Saturday, September 26, 2009

Portable energy: A review of Glo Bakery

The other day I stumbled upon a blog that made me feel like I was looking at my life in an alternative dimension. Angela, has a masters in social research (just like me) but found her true passion was in creating wholesome vegan snacks and desserts (hmmm, I can relate to that too).

Lucky for all of us, Angela left her previous career and opened Glo Bakery in Milton. She nows spends her time crafting innovative recipes that are cruelty-free (containing no animal products) and contain only natural, unrefined ingredients. Even though the bakery's menu has a long list of satisfying sweets, those with allergies can browse without concern as they are all made without dairy, eggs, trans fats, additional oils, or refined sweeteners. Many of the offerings are wheat or gluten free and highlight organic dried fruits.

Glo Bakery offers bars, granolas, breads, muffins, cookies and cakes. Those looking for catering for special events can contact the bakery-check out the beautiful sugar cookie favours they offer. If you have a trip coming up or your lunch packing creativity is starting to dwindle you could order a package of Glo-bars to give you the boost you need without the subsequent sugar crash many sweet snacks can cause. Glo bakery will ship their goods anywhere in Canada or the United States.

Angela sent a big box of her Glo-bars and Glo-nolas for the Resource Centre crew (and TVA staff) to sample. Everyone was impressed and had lots to say about the energizing effects of Angela's creations.

Barbi grabbed a Heaven bar as she left the Resource Centre. Soon I got an excited email reflecting on the classic taste combination of chocolate and peanut butter. Barbi said that this certainly improved on the texture of typical granola bars. She enjoyed the chewiness.

Barbi and Angeline both tried the Refresh Glo-bar. Both commented on the dominant chocolate flavour. If you are into chocolate this is a really healthy, balanced way to indulge that craving.

Angeline also tried the Classic Glo-bar and said that it was good to the last bite.

A visitor to the Resource Centre tried the Renew bar and commented on the rich, peanuty flavour. He said that he would look to pick up a few of these bars in the future.

The Classic Glo-nola offers an amazing aray of flavours in each bite. Seriously, with oats, peanut butter, almonds, flax, raisins, cranberries, pumpkin seeds, coconut, cinnamon and nutmeg (plus lots more) all in one bowl how can you go wrong. I love that this glo-nola uses the fat in whole foods, nuts and nut butters to satisfy our nutritional needs rather than adding refined oils.

David really enjoyed the Coco Cocoa Glo-nola. He said that he generally doesn't enjoy granola, but was quite impressed by the flavour of this special snack. I'm sure that the combination of hemp, walnuts, oats and dark chocolate would impress anyone looking for a sweet yet satisfying treat. He ate it unadultered but a bowl of glo-nola with almond milk would be a hearty way to start a crisp fall morning.
Our only suggestion for improvement was for the packaging (everything in the packages was yummy!). We wanted the dominant flavours to be more apparent in the title or on the front of the packages so that we could easily discern our favourites among the offerings. The titles are fun and creative...but if you don't like chocolate would you know to avoid Heaven?

Liam and I discuss the Glo bakery on the Toronto Vegetarian Podcast

Angela, thank you for your sweet vegan generosity!

3 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for taking the time to review my products! I completely agree with you regarding the packaging/labeling. That is something I am actually working on right now! A work in progress that is forsure. :) Glad you enjoyed the goodies!

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  2. PS- I get an error with the first link, I tink it is broken?

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  3. I just found an old wrapper in my gym bag last night and recalled the fuel it gave me for a floor hockey game in September. Good Taste + Fuel = Awesome. I wish I could say I scored some goals but I like to play the defence.

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