Barrific

A food blogger walks into a bar...and reviews it! Bahahahaha.....alright, all done.

Reviews, anyone?

Let's start with Odwalla! They were recently on sale at Whole Foods, and, um, I had fun. What can I say, I see those yellow-and-red sale tags and all but jump for joy! Yes, this is what grocery shopping does to me. Totally normal.

This kind of reminded me of a cross between a Nutrigrain bar and a Fig Newton. Had that dense, datey feel with that vague berryness in NGs. I found it pretty boring, unfortunately. The whole berries were nice, it had a decent texture, but...meh. Not bad, just nothing special.

NEXT.

Another letdown. I made my brother try some too, for a second opinion. He took two bites and looked at me with a "why do you do these things to me" expression. I wasn't exactly excited. This would actually be a great, cookie-like treat if the first and most prevalent flavor is dates. It's one thing to sell a date bar and advertise it as such, quite another to name something "chocolate chip peanut", one of the best combos ever, only for those flavors to be the least obvious. The few chocolate chips thrown in helped, but not enough. 

Now this is one tasty bar. The banana nut flavors are spot on and it tastes like a particularly good and chewy piece of banana bread. I loved every bite - even more so than the Larabar version! Yum!

Speaking of Lara...

Ok, I will start out by saying that I do NOT like coconut. Why, you ask, did I buy this? Well, I've found that in Larabars I actually can appreciate the flavor, and I figured with chocolate thrown in, how bad can it be! (The coconut cream pie is one of my favorite flavors!) But this was...sad. It was neither chocolatey nor coconutty, just some vague middle ground between the two that was lacking in any distinct flavor at all. Maybe I just got a bad one? Oh well. 

This is the Lara I know and love. Very cinnamony and the dates added a light, fruity flavor. Plus the added texture of the nuts, this is a great bar! Came just in time too; couldn't have made it through the last 2.5 hours of my shift without it!

Clif bars are another favorite of mine to take to work. After 3 hours of nonstop movement, I definitely feel the need for some protein.

*Sigh* Let down again. This had a really weirdy soapy(??) taste to it that I could not get over! It wasn't very peanutty or toffee-y, just sweet and blah. But it gets points for looking pretty.

This I liked very, very much! It wasn't too sweet and those 3 fruits came out really well and meshed well too, to my relief and surprise. Most of the Clifs are waaaay too heavy on the brown rice syrup even for my sweet teeth, but this was really well balanced.

As was this guy:

This is probably my fave Clif so far. Just like a gooey peanut butter treat with crunchy chopped peanuts - perfect. I definitely recommend this to peanut butter lovers!

I know, this is a LOT of bars! They've been filling my camera since the road trip and I'm just now getting around to all of 'em, oof! I would like to throw out my personal opinion (although I probably already have) on bars: I don't like using them as meal replacements, and unless cirsumstances are unusual, won't eat more than 1 a day. I have always had problems with hypoglycemia and for me, they are a great and easy way to raise my blood sugar quickly when I need it (you do NOT want to be around hungry Gillian. It aint pretty.) I also discovered that when working in the coffee house when I usually get about 3 minutes to chomp something down during a 5 or 6 hour shift while making coffee and generally running around, there is nothing quite as easy to eat as these. That said, I do prefer to snack (and eat meals) on whole "real" foods, mostly because I find them more filling and my body functions better with them. I am not defending myself or anything here, I just wanted it to be known that I do not live off 4 Larabars a day, nor do I recommend it. I like Michael Pollan's saying a lot" "Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much." Word.

As for real food, there's been aplenty of that going on as well:

Supercharge Me cookies. I'm determined to maintain a constant supply. They make the best pre-yoga snack. Ever.

Oh, and they are super DUPER if you add cardamom and nutmeg along with the cinnamon. Trust me.

Fresh bread! Nothing like it. 

WAAH I miss my little Italian bakery on the way home to the apartment!!!

Sorry. Random nostalgic moment done.

Fage, raw oats, blueberries, peach and cinnamon. Happiness in a bowl.

Cream of wheat with blueberries cooked in, swirled with applesauce. Yes, I love the taste...but look how pretty!

As for that preview? Pasta Alla Norma! My aunt & uncle were in town last week and I decided it was the perfect occasion to attempt to recreate one of my favorite dishes from my cooking class this past semester. I'll  admit, it wasn't as good...although I have a feeling that fact that I was in Italy made it a little better...but it was still a delicious plate of pasta!

1. Buy fresh pasta. It makes a difference. And start your water boiling now - it takes freakin forever to get there.

2. Start your sauce: heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a saucepan with some chopped garlic and half a chopped onion (or one small). When the onion becomes translucent, add in 3 cans diced tomatoes, give it a stir, cover and let it cook. Just keep an eye on it and cook it low; if I don't burn it, I promise you won't!

3. Get a big ole eggplant (or 3ish small ones) and cut it into rounds, pretty thin. Dust both sides of all of them with some flour - this will keep the oil from completely saturating the eggplant when it goes in the pan and leaving them crispy.

4. Heat up some more olive oil in a pan and start throwing the eggplants in. I gave them about half a monute or so, flipped them over, then put them on paper towels to drain and blotted the tops lightly with another towel. [Fyi, I didn't actually make these in my class - I worked on a different dish that day - so I was going with what I remembered seeing others do. Worked for me!]

5. Your water has GOT to be boiling by now, right? Good. Throw in the pasta and check it in 3 minutes - fresh cooks faster than dried. No one likes soggy pasta! Al dente just tastes better and will hold up the dish better.

To plate, toss the pasta in your wonderfully fresh-tasting tomato sauce. Top with the eggplants rounds, then with some basil, then with some parmesan or grana padano. 

Mangia bene!

~Namaste~

Gone Swimming

It's been too long!

My head has just been swimming with too many things. I feel like I've been going through this summer with something constantly in my peripheral vision but I can't turn my head to figure out what it is. I'm not sure that really even makes sense, but to sum up, I feel overwhelmed with lots of *things* going on and can't seem to quite ever feel caught up. Know what I mean? 

But, the one thing that is not confusing me is my love for food. Especially yummy, healthy food!

I guess I was feeling patriotic?

Actually, I was just really excited when I came downstairs to find my dad home from a Costco trip with huge containers of fresh strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, melon, and Fage in tow. It was like Christmas!

Chocolate makes everything better.

Applesauce + cinnamon + Naturally More. 

I mixed mine up, but I don't recommend it - the pb got totally lost and I could barely taste it! No worries, there will be a next time.

Who's up for some reviews??

A Chobani that passes the sideways-spoon test!!

This was very tasty and enjoyable - like regular plain greek with a little sweet kick. I did like it, but to save $$ I'd rather just throw a little vanilla extract into some plain Fage. Just sayin.

You may recall my recent road trip. Road trips = LOTS of bar consumption.

This was disappointing. Very dry and very date-y. Not that I mind dates, but when I pick up a bar touting the name chocolate prominently in its title, I'm expecting lotsa cocoa, not so much date flavor. The chocolate chips helped, but I wouldn't buy this again. Plus, brown rice syrup was the first ingredient - not ok for having such a dry, crumbly texture!

My second Odwalla had better results.

Love that bad hotel lighting.

I was not expecting much after the chocolate one, but this was a horse of a different color! The coffee-chocolate balance was dead on, and it was pleasantly oaty and not dry or datey in the least. Loved this guy! Perfect dessert after a loooong day on the road. (And I mean long - 500 miles in 9 hours!)

Tried some new (to me) Laras as well:

This was just lovely! Reminded me of lemonade. Very refreshing! I had my doubts, but they were all put away after the first bite. The lemon flavor came through loud and clear, but were not at all clashing with the dates, and the cashews added the perfect creamy flavor and crunch in texture. A perfect summer snack!

I'm a bit ambivalent about this one. The banana flavor tasted almost too overripe for me. But overall, it definitely tasted like banana bread, and I loved the almonds! I'm always impressed with the Larabar flavor - always so real and genuine and such a teeny tiny ingredient list. 

Along the same lines...

Clif C boasts only 9 ingredients and a whole serving of fruit. I've reviewed the raspberry and tried the blueberry & cherry pomegranate with varying results, so I was interested to try this last one. 

I liked it. It had cinnamon, which was a very wise addition. I do like the texture of these - chewy, with the crunch from the bits of chopped nuts on top, reminiscent of Nutrigrain bar fillings. But, I wouldn't pay the $1.29 per bar. Just not that good. But, it's always fun to try new things!

I have one final review left:

FROSTING!

I don't remember if I've mentioned it before or not, but I have a bit of a problem with frosting. The problem being that one bite and I am compelled to scrape it off the entire cake and leave the cake itself naked. It's one scratch recipe I've never made well and it bothers me. All in good time, right? In the spirit of trying new things, I picked this up at Whole Foods. I couldn't resist - toffee vanilla by a company named Namaste?!! Yesplease.

You just mix the bag with 6 T of butter, margarine, or the like and add water as needed to get the right consistency. In one of my baking storms, I whipped some chocolate cake a la Dreena (halved the recipe and made it all one layer) and topped it with this gooey goodness. It was wonderful - this chocolate cake recipe rocks my baker's socks! I wish there was a similar one for vanilla cake. I figure it can't be hard to figure out, just may take some experimenting (my fave activity!). And the frosting? Very toffee-y! I was really impressed with the toffee flavor. In a testament to how good it was, my brother ate one tupperware full last night, and ate the second tupperware this afternoon. Sometimes my parents worry that I bake too much for the house to eat....I don't know why.

Hope you're all surviving the heat! I'm only semi-melted.

~Namaste~

FUNday

Lately, something has really been getting to me. My posts since I've returned have felt very spastic and kind of everywhere to me. Must be the English major coming out - I have to have a thesis!! I've just noticed that titling posts is difficult because there is no one thing that can sum up what I've said, and being my perfectionist self, this does not sit well. All this to say - I'm working on it ;)

Yesterday I was really tired, for no apparent reason. I had planned on hopping over to the gym (in my NEW CAR!!!), but could not summon up the energy. I tend to take these things as a sign, because when it comes to exercise, I know I will personally stop it altogether if it stops being fun. And part of its continuing funness is not forcing myself to go every single day. Took the dog for a walk and did a little ab work before bed--and kept it fun!

Speaking of fun...let's talk food.

This was yummy, but I have to say, I have never been much for key lime-flavored yogurts. Something weird about it, it kind of has a weird-sweet taste to me? This was the best brand I've tried though. Ha, how sick are you of seeing pictures of Stonyfield cartons?!

B-fast also included a classic - cinnamon toast!

Well, cinnamon+ almond butter + pear preserves toast. There is just something about cinnamon on toasted bread, it's like they were mutually created just for this to be made. My mom always made me cinnamon (and butter :) toast when I was sick, so it's a major nostalgia food for me too. In fact, when I had to bring my 'nostalgia food' to my Food & Culture class this semester, I almost did this - but peanut butter-banana waffles won. It was a tough decision, let me tell you. 

Ok, I could have sworn up and down on all things gourmet that I talked about this, but apparently not, so...

In my Food & Culture class, we were all asked to discuss our persona "nostalgia food" - something that when we eat, the mere look/taste/smell takes us back to a certain moment or feeling that only this food can do to us. I chose peanut butter-banana waffles (with syrup, obvz), because whenever I had waffles for breakfast, my dad insisted on putting peanut butter on them (hell if I know why I protested - that was genius.).

Do you have a nostalgia food?

I also tried this guy:

It was...well, like a ginger snap! A bit heavy on the cloves, though. Like all Larabars, what you see is what you get - so if you're not a ginger fan, stay away. But if you are, it's quite tasty. I am kind of in between, and so far the peanut butter cookie Larabar is the winner (shocking, I know). What I like about these is that they are made of real food, and the high [healthy!] fat content keeps me full and happy for a pretty decent amount of time.

In other fun news - I got a present!

Ok, well, not exactly a surprise present, because I bought it for myself, but still - who doesn't get excited when a package arrives with their name on it???

Amazing Grass is a company whose products are craaaazy popular in the food/healthy living blog world. Their products - bars, wheatgrass powders and smoothie powder add-ins, are all-natural, organic, and busting with nutrients. I ordered 2 of their the Sample Packs - the regular product combo and the Amazing Meal combo. 

I have tried a couple of their bars before and enjoyed them because of their lasting power and readable ingredient list, and one of my favorite bloggers swears by their magical powers, so it was about time I got around to checking them out!

The first one I tried was the Kidz Wild Berry packet - because it sounded fun!

3 servings of fruits and veggies?? How is that possible??

Straight from the site: "We’ve used a quick-drying, low temperature, nutrient-preserving method to make a fruit and vegetable powdered drink that mixes easily with water or milk to provide your child with a fast, delicious way to drink up the healthy benefits of a variety of fruits and vegetables."

Pretty cool, right? 

[They do say that this is NOT meant to replace the fresh fruit/veggies in one's diet - just for a vitamin boost!]

1/2 frozen banana + 2 big strawbs + 1/2 c. almond milk + 1 packet Kidz Superfood Wild Berry
This was yummy. As in, once I go through all my samples, if I don't find one I like more, I'm making a beeline for Whole Foods and buy the big container of this stuff. We're all still kids at heart, anyway! It was pretty sweet, but it's a smoothie so it wasn't obnoxious, and I really liked the berry flavor it added (trust me, you'd never know it was also zucchini, brussel sprouts, green beans, and 10 million other veggies!). Next up: the chocolate. I'm excited.

I slept muuuch later than planned today, so time to catch up on my to-dos! I'll be back - with car pictures!!

~Namaste~

A Centennial

Guess what you are reading right now??? The 100th post of Gillianasana!!! How exciting!!!!

And in honor of this very special post, I will....um, continue with my weekly theme. Because what better way to celebrate a food blog centennial than with food?

So, welcome to Day 2 of Yogurt Week! I've recently tried a couple fun new brands - Wallaby and Ricera.

Nonfat Bartlett Pear.

I really like the funky colors/kangaroo design!

This was "Australian-style" yogurt, which is verrry similar to European as far as I can tell - in other words, the polar opposite of thick, tangy Greek yogurt. Each has their place in my heart - I had a serious love affair with the vanilla yogurt I found at our grocery store in Florence. Yes, it was thin, but the flavor was amazing. I miss it...*tear* This was a slight letdown - I was really exciting about the pear flavor, but I couldn't taste it at all. It was pretty much just sweetened, runny yogurt. It wasn't bad, per se, just not pear-y. And if the flavor is kind of blah, I at least want a nice thick texture. BUT, there was nothing "fake
 about the flavor - no odd sweetener aftertastes or anything, and that I liked. Whole Foods has lots of other flavors and I'm all about second chances...so stay tuned ;)

I was really interested to see what this was like. Rice Yogurt! I have tasted rice milk before (my roommate at school is allergic to casein and prefers rice milk over soy/almond/etc) and it tasted like...um, rice+milk, so I was very interested to see what a flavored yogurt would be like.

I figured vanilla was a good trial-run flavor, no?

Nothing spectacular about the stats, but I do appreciate the more-or-less readable ingredient list :)

Texture-wise, I'd say it was pretty normal yogurt-y. Not particularly thin or thick, but not freakishly gelatinous like other brands who use a grocery list's length of various additives and weird, unpronounceable "edible" things. It was very sweet and rather starchy (in rice yogurt - imagine that ;) The vanilla flavor wasn't so prominent - a more apt description would be brown/cane sugar. It was basically rice pudding without the added bits of rice in it. I didn't love it, but I was happy to satisfy my curiosity. There are other flavors, but the high price tag might keep me from trying them again in the very near future.

I tried a food-blog-world fave today:

Gotta love that ingredient list!

Dates are pretty cool, that they can turn into this.
I've had the peanut butter cookie flavor, and it is my favorite Larabar ever - duh, it has peanut butter in the title. Cashews in general I have a more ambiguous relationship with. Sometimes I can't get enough, other times they make me gag. I never claimed to be normal. Anyway, I just didn't like this. Too sweet (dates are SUPER high sugar), I think the fact that cashews are kind of naturally sweet plus the dates just overdid it. That, and the fact that I'm not cashew's biggest fan led to a semi-disappointment. But, if you adore cashews, you'll probably enjoy this.

I also celebrated with a big bowl of appleberry oat bran. YUM!

I made it with 1/2 c. almond milk & 1/4 c. water, cinnamon, cardamom (essential ingredient - just a teeny tiny bit makes all the difference!), and vanilla. After the first round in the microwave, I threw in a handful of blueberries to cook and get juicy in the bowl. Unsweetened applesauce (I use Musselman's, I can't stand Mott's version) stirred in at the end, and a couple more bluebs thrown on top for aesthetic appeal. MMMM!

There was an interesting article today in the paper, about how suddenly everyone has become a food critic with the help of sites like Yelp and Chowhound.

It started me thinking about blogs and reviewing things here. Is it wrong/bad/out of place? Honestly, I don't think so. We're not getting paid, and all restaurants should treat paying customers like they're food critics anyway, regardless of whether or not they actually are. The other thing about reviews on blogs that I think is most important to keep in mind is that everyone is different! We all like different foods, or consider different things better or worse in terms of quality. I love reading lots of different reviews about the same place or food because it gives me a better, more detailed idea of what it's actually like. This article went into some not-so-nice goings-on behind the scenes with the actual internet companies being, well, money-hounds - and that I certainly am not a fan of at all. That's just sleazy. But when it comes to blogs, I say write on. Just keep in mind that the writer's experience is totally subjective, and you never know what you will think of it yourself. 

Y'all, a terrrrrrible thing happened today - my mo took my brother and I to Panera, and upon sitting down and preparing to enjoy my half of a Mediterranean Veggie, I felt something was missing....LuLu!! Gah, you can tell a young food blogger when they forget to bring their camera with them everywhere. (P.S., for any new readers - my blue Canon Powershot camera is named LuLu. Yes, I name my technological accessories. Makes it easier to yell at them when they inevitably screw up.) It was tasty though :)

After a visit with the elliptical at the gym, I popped over to heaven on earth Whole Foods to have some fun. Among other things, I grabbed this little container of fluffy wonder:

Yes, that is all-natural marshmallow creme!

Pretty sweet ingredient list, for what is traditionally the epitome of fake food!

Hmm, now what to test-drive my new present on?

Waffle. Duh.

It would will be better with peanut butter, but I'm quite impressed. I never, ever had a peanut butter-fluff sandwich when I was a kid, and never particularly desired to, but this stuff is just plain fun! I'm thinking gooood on top of some epic oat bowls too...and mixed in with greek yogurt...and on top of smoothies...oh, the possibilities!

I had one of those days where I found myself all of a sudden starving multiple times - as in, dinner was a turkey-hummus-spinach wrap because it was the fastest thing I could think of. Then at the end of the day I feel like a stuffed sausage, like my bottomless pit all of a sudden got way too full. Oy. It's all good, it all balances out eventually anyway. Just ranting :)

This chick needs to shower and hit the sack STAT - I have a special little "meeting" tomorrow AM. I actually to have to arise before noon. The horror!

~Namaste~