Maggie and Wilson

Fajita Salad

Now THAT is a handsome salad!  We have a local restaurant, El Papalote, that has some of the best Mexican food I've had north of the border.  Once in a while I will indulge and order their Coyote Tacos (Chopped Rib Eye and Bacon!) on corn tortillas, and wash it down with one of their fantastic $3 frozen margaritas.  Then I go home and feel both uncomfortably full and guilty the rest of the night. 

A much better, guilt free, choice is their steak salad.  The beef is tender and juicy and avocado is the perfect topper.  I asked for a side of pico de gallo and limes instead of salad dressing.  For those of you who don't live in San Antonio try ordering Fajitas, ask them to hold the tortillas, and see if they will serve it on their house salad with a side of guacamole.  If they can't figure that out, just order the side salad and make it yourself at the table.  Club Soda with lime goes well with this meal.

P.F. Chang's

It's bound to happen sooner or later.  You will get a hankerin' for Chinese food.  There are many, many mom and pop buffets across the country where you probably can find plenty of fresh veggies and meat with lighter sauces.  P.F. Chang's happens to be where we end up because of it's easy to get to at lunch time for both me and my husband.  Sometimes when I go there I give myself a free pass - and then usually regret it later in the day.  I decided I would look over the menu at home first.  There are quite a few things that are under 15g net carbs. Some of their dishes they list combined with info for the rice the dish is served with making it a little hard to figure out how much just the meat would be. None of it is health food as even the veggie dishes are very high in salt.

Here are a few of the things that jumped out at me:

Chicken Chopped Salad with Ginger Dressing: 11g
Egg Drop Soup: 8
Hot and Sour Soup: 9
Dynamite Shrimp:6
Changs Spare Ribs: 7
Shanghai Cucumbers: 2
Garlic Snap Peas: 5
Spinach Stir Fry: 2
Spicy Green Beans: 9
Salt and Pepper Prawns: 6
Buddha's Feast (Vegetarian):9
Gluten Free Chicken Lettuce Wraps: 13
Kids chicken (no sauce): 10

See their complete list here

Pepper-Crusted Burgers

Inspired by a burger from The YardHouse restaurant.  The pear I added because son didn't finish his and I didn't want to waste it.  It adds a nice flavor to the onions.  The original recipe calls for Gorgonzola cheese. I bought Gouda instead because I wasn't real excited about the Gorgonzola when I saw what it looked like (moldy!).  The Gouda was a little too mild - maybe a smoked Gouda or even Parm. Cheese would add a little bite to the meal.

• On a plate mix 1 T. pepper, 2 t. parsley flakes, a pinch of salt (enough for 4 small burgers)
• Roll uncooked patty through the pepper mix so that the entire outer edge of burger is coated.
• Cook hamburgers to your preferred taste.  Remove burgers to a plate, add slice of Gouda cheese and cover with tinfoil.
• Drain any excess grease from pan and then saute 1/2 onion, a pinch of salt and 1/2 of a chopped pear until onions caramelize.
• Place burger on a bed of washed and dried baby spinach and top with onions.

Eating Away from Home

Today was a busy day.  I was away from home at lunch time and was feeling kind of lazy when it came time to think about dinner. 

For lunch I packed a meat/cheese roll:

• 1/2 Light Flatout
• Cream Cheese
• Mustard
• Salami
• Lettuce
• Spinach

Spread cream cheese on one side of Flatout, then dab a little mustard over than, then meat and lettuce.  Roll from one side to form a fairly tightly rolled "log".  With a sharp knife cut into slices (they will look like pinwheels when you cut them). 

Didn't think I would be too excited about it when lunch time came around, but they actually were really good and I wish I made more!

For dinner I ended up stopping at Chick Fil A and ordered a Spicy Chicken Sandwich with extra lettuce to bring home.  Hubby ate his as-is, but I took mine off the bun and sliced the chicken and tomato and ate it with the lettuce.  It has a little breading - not induction friendly - but it also has a lot of flavor.  It certainly is light years ahead of our old standby lazy meal: Lucky Charms.  Seeing that I only had 7 carbs the whole rest of the day my totals are still pretty reasonable. 

Logan's Roadhouse

My wonderful husband and son decided it would be nice to go out to eat so I didn't have to cook with my neck being so sore.  A new Logan's Roadhouse opened near us a couple of weeks ago, so we decided to check it out.  I've learned it's a good idea to look over the menu before you leave home so you can plan your meal.  I'm much less likely to order something on impulse if I know exactly what I want when I get there. 

At this restaurant they do bring some rolls to the table when you sit down.  You could ask them to not bring them if it is too tempting for you.  What is kind of cool is that they have a bucket of peanuts in the shell on the table to snack on while you wait for your food.  Peanuts aren't exactly a low-carb freebie, but a lot better than tortilla chips or deep fried onions.

I had the filet mignon and choose the grilled mushrooms and grilled veggie skewers (onion, tomato, mushrooms, zucchini) for my sides.  What a huge improvement over the stalk of broccoli that most places offer.  I noticed they also offer a bunless burger (served with the ever so popular side of broccoli.....I think I would ask to substitute that for those grilled mushrooms!)

On their website they are advertising 2 Full Adult Meals for $13.99 all day on Mondays and Tuesdays and $2.99 Kid's Meals.  (There are 12 different entrees you can choose from).  That's a pretty good deal!

The pictures above are actual pictures of our meal! 

Porkchops & Applesauce (minus the applesauce...)

BJ'S Brewhouse is one of our favorite places to eat after church.  The usual order is pizza, but that doesn't really work with the whole low carb thing.  They have a new menu item that is Grilled Pork Chops, green beans and mashed potatoes.  I asked them to please replace the potatoes with more green beans.  They gave me so many I couldn't finish them - next time I think I will ask them to just skip the potatoes.  I would have never ordered this on my own, but we had gone to a beer tasting there and they gave us samples of their new menu items.  I wasn't able to find nutrition information on their website, but did find a listing for some of their other items. Some say they have zero carbs, but I suspect that's because whoever entered the information didn't care about carbs, only calories.  Those poor, hungry people.....

If you have one of these restaurants near you, you should check it out.  I'm not sure if the beer tastings are something they do all over or just here.  I'm not a huge beer fan and still thought it was fun and interesting (and my husband thought it was the best thing ever!)