Wanna hear something crazy? I’m not really a huge fan of marshmallow. I know, there’s something wrong with me.

It may come as no surprise then that I have never really understood the hype surrounding s’mores. I mean, sure they’re good, but they don’t make my eyes roll back in my head at the mere mention of them like they seem to do for some people.

But, something about the drippy chocolate and barely toasted marshmallow “O” on the packaging for this Halo S’mores bar by Pro Bar caught my eye. It might have also had something to do with the fact that the graham cracker letters look more like shortbread to me with their golden hue and intentional dimples, and I am nothing if not a sucker for a butter-laden crumbly shortbread.

The ingredient list is a bit lengthy, but nothing too scary to be seen on it.

Surprisingly, although this bar is obviously trying to sell itself as a dessert replacement, the sugar content is lower than I would have expected at a mere 13 grams. And at 150 calories it stands no chance of making a dent in your healthy eating habits, or your hunger for that matter.

Appearance: The bar is about the size I expected from the size of the packaging. The look of it however, is nothing like what I expected. I knew it wasn’t going to look exactly like the cute packaging letters, but I at least hoped that it would be layered or have distinguishable graham cracker, chocolate, and marshmallow pieces. I guess it doesn’t matter what it looks like as long as it tastes good, right?

Taste: Well it doesn’t….taste good that is. Or I guess it tastes fine, but it doesn’t taste even remotely like a s’mores bar. In fact, it doesn’t taste even remotely like graham crackers or marshmallow and the chocolate is a bit off-tasting as well. I guess the flavor that stands out the most to me is brown rice syrup, followed by oats, not surprising since those are the first two ingredients.

Texture: Reminds me a lot of a chewy granola bar, lots of oat pieces and other unidentifiable bits of “healthy-tasting” things. There were approximately 3 chocolate chips, all of them on one side of the bar and some weird clump of sugar on the other.

Overall, this bar is hugely disappointing. I might have liked it if it were not marketed as a dessert because it set my expectations too high. There is no way in hell anyone would be satisfied with this as a dessert replacement, it is decidedly undessert-like and tastes nothing like the dessert it claims to imitate. It also didn’t do much to take away my snack cravings with such a low calorie count. 100% sure I won’t be buying again.

What dessert would you most enjoy recreated in bar form?

(Again, unless otherwise stated, these “bar exam” reviews are all unsolicited and reflect my true opinions of the product.)

June 20, 2011 Alayna Discussion 3 comments

This morning musing is coming to you a little late. After a whole week of not sleeping very well I finally crashed out last night and slept in this morning. I feel so much more alert now!

Brefkast of a nanner topped with Justin’s chocolate almond butter. I can never bring myself to buy a whole jar of Justin’s nut butter. I mean it’s really good, but I’m not sure if it’s $10 good. And yet I’m sure with how many of these little packets I’ve bought I could have spent less on a jar for the same amount.

I’ve been shaking things up with dinner lately. For the past few months I’ve been kind of uninspired to make new dinners so we’ve been having a lot of the same stuff every week.

Last night I made a pork tenderloin with garlicky smashed yukon gold potatoes and a sour cream and mushroom sauce.

So good.

I’ve found the best way to cook a pork tenderloin is to season it and sear it in a pan with olive oil then wrap it in an aluminum foil packet and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. I then let it rest for 5 minutes before slicing it up.

The mushroom sauce is easy too. I just saute the shrooms with some scallions in the same pan I cooked the pork in. Then I add salt, pepper, and the leftover juices from inside the foil packet that the pork cooked in. When it’s all cooked down and saucy, I stir in a little dollop of sour cream to make it creamy.

I also threw a few garlic cloves in with the pork while it was cooking so that I could use them to smash into the potatoes. Good stuff.

We both crashed out with one of these afterwards…

Decatur is now allowing the sale of growlers, which is practically the best news I’ve heard all year.

We picked up a growler full of Fuller’s Pale Ale from Ale Yeah!, a local craft beer purveyor, and chilled out with Netflix.

This weekend stands to be pretty chill.

June 18, 2011 Alayna Discussion 5 comments

I’m starting a new series called “Bar Exam” where I review one of the plethora of varied and sundry snack bars on the market right now.

I would eat a lemon Larabar every day if it wouldn’t totally break our grocery budget. It’ll be fun to try all these bars that I never buy because I feel they’re too expensive to take a chance on. Who knows, maybe I’ll find a new favorite?

(This review was completely unsolicited and reflects my true opinions about the product.)

I picked up this Pom Bar at Whole Foods. I haven’t heard of this one before, but anything with “yogurt” in the title will get my attention.

Can you see my camera reflected in the wrapper?

This bar is 210 calories, about what I expect from a snack bar. It has only 3 grams of protein so it wouldn’t make for a good after-workout protein bar, though it doesn’t claim to be one. It does have a whopping 28 grams of sugar. That’s pretty high and I’m sure the yogurt coating has a lot to do with that.

The ingredient list has around 15 items but nothing that sounds any alarms for me as being terribly unhealthy. It does contain whey in the yogurt coating so it’s not vegan, but again it never claims to be.

Appearance: It’s a good size for a snack and I’m glad that it wasn’t tiny compared to the packaging. That always drives me crazy when the product is so much smaller than advertised, but this one met expectations. The yogurt coating looked smooth and not oily.

Taste: Mmmm! The filling is slightly tart and definitely tastes like pomegranate. The yogurt is smooth and not-too-sweet and has a slight tanginess like real yogurt.

Texture: Being mostly dates, it has the similar smooth texture of a Larabar, but with smaller pieces of nuts. There is what feels like strawberry seeds in it, that’s not what it is but it definitely has the same feeling of tiny popping crunchiness that you get from dried raspberries or strawberries. There is no graininess or oiliness in the yogurt.

Overall I really like this bar. Being that it has so much sugar though, I would probably only eat these as a dessert replacement when I’m craving something sweet at night. Luckily it’s delicious enough to actually be satisfying as a dessert. I can definitely see myself buying one of these again, though rarely.

Any recommendations for bars I should try?

June 17, 2011 Alayna Discussion 5 comments