BF Review: Celebrate ENS 2-in-1 Protein & Calcium Bars

See if you can identify with this sentiment.

You’re newly post-op and you have a LOT of requirements. You have to get so many calories and so much water and on top of all of that you have to get your vitamins. It’s stressful, isn’t it!

That’s why I’m a big fan of things that can do double duty. Protein shakes that double as liquid intake and possibly your vitamin does, stuff like that.

To that effect, Celebrate Vitamins has a new product offering for you – protein bars that help you get your vitamins!

The good folks at Celebrate sent me their ENS 2-in-1 Protein and Calcium Bars to try. They come in two flavors currently:

• Caramel Chocolate Crunch: 130 calories, 3g fat, 18g carbs, 5g fiber (so 13 net grams of carbs), 5g sugar, 5g sugar alcohols (combo of polydextrose and malitol), 15g protein.
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Crunch: 140 calories, 4.5g fat, 17g carbs, 4g fiber (so again, 13 net grams of carbs), 4g sugar, 4g sugar alcohols (again, combo of polydextrose and malitol), 15g protein.

So here’s where I need to make a comment on the nutritional content, because I give this information and people freak out. Yes, there are sugar alcohols in this. If you are particularly sensitive to sugar alcohols you should take heed. If you don’t have a particular sensitivity, from my experience (and keep in mind I’m not a registered dietician) 4-5g of sugar alcohol usually doesn’t do anything too terribly wonky to your system. So take that for what it’s worth.

Each bar also contains 500mg calcium citrate and 333 IU of Vitamin D.

So what’d I think?

• Smell: Smelled like something sweet. The caramel had a whiff of caramel smell to it. I didn’t pick up any obvious protein smell (and I have with bars before!)
• Texture: As you can see in the above photo, the bars are coated but beneath that they are sort of like a rice crispy treat. Crispy yet chewy. The texture helped it to not be too heavy. But then again I’m 6.5 years post-op so newbies, take that with a grain of salt!
• Flavor: I really liked the Peanut Butter Chocolate Crunch (surprise, surprise). I didn’t dislike the Caramel Chocolate Crunch, however, like most caramel flavored things nowadays, I thought it was a tad too sweet (which is saying something coming from me, the person who adds tons of Splenda to everything)
• Cost/Value: A box of 7 bars is 15.75, which comes out to $2.25/bar. Each bar is about 1.5 oz. I always struggle with what a good “value” is with regards to protein supplements. I mean on the one hand you’re getting 15g protein out of 1.5 oz. of food mass. To give a comparison, 1.5 oz. of chicken is about 8-ish grams of protein, the same amount of tuna is about 5g. So if you really are limited in how much you can eat, it may be worth the investment, especially considering you are getting calcium and vitamin D as well.

Overall verdict: I actually would order the Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch. Why? Because I often forget to take my last calcium/vitamin D supplement! I like these bars and don’t envision it’d take much to convince me to have one as a snack. There’s that other calcium dose I need.

As for the Caramel, I’ll leave that to true caramel lovers. To learn more about all of Celebrate's great offerings, visit their website!

What say you, Foodie Nation? Who’s tried these bars. What did YOU think? I’d love to hear (and I’m sure your fellow Foodies would appreciate additional perspectives). Let me know in the comments!

BF Review (and Recipe): Quest Cookies & Cream Protein Bar and Shannon's Quest Canoli

While we were all embroiled in The Bariatric Foodie Pledge, Quest went and released a new bar – Cookies and Cream! I did a quick and dirty review of it on social media, but I also asked my pal Shannon (of TacoCasserole picture fame) to give the bars a try. And I gave her a challenge. The Quest blog challenges Quest lovers to come up with creative ways to use the bars, so that’s the challenge I put to Shannon. So she played with her food to make a Quest cannoli! The recipe follows the review.

Enjoy and thanks to Shannon for the review!

Shannon’s Quest Bar Review

*The products used for this review were given by Quest Nutrition, however, neither the reviewer nor Bariatric Foodie was paid to perform this product review.

Product: Quest Cookies & Cream protein Bar

Stats: 180 calories, 7g fat, 22g carbs, 17g fiber, 1g sugar, 2g erythritol, 21g protein.

Cost: Varies, on Quest website it is $2.39 for a single bar, $24.99 (or $2.08/bar) for a box of 12.

*If you purchase Quest Bars using the ad on the right menu bar, Bariatric Foodie receives a small commission. 

Packaging:

The wrapper itself was very pleasing to me, the picture was crisp and I think the large cookie photographed on the package really makes it known what flavor you are getting.  Another thing about the packaging I like is that I can quickly see the amount of sugar and protein in the product. Just from a general standpoint, this makes things so much easier for me when I am looking to purchase a product, having that info right on the front, and somewhat highlighted makes my life easier.

Nutrition:

This product provides 21g of protein in one serving, and is 180 calories. I like that it packs such a punch because, if I am going to eat a protein bar as my meal (I very rarely do), I want to be able to get as much out of it as possible. Quest bars are regularly reviewed on Bariatric foodie, and I believe this bar is about on par with the others in their product line. As an aside, erythritol, the type of sugar alcohol used in this bar has very little effect on our bodies, unlike some others.

Aesthetics:

Upon opening the packaging I smelled the protein bar, and as with most of them I got a very, almost overly sweet smell, not really distinguished as to cookies and cream but definitely sweet.

The bar I had left over after playing with my food and making a cannoli had some very large chunks of cookie in it, which I very much enjoyed while eating the protein bar in the traditional way. It broke up the texture of the bar nicely. The bar itself was quite soft and easy to eat.

It did remind me a bit of cookies and cream, though not exactly and I don’t think my taste buds will ever be fully confused when it comes to a protein bar, the protein flavor is always there.  More than a cookies and cream flavor it reminded me of cookie dough. Never having tried their actual cookie dough flavor, I will say I think this would be an awesome addition chunked up into some protein ice cream. I also thoroughly enjoyed this as a cannoli, it really had a crunch and flavor that paired well with the cannoli filling.

I have generally been very impressed with Quest bars, and this one did not disappoint. As an emergency meal, or a snack, or even cooked into a yummy dessert they are, in my opinion, a decent choice.  In my area Quest bars are not so readily available, and the ones I have purchased locally have usually been very hard, nothing like this one. Because of this I limit myself to purchasing online only, and don’t often get the opportunity to do so, as my budget doesn’t always allow for it. That being said, if I were able to purchase Quest bars in the future this would be one on my list to buy.

Shannon’s Quest Cannoli

Ingredients:

• 1 Quest Cookies & Cream protein bar
• 4 oz. ricotta cheese (part-skim or regular, your choice)
• 2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1.5 tbsp. no-calorie sweetener
• Macadamia or pistachio nuts, whipped cream, and Strawberry as garnish if desired

For this recipe you will also need: A cannoli-form or a ¼-inch metal dowel, a large, sturdy glass (sprayed with nonstick cooking spray) and some parchment paper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400° F
2. Unwrap Quest bar and place between two pieces of sprayed wax paper. Put in microwave for about 8 seconds, test pliability with finger and put back in if you cannot easily smoosh the bar, this will make it easier to roll flat with a rolling pin.
3. Using your sprayed glass as a rolling pin, roll the bar down into a slight circular shape in between the wax paper and allow to cool slightly before peeling off one layer of wax paper.
4. Using a cannoli form, roll quest bar on the form and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
5. Place in preheated oven for 5-7 minutes until golden.
6. In a small bowl place ricotta, cocoa powder, and Splenda mix thoroughly until combined.  Transfer to a piping bag or small sandwich bag to fill the cannoli.  Refrigerate until ready to use
7. Remove cannoli from oven allow to cool well.
8. Remove cannoli form and fill with ricotta mixture.
9. Once filled, you can garnish as you like with nuts, or fruit and whipped cream or light cool whip.