Check out my progress on Bar Boredom
In the Yoder household, this past Christmas has been dubbed the “Groupon Christmas;” it seems that Groupons are Santa’s new favorite stocking stuffer. As you might expect, my designated Groupon was foodie-related in that I received a gift certificate to YouBar. Considering my love of customizable food items, I was delighted to return to the YouBar site. (I received samples for review back in Fall 2009). While I thoroughly enjoyed playing around with all the possible combinations, I soon discovered a caveat with the ordering process—the minimum order is 13 bars. Being the leftovers-averse girl that I am, the prospect of eating the same bar 13 times was less than appealing.
However, after a little clicking around, I discovered the option for me—you can order a variety pack made up of various other customers’ bar creations. Consider it a “wild card” option. My box arrived today, and I was quite pleased with the vast array of flavors included in the mix. The best part? The wacky names!
Do you quickly get bored with the same foods? Also, what would you name your bar?
Let’s take a look at how I entertained my taste-buds today…
Ever since Seth and I joined Costco, my supply of dried fruit has increased by about ten-fold. Hence, I used up a handful with today’s oat bran.
After an mildly entertaining organic chemistry lecture (gasp!), I returned home to make a black bean couscous salad. The inspiration for this dish was a Black Bean Quinoa Salad from Clean Eating that I’ve made before.
Tonight’s dinner was Ellie recipe #10, Beet Salad with Watercress Drizzle.
My tweaks:
-I was completely out of walnuts (due to yesterday’s granola-making), so I substituted toasted hazelnuts.
-I added white beans for a little protein.
-I served the beets atop a bed of spinach, just for the delight of color contrast.
The star of this dish was definitely the watercress dressing—it was so fresh and creamy! The use of goat cheese in the drizzle was unexpected but completely delicious.
This recipe is available from FoodNetwork.com: Beet Salad with Watercress Drizzle
Good night, blog-friends!
Filed under: Meals
Caroline Yoder, dietitian-to-be and all-around foodie.
Oooh fun! I’d name my bar… the VeggieGirl delight (something corny like that, haha
).
Great recipe!
How is your hip doing?
oh man! Beet salad with watercress drizzle? Where do I sign up?!
oh, I need to try the watercress dressing, it looks and sound really good! I love goat cheese!
Ana
How fun indeed– I keep getting surprised and learning something new in the blogdom world!
Never knew you could design your own bar. Reminds me of mix my granola!
Hope your feeling better and taking it easy!
thank goodness they had that variety option. cool!
Awesome idea to go with the wild card for those bars! I bet the originators never thought they’d end up in the Broccoli Hut lol
I think I’d name mine. Amazebars. Or maybe Alybars.
Actually, I suck at naming. I’d do what you did
Haha ever since we joined Costco (20 years ago), my consumption of Greek yogurt and spring mix has increased ten fold.
I’ve wanted to try YouBars for so long now. I guess I missed the Groupon!
oh i saw that place once! it looks awesome– make your own bars?- i am alll on that!
yum! i love how you made it meal-appropriate with the white beans. i might have to make this!
I don’t like to eat the same thing over and over again either. I like varieties!
Haha I’m hooked on Groupon now too, thanks to my mom. already got some nice Yoga deals & massages out of it!
sounds like a fun gift! i agree, it would be hard to eat so many of the same kind of bar; glad you were able to get a variety…you’ll have to know us how they taste.
I need to get beans back into my life asaaaaaaaap! soo delicious!