Joyous Eating

Consuming food this week has been a delight. I got to have so many tasty things and they were all good for me and made me feel good. I had hummus and carrots for my snack at work, trying to cut back on the number of Special K bars that I have weekly (oh hey, 15 grams of sugar). I traded in my sugar-filled Odwalla protein shakes for whey protein... and when you mix vanilla whey protein shake mix in orange juice, it kind of tastes like a dreamcicle and an orange julius made a baby. A glorious baby. Doing it with Tropicana Pure Premium is decadent... but it even tastes good using Trop 50, which by the way has just as much Vitamin C with 50% less sugar. And no, I don't work for Tropicana, I just have a VERY bad view of juice.

I got ample protein this week, which is always my weakness. I tracked my food every day. I even indulged in some things that weren't necessarily “good for me.” I had Chinese one night. I had pizza for lunch one day. I had Boloco for lunch on Good Friday. I also spent Good Friday at the outlets buying some new clothes. It's always nice when you have a store credit and you buy twice as many pairs of pants as the store credit had previously purchased you. I'm enjoying pants in size 10 and 12. I'm enjoying medium tops. Slightly addicted. But not having any summer clothes that fit... that sort of leads to the purchase of new clothes. But I think I'm good now. I've always been a normal t-shirt kind of person... but now I've got a few more flattering spring/summer tops and a few pair of shorts, so I'm good to go. Now if only the New Hampshire weather would cooperate. 47 and sunless today. I have on a sweater.

Before we stray for the topic of food, and since I had Boloco for lunch on Friday, I'd like to share with you a passion of mine... and that is the “burrito” restaurant. I've been to a few... and if you know of others in my geographic area I'd love to find more to further the experiment. It's a funny story because me and Mexican food were not always friends. In fact, when I was a kid, the only thing I would eat at a Mexican restaurant was cheese enchiladas. And if I recall correctly, I didn't like it very much... but it was something. The thing that turns me off is the refried beans. I like beans as much as the next person who also likes beans, but it goes back to that aversion to ground beef. I like to chew my own food. I don't need someone to do it for me before it goes on my plate. I am not now, nor have I ever been, a baby bird.

So Boloco is a Boston based burrito place that I discovered 1) because it was next to the Natick Mall which I went to one time and 2) because there's a location in Concord, NH. This place is awesome. The variety is amazing and I know that if I went there more often I'd be more confident to try out some customization, but the line is always long and I HATE those people who stand in a long line and then have no idea what they're ordering and ask too many questions... so I think that I've possibly missed out on some things since I care about the other humans on the planet. Another notable thing about Boloco is they have recycling next to the trash can, which always makes me smile. Of course, then you get people like me who are confused because the cups are actually compostable because they're made out of plants... so... does that go in the recycling bin? If I put it in the garbage, am I keeping it from bio-degrading to its full potential?

I've supplied for you a chart of the current burrito establishments that I have been to. This is of course mostly made up of my opinion, but I will let you know what those places have, which is fact. If they aren't on the list I haven't tried them and would LOVE to hear about a new place. Here we go:

Restaurant	Locations	Variety	Pros	Cons	Katie's Overall Rating
Qdoba Mexican Grill	They have locations all over the country. Unfortunately for me, the closest is on the outskirts of Boston. There are many in Boston and other larger cities.	Quesadillas, burritos, tacos (hard and soft), salads, soup, naked burritos, nachos... not to mention all the salsas, queso... lots of different proteins (including vegetarian black beans).	Crazy number of combos available. I love the queso... I think it offsets the cold salsa to warm up an otherwise cold burrito. They have poblano pesto, for heaven's sake... Best chips.	You'd be surprised at how fast the calories can add up. These burritos are HUGE. And they aren't very good reheated. Add cheese, queso, sour cream (if you're into that) and yowza...	A: I can't deny my love for Qdoba. It took me a while to be won over... but once I discovered the veggie queso burrito (with squash, btw) I could never have another love. A+ for when they build one in NH.
Chipotle Mexican Grill	There are 4 in NH now. I hadn't tried it until I moved here. Could be found in north eastern parts of KY. Something tells me it's super popular around the country since they mentioned it on South Park, but their locations map isn't as good with the big picture.	Not a lot when compared to others. Meat variety is solid, but they only have peppers & onions when it comes to vegetables. They only have burritos and tacos on the menu, but my Chipotle will make a quesadilla if you ask. That's essentially a burrito folded in half and put on the steamer...	They offer brown rice. Calorie-wise it makes very little difference and I LOVE the cilantro lime rice there as well as other places. Also, if “clean” food is important to you, they don't use meat with hormones and they find ingredients that show “respect for the animals, the environment and the farmers.”	The variety. I would love to see more veggie options there. I'd also like to see some nachos. But to give them credit, with the lack of variety comes lower calories. I can lose weight and eat here. I really can't do that at some of these others.	A-/B+: They get credit for being within a 5 minute drive of my house. I do like the food and I do eat there a lot. Pretty inexpensive for quality food pretty fast. I also like that guac comes free on a veggie burrito... and if you don't want guac that they, they subtract the price from your bill.
Boloco “Inspired Burritos”	19 locations, mostly in MA. 2 in NH and 1 in VT.	The variety I think surpasses any of the other places. They have mango salsa. They have different sauces and rices. They even have SIZES. They have tofu. Broccoli. Cucumbers. You get the idea.	SIZES!!! You can get a small! The sizes are regular, small, mini or a mini bundle (two minis). This is a big deal when you're trying to watch your portions. They also have bacon.	They don't have much in the way of chips. The big deal at the previous two are those house made tortilla chips with the sea salt and lime. They're fantastic. These chips are obviously pulled from a bag in the back.	A: They get an A+ for the sizes. I wish all of these restaurants would use this as an example. But they have so much variety it's hard to not only decide but hard to order too. They have to ask you way too many questions. Not enough locations either, but it's a good place to eat.
Moe's Southwest Grill	There are tons of locations. None of them are in NH. I had Moe's way back when in KY and then I have had it since in MA.	It's getting better. I used to have the problem of knowing exactly what I would eat (and not liking it very much) to now they have so many more options. Good effort. They have queso, which is about the only thing I like about this place. And you can get a small queso with your automatic chips that come with your burrito.	The queso. And the fact that you get a small amount of chips with your order. I think that kind of variety should be incorporated at all of these locations. But, it's hard to offer people chips on the side when your burrito is the size of their head. The Moe's burritos are slightly more modest, though still huge.	The meat grosses me out, sorry to say. I'm sure the worst possible way I could describe it would be canned meat (while not equating it to pet food, which I could do...). Unfortunately, there's no “veggie” burrito that I noticed... so you're kind of stuck with it. They do have tofu now.	B-/C+: I appreciate a good effort, but I just don't care for the taste. I never actually finish a burrito there, but the chips and queso are nice. If I had the choice between Moe's and somewhere, else, I'd go somewhere else, but if it's all that's open, then sure. It just takes a minute to find what I'll settle for.
Dos Amigos Burritos	This is much more local. 5 locations in NH.	The variety made me want to try this place. I've only eaten there once, but they have some awesomely appealing veggie options. Portabello mushroom. Spinach. Sweet potato!!!	Variety is good. Lots of different veggies, salsas and sauces. They also have chili. They have nachos too.	How can I put this positively? It's cold. And their chips are gross. They also don't tell you that chips come with your burrito (or I just didn't notice if they do) so when you order chips, you then have a lot of chips that you could have bought at the store for cheaper.	C: I'll give them another try, eventually, but very rarely is there a place that makes me not want to give it another try.

I do enjoy food. That chart was pretty fun...

There's some food that I tried for the first time this week that I wanted to share. I actually had avocado by itself! I've enjoyed guacamole and I like avocado in sushi, but I hadn't been brave enough to just eat it. Put some olive oil on it and had it with bow tie pasta. Delicious. I felt bad about eating the whole thing, since it's so high in calories (albeit better ones than a cheeseburger) so I only ate half. And then following directions from the internet on how to keep the other half from going bad... that didn't work. Damn those sensitive foods.

Another thing I tried this week was Popcorners. They're these chips made out of popcorn, I guess. But they're really good. I tried the Kettle flavor and then while at the grocery this week I picked up the White Cheddar, though haven't tried it yet. I'm considering ordering a multipack off of their website because they have a jalapeno flavor! They're tasty.

As for weight loss. I was up 1 lb. And I logged it. It's almost time for my finicky Aunt Florence to arrive, so that always leads to weight loss. Looking forward to that for just that reason alone.

Lastly, for exercise this week I completed the first week of the Couch to 5K program. I walk/ran around my neighborhood and it felt really good and I enjoyed it very much. I didn't turn on the GPS feature the first time so I'm not sure how far I went exactly, but between the second and third I improved my time so that's good. I'm looking forward to week 2. Not sure why I can't bring myself to go to the gym. I'm feeling slightly antisocial. And bored by the hamster wheel.