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panini

Key Words For “Maybe Yes, Maybe No” Menu Choices

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Menus, both restaurant and take-out, are filled with descriptive and sometimes mouth-watering words.  They’re meant to:

  • entice you to order certain items by making them sound scrumptious, or to
  • make you think that a food, sauce, or dressing is lower in calories or an awesome health food.

Maybe Yes, Maybe No Adjectives

This is a list of words frequently used on menus to describe foods that can be considered “yellow light foods.” They are the foods you  should cautiously choose because they may or may not be healthy choices.

  • Amandine/Almondine
  • Baked
  • Basted
  • Light/Lite
  • Marinated
  • Panini
  • Reduced
  • Sauteed
  • Stewed
  • Stir-Fry
  • Vegetarian
  • Vinaigrette

 Why They’re Yellow Light Foods:

Amandine/Almondine:  Means food that is garnished with almonds. The caution: the ingredients (often green beans, fish, asparagus, potatoes) are usually cooked with butter and seasonings and sprinkled with whole or flaked toasted almonds. The butter makes them taste good and allows the nuts to stick to the main ingredient — but both add significant calories.

Baked:  Food that is cooked by using dry heat.  The caution light applies to the main ingredients. What is being baked – is it baked fish or a baked cookie?

Basted: Means that either the juices of the cooking meat, melted fat, or other liquids such as marinades – are poured over meat during the cooking process to keep it moist.  The caution is in determining what the basting liquid is:  fat or the juice of the meat?

Light or lite:  If 50% or more of the calories in a food come  from fat, the fat must be reduced by at least 50% per serving to be called light. If less than 50% of the calories come from fat, the fat must be reduced by at least 50% or the calories reduced by at least 1/3 per serving for the food to be called light. The caution:  food manufacturers determine these percentages through laboratory analysis – but how does your local diner determine what is “light or lite” even if there is a “light or lite” claim on their menu?

Marinated:  Means to soak or steep meat, fowl, fish, or vegetables in a liquid mixture — which is usually vinegar or wine and oil combined with various spices and herbs.  The caution:  how much oil or even sweetener is in the marinade that has permeated the meat, fowl, fish, or vegetables?

Panini:  A pressed and toasted sandwich.  The caution:  What are the sandwich ingredients — for instance are they heavy on vegetables or on salami — and how much oil is used on the grill? If the sandwich comes out nice and crunchy and crispy you can bet it was pressed on a grill loaded with grease.

Reduced:  To be called reduced in calories, a food must contain at least 25% fewer calories per serving than the reference food (the version of the food that is not lower in calories).  For meals and main dishes there must be at least 25% fewer calories per 100 grams of food.  The caution:  the “reference food” (the regular, not low in calories version) may be a very high calorie food to begin with – meaning that 25% less of very high calories is still a lot calories.  And who’s measuring in the kitchen of your local restaurant? Don’t be duped.

Sauteed:  Means food that is fried quickly in a little oil.  The caution is the same as with stir-fry (see below); the amount of oil and the temperature of the oil.

Stewed:  To cook by slowly boiling or simmering.  The caution:  what is the stewing liquid — is it tomato based or is there a lot of fat?

Stir-Fry:  Means to cook small pieces of vegetables, grains, or meat by quickly frying and stirring them in a small amount of oil over high heat (frequently in a wok).  The caution is the amount and temperature of the oil.  Oil at a lower temperature will lead to a longer cooking time and the ingredients absorbing more oil.

Vegetarian:  Refers to a dish made without meat, fish, or fowl.  The caution is that many vegetarian dishes are prepared with a lot of breading, cheese, and fat.

Vinaigrette: A common salad dressing made with olive or other oils and combined with vinegar and/or lemon juice (plus seasonings and herbs).  The caution is in the proportion of oil to the acidic vinegar or lemon juice.  Sometimes it might be as great as 4:1 oil to acid and sometimes it might be 1:1, or half oil and half acid.  A fifty-fifty mix will be lower in calories than a mix that is 75% oil.

Do you have any “yellow-light foods” to add to this list?

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When You Eat A Sandwich Does The Filling End Up In Your Lap?

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Sandwiches, Wraps, Paninis

Whatever you call it, it’s food — usually meat, cheese, or fish, sometimes vegetables — sandwiched in bread holder. Doesn’t matter is the bread is sliced, a wrap, a pita, a bagel, or a roll.  Other stuff is added to make it taste good — and sometimes to make it look pretty.  Sometimes so much stuff if shoved in that toothpicks are necessary to keep it together.  Problem:  what happens when you take the toothpicks out and try to get your lunch into your mouth?  What’s your dry cleaner bill like?

Soggy Is Gross

Soggy sandwiches take a whole lot of the fun out of eating your lunch.  Some things that can decrease the dampness factor:

  • Heavier, grainy, crunchy bread adds texture and substance and usually holds up better than the softer, squeezier Wonder Bread types. Rolls and bagels hold up even better – and you can always take out some of the softer stuff in the middle of the roll that might hold some liquid.
  • Coating the inside of the bread with butter or cream cheese helps to keep the fluid from some of the sandwich ingredients from getting through to the bread.
  • With wraps, layering the inside of the wrap with a very dry lettuce leaf before adding the filling and then tightly rolling the wrap will help to keep the wrap dry and the lettuce intact.  Trying to eat a soggy wrap is a feat unto itself.
  • With plain old bread, putting the slightly wet lettuce toward the middle of the sandwich not just under the bread, will help keep the bread dry.
  • Ditto for tomatoes – they’re added to sandwiches – a lot.  So are pickles.  Both are really wet.  If you salt the tomato, it gets even wetter.  Ever pick up your sandwich and have the tomato squirt right out?  Sandwiching it in the middle of your sandwich filling helps.  Put the tomato or pickle slices in the middle of the sandwich – essentially sandwiched by the meat or bread.  This helps keeping the wet stuff away from the bread and, if done right, can help keep the tomato in your sandwich and not on your lap or splattered on your plate.
  • If you are transporting a sandwich, bring the mayo, pesto, ketchup, mustard, or whatever dressing you use on the side and add it just before eating.  This really helps the soggy factor.

Getting The Sandwich Into Your Mouth Without The Filling Going Splat

This gorgeous (maybe not) and yummy looking sandwich is staring at you waiting to be devoured.  The thing is it’s about 6 inches thick.  How are you going to get it into your mouth?

Good question.  Some suggestions, especially if you are making your own sandwich.

  • As above, put the wetter, thicker stuff in the middle – it helps with the slippage factor. This also goes for onions, peppers, shredded lettuce, and cole slaw.
  • If you are using thick bread or a roll, scoop out some of the doughy stuff in the middle.  It’ll make the sandwich flatter and hold the filling better.
  • Many delis and sandwich take-out places will not lay the sliced meat flat but layer it on in almost a crumpled fashion as it comes off of the slicer.  This adds volume to the sandwich and makes it look like you are getting a whole lot for your money.  This kind of layering is easily squishable because the filling is plumped up with air spaces between the filling slices. Squishing it may get the sandwich down to a size that fits into your mouth.  If you are making your own sandwich and want quantity over presentation, lay your slices flat so the sandwich fits into your mouth more easily.
  • Don’t put so much stuff on.  Balance the amount of meat and cheese or whatever your fillings are.  Too much of one thing makes it taste just like that one thing.  Balance and layer your fillings so that you can taste them all not just the one dominant flavor.

SocialDieter Tip:

Keep lots of napkins on hand.  Try using pitas that haven’t been sliced all of the way around.  Take some of the filling out of rolls.  Cut your sandwich in quarters – somehow it’s easier to eat.  Maybe wear an old tee shirt while you eat your sandwich – and then toss it into the washing machine or just walk around with your lunch on your shirt and not worry about it!