Tostitos (you know, the ones with the fake fat…). Peach Mango is also quite good, and the pinto bean one is really good (but honestly, Trader Joe’s Spicy Black Bean dip is just as good – perhaps better with that slight vinegary flavor – and cheaper). Naturally, the salsa’s listed above are all fat free.

Anyway, I have found these salsa’s in a bunch of places, including Whole Foods (every location I’ve been to), and Cost Plus of all places.

Halvah bars – possibly the best tasting fairly healthy food

Camel Halvah Bars (Noble Foods). These amazing bars are not the lowest in fat, but at least they have healthy fats (and are very filling – watch the serving size tho), no additives, and barely any sugar in ‘em. And they (when fresh) taste out of this world.

Halvah bars are made mostly out of sesame seeds. The ones we’ve tried have varied in taste and texture, depending on how fresh they are. When they’re fresh, there ain’t anything better. When they’re not as fresh, they can still taste pretty great, but are prone to stick to your teeth a little.

We have tried Pistachio (amazing), Chocolate (my fave), and Marble which is a mix of plain and chocolate.

We have found Pistachio and Marble at Rainbow Grocery (1745 Folsom St. San Francisco), Chocolate at Whole Foods (4800 El Camino Real Los Altos), and most flavors are available online (we get most of ours from Amazon).

Update: The Deluxe flavor arrived from Amazon – and these ones are great too. They have pistacios, sunflower seeds, raisins, almonds mixed in the plain flavor. They aren’t quite as fresh as the chocolate and pistachio flavors -it’d rank right up there with pistachio if it was!

But remember, these bars, while healthy and containing healthy fats at the same time aren’t very low fat or low calorie – so watch your portions people

Back to Nature: Bakery Squares

Back to Nature’s Bakery Squares are like little tiny breakfast bars, but very delicious. Surprisingly, these things almost have a “home baked” taste, unlike most of the things you find in the grocery store. They’re available in a couple flavors, both pretty healthy in the fat dept – banana walnut and cinnamon rasin are the two that we’ve found, and both are very good. Very very good.

Unfortunately, I can’t find these on their website, http://www.backtonaturefoods.com, or on Amazon (yet, I hope!)

Where did we find them? Of all places, Albertsons (in this case, 6843 Mission St, Daly City) - with the granola/breakfast bars.

We also tried the apple cereal bar – good, but not as good as the bakery squares.

Update: Safeway is now carrying some of the Back to Nature products – our local Safeway has the Trail Mix bars and the breakfast cereal bars (apple). We tried the Trail Mix bars and weren’t really lovin’ them (quite small and high-calorie to boot). But we still love those Bakery Squares a lot!!

UPDATE: Back to Nature Bakery Squares are now available on Amazon (and way cheaper than the grocery store!)

welcome to what I eat…

I hope to use this blog for a couple of things. Just over a year ago, I changed my ways by exercising more and improving my diet. We went through all our cupboards, got rid of the junk, and started reading food labels before purchasing anything. I went on the hunt for new recipes and new grocery finds that would keep the meals somewhat interesting – I didn’t exactly want to eat steamed chicken and vegetables 7 days a week!

I watch the interwebs for new products, snacks, and so on that are relatively healthy – and search the grocery stores for them. But then I frequently forget where I find things! (Safeway, Albertsons, Whole Foods? Trader Joes is easy to remember ) So this blog will help me remember, and might help someone else out there. Please note this isn’t a list of stuff I eat all the time — this blog isn’t a “diet” to follow or anything — many items are things to eat on occasion.