Nature's Path - Peanut Butter Granola Review

I love to win things! 

Recently I've been participating in Nature Savvy's facebook talks and twitter parties. They happen to land on my lunch break because I'm in Central Time Zone, and they are Pacific. I don't mind eating, and following along. I learn something every single time! I have to say that I've never participated in twitter parties except for a few times. I never know if I'm putting the information out right. I've won a few things through Nature Savvy though! 

I must have been doing something right.

Once they had someone from Nature's Path as a guest. I love their products. I used to buy their Pumpkin Flax Granola from Costco when we were members. It was so good! I missed it! 

I was super happy to win one of their products. I was tempted to buy what I loved, but decided to buy something new: Peanut Butter Granola. It did not disappoint any of my family! 

We don't have cereal often, but my boys do love granola and oatmeal. Nature's Path is one of their favorites!

Ways We Eat It:

• Sometimes I just put a little on top on plain Greek Yogurt.

• Other times I have a small bowl full with plain unsweetened almond milk.

• It tastes good alone for a snack, but we usually have it for breakfast.

There was a time in my life where I tried getting a sugary cereal - like most kids eat. Mica said, "I can't eat this stuff!" I've been buying, or making healthy cereals ever since.

Healthy:

• This cereal is USDA Organic
• It's listed as being Non GMO
• 4 Grams of Fiber
• 30 Grams of Grains
• 7 Grams of Protein

Ingredients:

• Rolled Oats
• Evaporated Cane Juice
• Soil Oil
• Peanut Butter
• Brown Rice Flour
• Roasted Peanuts
• Oat Syrup Solids 
• Sea Salt
• Tocopherols (Natural Vitamin E)
• Molasses

All the ingredients are organic.

My kids have never appeared to have any nut allergies. I do find that the boys and I are sensitive to milk. I've read, and have been told that if you have skin allergies like eczema it's best to stay away from cow's milk. We do have plain Greek yogurt, but try and stay away from milk if possible. We use unsweetened almond milk. At times I make our almond milk.

Nature's Path granola was in the natural section of the grocery store. Check it out! You won't be disappointed!

What is your favorite healthy cereal, or granola for the morning?

Disclaimer: I received any Nature's Path product, and chose Peanut Butter Granola. I was not asked to review this product. I wrote this post, and was not influenced at all with an opinion. I only review things that I find interesting, or that would benefit my readers or family.

Peanut Butter Popcorn

For New Years dinner I wanted to have something simple. We went through a lot of work preparing for a party on New Years Eve the night before.

I chopped up:

• carrots
• sweet peppers
• celery
• apple
• strawberries

Then I made popcorn. We had two types: Plain Popcorn and Peanut Butter Popcorn. I have to say that I can eat just Peanut Butter Popcorn, but I prefer plain sitting on the side. Then it's not so sweet. It's just right.

NuNaturals Review

I got a lot of stuff in the mail from NuNaturals to try and out. It's all so good.

Their newest product is PreSweet Tagatose.

It's a natural substitute to sugar and has probiotics in it. They help boost the immune system. I love it because I go through spurts of having tummy issues. Probiotics help boost my immune system. This is a new product to the US. It's sweetener found in milk, fruits and vegetables. It is 92% as sweet as sugar. It contains only 6 calories per serving.

I also got 100 packets of White Stevia Powder.

We use 1 packet for two cups of coffee.

I was really excited to get a lot of other sweeteners for baking.

I know I'll use vanilla and coco extracts the most. They are so good! 

NuNaturals pretty much spoiled me big time! 

I decided to make two different kinds of peanut butter from scratch. Then I added different sweeteners in them. This process would have gone a whole lot faster if I would have gotten peanuts out of the shells. I knew the boys would enjoy taking the shells off. 

Isaak in particular loved taking the peanuts out of their shells. He told me that he wants to make peanut butter for a living.

Making peanut butter is super easy. I never realized how easy it is. You just stick the peanuts in a food processor and wiz it up until it starts to form balls inside the processor. I let it run a little longer than that. It's really a matter of how chunky you like your peanut butter.

I wanted to try to make two different peanut butters to experiment with flavors with the sweeteners.

I added Flax Seed to both. I buy Whole Golden Flax Seed and grind mine up with a coffee grinder.

Recipe for Peanut Butter using PreSweet Tagatose:

1 cup peanut butter.
1/8 cup ground flaxseed
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 teaspoons PreSweet Tagatose
I added enough water to make it stir well, about 4 teaspoons

The boys and I loved it!

Recipe for Peanut Butter using Pure Liquid Vanilla Stevia and Pure Liquid Cocoa Bean Extract:

1 cup peanut butter
1/8 cup ground flaxseed
2 Tablespoons coconut oil 
6 drops Pure Liquid Stevia
6 drops Pure Liquid Cocoa Bean Extract
I added enough water to make it stir well, about 4 teaspoons

The boys and I loved this one to. It does have a hint of coconut flavor from the oil, but it's not super strong.  
 

Overall I love the NuNaturals products. They ship fast and taste really good!

Check out their facebook page, twitter page and recipes. 

Disclaimer: The opinions on the post are my personal take on the product. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. I am not compensated to provide my opinion except for receiving the products themselves to test out. I received samples from NuNaturals to assist with this review. I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review.

Sunland Peanut Butter Review

We have peanut butter often at breakfast time. I have tried a few products made by Sunland before.

I've purchased Sunland Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter from Tropical Traditions previously. We love it. Mica said, "This is the bomb!"

I was given two peanut butters of my choice. I chose: Raspberry Peanut Butter Spread - Natural and Natural Valencia Crunchy Peanut Butter. Both of these "Are the bomb!" As Mica would say!

Both products are gluten free. I love that they are no stir.

The fruit infused varieties of peanut butter, allow us to skip the jelly on PBJ's. The kids don't even ask for it.

According to their website, "A peanut butter sandwich made with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter, an 8-ounce glass of milk and an orange provides a growing child with 63% of his or her daily protein requirements."

I decided to try a new recipe I got from the open gym session at the YMCA. It is a healthier Banana Split. I modified the recipe to add more protein than what it called for. The directions are listed below the recipe card.

Directions:

• Pick out your favorite boxed pudding mix. Mica chose Banana this time. I think chocolate would be oh so good as well!
• Blend 1/2 a carton of soft tofu. Add in enough Almond milk to make 2 cups {including the already blended tofu}. I suppose you can use cows milk instead. We happen to love Almond!
• Blend the boxed pudding mix with the tofu/milk mix. 
• Blend in two heaping spoonfuls of peanut butter. We used Raspberry Peanut Butter Spread - Natural.
• Split a banana in a bowl. We used 1/2 a banana for each kid.
• Add in the pudding mixture.
• Squirt Whipped Cream on top.
• Sprinkle Chocolate Chips.
• Add a cherry on top. We only had frozen ones, so that is what we used.

Mica and Isaak were in major heaven. They loved their Banana Split and asked for another one the next day. Mica's not even crazy about banana's or tofu alone. I could taste the peanut butter in it and it was GOOD. I have to say that the boys have never had a loaded ice cream Banana Split, so they don't know what that tastes like.

Every Sunland Peanut Butter we've ever tried has been tasty!

Become friends with Sunland on Facebook.

Disclaimer: The opinions on the post are my personal take on the product. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. I am not compensated to provide my opinion except for receiving the products themselves to test out. Sunland Peanut Butter provided me with a free sample of this product to review. I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review.