Saturday, March 24th, 2007
Last month we went to eat at Ruby Tuesday’s and thought that their selection of food and their salad bar seemed pretty nutritious and healthy. Then I stumbled upon this article on MSN…
Fresh Chicken and Broccoli Pasta: The name for this Ruby Tuesday’s dish seems healthy enough. The chicken is pulled from a roasted bird and the broccoli is steamed. The pasta is standard penne. But then the entrée transforms into a cardiac catastrophe totaling 2,060 calories (can you believe it?) and 128 grams of fat (including 60 to 70 of the artery-clotting saturated variety).
What gives? It’s the parmesan cream sauce and the topping of Wisconsin cheddar cheese before baking. CSPI labels it “Angioplasta” and equates the dish to two sirloin steak dinners complete with Caesar salad and buttered baked potato.
Just as bad was this…
Colossal Burger: There are a lot of giant hamburgers out there for the gorging these days, but CSPI says Ruby Tuesday’s is the chub-house leader with its Colossal Burger. Two patties and the three-layer bun are just a starting point. You get a total of 1,940 calories and, as CSPI points out, that’s before the fries or optional sauce. The burger is so big it’s served with a steak knife to hold it together and allows for some forklifting as you actually try to eat the thing.
Along with the meat and bread, you get enough melted American and Monterrey Jack cheeses to equal eating four to five McDonald’s Quarter Pounders. Total grams of fat: 141 grams, which CSPI estimates is at least half and maybe three-quarters the unhealthy saturated type.
The health rating we gave to Ruby Tuesday’s was based on what we ate and what we saw on the menu. For the most part the menu had a somewhat healthy selection, but as you can see it can be misleading judging from an innocent sounding name like “Fresh Chicken & Broccoli Pasta.” My suggestion if you don’t want any surprises, go for their salad bar. That way you can control what you eat.
The original article can be found at the Center for Science in the Public Interest Newsroom.
Tags: Ruby Tuesday’s, Colossal Burger, Fresh Chicken & Broccoli Pasta, Health
Posted in Eating Out, Food News, Health | No Comments »
Friday, November 3rd, 2006
Yahoo! just launched it’s new Food section earlier this week with thousands of recipes, cooking videos, food blogs, and a lot more. Looks like a pretty useful resource, especially if you enjoy cooking. The recipe database is quite extensive and you can search by ingredient, cooking method, taste, texture, etc. According to a Reuters story, this is one of the first new Yahoo media properties launched in five years.
Link: http://food.yahoo.com
Tags: yahoo, food
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Wednesday, November 1st, 2006
Boiling an egg may seem like an easy task, but apparently there are a lot of people out there who don’t know how. The solution developed by the British Egg Information Service is a self-timing egg with heat-sensitive ink that tells you when it’s ready. Can’t get any simpler than that.
Read the full story here.
Tags: smart, egg
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Sunday, October 29th, 2006
A new fast food is making its debut at U.S. fairs this fall — fried Coke. Abel Gonzales, 36, a computer analyst from Dallas, tried about 15 different varieties before coming up with his perfect recipe — a batter mix made with Coca-Cola syrup, a drizzle of strawberry syrup, and some strawberries.
Balls of the batter are then deep-fried, ending up like ping-pong ball sized doughnuts which are then served in a cup, topped with Coca-Cola syrup, whipped cream, cinnamon sugar and a cherry on the top.
“It tastes great,” said Sue Gooding, a spokeswoman for the State Fair of Texas where Gonzales’ fried Coke made its debut this fall. “It was a huge success.”
More on this story here.
Tags: fried coke
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Saturday, October 28th, 2006
Over the years I’ve banned several restaurants either because of sanitary reasons (Kings Noodle for their room temperature ‘cold’ dishes), health reasons (Sonics and their ultra greasy breakfast sandwiches and tacos), or just downright life hazards (Taiwan Cafe and the pain that it caused many people; I’m surprised nobody’s died after eating their food yet…although many have come close).
Here’s my list of banned restaurants as of today. This will be an ongoing post because I will add to it when I find new ones to ban.
Burger King
King’s Noodle
Little Hunan
Snuffer’s
Sonics
Taiwan Cafe
Tags: banned, health, sanitary, hazard
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Thursday, October 26th, 2006
This taken from:
www.helenair.com/articles/2006/10/26/ap/strange/d8kvsh7o2.txt
A plastic bottle with foul-smelling contents that was found in a men’s bathroom at Swartz Creek High School two weeks ago prompted an evacuation and a visit by the bomb squad. But lab results show that the bottle contained spoiled milk.
The bottle had been sitting in a student’s locker and was left on the ledge in the bathroom, The Flint Journal reported Tuesday. It was found Oct. 9 and officials initially said they believed it contained a mix of household chemicals.
“It looks like it was chocolate milk, old, spoiled and under pressure,” Superintendent Jeff Pratt said.
Pressure from the spoiled milk apparently caused the bottle to expand, making it look more suspicious. Pratt said school officials erred on the side of caution, noting that possible threats can’t be taken for granted.
“Two police officers and three members of the bomb squad refused to go near it or touch it, and that was good enough for me,” Pratt said.
Students were evacuated to the football field and later dismissed. It turns out a student had cleaned out his girlfriend’s locker, found the bottle and accidentally left in the bathroom, the newspaper said.
Swartz Creek Police Chief Rick Clolinger said the milk was inside a clear, nearly 16-ounce water bottle.
“I know that after the fact it makes us look on the silly side, that we sent kids home because of spoiled milk on the shelf,” Clolinger said. “But all of the right decisions were made.”
Tags: milk, spoiled, school
Posted in Food News, Off Topic | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 25th, 2006
Have you noticed that food portions at restaurants seem to only get bigger over time? If so, you’re right, according to the results of a recent survey of 300 restaurant chefs reported by USA Today. Here’s an interesting statistic from the survey: 60% of chefs serve steaks that are 12 ounces or larger. The recommended serving size for meat is 3 ounces.
Many restaurant chefs continue to serve larger and larger portions simply because customers have come to expect it. It’s no wonder that obesity has become such a problem in our country.
Larger portions isn’t a bad thing though if it means getting a good value for your money. The key is to limit the amount you actually eat. Our recommendation the next time you eat out: share an entree with another person, or ask for a to-go box.
Tags: restaurants, survey, portions
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