Gluten Free Bars & Bites!

As you can probably glean from reading from my posts, I'm not gluten-free. Or anything-free, except of course, animal product-free. Thankfully, I was blessed to not have any food allergies or intolerances. And that's a good thing because I love to eat all the things.

But I have to admit that there are some gluten-free products that are just as good (or in many cases better) than their gluten-containing counterparts. For example, I'll take rice, corn, or quinoa pasta over seminola any day, and I prefer gluten-free rice crackers to wheat crackers.

And when it comes to energy bars and protein powders, who needs gluten? The GFB sent me some of their bars and bites to review, and if you hadn't told me these were gluten-free, I'd have never guessed. They sent over a box of assorted flavors of their The GFB Gluten Free Bars. There is Cranberry Toasted Almond, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Oatmeal Raisin, Peanut Butter, and Coconut Cashew Crunch.

And three bags of their The GFB Gluten Free Bites — Dark Chocolate Coconut, Chocolate Cherry Almond, and Coconut Cashew Crunch.

I like protein bars after a tough workout or for a mid-day snack when I'm too busy to eat lunch on time. These bars are perfect for both situations, and I know because I tested them out both ways. I had a couple of flavors after my Wednesday morning Butts & Guts class, and they kept me full until morning snack time. And one of these bars kept me full from the morning I awoke on my last day in Austin (back in May, for Vida Vegan Con) throughout the taping of Vegan Mash-Up. 

Each bar has around 11 to 12 grams of protein, and they're made with brown rice syrup, a rice and pea protein blend, crisped rice, flax, and individual ingredients depending on the flavor. Of course, my favorite was Peanut Butter. But Coconut Cashew Crunch was a close second. The bars have a chewy texture thanks to the protein powder blend, and they taste like a healthy cookie. Very impressed.

As for the bites, well, I had a hard time keeping Paul out of them. I finally had to write notes on the bags telling him to stay out (I'm not a fan of sharing, especially since Paul can eat an entire bag of these in one sitting).

They're like little date balls covered in coconut or almonds. They're chewy like the bars. But since they're smaller, they have less protein per serving (about 4 grams) and less calories. I've been enjoying these for pre-workout snacks on easy days, like when I do yoga or other low-impact stuff. I'd actually tried the Dark Chocolate Coconut before because my mom picked me some up at TJ Maxx. But surprisingly, the Chocolate Cherry Almond were both my and Paul's favorites. I rarely pick fruity for a fave. But these were amazing.

I'll definitely be buying more of these!