For some reason last night as I went to hit “publish”, I was holding my breath. I’m an avoider, remember? Little did I know the amazing responses I would get from each and every one of you. Your stories, your encouragement, your love were read and appreciated — I probably definitely have the best readers in the entire world.
Just because you all were so kind to me today, I decided to give you a little treat. Okay, you caught me. I was going to give it to you anyways. The holidays are over, everyone’s back in their mid-winter slump, and no one is getting any presents. Boring! Don’t worry friends, I’m coming to the rescue.
Last week, Jessica at Jessica’s Natural Foods gave me the opportunity to try out her granola. I tried to contain myself when I saw my package had arrived, but I just couldn’t. I ripped open the box to find three 12 oz. bags of granola waiting for me to try: Vanilla Maple, Chocolate Chip, and Almond Cherry.
Jessica owns a small company based out of Michigan, my favorite state in the shape of a hand. Her granola is certified gluten free and all natural -no preservatives, no fake ingredients — just what I love and look for in a packaged product.
I could decide which one to try first, so I just did what any normal person would do — I tried them all… maybe in one big handful. But then I realized I couldn’t give a proper review by doing that.
So let’s start with the Vanilla Maple. Have you ever had the Vanilla Granola from Trader Joe’s? I have — and I got sad when I became gluten free… and when I figured out that granola had quite the amount of sugar in it. Lucky for me, Jessica’s Vanilla Maple is even BETTER than Trader Joe’s. It has just the right amount of sweetness and just enough “clusters” to make you squeal whenever you find one (which is very often). The vanilla flavor is more prominent than the maple, but vanilla and maple in the same granola? How can you go wrong?
I cannot believe I went all 23 years of my life without ever eating chocolate chip granola — am I seriously human? I wanted to count how many chocolate chips there were in each spoonful, but then I got impatient and just ate it. You can expect a chocolate chip attached to every piece of granola though. And no, I’m not joking. Jessica’s chocolate chips that she uses are also dairy free (read: amazing) — if you are someone who is highly allergic to dairy though, it is manufactured on the same line as other dairy products. I had no adverse reactions, and if I were to have one, I’d pretend like I didn’t because there is no way I could go the rest of my life without this stuff.
Last but not least, the Almond Cherry granola — and you can see by the photo below that YES there are cherries and YES there are almonds in the granola. This granola is again, sweet, but not overly sweet. It has just the right amount of sweetener to make it delightful. There are almonds in every bite, however, I would have liked to see more cherries. The cherries that are in the granola, though, are huge! It took me about ten seconds to chew one, which is saying a lot.
Jessica’s Granola is a winner in my book. It is so difficult to find gluten free granola on the market that is also corn free (weird, right?). I was thoroughly satisfied with all three of the products, but the vanilla maple won a place in my heart for sure.
In fact, after this intense photo shoot, I actually had to hide the granola from myself. When I say “hide” I really mean put in the pantry instead of the kitchen table where I kept eating it until I ruined my appetite for all meals. Thank you Jessica for letting me try your superb granola!
Oh yeah, I forgot I told you I was going to give you something. One lucky reader will be winning three 12 oz. bags of granola as well: Vanilla Maple, Chocolate Chip, and Almond Cherry. Did I mention this reader will be REALLY lucky? Seriously — jump on this opportunity. To enter this giveaway, you can do one (or all!) of the following:
Edit to add : This giveaway is open to US residents only. I apologize for forgetting to add this originally. When I choose the winner (randomly), I will email that person to make sure he/she lives in the US before announcing it.
1. Leave me a comment telling me which granola you’d like to try the most
2. Tweet this giveaway and leave a comment letting me know you did - @cleaneatingchel is giving away Jessica’s Natural Foods gluten free granola - http://wp.me/p11BDk-11U
3. Link this giveaway back to your blog and leave a comment letting me know you did
4. Subscribe to Clean Eating Chelsey and leave a comment letting me know you did.
This giveaway is open until Thursday, January 13 @ midnight. A winner will be announced Friday. Happy entering!
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