Paleovalley Superfood Bars & Beef Snack Sticks

Paleovalley is a website I stumbled upon by chance via Instagram (shocker) a while ago.  After looking through their website, I knew they were a company committed to providing products and information of the highest quality, with large sights to grow and make their services as easily available as junk food currently is.  This is a lofty goal, but they are quickly growing and on their way to achieving it!

Currently, Paleovalley offers several cookbooks, including a 31-Day Paleo Diet Kickstart to help those new to this way of eating ease into the transition and learn what it feels like to truly be healthy.  On top of this and other reading materials, Paleovalley also sells several food products.  The two that I was lucky enough to try and review below were the 100% Grassfed Beef Snack Stick and their brand-new Superfood Bar.  They also sell Grassfed Whey Protein.

Paleovalley Superfood Bar

I was super pumped when I received my box from Paleovalley and saw that they sent me TWO (2!!!) of their brand-new Superfood Bars.  The flavor is Dark Chocolate, which is another weakness of mine.  My sweet tooth is huge… unfortunately, my tolerance for high sugar content is not.  But these bars pack a huge punch in the way of how many great ingredients go into them!  There is a nice balance between fat, carbs, and protein to give you an energy boost and numerous micro mineral sources brought to you, again, from the quality mix of ingredients.

As far as texture goes, they are similar to most other bars that use dates as their base.  Sticky, but easy to break apart.  Taking a bite is soft and would probably be easy for someone missing a few teeth to eat!  The flavor was not really strong in the Dark Chocolate category.  It was sweet, sure, but it really is hard to cover up that date, caramel-like flavor.  I would say it could be sold more easily as a general fruit superfood flavor with some added cacao for the health benefits, but not so much for actual flavor.  Overall, they are enjoyable and a good pick-me-up when you’re in a pinch!

Rating: 7 out of 10

Ingredients: Organic cashews, organic wildflower honey, organic pumpkin seeds, organic dates, organic cacao, organic flax seeds, organic sunflower seeds, organic coconut butter, organic chia seeds, organic vanilla, organic goji berries, organic hemp seeds, unrefined sea salt, organic blueberries, organic spirulina, organic chlorella, organic acerola cherry.

Beef Snack Sticks

Paleovalley Beef Snack Sticks.  These babies are where it’s at!  I could not believe the flavor when I tried them.  If you ever had a slightly-shameful-but-still-okay-because-everyone-does love for Slim Jims, you will be in heaven with this product.  I honestly thought I was eating a Slim Jim at first.  And in my case, that is a very good thing!  The beef used to make these is:

– 100% Grass-fed, with higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids, CLA, and Vitamins A, B, &E than grain-fed beef.

– Never given antibiotics or hormones.

– Gluten, soy, and sugar-free.

– No artificial nitrites or nitrates.

– Non-GMO

AND IT TASTES. SO. GOOD.

Okay, I’ll stop yelling now.  But seriously, treat yo’self to this product.

Rating: 10 out of 10

Ingredients: 100% grassfed beef, water, sea salt, organic dextrose from tapiocha, celery juice, organic black pepper, organic red pepper, organic garlic powder, organic coriander, lactic acid starter culture, stuffed in a dye-free collagen casing.

Piña Colada Pancakes

You need a new breakfast idea.  I have a new breakfast idea.  Let’s do this.  These things are so good, you don’t even need to top them with extra syrup… Even though you’re still allowed to do so, if you wish.  Take that, sugar dragon!

Piña Colada Pancakes

Prep time: 5 minutes   Cook time: 10-15 minutes   Total time: 20 minutes

Yield: 1 serving of around 7, 3-inch pancakes

 

Ingredients

1/4 cup + 1 tbsp Simply Stacked Pancake Mix 

1/2 fully ripe plantain or banana

2 eggs

1/4 tsp vanilla powder

3 tbsp coconut cream

1 tbsp coconut oil, plus more for pan

Pinch of bee pollen (optional)

Water as needed to make a smooth pancake batter consistency

Fresh pineapple, cut into chunks

Shredded coconut, for garnish

 

Directions

1.  Mix all ingredients together in a blender.  You may whisk them together as well, but a blender will make a smooth consistency easier to reach with the eggs and plantain involved. I use my large Nutribullet cup and it works like a charm.

2.  Heat extra coconut oil on a large pan on the stove over medium temperature.  Spoon batter onto pan in 3-inch diameter pancake pieces.  You can fit 2-3 pancakes of this size at a time.

3.  When bubbles appear on the top of the pancakes and edges appear to be turning gold, flip the pancakes.  They will only need to cook on this second side for about 30 seconds before being removed from the heat.

4.  Once all pancakes are made, clean out your blender and use it to make pineapple juice and pulp from the pineapple chunks.  Pour these on top of your pancakes and sprinkle on extra shredded coconut, if desired.  Dig in!

Raspberry Macadamia Cookies

I wanted to make a fruity cookie recipe, and of course since Valentine’s Day is coming up, I wanted to use some pink or red.  But strawberries just seem to get all of the attention.  So, I created a cookie similar to white chocolate macadamia recipes but threw in the under-appreciated raspberries!  This is truly a unique flavor and I’m sure you’ll love it.

Raspberry Macadamia Cookies

Prep time: 10 minutes   Cook time: 10 minutes   Total time: 20 minutes

Yield: About 36 cookies

 

Ingredients

3/4 cup Cassava flour (I use Otto’s Naturals)

1/4 cup coconut flour

1/4 cup almond meal

3/4 cup coconut sugar

1 cup butter (clarify it if extremely casein sensitive)

1/4 cup local honey

1 pastured egg

1/2 tsp almond extract

1/2 tsp vanilla powder

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup macadamia nuts, chopped or whole (depending on preference)

6oz fresh organic raspberries

 

Directions

1.  Preheat the oven to 350ºF.  Soften the butter, either on the stove or in the microwave, then beat in a large bowl with coconut sugar until the two are a smooth mixture.

2.  Fold in cassava flour and almond meal, beating the mixture more to make sure it stays smooth and even.

3.  Add the egg and once that is broken and beaten into the mixture, fold in coconut flour, honey, almond extract, vanilla powder, sea salt, and baking soda.  Beat the entire mixture for 2 more minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is even.

4.  Add raspberries and crush them with your mixer (or whisk) and allow the juices to integrate with the rest of the batter.  This will leave some pink flecks in it and add the berry flavor very nicely.

5.  Fold in macadamia nuts.  Dollop batter in 1-1.5″ blobs onto a greased cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes, or until slightly brown on the edges.  Remove from the oven when done and allow to cool before removing them from the cookie sheet.

Life of Riley Foods

You can never have enough nut butter.  With that being said, there can never be enough nut butter companies.  Enter Life of Riley Foods.  They are a small-batch producer of paleo-certified, non-GMO, soy-dairy-grain-gluten-free nut butters and only use small amounts of natural sweeteners such as raw honey or maple sugar, if at all.  Based in Boulder, Colorado, Life of Riley Foods was started by Abby, a mother and Crossfitter who wanted better fuel for herself and her family.  My Friday was made great when I received a box full of each of their products: Cashew Butter, Almond Butter, Unsweetened Almond Butter, Walnut Butter, and Sunberry Butter.  The first thought I had was, “Oh darn, I guess I need to start testing RIGHT NOW.”

Cashew Butter

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m addicted to cashews in any form: whole or of the butter variety.  Or in this case, a bit between the two.  This is a crunchy recipe that initially caught me by surprise when I read the ingredient label because in addition to it already using my favorite nuts as the base, the Life of Riley creators decided to amplify it even more with a sweet mixture of nutmeg, allspice, ginger, cinnamon, and a touch of raw honey.  I ate more of this in one sitting than I’m comfortably willing to admit.

Rating: 10 out of 10

Ingredients: Roasted organic cashews, almond oil, saigon cinnamon, Indonesian cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, mace, all spice and cloves, raw & unfiltered local honey, organic sea salt.

Almond Butter

Seeing as I’ve never had crunchy almond butter before, I was happy to see that this recipe is also the signature texture of Life of Riley Foods in that it comes out creamy, but has just enough pieces of the nut in there to have a special crack to it.  There is barely any added maple sugar in this, as is evidenced by how much you can taste the original almond flavor.  The ratio of sweet-to-salty was interesting to me and something I had yet to encounter in a nut butter.  It almost reminded me of salted caramel, but in a subtle way that doesn’t leave your stomach turning later while you pick candy bits out of your retainer (pause for flashbacks to middle school).  If you want to shake up your almond butter options, you won’t find another like this one!

Rating: 8 out of 10

Ingredients: Roasted almonds, pure maple sugar, almond oil, organic almond extract, organic sea salt.

Sunberry Butter

I have no idea how the consistency of this was created.  It’s a unique mix of nut butter and jam.  On top of that, the sunflower seeds aren’t beaten to a cream, so it’s crunchy.  However it’s done, this is the most different nut butter/jam/whatever you want to call it that I’ve ever seen or tested.  The natural sugars in the fruit are so strong that no other sweeteners are needed, plus the addition of sea salt works to compliment and bring out the flavor of the sunflower seeds.  This is clearly a very well-thought-out recipe and I greatly enjoyed it.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Ingredients: Roasted organic sunflower seeds, organic sunflower oil, dried unsweetened organic tart cherries, dried strawberries (apple juice concentrate, sunflower oil), dried blueberries (apple juice concentrate, sunflower oil), organic sea salt.

Walnut Butter

I don’t know what it is about walnut butter specifically, but I just can’t get around the overall bitterness of walnuts.  I like them just fine by themselves, but it almost feels like the bitter tones in them are brought out more when you grind them up.  I don’t know, I could definitely be crazy.  But this wasn’t my favorite.

Rating: 6 out of 10

Ingredients: Organic walnuts, walnut oil, pure maple sugar, organic sea salt.

Unsweetened Almond Butter

It’s often easy to overlook the “simple” recipes that a company has to offer. In all honesty, I have never really been a fan of plain almond butter.  I go for the ones with a flavor or, like in the case of Trader Joe’s almond butter, recipes that are mixed with another nut (TJ’s adds some cashews). This is the first recipe of plain almond butter that I’ve truly enjoyed.  And I loved it.  Maybe it’s the addition of flaxseed, but something about this stuff was absolutely delicious.

Rating: 10 out of 10

Ingredients: Organic roasted almonds, almond oil, organic flaxseed, organic sea salt.

Refined Sugar-Free Marshmallows

I. Love. Marshmallows.  When I got the idea to make a “cleaner” version, I was shocked to see just how much granulated sugar and corn syrup is used in a traditional recipe!! Though marshmallows are always going to be glorified sugar cubes, here is a version (adapted from this recipe) that uses lower-glycemic and more natural forms of sugar to top off your sweet desires!

Refined Sugar-Free Marshmallows

Prep:  20 minutes   Ready in: 8 hours   Total time: 8 hrs, 20 min

Yield: About 3/4 cup mini marshmallows

 

Ingredients

1 packet unflavored gelatin

2/5 cup cold water

1/2 cup coconut sugar

1/3 cup grade B maple syrup (or agave, if you want the final product to have a lighter color)

Pinch of sea salt

1 tsp vanilla

Tapioca starch, for coating

 

Directions

1.  In a medium mixing bowl, combine 1/5 cup of cold water with the gelatin and set aside.

2.  Mix other 1/5 cup water with coconut sugar, maple syrup, and salt in a pot on the stove.  Heat on low until the coconut sugar is dissolved, then increase the heat and allow to warm for about 2 more minutes.  It will begin to simmer and this will mean it’s time to stop.

3.  Take sugar mixture off of the heat and pour into the mixing bowl with the gelatin.

4.  Whisk contents of the mixing bowl together, slowly at first so it’s evenly distributed and then quickly until the consistency becomes very thick and jelly-like, which will take about 15 minutes (I’d recommend using an electric mixer, unless you’re trying to make some gains on those forearms).

5.  Once the gel has formed, add in vanilla and mix that in thoroughly.

6.  Generously coat a casserole dish or other pan with edges with tapioca starch.  Pour the marshmallow gel into the dish and top with more tapioca starch.

7.  Allow the gel to sit, uncovered and in room-temperature, in that dish overnight so that it dries out and will hold form.

8.  The next day, cut the sheet of marshmallows into pieces as big (or small) as you want, then coat with more tapioca starch.  Serve with whatever your heart desires! *I’d recommend plopping a few in my Superfood Hot Cacao recipe 🙂