Unreal...

A while back I read about a new candy on the market called Unreal. The candy makers goal was to make a sweet treat that wasn't quite so bad for you.  Their story is here and is pretty amazing....

My curiosity was piqued. I'm always down for some sugary goodness and if it's something that doesn't leave you racked with guilt, all the better. But alas, being in Alaska, sometimes it takes a while for certain products to make their way here, if you can get them at all. So for the last few weeks I've watched the shelves at Fred Meyer, Target & Walgreens; all reputed to carried the product. And lo & behold, my diligence was rewarded the other night at Target.

 The candy comes in five varieties and is packaged in individual bars or in larger bags. It's priced comparably to regular candy, which was a surprise considering it's made with better quality ingredients. I bought one of each of the five kinds to give a taste test to. Here's my reviews:

 This is their version of Snickers. It was good. It had the full flavor of the peanuts and replicated the fluffy nougat of Snickers well. It only has 200 calories a bar compared to Snicker's 280. But the bar is slightly smaller than a Snickers, so that's part of the equation too. It only has 17 grams of sugar, compared to Snicker's 30 grams. And it carries 5 grams of fiber and 5 grams of protein. 
Bottom line: I'll choose this over a Snickers.

 This is their version of a Milky Way. Milky Way is one of my favorite candy bars, and this one was just a good. The nougat was denser than the Snickers one, just like in a real Milky Way. Of the five types of Unreal Candies, this was the one I liked the most. It carries 19 grams of sugar instead of Milky Way's 35 grams and 5 grams of fiber, which is more than you'd find in an apple.

Here's their version of peanut M&M's. These were also very good. Again, the package is smaller than M&M's, so you save some calories there. But most studies show that regardless of the serving size, we'll eat the entire portion of something put before us. So by starting with a smaller serving size it's possible to eat less and still feel satisfied. This bag has 200 calories with 16 grams of sugar, which is less sugar than you'll find in an orange. I'd also buy these again.

And here are their version of regular M&M's. These were my least favorite. If you've ever had imitation, generic M&M's you know that funky taste they have. I've noticed that taste in M&M's I've gotten in Canada, so maybe it's the real sugar they use instead of the high fructose corn syrup. This bag carries 200 calories, instead of 230 in M&M's. They've got 19 grams of sugar compared to 30 grams in the real thing.
Oh, and they also had a slight dark chocolate taste...

And finally their version of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. These were my second least favorite. I'm not sure what I didn't like about these... Well, it's not that I didn't like them, they just weren't as good as the others. I'd probably buy them again, but only if they didn't have the others. They've got almost the same calories as a Reese's Cup, but they've got half the sugar and three times the fiber.




So if you can find these in your local store, give them a try. I think you'll like them. I think it's important to show stores that we'd like to have better options in the food we buy. Good tasting food doesn't have to be bad for you and we need to support innovators like the ones at Unreal.

Oh, and if you didn't click the link to read the story of how Unreal came about, you should. It begins with a 13 year old who realized his bag of Halloween candy wasn't good for him...

Last Winter's Snow

I was going through the pictures on my iPhone and realized I had quite a few showing the vasts amounts of snow that we got last winter. So far this year we've only had an inch or so that quickly blew away.

I love this view of the snow on the trees. Usually the wind blows so much in the Valley that this doesn't happen.

The wife hiding in the trees.

The bridge across the Wasilla Creek on the Palmer Hay Flats.

Near the UAF Experiment Farm off of the Glenn Highway

A moose calf walking through the parking lot at work

Our deck after a snowfall.

The snow berm that built up from me shoveling the driveway.

The morning sunrise through the trees off of our deck.

The Old Glenn Highway bridge over the Matanuska River

I believe this is Matanuska Peak.

Ice along the Matanuska River

Snow along the Little Susitna River.

Looking up into Hatcher's Pass

Standing at the Scout Ridge Overlook looking out over the Palmer Hay Flats and the Chugiak Mountains beyond.

Johnson Lake Loop

Another hike that I like is the Johnson Lake Loop in the UAF Experiment Farm portion of the MatSu Greenbelt trails. The hike winds up being a couple of miles and is easy walking.

For more info on the Matsu Greenbelt Trails and to download maps, visit their website here...

To access the trail, park at Kerttula Hall. To the north of the building you'll see the trail head sign and map. The first part of your journey will be going through the farm's working area. Please stay out of the barns and avoid any moving equipment.

Here are the pictures (you can click on them to enlarge):

The Chugiak Mountains to the South

This picture was taken a week before the one above. Notice how much the grass greened up in a week.

This fields are part of the University of Alaska Experiment Farm.

They actively work these fields, so stay on the paths.

Pioneer Peak in the distance.

Some of the trail is through the woods.

MatSu College Trails from Snodgrass Hall

Another one of my favorite walking trails is in the MatSu Greenbelt Trail System. The MatSu Greenbelt includes the Crevasse Moraine trails, the MatSu College trails, the UAF Experiment Farm trails and the Matanuska Lake State Recreation Area trails. All together there is 33 miles to explore. You can see the complete map and more info at the MatSu Greenbelt Trails site.

There's a great little walk that's less than a mile long that starts on the back side of Snodgrass Hall at the MatSu College. To get there take Trunk Road from the Glenn Highway or the Palmer/Wasilla Highway. Turn onto College Way and then take your first right on Musgrove Road. The road wraps it's way around the back side of the buildings. Keep going until you can't go anymore.

The trail goes through an area that was once an arboretum. There's been a lot of other trees grow up, but you can still spot the various non-native trees that were planted. The Frontiersman did an article a while ago on the area.  It's less than a mile round trip to the Observation Deck that looks out over Okenson Pond with Lazy Mountain beyond that. The trail is level and easy to walk on.

These pictures were taken in late October. We've had freezing temperatures by this point, but no snow. This is the perfect time of year because there's no mosquitoes out. It's cold, but you don't have to bury yourself in layers to stay warm.

Here are the pictures:

 The new parking area at the trail head behind Snodgrass Hall.

 A close up of the map at the trail head. There's a QR code that you can scan with your smart phone to bring up the map.

  All the leaves are off the trees.

 These sign posts mark every major trail intersection and really help with finding your way around.

 The trail winding through the trees.

 And winding...

 The beginning of the arboretum. These trees here are Siberian Larch. They look like an evergreen tree, but they lose their needles in the fall like a deciduous tree loses it's leaves.

 The back half of a squirrel. He was moving around too fast to get a good shot.

 I'm not sure what type of tree this is. It's not the black or white spruce we normally have in this area.

 A close up of the tree's trunk.

 A pine tree. Can you tell which way the wind consistently blows?

 The nice level trails in this section are perfect for easy walking.

 Our destination for today. The Observation Deck.

 These trails were once part of a nature trail system the college supported. Along the way are these small posts. At one point they all head signs on them telling you what their significance was.

 The trail continues past the Observation Deck.

 The view from the deck. That's Lazy Mountain in the distance.

 Also from the deck a good view of Matanuska Peak.

 A close up of Matanuska Peak.

 A close up of Lazy Mountain.

 Look from the front of the deck towards the back onto the trail.

 More pine trees.

 The trees here almost made a tunnel. It looks like an area from a Tolkien book.

 A close up of the pine branch. These are not native to Alaska.

 The tree tunnel part of the trail.

 Further evidence of that this was once called the Matanuska Community College Nature Trail. The skunk is kinda cute. The numbers you see carved on the sign mark certain areas. I wonder if someone at the college still has the key to what each number was.