Product: Lärabar Carrot Cake – $1.99+
Some of you may have learned by now, or by reading my sister blog to this one (Chasing Pavements), that I am a runner. Nothing makes me happier than to lace up my running shoes and head out for a run, or enter a race. I especially love races.
But with road races comes strange food rituals. Like, I never have anything more than cereal before a run. Never. I know that my stomach can handle that without it being too heavy or too much. However, this often means that by the time the race starts and I get through it and finish it…I’m starving. Seriously. And not every race has something that those with food allergies can eat. Lots of times it’s donuts, bread, sandwiches…not a piece of fruit (although most races do have at least bananas or apples). Last Saturday, I participated in a local road race that didn’t provide anything beyond baked goods that I couldn’t eat with my gluten allergy. So, after running and staying around for the awards and door prizes, I headed home to get ready to head into Louisville where I was going to be trying out a new restaurant…eventually. There were a few stops to make prior to that.
With that in mind, I reached into my gluten-free goodies drawer and retrieved the little baggie with my snack size Lärabar’s inside. I got a lot of these little fruit and nut bars for free from a Gluten-Free Expo that I attended in Birmingham, and was now ready to give one of them a shot. This wouldn’t be my first Lärabar…as I lived off of the snack size multi-pack during my summer of following U2, but it would be my first time trying the Carrot Cake flavor. Famished, I tore into the little orange wrapper, revealing a little square that was a blend of carrots, cinnamon, dates, almonds, walnuts, raisins, pineapple and coconut. You could literally see every…yes, every ingredient! Nothing deceptive about these.
One bite…and I remembered what it was like to eat carrot cake (which happens to be one of my favorite cakes when done properly, despite not being a cake lover, and something I haven’t had in years…and especially since going gluten-free). I was hooked. The flavors were perfect. I could see little chunks of nuts. I could taste the carrots and citrus. It was a journey back for my taste buds to my last bite of carrot cake, which happened to be at a birthday party for my roommate’s aunt years ago. Oh…this was beyond delicious. This was a dessert in bite-size little bar. Oh…it was good. When something that is supposed to be “carrot cake” flavored, to actually bite into it and have it truly remind you of a real slice of carrot cake speaks volumes.
Love at first carrot cakey bite. Good show, Lärabar. I wish I had more than one of those in that bag…
The Celiathlete 