Gift-hunting on an empty stomach can only lead to bad things, especially when you’re out on one of the many marathon shopping excursions bound to transpire over the next few weeks. Instead of giving into greasy food-court temptations and other sources empty calories, stash a Clif MOJO Bar in your handbag (or pocket, or man purse, if you’re a dude). All salty and savory with roasted whole nuts and organic pretzel pieces, MOJO bars are made with 70 percent organic ingredients and at least eight grams of protein per serving. New ThisNexter chaimuffin says the flavor’s “like trail mix in your hand, only not dry and cakey, like a granola bar, but like true gorp or trail mix…I found myself buying them by the case now and eating them as a snack after running or the gym. A really nice way to reward myself for hard work and have also had them as a breakfast substitute and mid day pick me up snack.”

Steph Davis prefers the Mixed Nuts variety of MOJO bars, noting: “I don’t eat refined sugar, and get sick of too much sweet when I am losing salt through sweat. These are full of almonds and cashews, not too sweet, mostly organic too. They are so good, I never get sick of them.”

Click the “energy bar” tag on ThisNext and you’ll get a whole page of Clif products. Indeed, in trolling the running/biking/hiking blogosphere over the past few months I’ve found that bloggers love Clif. And what’s not to love? Not only does Clif skimp on scary mystery ingredients and go for yummy, naturally energizing stuff like organic peanut butter and loads of vitamins and minerals—the eco-conscious company promotes the use of renewable energy, donates 2,080 hours of volunteer time to various groups yearly, and gives back to causes such as the American Hiking Society and the Breast Cancer Fund. To discover the best of the best, here’s a look at ThisNext’s most favorite Clif products—and what makes each so superior.

...continued: ThisNext: Crazy for Clif

Right now we’re wondering if it would be too pushy to ask triathlete blogger KLN at !! Tri-als Of The Day !! to give us the recipe for the homemade lime/garlic/hot sauce chicken soup she so casually and teasingly references in a recent random-thought post. The jury’s still out on that, so in the meantime we’ll have to make do with the Lara Bars she name-checks in the same post. Like KLN, we love Lara Bars for their lack of added sugar and think the taste is terrific. So nice to have an energy bar with such wholesome ingredients and no mysterious mush that you’re left to try to worrisomely identify.

Although the state of airport food is generally improving, we don’t like to hit the road without at least one emergency provision on hand just in case. (Especially since airplane food has gone in exactly the other direction.) Raving Foodies feels similarly, and shares his favorite last-resort blood-sugar-booster: Nature Valley Sweet & Salty Nut Granola Bar. With Peanuts, that is.

Tipping is a pesky business. It’s hard to know when and how much to leave, and for whom: your server, captain, bartender, cocktail waitress, valet attendant … the list goes on and on. And if you’re traveling abroad? Well, god help ya. That’s why we’re in love with Tip20’s comprehensive list of tipping conventions both at home and abroad. It takes the mystery out of the gratuity, and may prevent an international incident!

We at ThisNext embrace creativity and innovation. So when Michelle at The Baker’s Rack spontaneously decided to introduce Snickers bars into her blondies, our ears perked, our eyes widened and our mouths watered. She managed to take two things we love and meld them together into something we just know we will love even more.

Stephanie over at Back in Skinny Jeans is right on about Larabars- they are the best tasting, all natural energy-bar on the market these days. 

I recently discovered them for myself and think they are awesome.  No sucrose, nothing artificial, provide lots of energy.  Excellent pre- or post-work-out.  Totally recommended.  I even let my kids eat them and I am very picky about what sorts of foods I let them nosh on (they are 4 and 2 and I want them to learn to like healthy foods which means, in my opinion, not feeding them crap that essentially overloads/desensitizes their tastebuds w/sugar and additives)

After I discovered Larabars, I poked around a bit more and found out the Health Ranger is also into them.  If the Health Ranger digs these things, you know they have to be good for you.  That guy is seriously dedicated to being super healthy and super-fit, both of which are admirable goals.

I wish more companies could figure out how to make great tasting but also super-healthy foods like Larabar.  Maybe America would be less fat and more active if we actually ate food that was good for us and made us want to go out and use our bodies instead of sitting on the couch like slugs.