The Quest of the Bariatric Foodie (Part Two)

Recap for those just joining in: I got me some Quest bars to review! I’m doing two at a time (there are six bars total) and at the end of the reviews Quest is going to give one of YOU a free box! But you need to read the reviews to do well in the contest so…read the reviews. This is review #2. Today I am going for brevity.

Apple Pie

Apple Pie…I have fond memories. I used to love it warm with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Yeah. I can’t do that anymore. Not even with sugar free pie. I don’t have reactive hypoglycemia, but when too many carbs are partying on my plate, I am subject to what I call a “very special moment.”

Incidentally, Quest must have had the same fond memories as that is the picture on the bar. Way to identify with your target audience!!! (Marketing is so cooool.)

Opening this package was nice. It smells like apple pie spice. We already discussed the look of the bars. This one was no different.
One thing I’m liking about these bars is the care put into genuine flavoring. Looking at the ingredients list there are only a few words I can’t pronounce and one of the main ingredients is, in fact, apples! Not apple flavoring or artificial flavoring (whatever that is) but apples! And it tastes like baked apples. Quest, do you bake your apples before you put them in the bar?

It seems like the only artificial thing going on is the sweetener (it uses some sucralose). For many of us RNYers that is a necessary evil. There is one thing in there called Lo Han Guo that I’d never heard of. I “Wikipedia’d” it. (Sidebar: Wikipedia knows EVERYTHING!) Apparently it is a fruit that is often used as a natural sweetener. So there ya go.

The taste? I liked it a lot. The ONLY criticism I’d give it is that with pie, you are looking for that little bit of buttery back-end from the crust. I didn’t get so much of that. But overall, it was a great bar. I’d eat it again.

Peanut Butter and Jelly

There are actually two bars with peanut butter in them (the other is Peanut Butter Supreme – check back tomorrow for that one). The peanut butter bars, obviously, have the most to prove for me. I am a peanut butter crackhead…er, connisseur so any old peanut flavor will NOT do!

Verdict: Enhhh. It wasn’t my favorite. It might be because it was peanut butter and jelly. I am of the school of thought that jelly gets in the way of my peanut butter goodness. I do not eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for that reason. Matter of fact, I even skip the bread and go for the peanut butter straight up on a spoon!

For what it’s worth, the jelly flavor did taste like jelly. I’m not sure what KIND of jelly. I’m thinking strawberry. The ingredients didn’t give me much of a clue but from the picture on front, I think my assumption is correct. My girls like PB&J’s but with grape jelly. I wonder if they’d like this bar? Is it wrong that I don’t want to share my bars to find out?

So final verdict: Since I loved the apple pie (and since I have another) next time I’m gonna nuke it. Perhaps maybe I’ll get me some Vanilla Arctic Zero to put a spoonful or two on the top. I imagine some whippage with French Vanilla Davinci would also work well. This may be my saving grace this Thanksgiving.

The PB&J? Like I said…not a bad bar. Don’t judge it on my neuroses! I am holding out hope for the Peanut Butter Supreme (which I genuinely have not tried yet). But for all you PB&J lovers in the house, it does quite well at mimicking the flavor of the sandwich.

Ok…so tomorrow, we explore Peanut Butter Supreme and Mixed Berry! Then you get to win your own box. Stay tuned!