Leda Nutrition Baked Fruit Bars

I'd originally included this in the last post, but I want to make it a separate post so that I can find it easily again later. Read it if you want, but unless you're interested in Australian gluten-free, vegan snack foods, it's probably not worth the time. 

The fruit part was good, but the outside cake part was kind of weird. Maybe that's what happens when you make it gluten free, dairy free, etc. but I'm sure I could get used to it. Let's see how it compares with the one I normally eat:

                              Ledo                                     WW                                           

Energy                   500 kJ/120 cals                       517 kJ/123 cals

Protein                   1.5 g                                       1.3 g

Fat                         0.3 g                                       0.3 g

Carbohydrate         26.9 g                                     22.3 g

Sugars                    18.9 g                                     11.3 g

Fibre                      1.9 g                                        5.8 g

Sodium                   44 mg                                      84 mg

So based on those numbers, I'd say these are pretty much a half dozen and six. But when I read the ingredients list, things look a little different:

WW - wheat flour, sugar, fruit (16%) (Apple puree concentrate, dried apple, raspberry puree concentrate (1%), sultanas), polydextrose, humectant (glycerol), glucose (preservative (220) (Sulphites)). Milk solids, raising agents (500, 541), wheat fibre, colour (aronia juice concentrate), flavours, salt, emulsifier (471), acids (citric, tripotassium citrate). 

Ledo - fruit filling (40% - sultanas, strawberries (3.3%), flavour, natural colour, antioxidant (ascorbic acid)), gluten free flours (tapioca, besan), dates, sultanas, raising agent (sodium bicarbonate). 

So the Ledo bar has fewer ingredients, and fewer numbered additives. Plus the fruit filling makes up 40% to the Weight Watchers bar's 16%. But the part that kinda cracks me up is that in both bars, the fruit filling is mostly a fruit other than the one in the picture on the front of the box. The Weight Watchers bar that I'm looking at now is called a Raspberry Pie Cereal Bar. But according to the ingredients list, raspberry puree makes up 1% of the thing, while the main fruit is apple. The Ledo "Strawberry Flavour" bar beats that with a whopping 3.3% strawberries, with the main fruit being sultana (a dried grape, like a raisin).

So the Ledo is starting to look pretty good. Sorry, I know this isn't very interesting to read, especially if you don't live here in Australia and you're never going to see one of these things. But if I don't write this stuff down, I forget about it. And I don't want to forget about it because I want to build up a sort of database of packaged food that doesn't suck. And that I can buy directly from the producer, bypassing the freaking grocery stores because they piss me off. 

Also, all the stuff this company makes is vegan and gluten free, and I think Karen might be interested. 

Sweet, Sweet Foodporn

Damn you Foodgawker, these are not the kinds of recipes I was looking for this morning! But I don't mind a snack from time to time. And if I'm gonna do it, I'd rather eat decadent and delicious sweet treats that I've made myself.




Gluten Free Oatmeal Cookies

These looks pretty damned good, and by using something other than mini M&Ms, these could easily be made vegan. Maybe if I bake a batch of these for Karen, she'll be too busy eating them to tell me how bad I am for making some of these other things.




Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies

It's been a loooooong time since I've had a Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pie. A homemade version would be an awesome walk down memory lane.




Best Homemade Soft Pretzels

I'm sure I've eaten soft pretzels at other times and places, but for some reason whenever I see them, I think of the Texas Renaissance Festival.





Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches

You wouldn't know it looking at this little collection of evil indulgences, but I really don't eat a lot of sweets. Even in my teens and early 20s, when I ate a lot of junk food, I was much more likely to eat a bag of chips than a box of donuts. But like the Little Debbie Creme Pies, ice cream sandwiches were a great treat when I was a kid, and on the rare occasion that I eat one these days, it always brings back a lot of summertime memories. I wouldn't mind giving these homemade ones a try, but I definitely won't be decorating them with ribbons.