Kashi = Love

I hate running.  I hate it, I hate it, I hate it.  But I do it anyway because its something that every person should be able to do and also because this cooking blog has not always been conducive to practicing moderation with food.  This is mostly because, first, I have to cook recipes and then eat them in order to tell you about them.  Then, I have to write and format the blog posts, which includes looking at pictures of food and making myself hungry.  And finally, when I get sick of cooking and eating and taking pictures, I have to look at other food blogs and restaurant websites in order to have other things to write about.  This also, inevitably, makes me hungry.

So, what's a girl to do?  She makes herself work out, despite the nagging voice telling her to hit the snooze button and stay in bed longer.  Because I work out in the mornings (due to my insanely busy schedule), I try to eat a little bit of something and drink some water so that I can have early-morning energy.  Until recently, I was eating Clif Bars (which are also delicious and filled with good stuff), but they were too much chocolate for the morning.

And then.  I found these.

Oh, yeah, baby.  Kashi TLC ("Tasty Little Chewies"... it makes me laugh because Joe's adorable dog is named Chewy) bars, in three different flavors.  They are...

Cherry Dark Chocolate.  I take these suckers to work with me for the mid-day snack.  For some reason, I don't like taking my lunch break until at least 1:30pm (I think it's because I'm used to starving myself at work, after the busy days at the Today Show didn't let me have lunch until 3pm), so I need something around noon to keep me going.  You can really taste the oats in this one, but it's good!

Raspberry Chocolate.  These are my favorite for snackin'.  There are big chunks of raspberry inside, and the fudgey layer on top gives me just enough chocolate to get my hand away from the leftover Easter candy.  Wait... what Easter candy??  Did I just say that?  Nahhh....

Dark Mocha Almond.  And this one's my favorite for workouts.  It's not too sugary for my stomach in the morning, and the almonds really give you a good dose of what you need to get going.  Plus...

...look at the back of this box!  It tells you all the reasons why this granola bar is a super awesome way to fuel up before a workout.  6 grams of protein?  4 grams of fiber?  I'll take it.

I also love the "Tasty Little Crunchy" bars; they're a little bit bigger and have a chocolate layer on the bottom.  They're great for a post-lunch snack, but they're a little bit too big to eat all at once.  I've tried the chocolate peanut-butter bars.  They're great!

For more flavors and other products, check out www.kashi.com.  They make all of their products by the philosophy that food should be natural and taste great, which are two really important things to me.  So, excuse me while I go eat my Kashi bar... and then (maybe) go for a run!