Only slightly less convenient would be taking one of the three recipes from Good Eats. Alton did recipes for brown rice crispy treats, a granola bar, and a protein bar. Recipes here and trasncript that includes nutritional info here.

Michael, were you paid to run this article?

Nope, but I was given the mixes to try out.

For future reference, If I'm ever paid to promote something, then I mark it as advertising. If I recall, this has happened only once in the main articles when I promoted Iron Chef America and made it clear that I was being paid for the pitch. I also asked for forgiveness in that article. I haven't done it since.

I do get free samples to try out of products and am (in my mind) as fair as I can be when I approach the review. Sometimes, I read about the item and I go buy it, sometimes I ask the vendor for a sample, and sometimes the vendor contacts me. In this case, Matisse & Jack's e-mailed me (and I'm always a sucker for the small startup looking for help from other small startups). They sent me two boxes of the mix and I sat on it for about a month. Then I ran the tests back to back, wrote down all the notes (and kept all the photographs), and sat on it for another month. Then I sat down last night and wrote up my experience based on my notes.

There have been times when I've tested a product and felt it wasn't very good - but, in those cases, I talk to the vendor and they either explain what the products intended purpose is and I reevaluate or we agree that it's best that I not publish the article. Since I've only done a few product reviews so far, I haven't had the problem of deciding whether or not to publish a really crappy review. I'm not out here to hurt others, just provide food info, recipes, and a look at some products others may have not had a chance to try out.

Michael, thanks for sharing your thoughts on the issue. I'm relieved to see that it's something you take seriously, and that you try to do the right thing.

Back on topic, your review of Matisse & Jack's TrailBlaze Bars was serendipitous because I'm a Clif Bar junkie. :-) I order them in bulk, but they're still expensive, and they tend to get stale by the time I'm through a case. I've been looking for a decent at-home substitue, and the TrailBlaze Bars look very promising. I think they would be more economical, and could be prepared in smaller, fresher, quantities, so I've already ordered a box, and plan to give them a try.

Hmmm. I'll have to try these. They would make tasty on-the-run snacks or breakfast.

However, I think I am going to tinker around and see about baking them in a loaf pan and then cutting them across to form "bars". That was an unsuspecting kid might well think they are the sugar-laden junk bars we find in the mega-markets.

1)I thought you did a fine job of being up front that you were given the product to try, and if you continue like you did here or with the Iron Chef post, I for one won't have any problems.

2)I agree that the Alton Brown Bars were my first instinct when I read this. If you ever get a chance to run a side by side of them, I'd be very interested to see that.

Any chance there's a non-soy version in the works?

as i am from germany, i am not at home in the american kitchen. Would you explain to me what soy nuts are? i didnt find it in the dictionary. Thank you

Soy nuts aren't common in American kitchens either, but they are available in specialty stores and supermarkets catering to the higher end customer. Basically, they are just soy beans that have been soaked (in water), then cooked in an oven until they are mostly dried out and crunchy.

I just got some last week and these things are the best ever! Definitley recommended!

I've been looking around for recipes for granola bars/protein bars/energy bars other than the ones from Good Eats but have had very little luck on the internet. Does anyone know of any good ones? The Good Eats bars don't seem like they would really fit my taste...
I may end up just messing around with ingredients in the Good Eats recipes, but another recipe to compare to would be great.

lots on the RecipeSource website www.recipesource.com, use their search facility to look for granola bars, they have 27 recipes.

I too just recently saw the Alton Brown episode where he makes the granola bars homemade and they looked great. I liked the point he made about the huge decrease in sodium when you make them yourself. The bars you made here look really good, but I think if I'm going to go to the trouble of making them myself, I'm going to go ahead and make them from scratch and not a box.

- Tara
FOODIE