Jogging My Memory

As I’ve mentioned before my brother and his fiancé Ethanie are getting married, this summer. With the wedding exactly two weeks away, this Saturday was the shower with my brother’s side of the family. I wanted to do my part to make the shower special and to offer healthy options for Ethanie and the rest of us. After discussing ideas with my mom I decided to contact a company to see if they would be willing to to send us samples to share and review at the shower.

I contacted Food Should Taste Good and they generously agreed to send me free samples for the shower. A few days later, I received a very generous shipment of chips.

I chose Food Should Taste Good for a number of reasons including:

• Their chips are made with all-natural ingredients
• Their chips are cholesterol and trans-fat free
• They do not use genetically modified ingredients (GMO’s)
• Their chips are lower in sodium
• Their chips are a good source of dietary fiber
• Their chips have received good reviews on other blogs
• Their chips are available at local stores accessible to me and the other guests at the shower
• Their chips come in a variety of food and non-traditional flavors

At the shower we decided to focus on 4 of the different varieties:

 

The morning of the shower I got up and ran 2.7 miles in about 24 minutes. After showering and getting ready I drove and met my mom and sister, my sister’s friend, and Ethanie and her parents at the beach house. I also snagged a quick light breakfast of a vanilla yogurt with plump juicy blueberries! And an Acai Blueberry Pomegranate 10 calorie Vitamin Water.

My grandma offered to host the shower at her house so we all piled into 2 cars and drove there.

There was quite the selection of delicious and relatively healthy foods at the shower including:

• Chicken Salad Croissant Sandwiches made by my Aunt Kathleen
• Fruit Salad made my mom
• Greek Pasta Salad made by my Aunt Maureen
• Food Should Taste Good Chips with a variety of dips including Sonny & Joe’s Garlic Addiction Hummus, Santa Barbara Mango & Peach Salsa, a homemade spinach dip, and a store bought light fruit dip
• Grapes
• A cherry streusel and tennis torte made by my Grandma

 

After chatting for a few minutes and waiting for everyone to arrive, we sat down to a delicious lunch. I had a chicken salad crossaint, some Greek Pasta salad, a few of each type of chips, some of each dip, and a bowl of fruit salad with some grapes.

We sat and ate and chatted more. My  mom also suggested we go around and share what was going on in each of our lives since there are some many big life changes occurring amongst the family from weddings to moves, etc.

After lunch it was time to open presents.

I was in charge of writing down what each gift was and who gave it (makes Thank You Cards a million times easier!)

After all the gifts were opened and admired, I took the opportunity to hand out a gift bag to everyone attending with some individual size bags of the Food Should Taste Good chips in a variety of flavors. Unfortunately I forgot to get a picture, but the bags were very cute with some pink and green ribbon and name tags and 7 individual size bags of chips in each.

Then it was time for dessert, Grandma’s torte and cherry streusel!

I had a half piece of streusel and a full piece of the torte both of which were very delicious!

Ethanie’s Dad and my Grandpa left to avoid the chaos and returned just as we were starting on dessert, perfect timing eh?

After dessert and goodbyes we piled back into the cars with the gifts and gift bags and leftovers and drove back to the beach house.

I spent part of the afternoon in downtown Holland with Ethanie and her parents. When we returned it was almost time for dinner. Tyler arrived shortly after to join the crowd. Dinner included a healthy version of a hash brown casserole, pork tenderloin made on the grill by Andy, Ethanie’s dad, some grilled vegetables, and of course more Food Should Taste Good chips and the leftovers of the dips from the shower.

While we waited for the pork tenderloin to cooke we all munched on the chips which the boys were all eager to try out, and drank some wine. I started with a glass of Two Lads Pinot Grigio.

We also opened up another flavor of Food Should Taste Good chips to try, the Sweet Potato Flavor.

I had a plate of hash brown casserole, grilled veggies, and 2 pieces of pork tenderloin. And seconds on the grilled veggies!

And a glass of Rosé (sorry can’t recall which kind!)

Dessert was had a little later and consisted of a peach and blueberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream!

Tyler left early for a bachelor party in Grand Rapids, and after Ethanie and Brad and her parents had left to drive over to the east side of the state, I spent a little time chatting with parents. I drove home around 10 and hit the sack when I got home.

It was a day full of fabulous eats!

Now for the review of the Food Should Taste Good Chips! To keep it simple I’ll go by flavor and give you the different opinions I heard as well as my own opinion. My cousins also gave me some ratings based on 5 stars so I’ll include those as well! The links will lead you to more information about the chips as well as to a link to the nutrition information.

Yellow Corn: The yellow corn chips were very well received by everyone. I personally enjoyed the baked crunch (as opposed to a fried crunch that some tortilla chips have) and the amount of salt on the chips which was just enough and not overpowering. I really enjoyed them with the spinach dip and the Mango & Peach Salsa! My cousin Olivia gave them 5 stars and commented also that they had just the right amount of salt. My cousin Meredith also gave them 5 stars! Overall a crowd pleaser!

Multigrain: While some enjoyed the multigrain, others were a bit more skeptical. The main complaint which my cousin Olivia identified was a weird aftertaste which I also experienced. Olivia gave the multigrain a 3 out of 5 stars while Meredith gave them 4 out of 5 stars. I enjoyed these with the hummus and the spinach dip which seemed to mask the aftertaste some. Overall I would only recommend eating these with a flavorful dip, and not alone.

Cinnamon: The cinnamon chips were fairly well liked, but had a few critics that were less fond of them. My cousins Olivia and Meredith both gave the chips 5 stars and said they were very good. I would have liked a stronger cinnamon flavor to the chips, but found that they were good with the cream cheese like fruit dip we served them with.

Sweet Potato: The sweet potato chips weren’t tried at the shower but were opened at dinner. My brother, Tyler, Ethanie, and I all enjoyed the sweet potato chips. I liked the airy crunch and texture they had that was slightly different than the other chip varieties. My mom however, was disappointed that the sweet potato flavor was not as prominent as in other sweet potato flavored chips. I still really enjoyed the chip but would also have liked a more prominent sweet potato flavor.

Olive: I must admit I was skeptical of an olive flavored chip. I was also skeptical that others, especially those not inclined to olives would not enjoy the chips. Was I ever mistaken! The olive was the first flavor I tried and I must say that I was very impressed! The olive flavor was very mild and not overpowering. The chip also had a nice crunchy texture with bits of olive baked right in! I think it would be safe to say that the olive flavor was the most well liked both at the shower and at dinner! The website is right on in recommending hummus or artichoke and spinach dip with these chips. I tried both and found that the flavors complemented each other very well, especially the garlic hummus. Olivia gave these 3.5 stars while Meredith gave them 5.

I can honestly recommend these chips especially as an appetizer to a meal served with dips. I have a lot of samples left to go through, but will definitely be buying these after the samples are gone, especially the Olive chips because they go so well with hummus one of my absolute favorite foods!

These chips are a little on the expensive side, however, you can obtain a $1 coupon for the chips if you join the fan club. I would definitely recommend trying these chips as a healthier alternative and a great snack food.

I hope you enjoy this review, and please if you are able to purchase the chips, let me know what you think of them! Have a great Monday!

Thanks again to Food Should Taste Good for generously supplying me with these chips free so that I could share them with family and friends!

Tags: blueberries, breakfast, bridal shower, chicken salad, dessert, dinner, family, Food Should Taste Good, free samples, fruit salad, hummus, lunch, pasta salad, review, shopping, yogurt