I’ve reviewed Enjoy Life Foods a couple times on the Daily Dish. Their semi-sweet chocolate chips taste just like the “real” thing while their granola is packed full of vitamins, whole grains and taste. That’s not easy to do considering Enjoy Life Foods’ products are free of eight of the most common allergens: wheat/gluten, dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, egg, soy, fish and shellfish. Yet their products are consistently delicious, which is why there are so dang popular!

The company sent me two of their newest products: Perk’s Crunchy Rice cereal and Perk’s Crunchy Flax cereal. The cereals are made with all natural ingredients and sweetened with fruit juice and honey—and look like a smoother version of one of my all-time favorites, Grape-Nuts. Knowing how healthy yet yummy Enjoy Life Foods’ samples have been in the past, and knowing how much I love breakfast cereal, I was anxious to give them a try.

I started with Perk’s Crunchy Rice cereal since it did sound a bit more appealing than Crunchy Flax. This cereal is 100% natural, low in fat and low in sodium and the ingredients list is impressive if you consider short impressive (and I do when it comes to cereal): rice flour, rice bran, raisin juice concentrate, honey and salt. The first bite was a bit crunchy but after a little soaking in some milk (reminiscent of those Grape-Nuts), they were perfect! They probably would’ve been sweet enough on their own but I couldn’t resist a touch of Splenda. The only think I didn’t like was the serving size, but that’s true of a lot of healthy cereals like bite-size shredded wheat, low-fat granola, etc. I finished off the box before anyone else in the family had a chance to grab a bowl, but who says I have to share all my product samples?

Then I tested Perk’s Crunchy Flax cereal, which was similar in size and texture but definitely different in taste. This cereal is a bit more impressive than the rice, boasting 50g of whole grain, 425mg of Omega-3s and 6g of fiber per serving. Perhaps that’s why the Crunchy Flax tasted a whole lot “healthier” to me. It needed an extra spoonful of Splenda, but then again, I’m as big a fan of Apple Jacks as I am of Grape-Nuts and love slathering jam on my toast. (Can you tell I have a bit of a breakfast sweet tooth?) I haven’t yet finished the box but I promise I will! I know what’s good for me, trust me.

Though Perk’s Crunchy Flax cereal wasn’t my favorite, Perk’s Crunchy Rice was a nice alternative to what’s usually in our pantry. A little bit (okay, I usually poured myself a serving and a half) did go a long way to keeping me full until lunch time and it felt good to fuel my body with something all-natural and packed with nutrients. Enjoy Life Foods never ceases to amaze me with the full-flavored products they offer their allergen-sensitive customers and their new cereals are no exception!—Emily

*** Giveaway! Enjoy Life Foods is giving away one set of their new cereals plus some fabulous coupons to two (2) Daily Dish readers! ***

Here’s how to enter. You can do as many of these as you’d like. Each one is worth one entry into our giveaway; please leave a comment for each one you do:

•   Visit EnjoyLifeFoods.com and leave a comment telling us your favorite product.
•   Become a fan of Enjoy Life Foods on Facebook and leave a comment telling us you’re their newest fan.
•   Follow Enjoy Life Foods on Twitter and leave a comment telling is you’re their newest follower.
•   Tweet about this giveaway and leave a comment with the URL of your tweet.
•   Blog about this giveaway and leave a comment with the URL to your blog post.

Include a valid email address for our drawing. We’ll draw the winners from the comments and contact them via email. Deadline: February 2, 2010 (midnight). The winner will have 24 hours to claim her prize or a new winner will be chosen.

• Congratulations to Kelly T., the winner of the Enjoy Life Foods giveaway! Thank you to everyone who took the time to read the review and add a comment. Keep reading the Daily Dish for your chance to participate in more giveaways!

If it’s like our current selection (Peter Pan, Jif or Skippy) then it’s out of kilter, full of hydrogenated vegetable oils and sugar. I have purchased all-natural peanut butter in the past but got so tired of stirring it every time I wanted a toasted PB&J (yes, I like to toast my bread first and then spread the PB&J—makes for a totally ooey gooey yummy sandwich) that I soon went back to the old aforementioned favorites. When we put it in the refrigerator the peanut butter would become unspreadable and tear holes in our wimpy low-cal bread. And did I mention my kids didn’t like the taste? With four kids I tend to  pick my battles and peanut butter just wasn’t one of them.

Then along came Earth Balance and their line of award-winning Natural Spreads (award-winning for taste, mind you). The 100% natural, nutritionally beneficial ingredients of their spreads are of the highest quality but they have also won The American Culinary Institute’s ChefBest Award for Best Taste (that same award you see on the side of some Dreyer’s “healthier” ice creams). Like many of you, I’m big on how my food tastes so I wanted to see if Earth Balance’s Natural Peanut Butter in both creamy and crunchy would pass my kids’ taste test. But that wasn’t all I was interested in. The “no stir” graphic emlazoned in the upper right corner caught my attention as well. A no-stir all-natural peanut butter? Was it really possible?

Well, yes and no. We received our Earth Balance peanut butters and broke open the crunchy version first. It had a little oil on the top which we did have to stir in, but it took a lot less muscle than your typical all-natural jar of peanut butter. And once mixed in it only required a quick and easy stir or two when we opened the jar for the next PB&honey. No biggie since I tend to stir the non-oily versions anyway. As for the taste, the crunchy passed everyone’s taste test but my oldest wasn’t a big fan of the creamy. She IS my pickiest eater so I wasn’t surprised. I thought both tasted great and much better than that all-natural brand I’ve tried in the past.

So it tastes great, doesn’t require much in the way of stirring and is made from all-natural ingredients. sounds pretty good, but what sounds even better is Earth Balance’s proprietary blend of expeller-pressed oils, which actually helps increase good cholesterol while lowering bad. Oh, and it’s also rich in Omega-3’s, free of GMO’s, gluten, trans fats, hydrogenated oils and artificial ingredients. So maybe Earth Balance’s peanut butters are a bit out of balance as well, but in a really, really good way.

Earth Balance also has a line of Buttery Spreads, including olive oil, vegan and organic options, and even Earth Balance shortening. Yes, heart-healthy shortening. We didn’t receive samples of those but I enjoyed the Earth Balance Peanut Butters so much I’m going to have to give their other Natural Spreads a try!—Emily

And that’s surprising for someone like me who originally thought food free of wheat, gluten, dairy, nut, egg, lactose, casein (the principal protein found in milk and other dairy products) would also be free of taste. Enjoy Life has changed my way of thinking about gluten-free and allergen-free foods.

So if they’re products are free of so many allergen-inducing ingredients what ARE they made of? I went online to read more about a company whose dairy-free, soy-free and gluten-free semi-sweet chocolate chips are just plain yummy. (I’ll get to those in a minute.) Though Enjoy Life foods have some rice products (rice flour, rice flakes, rice protein) they differ from “other” manufacturers by using nutrient- and flavor-rich alternatives like amaranth and sorghum flour. “Instead of eggs, we use a combination of aluminum-free baking powder, flax, and applesauce. Rather than saturated fats, we use non-hydrogenated, trans fat-free safflower oil. For sweeteners, we skip the refined stuff and use a combination of natural fruit juices and honey or pure brown cane sugar. Instead of the artificial stuff, we bake with rosemary extract and a fruit juice/grain dextrin mixture to lock-in freshness and extend shelf life.” With all that good stuff inside it’s no wonder Enjoy Life foods taste so dang good!

And my family should know—we recently used their semi-sweet chocolate chips in our favorite cookie recipe. Read the rest of this entry »