Since this is my first review in a while, I don't have much to say. I just posted a half hour ago too, so we'll jump right in to the review:
First Impressions: The peanuty thai sauce smell coming from the microwave is SUPER enticing! As I stir up the noodles, chicken, and carrots I note that the sauce is about the same orange as the carrots, so I'm hoping it won't be too spicy. There are plenty of bite sized chicken pieces and the carrots are about quarter inch rectangles, while the noodles are linguine in size and shape but made from rice.
Taste: On first bite, I would say that the sauce is a little too peanut buttery and sweet for me, but as I kept eating it, the meal became more enjoyable. There's definitely a spicy kick to the sauce, but I've eaten a good few bites so far and haven't needed water yet. I would say that this spice level is just about perfect for me -- any more spicy and it wouldn't be enjoyable. To put it on a scale, I would say it falls slightly below most medium salsas out there. As an aside, I just wanted to note that for the calories & fat content of this meal (260 and 4 grams, respectively) I wasn't expecting such an intense and delicious flavor. It's a rarity to find that in the low-cal and fat industry!
Texture: The carrots have a little life left in them texture wise and give a slight crunch. The chicken is moist and just the texture it should be, except for this one piece I had that was a little larger than the rest and on the dry side. I know frozen food companies have the tendency to basically grind their chicken meat and re-form it into patties or bite sized shapes, but this chicken has the same texture of a sliced boneless breast made at home which is a welcome sign to me. The rice noodles can be difficult for some people because they're naturally soft and a little gummy. I happen to enjoy the lighter flavor of rice noodles and the gummy part doesn't get to me so there's really nothing much to say about them.
Usually the photo would go here, but my camera is packed away in god knows what bag! Sorry!
General Thoughts: This meal is pretty much a slam dunk in the low cal low fat frozen entree world. It hits all the right notes with the slight sweetness of the carrots, the peanut-spice sauce, and the bite size morsels of chicken cooked right. I would advise strongly against this meal if you don't like satay sauces or have issues with noodle texture, since as I said rice noodles by nature have a gummy texture unlike wheat based noodles, but if you're interested in Asian flavors or looking to spice things up at lunch, I strongly suggest this entree to you!
I would definitely buy this again!
Rating: 4.5 stars
Calories: 260
Fat: 4 grams
Smart One's Website with Complete Nutrition Info
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Calm Before the Storm
These past few weeks have been legitimately crazy and hectic. I've moved out from my Summer housing as of August 20th and started moving back to Rhode Island for the school year this past Sunday. In between that I went home for a week, had a few doctor's appointments and tried to cram in as much friend visiting as I could. It wasn't until yesterday that I even really did a lot of unpacking, and I still have stuff that needs to find homes. Today I have to go grocery shopping, get the rest of my stuff in order, and I have a sorority meeting at 6:00 pm. Suffice to say that blogging has been low on my priority list...
As far as my eating has been concerned, it's been all over the place. When I come back into town to see my family and friends, everyone wants to get together and go to dinner. I really appreciate the sentiment but often we go to places that I know I won't have a shot of making a healthy decision at. In order to defray the Restaurant Dieting, I tried hard to eat low-calorie during the days but even that could only staunch the flow of fat and calories so much.
Since I have to go grocery shopping today, I'm looking diligently at the sale flyer for Stop and Shop to save some money and eat healthy. I was absolutely thrilled to see Smart Ones on sale 8 for $10 this week -- even if I gave one of their meals a pretty awful review. I'm excited to get back on the wagon, so to speak, with healthy eating and healthy reviewing! I think I'll also be able to review my first healthy dessert since some of the sale covers that as well. I also saw that one of my favorite fruits, peaches are just $.99 a pound and that Kraft has some new deli flatbread creations on sale that are supposedly low-calorie. Sounds good to me.
Last night I some friends came over and we had some margaritas in my apartment on campus. It was nice to see everyone but I was tired and slowed down early. My apartment is set up so that there's a kitchen, bathroom, sinks, living room and two double bedrooms so we have a good amount of space. My direct roomie, Carolynn, went to visit her boyfriend for the night and has yet to return so I've been chilling with my other roomie Maria. In 2 hours I should be on my way to grocery shopping but until then I'm going to have to eat something which means review time for the blog. Excuse me while I switch costumes and get ready for a new post!
As far as my eating has been concerned, it's been all over the place. When I come back into town to see my family and friends, everyone wants to get together and go to dinner. I really appreciate the sentiment but often we go to places that I know I won't have a shot of making a healthy decision at. In order to defray the Restaurant Dieting, I tried hard to eat low-calorie during the days but even that could only staunch the flow of fat and calories so much.
Since I have to go grocery shopping today, I'm looking diligently at the sale flyer for Stop and Shop to save some money and eat healthy. I was absolutely thrilled to see Smart Ones on sale 8 for $10 this week -- even if I gave one of their meals a pretty awful review. I'm excited to get back on the wagon, so to speak, with healthy eating and healthy reviewing! I think I'll also be able to review my first healthy dessert since some of the sale covers that as well. I also saw that one of my favorite fruits, peaches are just $.99 a pound and that Kraft has some new deli flatbread creations on sale that are supposedly low-calorie. Sounds good to me.
Last night I some friends came over and we had some margaritas in my apartment on campus. It was nice to see everyone but I was tired and slowed down early. My apartment is set up so that there's a kitchen, bathroom, sinks, living room and two double bedrooms so we have a good amount of space. My direct roomie, Carolynn, went to visit her boyfriend for the night and has yet to return so I've been chilling with my other roomie Maria. In 2 hours I should be on my way to grocery shopping but until then I'm going to have to eat something which means review time for the blog. Excuse me while I switch costumes and get ready for a new post!
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
The Gorey Details, Part II
As the title indicates, this is a continuation of my previous blog post about a vacation I took this past weekend with Matt on Cape Cod.
I first went to the Dan'l Webster Inn around 3 years ago on vacation with my best friend, Dan. His dad had read about it and wanted to try the place out and that meal ended up as my favorite meal of all time. They have an early dinner menu where you get 3 complete courses for a great price, though I must say that it was a little better the first time I tried it than the most recent time. It was still an enjoyable experience though. I had the Chicken Fig Marsala, which looked smaller and overall different this time versus what I got 3 years ago. They also had questionable soup choices, so I went with the upgrade to the French Onion soup which was both a little too big for me to finish and slightly too salty. I was sad to hear the choices for dessert were Grapenut Pudding (yuck) or a Chocolate Brownie sundae, but I opted for the sundae as I didn't want to dish out the extra $5 to $6 for a dessert upgrade when nothing was that appealing.
Part of the reason why my first visit to Dan'l Webster was so memorable was the first course of Cauliflower Cheese soup and the dessert of Flourless Chocolate Gateau with Raspberry Coulis. This was my first taste of that fudgey delight of a cake and I've been taken with it ever since, ordering it whenever I get the chance. The Brownie Sundae was better than I expected, but they could have spared some more brownie pieces for goodness sake. Alright I'm just being picky now, I should be grateful that I got that all for about $20 sans tax and tip versus Matt's $27 entree-only Duck Trio that he only half-liked. I tried a piece of duck but there was just something off about it and I couldn't even get past two chews before I had to, ahem, spit it out...
After Dan'l Webster, we went back to our hotel and decided to walk to one of the mini-golf places right near us. I opted to go for the more showy looking Wild Animal Lagoon, which ended up being pricey, annoying, and not challenging at all. I beat Matt by about 4 strokes though, which almost made up for it. I still kick myself for not trying out the smaller Putter's Paradise right next to the hotel which is a local fave and apparently pretty cheap too. Matt was pretty hungry as we both ate dinner earlier than usual and he didn't eat half of what was on his plate, so we did a late night McDonald's run. I got a Double Cheeseburger in spite of everything and I ended up eating half his medium fries and some of a chicken select, too. That was pretty much it for Friday, except that I stayed up late designing a Coheed & Cambria t-shirt for a contest. I thought it was due the next day but luckily the contest was extended until the 25th.
(Urgh, pause for being angry at this school's shit ass internet connection. Had to switch from Blogger to Notepad to finish writing this.)
Sunday consisted of going to Provincetown for the day, but we once again got a late start and had a kind of slow lunch (and crummy), so we didn't get there until about 2 PM. We didn't last too long there, as I wasn't hungry enough to wait around to eat dinner there, then wait for any of the shows that would start at 8 PM or later. By 5:30 PM we were headed back and I felt really regret that I didn't get to spend more time there due to being tired. P-town was one of the vacation spots for my family for a few years (along with Old Orchard Beach) so I felt nostalgic and didn't want to return to Yarmouth. Matt was pretty hungry almost all afternoon, which I didn't know until we went to a later dinner at DiParma that night around 8 PM. We had a half hour wait, which was kind of BS in my opinion but we stuck around because he was digging the place and wanted Italian. Dinner was nice enough, but I hated how slow it was. I wasn't really hungry and was sort of absently eating but I'll tell you their house salad was phenomenal for some unknown reason. I should have just ordered one for dinner, but I wasn't hungry while I ordered and just got something (the steak) I thought would be good enough; it was, don't get me wrong, but not being hungry sucks the life outta enjoying food to me. We missed our chance to get another round of mini-golf in because the two flashy places were way too packed for my liking and by the time we ate, which probably took a good hour and half or more when all is said and done. I figured Putter's Paradise would be closing soon so I didn't bother to go check them out just to get my hopes dashed.
Monday was gloomy and full of light rain, the perfect going home weather. We stopped at the Cape Cod Potato Chip factory for a tour and found ourselves in a 15 minute long line. There was a group of French Canadians in front of us, which provided me with some entertainment (I've taken French ever since Junior High) but ultimately the tour was lame; it's self-guided through the use of a few posters explaining the process accompanied by 4 or 5 big glass windows you can look into. It all funnels into the store at the end, where you pay full supermarket prices for everything. We got 3 bags of chips (all new flavors - 40% reduced fat BBQ, Sweet and Spicy Jalapeno, and Yukon Gold) plus their only flavor of popcorn, which tastes really similar to Smartfood but a bit lighter and fresher.
We stopped for lunch at Red Robin on the way back, which was another slight disappointment. The Royal Red Robin Burger (I suspect the bun actually) tasted a bit off even though it was my usual order and Matt didn't like what he got. We both wanted to try the special burger (Spicy Honey Glazed Bacon Burger) we saw online, but our table was missing the promotional stove shaped box so we both thought they didn't have the burger in stores anymore. We were wrong. Matt then drove me back to Salem, where I packed up some stuff with my Hello Kitty bike and sent him home. I hated to send him back, but it was already getting darker and gloomier and we had no more reason to beat around the bush.
I guess now that I look back on it, the overall vacation events were kind of mediocre but going to the Gorey House really made up for it. I'm really looking forward to a time when Matt and I can go on vacation and enjoy it fully instead of having a rushed two-nighter crammed in right before I finish up my Summer class. I'm looking forward to doing something fun this Spring Break, but as to what I'm not sure. Neither of us are interested in the typical college Spring Break, though I really want to go on a cruise. It's too bad that just about every cruise will be packed with annoying college kids. I would say that we could go to Montreal but I don't think going farther up North during the cold months is a great idea either. I'll have to brain storm it with him later.
So it's approaching midnight now and I seriously can't go to sleep without studying more. Not sure how much this helped, but I'm handing myself over to the Accounting Gods now!
I first went to the Dan'l Webster Inn around 3 years ago on vacation with my best friend, Dan. His dad had read about it and wanted to try the place out and that meal ended up as my favorite meal of all time. They have an early dinner menu where you get 3 complete courses for a great price, though I must say that it was a little better the first time I tried it than the most recent time. It was still an enjoyable experience though. I had the Chicken Fig Marsala, which looked smaller and overall different this time versus what I got 3 years ago. They also had questionable soup choices, so I went with the upgrade to the French Onion soup which was both a little too big for me to finish and slightly too salty. I was sad to hear the choices for dessert were Grapenut Pudding (yuck) or a Chocolate Brownie sundae, but I opted for the sundae as I didn't want to dish out the extra $5 to $6 for a dessert upgrade when nothing was that appealing.
Part of the reason why my first visit to Dan'l Webster was so memorable was the first course of Cauliflower Cheese soup and the dessert of Flourless Chocolate Gateau with Raspberry Coulis. This was my first taste of that fudgey delight of a cake and I've been taken with it ever since, ordering it whenever I get the chance. The Brownie Sundae was better than I expected, but they could have spared some more brownie pieces for goodness sake. Alright I'm just being picky now, I should be grateful that I got that all for about $20 sans tax and tip versus Matt's $27 entree-only Duck Trio that he only half-liked. I tried a piece of duck but there was just something off about it and I couldn't even get past two chews before I had to, ahem, spit it out...
After Dan'l Webster, we went back to our hotel and decided to walk to one of the mini-golf places right near us. I opted to go for the more showy looking Wild Animal Lagoon, which ended up being pricey, annoying, and not challenging at all. I beat Matt by about 4 strokes though, which almost made up for it. I still kick myself for not trying out the smaller Putter's Paradise right next to the hotel which is a local fave and apparently pretty cheap too. Matt was pretty hungry as we both ate dinner earlier than usual and he didn't eat half of what was on his plate, so we did a late night McDonald's run. I got a Double Cheeseburger in spite of everything and I ended up eating half his medium fries and some of a chicken select, too. That was pretty much it for Friday, except that I stayed up late designing a Coheed & Cambria t-shirt for a contest. I thought it was due the next day but luckily the contest was extended until the 25th.
(Urgh, pause for being angry at this school's shit ass internet connection. Had to switch from Blogger to Notepad to finish writing this.)
Sunday consisted of going to Provincetown for the day, but we once again got a late start and had a kind of slow lunch (and crummy), so we didn't get there until about 2 PM. We didn't last too long there, as I wasn't hungry enough to wait around to eat dinner there, then wait for any of the shows that would start at 8 PM or later. By 5:30 PM we were headed back and I felt really regret that I didn't get to spend more time there due to being tired. P-town was one of the vacation spots for my family for a few years (along with Old Orchard Beach) so I felt nostalgic and didn't want to return to Yarmouth. Matt was pretty hungry almost all afternoon, which I didn't know until we went to a later dinner at DiParma that night around 8 PM. We had a half hour wait, which was kind of BS in my opinion but we stuck around because he was digging the place and wanted Italian. Dinner was nice enough, but I hated how slow it was. I wasn't really hungry and was sort of absently eating but I'll tell you their house salad was phenomenal for some unknown reason. I should have just ordered one for dinner, but I wasn't hungry while I ordered and just got something (the steak) I thought would be good enough; it was, don't get me wrong, but not being hungry sucks the life outta enjoying food to me. We missed our chance to get another round of mini-golf in because the two flashy places were way too packed for my liking and by the time we ate, which probably took a good hour and half or more when all is said and done. I figured Putter's Paradise would be closing soon so I didn't bother to go check them out just to get my hopes dashed.
Monday was gloomy and full of light rain, the perfect going home weather. We stopped at the Cape Cod Potato Chip factory for a tour and found ourselves in a 15 minute long line. There was a group of French Canadians in front of us, which provided me with some entertainment (I've taken French ever since Junior High) but ultimately the tour was lame; it's self-guided through the use of a few posters explaining the process accompanied by 4 or 5 big glass windows you can look into. It all funnels into the store at the end, where you pay full supermarket prices for everything. We got 3 bags of chips (all new flavors - 40% reduced fat BBQ, Sweet and Spicy Jalapeno, and Yukon Gold) plus their only flavor of popcorn, which tastes really similar to Smartfood but a bit lighter and fresher.
We stopped for lunch at Red Robin on the way back, which was another slight disappointment. The Royal Red Robin Burger (I suspect the bun actually) tasted a bit off even though it was my usual order and Matt didn't like what he got. We both wanted to try the special burger (Spicy Honey Glazed Bacon Burger) we saw online, but our table was missing the promotional stove shaped box so we both thought they didn't have the burger in stores anymore. We were wrong. Matt then drove me back to Salem, where I packed up some stuff with my Hello Kitty bike and sent him home. I hated to send him back, but it was already getting darker and gloomier and we had no more reason to beat around the bush.
I guess now that I look back on it, the overall vacation events were kind of mediocre but going to the Gorey House really made up for it. I'm really looking forward to a time when Matt and I can go on vacation and enjoy it fully instead of having a rushed two-nighter crammed in right before I finish up my Summer class. I'm looking forward to doing something fun this Spring Break, but as to what I'm not sure. Neither of us are interested in the typical college Spring Break, though I really want to go on a cruise. It's too bad that just about every cruise will be packed with annoying college kids. I would say that we could go to Montreal but I don't think going farther up North during the cold months is a great idea either. I'll have to brain storm it with him later.
So it's approaching midnight now and I seriously can't go to sleep without studying more. Not sure how much this helped, but I'm handing myself over to the Accounting Gods now!
The Gorey Details, Part I
My time stuck in Summer classes it just about over, as I have my final tomorrow night and will be moving out Friday evening. I started off on the right track studying today, but after a half hour (maybe less) I decided to reward myself with an episode of Darker Than Black which ended up turning into about 4 episodes. I figured 'Why not just finish the series now, start studying again around 8 and be distraction free?' Well it didn't work out so well... now it's almost 10 pm and I STILL haven't touched it again.
I'm going to really try and sit down and focus once I'm done blogging. I'm hoping that if I can get some of this gobbledygook out of my head it'll let me concentrate.
For one, I've been on a sort of hiatus from here as I both ran out of foods to review and because I went on a weekend vacation to Cape Cod with my boyfriend Matt. It was nice to get away, but I was sweating over the grade I would receive Tuesday (as in yesterday) in Accounting. Turns out I got a 75, which isn't great but is far better than what I expected. Now if I can manage to slip by with an overall C in this course I'll be grateful, but 30% of my grade hinges on this final (or, I should REALLY be studying right now!)
Last Friday I took the 'Great Voyage' from Salem to Rhode Island which started at roughly 2 PM and ended when I was picked up at 5:30ish PM. Usually it's an hour by local bus plus another hour to hour and 15 minutes by train into Providence, where I get picked up. Then it's another 30 minutes to Matt's which I usually don't count because I have his company to keep me occupied and I'm so happy to not be surrounded by crying kids, smelly people, and the crazies that ride the MBTA.
Friday was pretty low key. We had half-assed plans with Matt's buddies to go to hibachi at Shogun which would be the 3rd week in a ROW we both went, so I'm kinda glad they fell through. Instead we went to eat at Carrabba's where I had a nice pomegranate martini and a small plate of their Pollo Rosa Maria. Not that I was counting much of what I was eating as it was vacation, but even if I were curious I can't make much sense out of Carrabba's Nutrition Information Page. Not only does it not list the Pollo Rosa Maria or the Cavatappi Amitriciana, I'm not sure how to interpret their system. How many calories and grams of fat are in a unit of fat?
Afterwards, we stopped by the new Target Supercenter to get me some flip flops. I love Target, and I could give a hoot less about their recent controversy over giving money to this or that politician. I would have browsed in there longer, much to the chagrin of Matt, but we had first gone to Trader Joe's and bought some frozen foods. I got a box of Chocolate Mochi ice cream which I didn't get to try yet because I was so full all Friday and we left early Saturday. Here's a nifty blog post with photos and a better description of the product if you're interested, or you can head to the distributer's web site and in the upper right hand corner find a link to order up any combo of 5 boxes to be delivered at home (for the more adventurous). I'd be interested in trying all their flavors, but I know Matt would especially love the Red Bean one and Kona Coffee one entices me. They're not exactly healthy, but per 2 mochi, it's only 230 calories and 7 grams of fat. I can live with it.
Friday finished up with some cleaning (a condition given to us by his mom but it needed to be done anyways) and some True Blood. Saturday we got up early-ish but due to his step dad borrowing the car and Matt's horrible penchant for packing last minute, we barely got out the door by 10:15 AM. We stopped at our favorite joint, McGovern's, to try out their weekend breakfast and it was solid. We were on the road a little after 11 AM but managed to get snarled in an hours worth of traffic, which left us both edgy and brought up a little arguing.
We went to our first destination, Cape Cod Beer, for a surprise brewery tour and tasting. It was more of a surprise for Matt since I hate beer but it ended up being a wash. The place was tiny as hell and crowded. I figured it would have been emptier since it was a great beach day. We left, discouraged, for our next destination: The Edward Gorey House.
Now I admit, I had already seen photos and read up a bit on The Edward Gorey House. I figured since it was so small I'd probably run through it in 20 minutes and then leave disappointed. Matt has read some Gorey stuff but he isn't a buff like I am, which also added to my apprehension. I'm trying to work on my self-centered habits of forgetting to 'take one for the team' and do things he might like but are boring for me (hence brewery tour) but it's pretty hard because Matt is really generous and self-sacrificing. I digress.
When we drove up, I first saw an iron wrought statue of The Doubtful Guest (a penguin like character from a Christmasy Gorey story) which happens to be Matt's preferred (or only favorite) Gorey character. We stopped to take a picture or two and read some plaques outside about Gorey's stone serpent and magnolia tree before stepping inside. When we got in, there were about 3 other guests at the house and some volunteer staff. We both bought year long memberships for $20 each which gets us free entry to the museum for a year, a member pin, and 10% off merch from the gift shop (a sweet deal). It's also 100% tax deductible, as the proceeds go directly to maintaining the house. Gorey also has a charitable trust set up for local animal shelters and related wild life causes so how can I not support these guys and his memory?
After signing up for memberships we got a nice guided tour by a guy from San Francisco. He was an Historic Preservation major there to work for the Summer with his partner (who was an Art History major or some such). They got to live upstairs in the house for the Summer which makes me a little jealous. I'll also note that Ombledroom, the resident cat, was sick and kept away from the museum downstairs much to my disappointment. In any case, we got an excellent tour where I actually learned a bunch of new factoids about ole Ed -- did you know he was basically a hoarder? I didn't until then! I highly urge any of you that visit the Cape to go see the house. It's only $5 admission and if you're into dark humor, history, art, or anything of that nature it's a hidden gem!
After our tour, Matt and I started to explore the house a little more. We got these 'Gashlycrumb Tinies' scavenger hunt pamphlets and spent a good twenty minutes frantically searching the house for all 26 references to the children in the story. We got a hint for the first one and a little help at the end too (we got stuck on 'N is for Neville who died of ennui"). Our prize wasn't anything huge, just a postcard with Gorey art on it but it was such an innovative and engaging way to explore the house. I didn't stop and read every single thing but we both plan to hit the house up again so I think of it as leaving room for discovering more stuff in the future.
After an hour, we left the EGH with some swag and smiles, pleasantly surprised by how much we loved the house. It was the number 1 highlight for me on our trip and I bet Matt would say the same. We drove around a little and finally killed enough time to check into our hotel (a 4 PM check in is pretty late and odd in my book) which was probably one of the better hotels I've been in. It was the perfect size, though maybe a little small for being billed as a 'suite'. King size bed, flat panel TV that rotated, a nice desk, wet bar/micro fridge area, and a couch that doubled as a full size pull out. We had just enough time to sit for a few minutes and get dressed for our dinner reservations at the Dan'l Webster Inn.
This post to be continued in the next part, as I've already written a lot and want to break things up for the reader (as if I actually HAD readers :P ).
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Crawling Up the Walls
As I started going on about in my last post, I'm going crazy with boredom stuck in my room here in Salem. My closest friends (geographically) are either not here (one's at my regular school down in RI, another out of the country), leaving for someplace soon (the Cape, where I will be Saturday), or at work. Now I'm not saying that I necessarily need a friend in order to go out or enjoy myself, but I guess I just don't see the point in schlepping it an hour to Boston just to wander around aimlessly spending too much money and eating a million calories.
I'm not sure if this is a quirk unique to me, but I find the more bored I am the more in actuality I have to do. Right now I could be cleaning my room, washing dishes, starting to pack for the weekend & move out, putting away laundry, showering, or studying for a test I have tomorrow. Yet none of this is fun and I'm a horrible procrastinator. Of course, when I have a million things going on like heading to class that's when I want to organize photos on my computer or make a fabulous meal. Go figure.
On days like this, I usually head over to CinemaSalem and catch a flick. They're a small local theater, with only 4 screens. This means pickings are slim -- this week, the only thing that interests me is Inception, which I saw at CinemaSalem when it first came out. Next week is similar, since I'm not interested in Salt and I don't care much for Steve Carrell. The original French movie of Dinner for Schmucks was pretty good so I also fear that the American version will do a disservice to its forefather. And to be brutally honest, as this point I just want some freaking movie theater popcorn.
I found this article from 2009 pretty interesting. It's WebMD's summary of a report from the Center of Science in the Public Interest on movie theater popcorn from various theater chains in the US. I knew that popcorn was laden with salt and empty calories, but it stings a little to see exactly how bad it is for you. It seems that since most chains use coconut oil to pop their corn, it adds a lot of fat and calories. This is even before butter topping comes into play, guys! Since I have a soft spot in my heart for popcorn, I'm not about to give it up when I go to the theaters, but instead I will share a medium size with my boyfriend and opt for a diet beverage (why add an extra 200+ calories, it's just insult to injury at that point).
While on the topic of nutrition information, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Boston Market, one of Matt's (and mine now too I supposed) favorite places to eat has some decent lower calorie and fat offerings. Usually I won't eat anything off a bone, but when they had their 25th anniversary special I tried their 1/4 white chicken breast plate and found I really liked it. Without the skin, the generous portion of chicken is only 240 calories and 4 grams of fat! I usually only like skin when it's really crispy and freshly out of the oven, so I have no problem skipping on the soft, greasy skin of Boston Market's chicken. I really appreciate their meals under 550 calorie page, which includes 6 different plates (one meat and two regular sides) as well as 3 lunch-minded options (half sandwiches with either a salad, fruit, or steamed potato side).
Of course, there were also some (bad) shocks when I looked up the Market's nutrition facts. For instance, their turkey club/blt also has over 50 grams of fat, just like the equivalent sandwich at Bruegger's I spoke about a few posts ago. Their large meatlof serving by itself has 45 grams of fat and 720 calories (WHOA!) and forget any of their leafy greens - the full sized meal salads range from 570 calories and 31 grams of fat for the Asian to 670 calories and 45 grams of fat for their Mediterranean. I hope that's counting the dressing, because that's incredibly hard to swallow for so called 'healthy' food.
I'm a sucker for most macaroni & cheese out there, and Boston Market has some of the best in the quick service food industry. While a regular side has 300 calories and 11 grams of fat, I expected it to be a lot worse. Compare it to their large coleslaw which weighs in at a whopping 1,070 calories with 103 grams of fat. That's half your daily calories and just about two days worth of fat in ONE side serving. Just what kind of mayonnaise are these people using?!
While browsing through their menus of sides that I would eat, I found several viable alternatives to my usual mac 'n cheese and mashed potatoes with gravy combo. The sweet corn, green beans, and steamed veggies all clock in at 170 calories or under with 4 grams of fat or less, while the cinnamon apples sit at 210 calories with 3 grams of fat. Since I'm cutting down on my Restaurant Dieting, I'll likely still opt for at least one side to be their macaroni and cheese as a little treat, but even the worst combination out of the choices I listed with my 1/4 white chicken breast stand by comes in at around 750 calories and 18 grams of fat. I call that a success considering it's both fast food and a once in a while outing.
I just managed to both kill an hour and pretty much convince myself to go to Boston Market and the movies in Boston all at once. I'm hoping to restrict myself to a small popcorn and am even willing to forgo the mac and cheese in the name of healthy today. Maybe not the healthiest decision I could have made, I'm seriously gonna go crazy if I have to sit here any longer.
Happy Trails!
I'm not sure if this is a quirk unique to me, but I find the more bored I am the more in actuality I have to do. Right now I could be cleaning my room, washing dishes, starting to pack for the weekend & move out, putting away laundry, showering, or studying for a test I have tomorrow. Yet none of this is fun and I'm a horrible procrastinator. Of course, when I have a million things going on like heading to class that's when I want to organize photos on my computer or make a fabulous meal. Go figure.
On days like this, I usually head over to CinemaSalem and catch a flick. They're a small local theater, with only 4 screens. This means pickings are slim -- this week, the only thing that interests me is Inception, which I saw at CinemaSalem when it first came out. Next week is similar, since I'm not interested in Salt and I don't care much for Steve Carrell. The original French movie of Dinner for Schmucks was pretty good so I also fear that the American version will do a disservice to its forefather. And to be brutally honest, as this point I just want some freaking movie theater popcorn.
I found this article from 2009 pretty interesting. It's WebMD's summary of a report from the Center of Science in the Public Interest on movie theater popcorn from various theater chains in the US. I knew that popcorn was laden with salt and empty calories, but it stings a little to see exactly how bad it is for you. It seems that since most chains use coconut oil to pop their corn, it adds a lot of fat and calories. This is even before butter topping comes into play, guys! Since I have a soft spot in my heart for popcorn, I'm not about to give it up when I go to the theaters, but instead I will share a medium size with my boyfriend and opt for a diet beverage (why add an extra 200+ calories, it's just insult to injury at that point).
While on the topic of nutrition information, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Boston Market, one of Matt's (and mine now too I supposed) favorite places to eat has some decent lower calorie and fat offerings. Usually I won't eat anything off a bone, but when they had their 25th anniversary special I tried their 1/4 white chicken breast plate and found I really liked it. Without the skin, the generous portion of chicken is only 240 calories and 4 grams of fat! I usually only like skin when it's really crispy and freshly out of the oven, so I have no problem skipping on the soft, greasy skin of Boston Market's chicken. I really appreciate their meals under 550 calorie page, which includes 6 different plates (one meat and two regular sides) as well as 3 lunch-minded options (half sandwiches with either a salad, fruit, or steamed potato side).
Of course, there were also some (bad) shocks when I looked up the Market's nutrition facts. For instance, their turkey club/blt also has over 50 grams of fat, just like the equivalent sandwich at Bruegger's I spoke about a few posts ago. Their large meatlof serving by itself has 45 grams of fat and 720 calories (WHOA!) and forget any of their leafy greens - the full sized meal salads range from 570 calories and 31 grams of fat for the Asian to 670 calories and 45 grams of fat for their Mediterranean. I hope that's counting the dressing, because that's incredibly hard to swallow for so called 'healthy' food.
I'm a sucker for most macaroni & cheese out there, and Boston Market has some of the best in the quick service food industry. While a regular side has 300 calories and 11 grams of fat, I expected it to be a lot worse. Compare it to their large coleslaw which weighs in at a whopping 1,070 calories with 103 grams of fat. That's half your daily calories and just about two days worth of fat in ONE side serving. Just what kind of mayonnaise are these people using?!
While browsing through their menus of sides that I would eat, I found several viable alternatives to my usual mac 'n cheese and mashed potatoes with gravy combo. The sweet corn, green beans, and steamed veggies all clock in at 170 calories or under with 4 grams of fat or less, while the cinnamon apples sit at 210 calories with 3 grams of fat. Since I'm cutting down on my Restaurant Dieting, I'll likely still opt for at least one side to be their macaroni and cheese as a little treat, but even the worst combination out of the choices I listed with my 1/4 white chicken breast stand by comes in at around 750 calories and 18 grams of fat. I call that a success considering it's both fast food and a once in a while outing.
I just managed to both kill an hour and pretty much convince myself to go to Boston Market and the movies in Boston all at once. I'm hoping to restrict myself to a small popcorn and am even willing to forgo the mac and cheese in the name of healthy today. Maybe not the healthiest decision I could have made, I'm seriously gonna go crazy if I have to sit here any longer.
Happy Trails!
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