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Favorite Snack

Trader Joe's, which has a habit of eliminating popular offerings, did exactly that with my new favorite snack pick.  I had barely discovered the Corn, Pea, Bean, Quinoa Crisps -- healthy, flavorful and low calorie -- when they went bye-bye.  And so I embarked on a strange journey to find a replacement.  Enter three contenders:  1) Mozaics Popped Veggie Chips, 2) Snacklins Crisps, 3) Off the Eaten Path Veggie Crisps.  The Mozaic and Off the Eaten Path came closest to the ingredients in my original guilty pleasure.  Mozaics have the advantage of having only 80 calories per bag and the sea salt flarvor wasn't bad.  But ... the low calorie count is, in part, a result of a fairly small serving.  And their other flavors, BBQ and Salsa, were overseasoned and odd tasting.  Enter Off the Eaten path.  They are delicious, with a larger serving size than Mozaic.  The larger size, however, plus added sugar (absent in the other options), make this treat a whopping 160 per bag.  So, that was a no.  Which brings me to Snacklins.  Imagine the Funyuns of old.  But much, much more healthy.  At 90 calories per (large) bag with seasonings which are mostly fabulous (the Chesapeake Bay is a bit overwhelming), this was my surprising favorite.  The sad part is the cost, which is pretty much double what the other two were.  The good news is that they give you 20% off your first order on their site and I picked up a bunch more on a Black Friday sale for 30% off.  So, if I eat slow and savor every bite (easy to do), they might last until next year's Black Friday sale.  Enjoy.

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