"KashiBakes" news and stories

When I was in college, I lived on toast and frozen food. I wasn't particularly interested in food or writing back then (my two primary passions these days) and I so I paid as little mind to breakfast, lunch and dinner as was possible while getting through school. My roommates and I would often trek over to Walla Walla's Grocery Outlet and stock up on whatever cheap, frozen meals were available.

As I got older and became more concerned about the foods I ate, I've trended to the opposite end of the spectrum, filling my freezer with local, grass fed beef, free range chickens and home frozen summer fruit. Currently, I'm searching for a more happy medium (life is busy and having a few frozen meals that someone else prepared saves me sometimes) and so I've fallen in love with these new meals from Kashi.

They come in two flavors, Tuscan Veggie Bake and Mayan Harvest Bake. The Tuscan variety is a lasagna, made from Kashi's whole grain noodles, yellow squash, roasted eggplant, red onion, sweet potato and tomato sauce. It's quite delicious, although I'm not a fan of yellow squash (I find the skin to be bitter). The Mayan themed bake starts with a layer of amaranth polenta (seriously delicious, it makes me want to play with amaranth more) and then has plantains, black beans, roasted sweet potatoes, kale and some Kashi whole grain pilaf. I really loved this variety. The amaranth and plantains are wonderful together and the sauce they've concocted for this dish, which reminds me of really good enchilada sauce, sets the whole thing off perfectly.

The other wonderful thing about these Kashi Bakes is that they are vegan. While I'm no meat-hater, I've been trying to reduce my meat intake and grabbing one of these for a quick lunch makes that goal a whole lot easier on busy days.

Bottom line: These are tasty, easy and fast meals that you can grab, microwave and feel good about. The only problem with them is that they are a bit pricy, retailing around $4. I'd recommend keeping an eye out for coupons or sales, and stocking up when the price is low.