Dining Out!

So it's been a while since I've blogged and many of you have been asking me about updating. I really am going to try to be a better blogger! All I can say is that it's HARD to work 11 - 12 hour days on top of a 2 hour round trip commute and make it to the gym, every little league game, and the grocery store all while being a fun wife and step mom and appropriately grooming oneself. This brings me to dining out...which CAN be done in a paleo friendly way! If you have an arsenal of ideas, there is no excuse for eating a hot dog at the baseball park.

Salads are an obvious choice, but they come with the dressing dilemma. I'm not going to tell you I don't like ranch dressing. I LOVE it. I was born and raised in Texas, so it's kind of in my blood. That said, I usually save it for cheat days. If you load your salad with all kinds of other paleo friendly items, you really don't need dressing. If you're ordering a salad and realize there is nothing left after you've removed the cheese, croutons, and dressing, look at the other entree salads or items on the menu. Chances are you can steal ingredients from those and add them to what you're ordering. Don't be afraid to customize your order - you're paying for it! Note: I usually try to eat the meat first, that way I'm not overloading on carbs and leaving protein on my plate.

Example 1: LaMadeline Wild Field Salad with chicken, sans dressing and cheese, add strawberries and chopped pecans

Example 2: Zoe's Kitchen Chicken Chicken Kabobs, no rice, double salad! If you strip the kabobs onto your salad, you get the oil and spices from the chicken and cherry tomatoes as dressing.

Example 3: BJ's Brewhouse Seared Ahi Salad, no crispy wontons or onion strings. If you pick up a piece of peppered tuna or avocado with every forkful of lettuce, you forget about the rice wine vinegar dressing sitting next to you. 

 Another great choice is a burger, sans cheese, mayo, ketchup and obviously the bun. You can order a burger anywhere, and again, you can pile on the paleo friendly items for flavor! Some items you may want to add to your burger are:

Bacon 

Tomato

Lettuce

Avocado

Fried Egg

Sauteed Onions 

Sauteed Mushrooms 

Artichoke Hearts

Sun Dried Tomatoes 

Yellow Mustard

This is one of my favorites, from Cafe Express. The California Burger (I get mine with turkey) has artichokes, avocado, and sun dried tomatoes, and it is G-O-O-D! I usually order mine with sweet potato fries. I can't help myself. I know, bad example.

How about mexican food? Staying on track is easy if you ask the waiter not to bring chips and forego the queso. If you're like me, it is SO painful to sit and watch everyone eat chips and queso, especially when you're starving. One way to remedy this is to order as soon as you sit down. We pretty much always order fajitas, sans tortillas and use the guacamole, salsa, and onions for extra flava. Yes, flava. 

Now - on to chinese food. This is hard, because I loooove chinese food. Have any of you had the crab puff at Kappa in Pearland? It is amazing. However, it's deep fried and full of sugar. So...the best thing to order, in my opinion, is steamed chicken or shrimp with vegetables and no mystery sauce. In place of the mystery sauce, Ryan and I order sides of table mustard to add spice and flavor. Warning; a little goes a long way! 

 

Note: It's always a good idea to eat with a Shape Magazine sitting on the table.

I'll leave you with a few other random examples. 

Saltgrass - Brazos Chicken (sun dried tomatoes and {optional} goat cheese, sub the mashed potatoes with a baked sweet potato or steamed veggies (ask for NO butter on the veggies) 

Escalante's - Mexico City Salad sans dressing, ordered with the larger portion of broiled salmon

Cracker Barrel - Eggs n' Meat (for breakfast)

Any sushi place - sashimi with lots and lots of wasabi

Update: after posting this, I went to Jason's Deli for lunch and ordered the following: Amy's Turkey O - no bread, cheese, or onions, *double meat*, sub veggies for chips. Granted, by doubling the sliced turkey you're adding sodium, but by taking away the sodium from the cheese and bread I'm thinking it remains a superior choice. It was actually really good! I dipped my fork in stone ground mustard for a little seasoning.

Happy Ordering, Friends!