We don’t exactly live in the middle of nowhere right now, but we don’t exactly live in the most cosmopolitan area either. When I didn’t have a baby and had more time, I used to travel for food all the time. No natural food store or vegetarian restaurant within a 50 mile raidus went unvisited. Hey, I was living at home, my husband was deployed, and I was exciting about finding new things.
Now, there really isn’t anyplace to visit. There is a natural food store here, but it is too expensive to shop from regularly. It isn’t a big problem, because I can mostly just buy whole foods from the grocery stores.
But I like to snack. Sometimes healthy, easy, packaged, ready to go snacks are harder to find at the grocery store. So the last time we were home, my husband patiently followed me around while I grabbed as many snacks as I could find from my favorite place: Trader Joes.
Besides the regular bounty of nuts and dried fruits, I left with my bags full of a few more interesting things:
I had been wanting to try Roasted Seaweed Snacks for awhile, they’re not exactly a new 
thing. But I was unaware that Trader Joe’s had a version of them. They were cheap, and I was excited, so I bought a few.
These are okay, a decent salty snack, but I can’t say they’re my favorite or I’m totally addicted to them. I am not a fish fan, at all. Even before switching to a vegetarian diet, I have never liked seafood, and even hate the smell of it. I do however like the nori in vegetarian sushi, so since this is essentially roasted nori, I thought I would like it. But there is just something about the “ocean” taste, that I can’t quite get past. However I know that is a flavor some people crave, so this may be just the thing if that describes you!
It’s always a little disappointing when you get so excited about something, and then when you try it, you’re kind of let down. Luckily, that did not happen to the latter half of this post.
Everyone likes chocolate at least a little, right? Admittedly, chocolate isn’t my favorite taste. When I do eat it though, I prefer chocolate. Not chocolate cake, or chocolate ice cream, but plain, preferably dark, chocolate.
So these Dark Chocolate Covered Edamame were exciting to see! I’ve never seen these before, and they are just so interesting.
Sweet and salty, and crunchy. Plus, I’m not going to pretend that the nutritional benefit of the edamame doesn’t appeal to me. Dessert is usually sugar, sugar, fat, and sugar. But those edamame add a little bit of protein (7g per serving) without adding even more fat (as would something like a peanut).
Hopefully you have a Trader Joe’s near you, so if these sound yummy to you, you can skip on over and try them. Luckily, Trader Joe’s is awesome but not always the most inventive, and you can definitely seek out versions from other vendors online:
You can find Seaweed Snacks here.
Then, you can find Dark Chocolate Edamame here.
You can never go wrong with having some healthy (or at least healthier) snacks stocked in the pantry! Right now I think we’re at least stocked until we get to visit Trader Joe’s again!
Oats and Beans and Baby Grow 