I was full of squeaks and exclamations as I read your comments on my last post about the Golden Pillow. It’s a good thing nobody heard me muttering and squealing to myself,  “I know, right?” and “Exactly my point!” and “Whoa hahahaha!” and “Aaawww…” and “Hear, hear!”

To summarize it up: Thank God, praise Jesus I wasn’t the only one freaked out by that Golden Pillow! I was relieved to see you agreeing with me that it was definitely not appealing. I’m glad, because seriously I seemed to be the only aware of how utterly grease-laden that dinner was. Everybody one else tucked happily away.

And I absolutely just laughed out loud at Cacti Don’t Cry’s remark: “I probably would have run away screaming.” Trust me, I wanted to! But I doubt nobody would have noticed anyway, what with their total attention on the food, and there is just no point in throwing a big fuss if there isn’t anyone to notice…

Haha. So. I think God took pity on me, because he gave me another day off from challenging foods. I was supposed to eat out with Jingwen yesterday, but at the last minute she couldn’t make it so I was by my own for lunch. It was so last notice, though, so I did not have the time to go grocery shopping, and my fridge was still quite empty after the last clear-out of leftovers. Well, I wasn’t complaining because that meant it was oatmeal time again!

The same thing as before, my favorite way to cook oatmeal:

A bit more than 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup pumpkin, cinnamon, maple syrup,  vanilla, fresh grated coconut.

On the side I had eggs again, but tried a new technique:

Sushi-style, with toasted nori. This was just a simple flat, plain 2-egg omelete. As the top was barely set I laid a piece of nori on top, then rolled it up.

Cute, but dry. I ended up having to dip them in ketchup:

It’s an interesting concept though, so I’ll be experimenting more with this in the future. Stay tuned, and I’ll be happy to receive any suggestions and ideas on this!

Well, since yesterday was a relaxed, lazy day, I wanted to once again flex my culinary muscles in the kitchen today. There was a pack of frozen ground pork lying in the freezer for quite some time now, so I decided to use that up for lunch today.

Now the idea for today’s lunch stemmed from a conversation I had with a reader via email about nutrition/ meal replacement bars. I noticed that there is this big craze for bars in the blogging world, particularly Cliff, Luna, and Lara bars. Now I’m not judging or disapproving the use of bars in any way, but this is just my own personal take on these bars:

I try to avoid bars. Call me a snob, but I try to stay as close to whole, natural foods as possible. I know Lara bars are made of minimal, bare natural ingredients, but the idea of food being ground and compressed, packed into a plastic package, and kept on shelves for months just does not appeal to me. Also, they remind me of my ED days when I would have them as replacements for meals. The fact that they came perfectly portioned with the exact nutritional information stamped on them made them a “safe” food for me, so I would substitute them for real foods.

But! To each their own. I know most of you are not like me, substituting these bars for whole meals. I agree they are great for a fast, portable snack when you have a busy schedule and just can’t fix up a more time-consuming snack. Also, these bars keep well and yes, some of them taste pretty good (I would really like to try the WCMN Luna bar myself once I return to the States).

Still, I figured it would be nice to offer another alternative to these bars. A fast, portable, delicious snack/meal replacement that has all the components and satiety of a home-cooked meal, and not just as a boring sandwich either. One negative thing about these bars (to me, anyway) is that they’re all based off dessert flavors! You’ve never seen a pizza-flavored or a salad-flavored bar, have  you?

Anyway, I thought, what brings forth a warm, comforting, home-style meal more than the good ol’ meatloaf and potatoes? I chose this classic dish for my inspiration, and came up with…

Meat and Potato “Muffins”

Meatloaf “Muffins”

• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 small red onion, chopped and diced
• 1/4 cup green bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 lb ground pork
• 1/3 cup black beans
• 1/3 cup homemade whole wheat bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup homemade BBQ sauce (directions here)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• salt and pepper
  

I first stir-fried the garlic, onion, and pepper in a skillet until soft, then dumped them into a big bowl with all the other ingredients and mixed them together. Then I stuffed a hefty portion into the muffin tins, and topped them off with some ketchup.

Potato “Muffins”

• 3 cooked, golden potatoes
• equal amount of roasted winter squash
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt
• 1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• splash of almond milk
• salt and pepper
• sprinkle of cinnamon

After the potatoes are cooked and cooled, I thinly sliced them with the winter squash. I first put a base of parchment paper in the muffin pan; as this being an experiment, I was not sure if the potatoes would hold its shape as a muffin. Then I layered the potato and winter squash into the muffin pan, seasoning them with salt and pepper as I went. I topped each “muffin” with a dollop of yogurt, dribbled some almond milk over, and sprinkled the cheese and cinnamon over.

I baked both the meat and potato “muffins” in the same muffin pan, as they both took roughly the same time to cook and in the same temperature: about 400 Fahrenheit, 30-35 minutes.

I could barely wait for them to cook, and was so excited as I finally pulled them out of the oven:

I tell you, just the sight of that melted, toasted cheese fires up my drooling cues. The warm, glorious aroma didn’t help, either. Mmm~!

I was super pleased to see that my potato “muffins” held its shape pretty well! But next time I might add a beaten egg to bind them more firmly together.

I ladled some out for myself, and had to control my urge to pop one straight into my mouth before I took these lovely photographs:

These were so delicious, I felt even more confident that I just had to promote them in my blog.

The meat “muffins” were firm and plump and extremely juicy. The BBQ sauce and cumin made the overall taste zesty, bright, and neatly spiced. I loved the extra texture the black beans provided. The ketchup on top caramelized into a wonderful glaze and kept the meat from getting dry in the oven.

I guess you can call these potato “muffins” a mini-potato gratin. They were all together both crunchy and soft, with that faint tang from the yogurt. And who can resist the golden, toasted, cheesy topping!

Hell yeah. I’d take a couple of these over any bar. Even the WCMN Luna bar which I am dying to try.

I did a rough calculation, and the meat “muffins” come up to about 200-250 kcal a piece (I made four dense ones out of the above ingredients), and the potato “muffins” about 150 kcal per piece (out of four). One of these meat “muffins” and two of the potato “muffins” should make a quick, portable meal-on-the-go, and just one meat “muffin” would make a very substantial snack.

And FYI, these were just as delicious cooled and at room temperature. I popped another meat “muffin” into my mouth as part of my afternoon snack.

Obviously, I’m not asking you to give up your lovely Lara/Luna/Cliff/Pure/whatever bars. But do give these a try! They are seriously delicious, and I’ll bet you’ll save tons of money, as those bars can get pretty expensive!

So, in lieu of today’s topic, here’s today’s question of the day: Do you rely on bars as snacks or meals? When, and what type of bars do you like? What is your personal opinion on them? Feel free to bash mine if you like, I’d be interested in hearing a different voice.

Related posts:

1. I wanna thank my mama, my papa…
2. Dine out fresh, dine in leftovers
3. I am Fusion Queen
4. Twiddling my thumbs for the Big Event
5. Tasty brown goop and Flavorful veggies

Tagged as: beans, cheese, coconut, eggs, muffins, omelete, pork, potatoes, pumpkin