Thursday, April 23, 2009

Good for You Goodies: Just Tomatoes, ETC!

Buenos Dias everyone! No I am not Spanish, just being a bit creative in the greetings today. The sunshine and almost 80 degree weather is sure to spark creativity in anyone who has been trapped in a brutal Minnesota winter for months on end. Eek!

If your a new reader to the blog, just wanted to say hello and thanks for stopping by! If you haven’t been following for long, I am doing an on-going feature called “Good for You Goodies” which features products companies have so generously donated for me to review. Of course they are not just any product, they are good, good for you, and the company is dedicated to promoting some form of nutritious and delicious foods. I was doing post everyday, but like I said with the end of the semester crunch, they will only pop up occasionally for now! So keep on checkin’ back—I know you will =)

The Good for You Goodie: Dried fruits, dried, veggies, fruit powder, and some HUGE raisins!

The Company: Just Tomatoes, Etc.!

The Chew Review: Upon receiving this box, I was thrilled with how they packed it up! Remember, I am extremely detail oriented, so bear with me! Check out the stash the wonderful peeps sent me!

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It consisted of several different snacky snacks for me to chew and review—all which I was very excited about, being a dried food fan and all. First a little about Just Tomatoes, Etc.!--->

“Welcome to Just Tomatoes, ETC.! where our fruits and veggies are ‘always in season’. We Do Not Fool with Mother Nature...

Our products are exactly what they say they are — absolutely nothing has been added!

No Salt, No Sulfur, No Fat, No Sweeteners, No Preservatives It’s the next best thing to eating out of your garden.

Our sliced dried tomatoes were our first product when we started our business 15 years ago. Our tomatoes are grown on our family farm in the fertile central valley of California. Many of our products come from neighboring farms.

Our Process
Just Tomatoes, ETC.! dehydrated fruits and vegetables are vine-ripened (or tree-ripened), hand-picked at peak condition, washed, cut and then placed in specially designed dehydrators and dried at low temperatures to preserve color, flavor and nutrients. Both dehydrated and freeze-dried products are an excellent source of nutrition.

This line of unique dried fruits and vegetables have been carefully selected and combined for your ultimate enjoyment... as great snacks and terrific ingredients for culinary treats.”

I say cheers to that! Here’s what I thought.

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I love raisins but unfortunately always forget to buy them. When I saw these, and their jumbo size I knew it was love at first site. Amazing, chewy, and so fresh tasting!(Is a raisin considered fresh? Hmm..) Definitely much better than your standard everyday raisin you’d buy at say Wal-Mart.

Just Raisins

Serving Size: 1 oz.
Servings Per Container: 10
Product Size: 10 oz. tub

Calories: 130
Total Fat: 0g
Sodium: 0mg
Total Carbohydrate: 34g
Dietary Fiber: 2g
Sugars: 32g
Protein: 1g
Iron: 4%

Only $4.50 for a 10 oz. tub. Get yours now people!

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How fun are the cartoons on their packaging?! It makes eating your fruits and veggies 10 times more fun! In this case, it’s veggies—Just Veggies to be exact. I also like how everything comes in a see through package so you can get an idea of what it looks like before you even open it. For me, I think I would prefer eating fresh vegetables much better than this. Sure its good for on the go and if you don’t have time to chop and wash veggies one day or something. There wasn’t a whole lot of flavor compared to their dried fruit. But they do give ideas on their website for other ways it can be used other than eating it straight up—topping baked potatoes, soups, etc. so I might try that out and see how it works instead. BTW, this mix is made up of carrots, corn, peas, bell peppers and tomatoes.

Just Veggies

Serving Size: 1 oz.
Servings Per Container: 4
Product Size: 4 oz. tub

Calories: 100
Fat Calories: 10
Total Fat: 1g
Sodium: 40mg
Total Carbohydrate: 21g
Dietary Fiber: 2g
Sugars: 10g
Protein: 4g
Vitamin A: 210%
Vitamin C: 60%
Calcium: 4%
Iron: 8%

$4.50 for a 4 oz tub(All their products come in various sizes)

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Just Fruit Munchies was a great snack to munch! I brought it along in my lunchbox and I’m pretty sure everyone was envious. What sets these apart from standard dry fruit is there’s a mixture, and just overall great crunch and flavor! It is a combination of apples, raisins, sour cherries, blueberries, mango, pineapple and raspberries. A sweet-tart combo to entertain the taste buds.

Just Fruit Munchies

Serving Size: 1 oz.
Servings Per Container: 3
Product Size: 3 oz. tub

Calories: 100
Total Fat: 0g
Sodium: 60mg
Total Carbohydrate: 26g
Dietary Fiber: 2g
Sugars: 14g
Protein: 1g
Vitamin A: 10%
Vitamin C: 10%
Calcium: 2%
Iron: 6%

A 3 oz tub will cost you $6.70

I also received Just Pineapple, Just Strawberries, and Just Strawberries and Bananas. These were all a really great addition to my ever-growing dried fruit collection! They also slipped in a bag of their Raspberry Powder. I haven’t tried it yet because I am making sure I come up with a great way to use it first. Here’s a little info on it—Powdered raspberries and nothing else added. Stir our raspberry powder into hot chocolate; sprinkle over ice cream; stir into plain yogurt, peanut or almond butter instead of jam. Sprinkle any of the powders that sound good and are colorful over fresh cut up fruit, bake with them, make intense sauces, frostings or dressings. What do you think I should use it in? Any good ideas? Have a awesome day everyone!

1 comment:

Erica said...

Great blog! I always see these products at WFs and consider buying them...now I have to ! I want the giant raisins!!!! Thanks for an awesome review. What is your bulldogs name???