Tuesday's Treausures with Sarah & Laurie
March 22, 2011- Summer House, Corona Del Mar.
I often get told how difficult it is to make healthy food choices when dinning out. Because I am a dietitian my friends always request tips and dish options for certain restaurants. All of this has compelled me to start writing this weekly series. Let’s call it “A how to keep our figure and eat out with friends’ page.” I want to educate my friends on how one can make healthier food choices when dining out. This page will allow you to eat in a restaurant without blowing your diet. My friend Laurie and I are taking on the task to help educate our friends, restaurant by restaurant every Tuesday afternoon. We will guide you on how to order, our favorite dishes, and much more. We hope this will make our friends feel more confident in ordering out!
Summer House in Corona Del Mar has a boat house cottage décor and a great atmosphere with salt water taffy sitting at the front door. Our suggestion would be to take in the atmosphere but most definitely refrain from eating the taffy on the way out, to save those unwanted extra calories!!
Laurie had the fresh grilled salmon. We recommend not having it with the teriyaki sauce or the crispy wontons. It can add hidden fat calories. The salmon is 5.3 oz, if you are monitoring your serving sizes of protein, it is a little high for lunch. For those of you counting calories, try sharing it with another member of your party and each choose one of their side salads .
I always cause havoc with waitresses and today was no different. I suggest The Wedge with no bleu cheese dressing and if you really love the taste of bleu cheese ask them to bring it on the side. Remember a serving of cheese is approximately three small dice. One idea would be to ask them to make The Wedge into a chopped salad with the red onion, tomatoes and have the balsamic vinaigrette dressing on the side. Yummy!!!
I had the Blackened Ahi Sandwich. As mentioned previously, I always make changes to my dishes. Never feel embarrassed to ask your server and you don’t even need to apologize, believe me they are used to it! With my sandwich I left off the special sauce and asked for NO butter on the bread. The Ahi was a perfect 4oz . I ate it open face with only one piece of bread and added Dijon Mustard , which is classified as a free food. Also, it is better to hold the fries and again ask for a side salad instead, to keep temptation out of your way! Ordering a side salad is always the better option! I enjoyed my dish very much and felt satisfied afterwards.
Looking at the Summer House
menu, here are a few other alternatives one can choose for lunch. The Grilled Chicken
Summer Salad without the candied walnuts and dressing on the side and/or The
Seared Rare Ahi Salad without the wontons.
The Broccoli Slaw side salad without the candied walnuts is about 200
calories.
March 29th Panini Café
Panini is one of our favorite restaurants. It has great tasting food that is overall healthy. But it is a restaurant very representative of the food saying, “bigger is best”. It has large food portions and large plates
When Laurie and I sit down we always order at our Panini is the Hummus Trio. We always get the cucumber slices instead of the pita. Did you know that one serving of hummus is 1/3 cup and I count it as a fat. My favorite is the black bean hummus and Laurie likes the edamame hummus.
Laurie had the Chicken Shish Kabob. It was a 6 oz portion of meat (43 grams of protein) with 1 large cup of rice and great grilled vegetables. It comes to the table on a large plate, which can be very “eye” deceiving. A helpful tip- small plates make small amount of food look bigger and large plates make large portions look smaller. You’re can be full after you eat ALL this dish.
WOW! is the first word that comes to my taste buds when I tasted the Stuffed Bell Pepper. The bell pepper is a great source of vitamin C, an important antioxidant for our bodies . The Bulgur Pilaf is a high source of fiber. This helps with not only intestinal health but satiety. I got 8 pieces of wheat pita, try to forgo this carb, the rice in the bell pepper is plenty of carbs for lunch. Instead crunch on the big dark leafy green salad which is high in calcium, magnesium and other great essential nutritents.
Other dishes we recommend is the Egg White Vegetable Omelete without the potatoes. I also enjoy the ahi salad without the focaccio bread and split because the ahi portion is HUGE. A smaller dish is a side of falafel which is about 3 oz portion. The Ground Sirloin Kabobs is many people’s favorites. Red meat can have a lot of fat! Up to 8 grams fat per 1 oz. Sirloin, Tendertoin and some t bones are lower fat cut of meat around 3 grams of fat per 1 oz. Enjoy your food, watch fat and portion sizes. Women around 3 to 4 oz protein and for men 6 to 8 oz of protein for lunch can help maintain your waist.
My dieters recommendations are split all dishes, but it that is not possible have a side of a falafel pattie and a Mediterranean salad with the feta on the side ( 1oz of feta cheese is 75 calories). Use balsamic with no oil or very little oil.
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