Wednesday, March 19, 2008

We rewarded our swim yesterday with breakfast at the Elm Street Grill, what used to be the Cedar Crest Motel restaurant. Its apparently under new ownership and while we had a good meal there last time we went, I am changing my opinion of it now. It was awful!! I ordered tea and got a luke warm cup of water with a Lipton tea bag and those half and half cream containers that are about as big as your thumb...well the cream was sour...I have never had that happen cause the shelf life on those babies must be years...well, these were sitting in the sun for too long most likely.
The place was a mess! The server was filling up her salt and pepper containers right next to us at the next table. She was so busy that she kinda missed our food order and it sat on the server shelf for a while. Greg had eggs benedict and when it came, I thought the sauce looked a bit thin.....it was a yellow transparent sauce that just made me kinda sick to my stomach. I had an omlette with spinach and sausage...it came with two slices of yellow american cheese, some frozen spinach, and sliced breakfast sausage links. The toast was covered in "melted butter" and it was a bit gross.
I am not going back for a while, the place has started to give me the heebie-jeebies!
I cribbed this from the New York Times today. Interesting Reading

The book, “Eat This, Not That!” by Men’s Health editor-in-chief David Zinczenko, has become one of the hottest selling nutrition guides in book stores. The diminutive volume is filled with pictures of what not to eat and photos of better substitutes. It compares food choices at favorite restaurants, supermarkets and holiday items. The comparisons are always interesting and often surprising. Who knew a Starbucks Black Forest Ham, Egg and Cheddar Breakfast Sandwich is a better choice than the chain’s Bran Muffin with Nuts?
Chances are you won’t agree with every item. For instance, in a comparison of choices for a child’s Easter basket, I can’t figure out why Jelly Belly Jelly Beans, with 150 calories, are an “eat this,'’ while Marshmallow Peeps, with 140 calories, are a “not that.'’

The book includes a clever ranking of the country’s 20 worst foods in various categories. Here are some of them:

Worst Fast Food Meal: McDonald’s Chicken Selects Premium Breast Strips with creamy ranch sauce. Chicken sounds healthy, but not at 870 calories.

Worst Drink: Jamba Juice Chocolate Moo’d Power Smoothie. With 166 grams of sugar, you could have had eight servings of Ben & Jerry’s. Gimme 5 servings of Ben and Jerry's and we can call it even!

Worst Supermarket Meal: Pepperidge Farm Roasted Chicken Pot Pie. One pie packs 64 grams of fat. I was pretty surprised by this one. Not that I have ever eaten it, but WOW

Worst “Healthy” Burger: Ruby Tuesday Bella Turkey Burger. With 1,145 calories, not a very healthy choice.

Worst Airport Snack: Cinnabon Classic Cinnamon Roll. Packed with 813 hot gooey calories and 5 grams of trans fats. I LOVE these!! I swear that Cinnabon has made a perfume that they inject into the air circulation system

Worst Kids’ Meal: Macaroni Grill Double Macaroni ‘n Cheese. With 62 fat grams, it’s the equivalent of 1.5 full boxes of Kraft Mac ‘n Cheese. Yeah, where is the obesity trait coming from???

Worst Salad: On the Border Grande Taco Salad with Taco Beef. A salad with 102 grams of fat and 2,410 mg of sodium.

Worst Dessert: Chili’s Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream. At 1,600 calories, it’s like eating the caloric equivalent of three Big Macs.

Monday, March 17, 2008

You are looking at the start of my latest soup. Who knows what it will taste like, but its damn healthy. We ran out of onions, so its red lentils, Kamut berries, apples, snow peas, and carrots with garlic, salt and pepper, 1/2 a capfull of curry powder, and low sodium chicken broth. Once its tender, I will puree in my blender for a lovely, tasty treat for lunch. mmmmm