Monday, November 19, 2012

Healthy hash browns?

This post at the blog Free the Animal inspired me to try making hash browns on my Cuisinart sandwich grill.


I peeled and shredded one red-skin potato, tossed with 1 teaspoon canola oil, and put it in the grill. I would say the results were mixed. They got a good crust, and they cooked through in the middle, but the whole thing was kind of tough and not very flavorful. If I tried it again I might use russet potatoes and par-cook them first.

5 oz. shredded potato with 1 tsp. oil: 140 calories
Egg: 70 calories

Dinner gets lazy

With the onslaught of Thanksgiving cooking on the way, I'm relying a bit more on prepared foods for other meals:


Goya brand black bean soup, 1 cup: 130 calories
1 tbsp. light sour cream: 20 calories
1 tbsp. shredded mozzarella: 20 calories
Corn muffin (made from Jiffy corn muffin mix): 150 calories

Sunday, November 18, 2012

It's a wrap

Flatout Light wrap with 1/4 cup Trader Joe's hummus, shredded carrots and sliced cucumbers


250 calories

No "Mc" in this muffin

Toasted English muffin, fried egg, 1 oz. ham, 1/2 oz. shredded low-fat mozzarella cheese.


250 calories

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Warm breakfast for a chilly morning

Steel cut oats:


1 cup cooked steel cut oats: 150 calories
1 tbsp. each sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and maple syrup: 150 calories
1 tbsp. ground flax seed: 30 calories

Friday, November 16, 2012

Dim sum and then sum

Today's brunch:


Char siu bao and chicken pot stickers from our good friends at Trader Joe's, and MAMA brand instant noodles (pork flavor) with a poached egg on top.

Char siu bao: 160 calories
Pot stickers: 90 calories
Noodles: 260 calories
Egg: 70 calories

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Lynx to Food: I-485 and South Blvd.

Today I'm starting a weekly series that I call Lynx to Food. Each post in this series will investigate the food shopping and dining within an easy walk from a station on the Lynx Blue Line. I'm starting at the south end with the I-485/South Blvd. stop.

My favorite food shopping destination here is Cost Plus World Market. It's my place for picking up quirky snacks and sodas, and wine and beer. Here's today's haul:


The only other shopping of interest at this stop is the Mecklenburg County ABC Store. I picked up some rum and vodka.

Restaurant dining at this stop is heavily biased toward chains and fast food. I had a bite at what may be the best of a bad lot: Golden Corral.

It's not the sort of place I'd ordinarily go on my own, but it happens to be my son's favorite place in the world, so I've managed to develop strategies to extract an edible meal from the overflowing cornucopia of mediocrity they serve.



Here are my rules for eating at Golden Corral. First, choose only foods that hold well on a steam table. Mashed potatoes are good, french fries are not so good. Second, choose foods that are at their best when they're inexpensive. Pot roast is good, steak is less good, seafood is right out. Third, choose only foods that are part of the Southern-American idiom. Anything that purports to be Mexican, Chinese, or Italian is very unlikely to be edible. Last, skip dessert. Those cakes and pies look pretty, but they taste of artificial flavorings and corn syrup. It's just not worth it.

Over the next few weeks, I'll move north along the Blue Line, bringing the best of what's available at each stop.