I am not a grab a bar and go kind of gal. In fact, it is the rest of my family that is more inclined to eat bars than myself. But I see the merit in them...mainly convenience. But for me a bar has to pass certain criteria, and I am the picky one in the family in this regard. One, no dairy. Two, nutritional value must be present. If a bar passes those two initial criteria, I just may give it a try and turn to it again and again especially if it also tastes delicious! In general, I tend to pack bars for family outings or on days I will be out of the house for extended hours and don't want to carry a cooler.I am beginning to find that ClifBar has some really good product lines. I sampled and reviewed their seasonal flavors and discovered, yes this is a good product that I would be happy to buy. But they were a bit heavier on the calories so I wouldn't necessarily eat one as a small snack...perhaps a breakfast in a bind?
Now the MOJO bars are a completely different deal! They have less calories and are filled with fruit and nuts and some even have chocolate! Dairy free dark chocolate! A non-dairy chocolate-loving gal's dream come true! And I do love to snack on nuts! For those of you who are dairy free out of necessity, some of their product is produced on equipment that does touch dairy so there is a chance of contamination. If it is just a diet choice, like me, and not life threatening, go for it! Just read the labels - and guys and gals, we should all really be doing that anyhow even if we are not restricting food items. It is good to know what we are indeed eating. On a side note, these bars are gluten free.
Now for a bit of history, from their website it seems the idea of CLIF MOJO bars was born on an employee camping trip in 1998; however, we didn't get to start trying this product until it hit the shelves in 2002. Ummm....employee camping trip? That sounds cool! I am beginning to like this company a bit more! And who doesn't love continual improvement? In 2006 organic ingredients made their way into MOJO. In 2011, more nuts! And now in 2014, fruit and nut and dark chocolate emerge!
According to their packaging Clif Bar states that "source ingredients that are not genetically engineered. 70% organic ingredients." I like reading that and those two sentences make me more comfortable purchasing and consuming their bars. So they passed my label reading test. Now the taste test.
The first test bar was the MOJO Fruit & Nut Cranberry Almond. I pulled it out at the start of a family excursion, took a bite, and loved it. I let darling daughter take a nibble and she was okay with it but not overly thrilled so I gave half to dear hubby. A second later darling daughter asked for another bite and I said sure, took another bite, and handed the rest of my half back to darling daughter. She gobbled it up. I had mixed feelings, first, I only got two bites of this yummy bar! Second, my daughter just ate almonds!!! She is not a nut-eating kind a girl. Score 1!
I can't remember my experience with each bar but I do remember a couple more. The MOJO Fruit & Nut Coconut Almond Peanut. Oh my gosh! First, coconut??? I LOVE COCONUT! I always have but ironically don't eat it much. Yep, even in Hawai'i. I am not sitting out on my lana'i eating coconut watching the sunset through palm trees and overlooking the blue ocean. Sorry guys. But this bar was beyond delicious and reminded me of the flavor of a macaroon, which is deadly delicious, with added nuts for protein. Yum, yum, yum. This reminds me, I should order a case of these!
My last flavor to sample was the MOJO Dark Chocolate Cherry Almond bar and I stopped dead in my tracks. I grabbed one as a snack one day at home, which is odd for me, but I wanted something to graze on while I did my 101 chores. Thing is, after one bite I told darling daughter I had to sit down and savor this bar. It was so yummy! She took a nibble and didn't get the same thing I was getting...think yummy delicious bar that made me feel as indulgent as eating a candy bar! P.S. It tasted great with a hot cup of coffee!
Every bar was delicious but now you know the three favorites in my household!
Daily Gratitude: I am thankful for the opportunity to sample the CLIF MOJO bars.
Daily Affirmation: I make a positive impact on Earth.
