My Healthy Pick at: Teresa's Next Door, Wayne, PA

It's been a long time since I last blogged, so I thought I was due for a "Healthy Pick" to help my local readers navigate food choices in the area. This healthy pick I've been meaning to write about for months (I am now 9 months pregnant, so obviously have not eaten this meal in the past 9 months due pregnancy rules and the tuna being partially raw). But, back in my non-pregger days, I would get this dish quite often. It's filling, delicious, and healthy!

What is it? It's the Teresa's Next Door Tuna Burger. All of their burgers are served with a mixed green salad, which I give high praise. The waiter/waitress will always give you the option of adding pommes frites, but be careful because that is a lot of extra calories and an extra cost! I recommend you eat the tuna burger with the salad and go sans bun (it is buttery and delicious, but refined grain + butter= bad for health). If you want to doll up the burger, you can add any assortment of toppings from avocado to portabella mushroom.

Teresa's Next Door Tuna Burger & Mixed Greens salad

I highly recommend this burger if you are into seared tuna and want to eat something healthy at Teresa's... since finding a healthy dish takes some work in these types of establishments. Be sure to drink your water and try to skip some of the heavier beers. Remember, my general rule of thumb is the higher the ABV= higher the calories. Teresa's is always a good time and one of my favorite local joints (even when pregnant!), so I know from experience you don't need to overindulge in the food or alcohol to have a good time. Enjoy!

My Healthy(ier) Pick at The Great American Pub: Wayne

My friends and I go to the Great American Pub (GAP) in Wayne, PA quite frequently. It is a fun spot where lots of locals hang out, and it has a very diverse food menu. Certainly, since there is a lot of bar food, there aren't a ton of "Wayne Nutrition" approved menu items, and even those usually take some special-ordering.  Thus I will often will get their salad specials (such as the Greek salad w/ chicken), but sometimes I like to mix it up and not order a salad. When I do that, I tend to get the Scottish salmon that comes with spinach and quinoa, and I request the lemon butter on the side. However, this one night I went, I was not feeling that either.

I always recommend to clients that they scan the menu to see what is available so you can kind of create your own meal if you want. So, one night I got creative and looked at their "Plant Based Vegan Diet" options and chose the Pineapple Quinoa Stir Fry that comes with sweet potatoes, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, toasted sesame seeds and teriyaki. This meal appealed to me because I was in the mood for Asian food and I certainly loved all the veggies it came with, and as an added bonus, it was served with quinoa instead of rice! However, it was lacking in protein. So, I went ahead and added on the salmon (which you can add to other meals, so I figured it would be okay), to balance out the meal. Granted, it is going against the "vegan" meal that was, but I like to have a bit of protein with my meals. 

When it came out, it looked delicious. In hindsight, as I always recommend to clients, I should have ordered the teriyaki on the side, since it was pretty sweet. However, after scraping some teriyaki to the side, this meal was flavorful and very veggie dense. I was only able to eat half, and then had the second half for lunch the next day diluted with more veggies. Not bad for ~$20. 

So, while this meal was definitely not the healthiest order I could have made, it was a meal that hit my cravings for the night and definitely one of the healthiest options I could have made. I would highly recommend this combo next time you are at the Pub!

My Healthy Pick at: THE GOAT'S BEARD ~ WAYNE, PA

Wayne, PA is full of fantastic restaurants and several that offer locally sourced produce, proteins, and libations... and I am all about buying local and knowing where your food comes from. Once place my husband and I frequent is the Goat's Beard in Wayne. The drinks are fairly expensive, which helps go along with my recommendation of limiting or avoiding alcohol, and the food is reasonable for an "upscale" bar type atmosphere. The service is usually very good, and it is always a hopping spot with locals. 

Previously, I struggled to find a healthy dinner option when I would dine here, with things like TGB nuggets (chicken nuggets), burgers, fish and chips, and scallops with pork belly on the menu. Many of their dishes are unique and delicious, but not necessarily "healthy". However, I have noticed over the past few months they have really amped-up their salad game, creating more meal-like salads that provide vegetables, protein, and whole grains. To date, I have gotten their garden salad that comes with mixed greens, tomato, cucumber, onion, quinoa and sherry vinaigrette (ordered on the side), and I add chicken. The chicken is very good, though not a large quantity. Their Drunken Goat salad is also quite good which contains a scant amount of bulgur wheat, field greens, fennel, apple, walnuts, pickled onions, and I requested they add chicken but leave the goat cheese and cider vinaigrette on the side.

Cauliflower & Quinoa Salad 

My new favorite is their Cauliflower & Quinoa salad that comes with pickled shrimp, arugula, yogurt, red onion, tahini, grapes, tomatoes, and cilantro. This dish is very healthy since there seems to be very little added oil or fat and it is not very salty. The pickled shrimp are different, but good, and I am always an advocate of adding yogurt to salads. I was very pleased with this meal and it is a pretty decent serving size for a meal. It was fairly well balanced, though I would like to see a bit more quinoa.

So, if you're looking for a salad, Goat's beard has quite the variety and has all the components that I like to include in a meal (veggies, protein & whole grain). Their entree options are definitely unique and interesting, but don't yet get the Kelly Stamp of Approval for nutrition.

So next time you are in Wayne, check out the Goat's Beard salad menu! More restaurant recommendations to come....

My Healthy Pick At: WHITE DOG CAFE (Wayne, PA)

The White Dog Cafe is a quintessential Main Line restaurant where you will find most well-to-do people in the area dining on a regular basis. I know friends that travel from afar to go to their brunch there, but I have not been. That being said, I make it there every few months for dinner, but definitely not regularly. The menu is pricey (except for their great happy hour specials!) and I also find it difficult to navigate in terms of making a healthy selection. I struggle to find something satisfying for my clients to choose when they go there. The salads need extreme modification, or a healthier appetizer is usually not a lot of food and will leave someone feeling like they haven't had a meal. Months ago I got the salmon with lentils and cauliflower mash, which sounds like it should be healthy, but as with any good restaurant, it was loaded with butter and salt. But I get it, to be a good chef, you have to use a lot of butter, people love that!

Anyway, I went back again last month for my fiance's birthday, and also because I had a $15 gift card, thanks to my Birthday Pak. I went in with the mission to find something that I really enjoyed and that I could recommend to clients. Mission accomplished! I inquired if I could change the steak in the "Thai Steak and Noodle Salad" to chicken. They were very accommodating and allowed me to make that switch. I was also able to get the Thai vinaigrette on the side. This meal was right up my alley since I love the flavors of Thai food, and it was pretty healthy. While there were (refined grain) Udon noodles, there was not a significant portion. I was pleasantly surprised with the quantity of vegetables, and the amount of chicken was perfect. Since I ordered this delicious and satisfying meal, I have recommended it to several local friends and clients.

So I am pleased that I have finally found something I can recommend at White Dog as a dietitian. Don't get me wrong, the food is terrific, which is why it's a popular spot... but generally difficult to eat at if you are trying to eat healthy and/or watching your waistline. So give it ago and see how you like it!

My Healthy Pick at: TERESA'S CAFE IN WAYNE, PA

When clients come to me and are looking for easy ways to lose weight or decrease salt in their diet I have one main recommendation: LIMIT EATING OUT! I generally advise to my clients that the more you eat out, the harder it is to stay slim and have a well balanced diet. Most restaurants are going to add more butter, oil, and salt to foods, sometimes unbeknownst to you. They sneak butter in places you would not guess... everything is made better with butter!

However, I am guilty of eating out for dinner at least once or twice a week, on average. I find eating out enjoyable and I don't want to deprive myself of fun social situations. This is something I stress with my clients as well: you cannot become a hermit in order to control your eating... that is the sign of a more serious problem. So, you have to learn how to make good choices when you do eat out. Hence, I decided to start a series of blog posts entitled "My Healthy Pick at: ______" where I go around to local restaurants and give my recommendations for more healthy items at these institutions. 

My first healthy pick is from a place I rarely eat at, simply because my friends prefer the right hand side (Teresa's Next Door) for the ambiance, nice bartenders, and the fact that the draft beers are on that side. The left side (Teresa's Cafe) is lovely, but it is a different (Italian) food menu, vibe, and you don't have as quick access to the beers. However, I had several clients say they had no idea what to order at Teresa's Cafe, so I decided to go investigate and come up with a recommendation for them at that location.

Upon reading the Teresa's Cafe menu, I decided something that I would enjoy, but would be healthy is their "Roasted Veggie Salad". However, this is lacking a protein... so I decided to add scallops. In hindsight, I only received 3 scallops, so for that price I should have opted for roasted chicken breast and hopefully received a little more protein. I asked for the dressing on the side (as I always advocate!), and found I didn't even need it. The roasted vegetables had oil and salt and were flavorful enough. I found that I couldn't even finish the meal as it was an ample serving of veggies, definitely Wayne Nutrition approved! So, next time you are at Teresa's Cafe in Wayne, and looking to order healthy, try the Roasted Veggie salad w/ roasted chicken breast (or shrimp!).

In the next few "My Healthy Pick at" posts, I will hopefully move to Teresa's Next Door, Christopher's, The Great American Pub, and other Wayne or Main Line/KOP spots. Stay tuned!