Stuff Every Restaurant Should Do

Last Saturday, my husband and I devoted about half a day to running errands in and around Albany. Since Saturday is traditionally our grocery shopping day and the last week had been extremely hectic, we didn’t have much food in the house and didn’t really feel like doing grocery shopping just yet. (I hope that other people have been there and we’re not just slackers who sometimes dread the chore of menu planning and grocery shopping). With a couple of unforeseen snowstorms and the warmer weather upon us my pantry has been slowly emptying, to the point where all we really had in the house were yogurt – which I live on and my husband hates – and cottage cheese and cheese curds – which my husband loves dearly but make me gag. Neither was going to make a satisfying lunch, so we decided to just leave in the morning and pick something up while we were running around.

Fast forward a couple hours later, and we’re driving down the Northway debating what to eat. Since my husband was driving, I got iPhone duty. Remembering that Moe’s recently launched a line of gluten free products, I suggested stopping at the Moe’s on Wolf Road. My husband asked me if I knew what was on the gluten free list – I remembered they had rice bowls, but since I can count the number of times I’ve eaten there on one hand I didn’t know what condiments are safe. Enter the iPhone – I Googled “Moe’s allergen” and the first result was a PDF from moes.com titled ALLERGEN – it looked like exactly what I needed.

I clicked on the link… and was redirected to Moe’s mobile homepage. What!?!? To add insult to injury, a minute of surfing around on their “mobile” site didn’t give me the information that I wanted – and every time I tried to view their regular site or click a link from Google I went right back to the Moe’s mobile homepage. Ugh! After a couple of frustrating minutes, I gave up and we headed further down the Northway, eating lunch at the Chipotle in Stuyvesant Plaza. (SN: We had a yummy lunch that made up for the so-so grand opening we attended when they first came to the area. I was very impressed that not only did the employee making our tacos change his gloves, but they also brought out a fresh, uncontaminated tub of cheese.)

Now, admittedly I’m a computer geek and technophile, but Come. On. There’s no excuse for that – especially in this day and age when mobile search is the norm and people have come to expect data instantly at their fingertips. And the fact is, companies lose business by not making information accessible to their customers and potential customers. Not only did Moe’s lose our business last weekend, but since we had a favorable experience at Chipotle we’re going to remember that the next time we get a hankering for tacos.

So – here’s my list of stuff that I wish every restaurant would do – I think it would benefit smaller restaurants as well as big chains:

First of all – make sure your site is accessible for everyone! Yes, that includes home computers, tablets, phones, etc. etc. etc. By all means leave the stupid Flash animations off your mobile site. But an allergen list? You’re really going to make that inaccessible on a mobile device? I don’t care if it looks all pretty on the mobile phone, I’d be fine with a PDF or a text list of what I wanted to know.
Always make the following information available on your site:

• The entire menu. Preferably with prices. Specials of the day would also be great.
• Calories and nutritional information as long as it’s available... Ingredients are good to know as well!
• Allergen information. For Every Product. And by the way, if you offer gluten free bread or something else along those lines, please mention it somewhere on your site so I know to ask!
• Address and directions. It’s very easy to embed Google Maps into your site. Use it or at least link to it.

Bonus points for making the following information available on your site:

• Company guidelines for processing allergens. Happy to accommodate requests to change gloves? Why, thank you Chipotle for letting me know! Things like that make me more confident in the establishment I’m choosing to patronize.
• Have a local/sustainable/organic/ethical/green/other policy on the food you provide? Please tell me – yes, sometimes that information will sway me to choose one restaurant over the other.
• A way to make reservations/order takeout or delivery through the website.

And finally, the stuff that I really don’t care about and would prefer not to see on your website at all:

• Silly flash animations, music, videos… I want to go there for a meal, I don’t want to experience sensory overload by hitting your homepage.

As for the non-website-related stuff:

• Please make training mandatory for servers. All servers should know, for example, that gluten free means no bread products. I always get nervous in these cases, because you don’t know if the server goes back into the kitchen, rolls their eyes and just picks croutons off the salad they initially brought out.
• If you’re going to have gluten free offerings, please do some research. We often eat at Topp’s Diner in Rotterdam – while they have some great options and are generally willing to accommodate gluten free, it makes me nervous to hear a server say “Well, that’s gluten free as long as you can eat rice.” And trust me, I’d rather have a server go into the kitchen and ask a question than give me an answer that I have no confidence in. Similarly, we went to Benevento’s in Scotia offering gluten free sub rolls. When asked what meats and condiments were OK the owner – yes, owner! – said “I don’t know, shouldn’t they all be?” … Needless to say, we left without ordering.
• If you’re going to offer things like bottled salad dressings, having preprinted allergen lists would help tremendously. “We serve Ken’s salad dressings, and we print their gluten free list every month. This is current as of X” would make me want to hug a server. Then leave a humongous tip.
• If you’re going to offer a gluten free menu at all, please make sure that the food is good. I know I’ve carped on this in the past, but nothing bugs me more than “Order this yummy dish – but request that it not be breaded, the kitchen holds the tortilla strips, hold the sauce, substitute the mashed potatoes for a plain baked potato, and hold the seasoning on the vegetables.” Once in a while we have to eat at establishments like this – when we’re traveling and there are no other options, or if we have to attend a social event somewhere. But if I have the choice to spend money somewhere, and the restaurant treats every single gluten free menu item like I described above? I figure they must not want my money. And, by the way, we often order booze when we dine out. And, I like to frequent places – and bring friends/tell other people - that I like again and again. Oh yeah, and I waitressed in college so a server really has to try to get less than a 20% tip. But, that’s not a lot of money, now is it?

What other things would you like to see restaurants do, both overall and to cater to restricted diet communities?

Starbucks

I have a confession to make.

For a while I was boycotting Starbucks. Between pulling the delicious and gluten free orange valencia cake to being infuriatingly inconsistent with the information they provide about the gluten status of their drinks, it was mostly a point of principle.

However, I've gone back. I'm not quite at my previous five-latte-a-week habit, but I've had two lattes so far today. (Full disclosure before you think I'm absolutely terrible: as I'm writing this it's the day after we "sprung forward," I worked an eight-hour workday and I am currently waiting for an evening class running 6 - 9:45 to start). They're delicious, and the caffeine boost - especially when workplace coffee leaves much to be desired - is a godsend.

I'm torn - I love their products, and there are really no convenient alternatives for me based on where I live and work (I hate Dunkin' Donuts). But Starbucks as a whole would leave a much better taste in my mouth (no pun intended) if they (you, if you're from Starbucks and reading this) did the following:

• Decide if you want to cater to the gluten free community or not. The orange valencia cake was great, and I can understand pulling it. But then "replacing" it with poor substitutes? I mean, really... who wants dried apple slices with their macchiato?
• And when it comes to specialty drinks - please train your customer service representatives to be consistent. If I call twice and e-mail once, I'll get three different answers. And while I get that e-mail is persistent and that in this litigious day and age you want to CYA -- it's really not helpful to only say "Um, everything can be cross contaminated." Especially when your reps will tell you which drinks do and don't have gluten. In the corporate world that's the equivalent of giving the finger (with an upward shove for emphasis) to the entire gluten free community.
• Get some gluten free prepackaged snacks. I mean look at the protein plate - would it be really hard to replace the meusli bread with flax crackers and make -one- gluten free grab-and-go option?? We're not talking gluten free bread or pastries here. It's not THAT complicated and it would make a lot of people really, really happy.
  

Do you have any other beef with Starbucks?

Belated Menu Plan 3/4 - 3/11

I've gotten a bit behind on my blogging - between schoolwork, work work and other stuff going on in my life I haven't had much time to cook let alone write about it. :) We had a busy-but-fun weekend, and believe it or not I did plan out my meals for the week.

OK. So here goes.

Friday
We had two of our good friends over for dinner. These friends prefer to eat vegetarian/low on the food chain and brought a delicious tortilla espanola as an appetizer, so I made the following:

• This Indian Relish appetizer, mixed with cream cheese and served with rice crackers. OMG was it crazy-addictive-good. It was even better the next day. I am in LOVE.
  
• Cajun stuffed peppers. I split them up half an half - some had chicken andouille sausage and others had portabella mushrooms. All had hot sauce, rice and monterey jack cheese.
• Green salad.
  
• Dessert: Fresh fruit with a Cool Whip-and-yogurt dipping sauce.
  

Saturday
Leftover stuffed peppers for dinner, and leftover fruit dip for dessert.

Sunday
I made ribs, slow cooked in the oven with Dinosaur BBQ sauce (yummy!) and served with baked potato and creamed corn.

Monday
This mini frittata recipe (though I plan to add green pepper as well), served with hash browns and green salad.

Tuesday
Chicken tenders baked with Bisquick, frozen veggies (probably green beans) and a starch TBD. Either a baked potato or some type of rice.

Wednesday
Pulling some chili out of the freezer for dinner, with green salad for dinner. Since I don't have to commute that day, if I feel ambitious I'll make some crusty Italian bread to go along with it.

Thursday
Leftovers night.

Friday
Leftovers or takeout, depending on what we have/are in the mood for.

The Cooking Rut

A while back I posted about the dinner rut - when you keep making the same few dishes for dinner, until you're so sick of these dishes that you just want to scream. Well - I've lately found myself in something similar: The Cooking Rut. I come home from work, and I just Don't. Want. To. Cook. At all.

Now - this is due to a lot of things. Some of them:

• Work. I feel blessed to have a job that I love (and a husband that understands my geeky tendencies), especially when I have something really cool to work on - which has lately been the case. But the fact is, sometimes I'm much more interested in what I get to play with at the office than cooking tonight's dinner - especially if it's something boring from the dinner rut.
  
• Grad school. Even with a partially online class, I have to set aside so many hours each week for reading and schoolwork, which is draining. Sometimes I just want to relax with a glass of vino afterward and not worry about dinner.
  
• Other commitments. My weeks lately have been insanely hectic. Between work functions, appointments, last-minute vet visits, and social plans I sometimes have two days in any given week when I'm actually home. That catches up to a person.
• I ballooned up over the holidays and since I already ordered a bridesmaid dress for this summer, I want to be sure not to rip the seams. I've been pretty good, but focusing on healthy meals tends to go into the dinner rut danger zone.
  

But.... wah, wah, this is the real world and everyone has to deal with that stuff, right? Unfortunately neither my budget or waistline will allow for eating out at every single meal, so that means sucking it up and cooking.

First - here are the convenience tips NOT to do:

• Don't rely on convenience food! I've been guilty of this in the past and I'm trying to be much better about it. It's very tempting to just pull out a box of Bell and Evans chicken or a box of Starfish Cod with a bag of tater tots or fries, nuke a frozen veggie, and call it dinner. And once in a great while, that's fine. Once every other week, though... that's just asking to gain weight. Especially if you're like us and break out the deep fryer for fries. It gets pricey too - I love Bell and Evans, but 8.50 for a box of chicken tenders that the two of us put away in one sitting...
  
• Similarly, don't rely on takeout! When Cheesecake Factory and other restaurants started putting calorie counts on their menus, I was shocked. I always order fish dishes - and my favorite salmon dish there was over 1600 calories! It's not worth it.
  
• Don't get over-ambitious. Buying $20 worth of produce intending to make a stir fry that takes an hour in the middle of the week? Not gonna happen. Don't even try.
  

So - here are the tips that I'm trying on for size to get out of the cooking rut:

• Make ahead, make ahead, make ahead! There are a ton of really good dishes that make good leftovers - and freeze well. Sure, you can get sick of a crock pot full of chili day in and day out, but we have some containers in the freezer to pull out for an emergency. Same goes for rice and beans, risotto, jambalaya, stew, etc. Heating something up in the microwave or on the stove top isn't that time consuming.
  
• Have a few "emergency" staples on hand. For me this tends to be frozen fish fillets or frozen shrimp (thaw for a quick thrown-together meal), tons of frozen veggies (easy to add to any dish), and carbs.
  
• Have a go-to ingredient that you love, and can add to any meal as a motivation to cook. For me this is Frank's Red Hot. I can put this on everything (fried rice, popcorn, pizza, you name it). It might just be my favorite food. I promise myself hot/buffalo sauce on something, I'm more likely to cook.
  
• If possible try to offload and have someone else cook once in a while. If we do breakfast for dinner my husband's all over that - and I get a day off.
  

What are your tips to throw together a quick meal when you Just. Don't. Feel. Like. Cooking?

Re-energizing after a workout

The other day I was shopping in the mall, when suddenly I began to feel a little light headed. I checked my watch - it wasn't even 11 AM, and I'd only had breakfast two hours ago, so I hadn't accidentally skipped a meal. I felt a headache, too, and bought a 1L bottle of water thinking that I may be dehydrated. It helped a little, but not enough.

After about fifteen minutes, it hit me - I had done a post-breakfast cardio workout of medium intensity, burning around 500 calories, and I hadn't had anything other than my usual yogurt from breakfast. My energy was flagging - fast - and I need something to pick it back up. I wanted something healthy, and not too high-calorie (after all, I didn't want to negate the effects of my workout!) I opted for four crackers with peanut butter.

That said, I thought it might be useful to compile a list of options to have on hand to grab after a workout to avoid a low blood sugar moment like mine.

This website and this one were the best summaries of nutritional requirements I could find after about 90 seconds of Googling. Basically, you need to make sure to keep hydrated both during and after your workout (check - I keep a case of water in our gym area). A snack should have both carbs and protein, though a shake or drink is an acceptable alternative to food.

Unfortunately, most of the suggestions you can find online aren't exactly gluten friendly. (Though I do like Men's Fitness' suggestion of turkey, cheese and apple slices - since apple with peanut butter can get a bit boring, this could really hit the spot).

Here are some protein suggestions:

• Peanut butter (2 Tbsp)
  
• hummus (2 Tbsp)
  
• deli meats (a few slices)
  
• cheese (2 oz)
  
• yogurt (6 oz)
  
• cottage cheese (if you can stomach it; I can't)
  
• nuts (1/4 cup)
  
• hard boiled egg (1)
  
• tuna (again, if you're a fan - I don't do mayo)
  
• skim milk (1/2 cup)
• edamame (1 serving)
  

Here are some carb suggestions:

• crackers (preferably whole grain - 4-6)
  
• rice cakes (2-4)
  
• fruit - apples, grapes, bananas, pears (1)
• baby carrots (a small handful)
  
• oatmeal (make sure it's gluten free) (1 package)
  

Suggestions containing both:

• latte (12 oz)
  

So how to put them together? Try peanut butter on rice cakes with a sliced banana. Or have some oatmeal and a yogurt. Or cheese and grapes or crackers. Or one of my favorites, carrot sticks and hummus. Or treat yourself to a nice, skim milk latte.

What are your favorite recovery snacks?

Office Lunch Ideas

How many people have suffered from a purloined lunch at the office?

I know I have.

I'm not sure how frequently it happens -- I know that I had a couple of Amy's Teriyaki Bowl TV dinners stolen from our office fridge last year, and enough people complained for there to be signs, e-mails, etc. I'll be honest -- the first time my frozen dinner was stolen, I figured it was an accident and just wrote a pissy note on Facebook (where I'm friends with many co-workers). The second time, I took it personally and stopped bringing in frozen dinners unless absolutely necessary. Now, I'll either bring in homemade leftovers that don't seem to get touched nearly as often as TV dinners do, or I'll bring in portable, microwaveable lunches like Progresso soups that I can stash in a filing cabinet along with an iced tea and piece of fruit or yogurt.

Still, whenever I make leftovers I usually intend them for consumption on another night during the week (to avoid cooking after work, or to accommodate one or both of us having plans after work) so I usually don't have a lot to bring into the office. And, as many options as there are for canned soup, a girl gets sick of it after a while.

So here I'm brainstorming ideas for office lunches. The requirements are:

• Must be (relatively) healthy and balanced. No lunch of three Snickers bars here, as tempting as that may be.
  
• 9 times out of 10 I eat lunch/work at my desk, and I get pretty cranky when I don't eat on time. So going out, or delivery, aren't preferred options. (Plus there aren't a ton of options where I work)
• Must be either something I can stash at my desk (i.e. doesn't need refrigeration) or something I can believably put an "I spit in this" Post-It on to deter thieves. (Actual spitting not required, just can't be a TV dinner).
  

OK. With that said, here are some ideas. I'm starting off with my typical lunch:

• Can of Progresso soup. I stay away from the super-creamy, high-calorie ones so think Garden Vegetable or Manhattan Clam Chowder. 1 piece of fruit (think apple or orange) and/or 1 Yoplait Light yogurt. Approx. 400 calories.
  
• Price Chopper sometimes has these mini shrimp cocktails on sale that make great portable lunch options. Stash them in a lunch bag with a piece of fruit or some nuts and you're good to go (risky, but I haven't -yet- had problems with my reusable lunch tote). Approx. 400 calories.
  
• Salad. I like a similar-but-not-quite Cobb salad: organic baby lettuce, shredded carrot and red cabbage, avocado, bleu cheese crumbles, tomato, cucumber, garbanzo beans and light raspberry vinaigrette. Approx. 500 calories.
  
• Container of hummus or guacamole and baggie of carrot- and celery-sticks. KIND bar (I like these because they're filling and low-glycemic, so you don't get the sugar rush and crash two hours later) or a banana. Approx. 500 calories.
  
• Container of peanut butter, with crackers, celery sticks and raisins. Approx. 600 calories.
  
• Pre-cut cheese, crackers. A baggie of grapes and apple slices. Approx. 500 calories.
  
• Veggie sushi rolls. I'm partial to cucumber and avocado rolls. Make sure to pack some soy sauce. Add a baggie of edamame (I like mine with extra salt). Approx. 700 calories (at least for the size edamame that I pack).
  

What are your alternative lunch ideas?

Tex Mex Cheesecake

Recently, our good friends V and L invited my husband and I over for a movie night. L (the wife) e-mailed me a few days before we came over with a new recipe she'd tried, loved, and thought was gluten free but wanted to make sure. I figured that if she - a knowledgeable foodie - had questions, other people probably do as well.

The recipe in question is a Tex Mex Cheesecake and it can be found online here.

So, here's the ingredient list and gluten free breakdown. You may have additional brands, etc. that you know of, please feel free to comment!

Here is the ingredient list:

• Butter - naturally gluten free.
  
• Tortilla Chips - typically made from corn, and most are GF. If you're nervous and looking for a brand recommendation, we usually purchase Tostitos or the Santitas chips at the grocery store.
  
• Cream Cheese - Price Chopper brand is on their list of gluten free items. Kraft is also fine as their policy is to label gluten. I can't imagine others being a problem, either.
  
• Ricotta Cheese - I've never had an issue with ricotta. I usually buy Price Chopper brand.
  
• Envelope taco seasoning - Old El Paso is owned by General Mills, and they have a similar policy to Kraft when it comes to ingredient labelling. As long as the label doesn't contain wheat it should be OK. Ortega has recently begun labelling some of their foods GF as well.
  
• Adobo sauce - I've never had an issue.
  
• Salsa - I've never had an issue. When in doubt make your own.
  
• Monterey Jack w/ Peppers cheese - I've never had an issue; furthermore Price Chopper lists their brand cheese on their gluten free list.
  
• Eggs - Naturally gluten free.
  
• Chipotle Chiles in Adobo - I've never had an issue.
  
• Scallion - Naturally gluten free.
  
• Sour cream - Many are fine. Price Chopper brand lists their regular and light sour cream on their GF list, but not their fat free. Be warned.
  
• Cheddar Cheese - I've never had an issue; furthermore Price Chopper lists their brand cheese on their gluten free list.
• Black olives - Naturally gluten free.

The savory cheesecake (pictured above) came out beautifully and was absolutely delicious!