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

So, so tired this morning! I haven’t gotten a good night of sleep even once this week, mainly because Liam has been wired at night and screams his head off outside our door at 3am. If you are ever thinking of adopting a Burmese just know that they are extremely needy and grow very attached to their human companions. I swear they’re like puppies.

No dainty bowl of fruit and yogurt for me this morning. Only bread and cheese would do.

Maybe you read Janetha‘s post about what she would eat if health were not a concern. My comment was that I would eat an everything bagel with cream cheese for breakfast every day of my life if it wouldn’t eventually kill me. Seriously, I could live on those

Washed it down with a hot cup of tea…

It makes me so happy that Jeff makes me a cup of tea every morning without even being asked. He’s a good husband, that one.

It is gloomy and rainy out today, and yet will still manage to get up to 92 degrees. I am terrified of how hot it’s likely going to get here in August. And when I’m too hot at night, I can’t sleep….

What are your weekend plans?

June 17, 2011 Alayna Discussion 1 comment