So come and visit me in Music City...

Hello friends... blogging to you direct from Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville, Tennessee.

I have been enjoying a long weekend here with Zak, and so far we've done a whole lot of nothing. The resort is beautiful, 100% man-made "gardens" under huge glassed in ceilings, waterfalls and rivers, the works. It's gorgeous and we're having a great time.

We've enjoyed taking in the sights, working out at the great fitness center and pool, and even made it to their Vegas-style nightclub for some dancing. Can't say that I've ever paid $22 for two cocktails, but hey! We're on vacation.

As for Nashville itself, we're gonna get there tomorrow. Will be spending the better part of the day touring the historic Ryman Auditorium and exploring Downtown.

Now that we've been here a couple days, we both are thinkin' we could have planned ahead a bit more, food-wise. The restaurants here are nice, but are overpriced ($17 for pancakes? Seriously!). We found a Cracker Barrel restaurant that's about .75 miles from our room at the resort, and have visited twice. For our dietary needs, there are a few menu options that offer fish or seafood, as well as a breakfast menu that's offered all day long. Tonight for dinner, I had two scrambled eggs, grits and biscuits. Random, definitely breakfast foods, but they did the trick to fill me up. Zak liked his entree of seasoned catfish filets, baked beans and a side salad. Our tab, including tip, was easily half of what it would be had we dined at the resort.

For snacks, I brought several packets of Justin's Natural maple almond butter, a can of Blue Diamond whole natural almonds, and a couple random bars. Honestly, I wish that I had brought 3x the amount of healthy foods, especially fruits and veggies. It would have been very easy to bring a couple cucumbers, a small bunch of bananas, and some apples in my carry on bag. Does anyone know is hummus is allowed to clear through security? Not sure that it's considered a liquid / gel.

Anyway, time for some photos! I really enjoyed this Jam Frakas strawberry bar that I won from Heather's contest. It's from the makers of Larabar, so I guess that's no surprise! The texture was dense, the ingredient list was all stuff I recognized, and I loved the little crunchy strawberry seeds. I haven't seen these around the stores, but if I see 'em will definitely purchase in the future.

I have had my share of indulgences, too. This morning after my workout, this pastry was giving me the eye, so I took care of it :-)

Apricot cream cheese danish... mmm.

Yesterday, I was excited to find a Romano's Macaroni Grill nearby. We had lunch and started with their signature rosemary bread with olive oil, and delicious marinated olives.

I've been thinking a lot about Backstage Pass and am going to be making some changes over the next week, tweaking and revamping the theme and look. I'd like to achieve better consistency with topics, if you have any input I'd love to hear it. Of course, these thoughts don't pertain to just the blog but also to my overall approach toward health, diet, exercise, etc. I believe in rethinking things where necessary, and that evolution is the best approach to problem-solving. Gotta do what works for you!

Anyhow... hope to blog tomorrow with a recap of Downtown Nashville. Cheers, friends!

Sources: George Clooney says Coconut Cream Pie Larabars Looking Good

Happy Thursday, everyone! It's been a looooong but fun week. Lil' Sister Annie turned 23 on Tuesday - Happy Birthday again! I have to take a second to say what a proud big sister I am. Annie has accomplished so much at such a young age... halfway through her Masters in Psychology, and working on her PhD at the same time! She is a beautiful person physically and mentally, is a gracious hostess and chef, and inspires me in every way. Lately she's been impressing me with her hikes around Colorado Springs, and I am excited for her summit of Pike's Peak this September which she's doing for charity. Not to mention she's got impeccable taste for music and food, and an overall lust for life! I just love her so much and am so happy that we've got an awesome sisterly relationship :-)

Back to this week... Thanks to a ton of shows at work (6 total!) and an old friend who was in town on Monday / Tuesday off the Blink 182 / Fall Out Boy / Panic at the Disco tour, I've gotten my fair share of late nights this week! Did some time at the Safehouse - my favorite bar in America, and also Riptide, a great seafood bar and grill on the Milwaukee River. Today, Zak surprised me by suggesting we get lunch - he works really far from Downtown where I am, so we usually never get to do these kind of things. We bought sandwiches and enjoyed the sunshine, eating al fresco by the river. The weather is gorgeous and hopefully will hold out for the weekeend!

Tonight, we have Lykke Li at Turner Hall Ballroom and everyone around the office is pretty stoked for the show. We booked it what feels like forever ago, and it's crazy that it's finally here. Openers are Miike Snow - a couple members had produced Britney Spears' "Toxic" under a different artist name - and Esser, whose song "Headlock" is currently stuck in my head. One great thing my job has done to me over the years, is that I can appreciate all genres of music, and I feel like tonight will indulge my dance-y electronic side.

Now, on to the product review! Y'all ready for this?

Decided to try out my second ever Larabar today, the Coconut Cream Pie flavor, as an afternoon snack. How does this bar compare to the Pecan Pie bar, reviewed earlier this week?

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM! I prefer this flavor very much over the Pecan Pie Larabar.

How does this bar stack up, nutritionally? Let's take a look, stats are thanks of MyFitnessPal.com:

Nutrition Facts

Larabar - Coconut Cream Pie

Servings:    of 1 bar

Calories

200

Sodium

5 mg

Total Fat

10 g

Potassium

300 mg

     Saturated

7 g

Total Carbs

27 g

     Polyunsaturated

1 g

     Dietary Fiber

5 g

     Monounsaturated

2 g

     Sugars

21 g

     Trans

0 g

Protein

3 g

Cholesterol

0 mg

 

 

Vitamin A

0 %

Calcium

2 %

Vitamin C

0 %

Iron

6 %

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

The good:

- Flavor is great - all coconut, with the delectable flavors of almond and hint of mellow cashew

- The texture is grittier than the Pecan Pie bar but very pleasant, with detectable pieces of shredded coconut and nuts. 

- Ingredient list on the package says this bar has "Unsweetened Coconut, Almonds, Cashews, Extra Virgin Coconut Oil," fine by me. I love that there are so few ingredients and that all have recognizable names!

- 10% your daily value for Copper again (LOL - so weird) as well as Magnesium

- 5g of fiber! That rocks.

- George Clooney recommends it... at least this picture makes it look like he does

I've had my Onion desk calendar stuck on Clooney's Feb. 3rd headline since... well since Feb. 3rd of this year. Isn't it hilarious? "Sources: George Clooney Looking Good"

The iffy:

- Fat content = Yowza! I had read a review of this bar from Tina, who loves this product but points out it has 7g of saturated fat! The label says that of the remaining 3g of total fat, 2g are monounsaturated and .05g polyunsaturated. This goes beyond my fat smarts so I am going to need to read up on what this exactly means.

- 200 calories, 3g protein = not what I typically look for in a bar. As I said with the Pecan Pie Larabar, I'd rather have high protein for so many calories. I realize that for a product that's mostly nuts and coconut this is average... however I look for more.

The Verdict:

I like prefer this flavor over the Pecan Pie bar, however will probably not purchase very often. I will save my dough for packaged bars that are higher in protein / other nutrients. I think it's a great once in a while indulgence, but a little too much of a splurge calorie and fat wise to be a regular snack item. I'd rather eat more food to feel full :-)

Some questions - please feel free to leave comments!

What is your favorite flavor of Larabar? 

What is your favorite packaged energy / granola / fruit bar?

What is your favorite George Clooney movie? ;-)

Review: Pecan Pie Larabar

Finally, a food post on my 'food' blog!

Seriously folks. 

Today, I tried my first Larabar. I have been very excited about these because the brand is widely loved in the food / fitness blog world, with flavors like Pecan Pie (which I will review here), Key Lime Pie and Coconut Cream Pie. "Any food that's named after pie is fine with me!" says my sweet tooth. Also, as someone named Laura I just love products that seem similar to my name. Laurabar? Love it.

Anyhoo, I tried the Pecan Pie bar and the texture was interesting... cake-y and dense, almost like a dessert bar or blondie, with little chunks of pecans and almonds. It didn't really taste like pecan pie to me, but the flavor was smooth and pleasant. The word 'wholesome' comes to mind as well. I was pleased with myself when I looked at the ingredient list: Dates, Pecans, Almonds. That's all! No preservatives or any other ingredients. Most of the baked goods I make at home have more ingredients than just three.

The downside? Perhaps because of the fact that there are just three ingredients, this bar is lacking in the nutrient department. I see 10% of the daily value of Magnesium, 6% of Vitamin E, 8% of Phosphorus, 8% of Thiamin and 15% of Copper are provided here. That's right, if you're looking for a great source of Copper - Larabar is it! There is some Calcium provided, but it's just 4% of the daily value as is Iron, Riboflavin and other nutrients. I am aware that with a natural product with three ingredients, the reason these amounts aren't higher is because there isn't any vitamin sludge added in... but just sayin', I tend to expect more.

 

A big thing I look for with packaged bars is protein - this bar has only 3g of protein. ***WRONG BUZZER SOUND*** Fiber = 4g which is great - though I like it when companies note which amount is water soluable / non-soluable and Larabar does not make that distinction. The bar has 16g of sugar which is OK...

The deal breaker for me with this is that there is 14g of fat in this bar, 1g of which is saturated. Now, I love my nut butters which are high in fat, and this bar is made of two types of nuts... however 14g of fat boils down to about 20% of my fat intake for the day, and I am not sure I want to use my fat allowance on this bar! It'd be great for days when I don't feel like eating raw nuts or adding nut butter to my breakfast, however those days are few and far between :-D

Oh and the bar weighs in at 200 calories, which for me is on the high end for anything low in protein. 120 of said calories are from fat. Is it bad that I'd rather eat a serving of dates / almonds / pecans instead of this bar?

There you have it. Pecan Pie Larabar = A+ for ingredients, B+ in flavor, C in protein / fat ratio, D for nutrients provided and I probably won't purchase it very often. 

I do have the Lemon Bar and Coconut Cream Pie flavors to try out, so watch for a review in the next week or so. Cheers!