Herbed Pork Loin Chop with Barley and Vegetables

I've had some motivation issues with cooking ever since Christmas and though I have been cooking, I haven't been particularly happy with anything I've made or interested by any of it. (I don't think I could name a thing I've eaten in the past week.) This was quite good, though, and I only really put in effort on... 1/3 of the plate. Maybe less.

The pork is something I've made before, I may even have photographed before, though I can't really recall. It's essentially just a pork loin chop that's been rubbed with crushed garlic and covered with basil, thyme, and oregano before baking. It's actually not anything overly special, but it's nice and it's easy. (And that was the effort part.)

The side dish, which took over the plate, is a barley and vegetable pilaf from Green Giant. What's on the plate is about 1.5 servings (it comes frozen in a 2 serving box) but since I wasn't making a separate salad, I decided to get in all my vegetables this way. I actually really liked it, for a boxed and frozen side dish.

It's a combination of barley, broccoli, red pepper, and edamame in a very light sauce of soy sauce, garlic and ginger. I always worry about frozen meals like this because so often they're really high in sodium, but this one for 1 serving was only 240mg of sodium (about 10% the recommended daily serving). It tasted a tiny bit salty to me, but only in the way that soy sauce tastes salty, not like it had been over-preserved or seasoned.

I think I'd definitely pick up one of these boxes again, maybe even eat them on my night shifts on the weekend, since I'm always at a loss for something to eat at 2 am when I'm starting to get hungry and am also cold and in need of energy.

Anyway, a decent dinner. And a new plate! It's actually a part of a two-piece set but until I make soup again I probably won't photograph it as it's meant to be. (I've got the same set in blue, so it's shown up here before.)