Manwich it was for my brother-in-law.  He ordered The New York Yankee, a (rye) sandwich bursting with hot corned beef and pastrami and swiss cheese.  It was served with chips and pickles on the side.

I tell you, my BIL had a Man Vs. Food moment during dinner!  Hee hee.  The pickles and chips were left unfinished, a fact my daughter made sure she pointed out.  That night, food won.

As for me, I enjoyed my leafy greens immensely.  They’re the best colon cleanser, as far as I’m concerned. I love that at Jason’s Deli, everything is free of artificial trans fat, MSG and high fructose corn syrup (except for the soda, of course!).  A number of vegetables in the salad bar are organic, too! I’m glad we went to Jason’s Deli for dinner.  It’s been a while since we last had meal there…a very long while.

Now, those flatbreads are almost gone.  So much for “too much for our very small family”.  Hee hee.  Several days ago, and again today, I made Tuna Salad Wraps…

My daughter seems all too willing to go in the opposite direction whenever she hears the words “whole wheat” and “brown rice”.   When I made Tuna Salad Wrap for her snack, I sliced the wrap into 4 pieces and served them on a sushi plate.  I told her she was having Flat Bread Sushi. :P   After all, the pieces did look like sushi! So I’m a trickster that way.  My little girl enjoyed her snack but pointed the obvious out to me, that what she’s eating isn’t sushi. I just told her it’s sushi made with flatbread and not rice.

To make these wraps, I used Albacore Tuna (in water) and mixed it with light mayo, dijon mustard, paprika, salt and pepper.  I got the idea from the deviled eggs I made a couple months back.   To add color, not to mention health benefits, I made sure I included some greens from the tub of spring mix salad vegetables I had in the fridge.  How’s that for a healthy and meatless snack that’s yummy nevertheless?

Have a great weekend, y’all!  It’s Spring Break already and pretty soon, outdoor fireplaces will be taking a much needed break. Cheers! :)

This is an ideal lunch for my better half who often finds himself in conference calls during lunch time.  It’s a meal he can just take to his home office and enjoy amongst office furniture.   Hee hee.

We didn’t have any burger buns so I used what we had on hand, whole wheat bread.  I used my stove-top grill to cook the burgers.  I just love, love, love my stove- top grill!

To make sure the burgers were cooked, I even used my never-before-used thermometer!  An internal temperature of 170F means that the burgers are already cooked through.  I got a 172F when I checked.

I used ground turkey patties, by the way.  I just seasoned both sides of the patties with some salt and pepper and a dash of worcestershire sauce.  Then I sprayed the grill pan with cooking spray and proceeded to grill the burgers when the pan was already smokin’ hot.  I added a few more dashes of worcestershire after every flip of the burger.  The result was a tasty, not to mention juicy, burger that was far from bland. ;)

Hubby, the biggest burger fan, loved it.  “Yummy, Munchkin!” he said.  I asked if it were better than In-n-Out’s, to which he unblinkingly replied, “Not quite just yet!”  Hmp! :D Well, whatever!  We’ll be having this again and again and again, that’s for sure.  The next one’s going to have fried egg. ;)

Happy Hump Day! :)

This week’s theme for Lasang Pinoy, Sundays is “Layer It Up” or “Layered”.   I’m glad I have a fresh entry to post and not a rehash. :D

For the whole month of January, Red Robin had a Kids Eat Free promotion going.  And for two consecutive Saturday evenings, we had dinner with our friends, 23-person strong the first Saturday (January 24) and 15-person strong the next (January 31).  That’s savings of over $55 the first night and over $35 the second time.

Red Robin is famous for it’s gourmet burgers.  Unlike the first Saturday we went to RR, when a number of us ordered non-burger entrees, the second time was different. 7 out of 8 of us adults had burgers.   RR is a family restaurant, by the way, which translates to noise…lots of it!  I haven’t been to Red Robin on a weekday but on weekends, the place is definitely packed.  Wait time is 45 minutes.  Not really a short wait.  It was a specially busy night on January 31st that our server even forgot to ask how we wanted our burgers cooked.  We realized how important that question was after we took our first bite.

So, where’s the “layered” food?  I’ll get to that right about now. Here are the burgers with layer upon layer of filling.

I ordered the Whiskey River Barbecue Burger, it is “basted with RR’s signature Whiskey River BBQ Sauce and lasso’d together with Cheddar cheese, crispy onion straws, lettuce, tomatoes & mayo”.

Whiskey River Barbecue Burger

I liked the buger, which was juicy and perfectly cooked even if I didn’t specifically say how I wanted it cooked.  I was disappointed with the supposedly “crispy onion straws”.  They weren’t crispy at all and they kinda got in the way when I took a bite.  They looked very different from the photo on the menu.

My pepperoni and burger lovin’ husband ordered the Sicilian Burger.  This is supposed to be a new addition to the RR menu.  It’s a “pile of pepperoni slices, Provolone cheese and balsamic-marinated tomatoes with red onions, Romaine lettuce, an olive-herb mayonnaise and served on an herbed focaccia bun.”

Sicilian Burger

Hubby was all praises for this burger, which didn’t really come as a surprise.  He only had to take out the red onions.  We both aren’t big fans of fresh onions. :D

One of my girl friends, A, ordered the Sauteed ‘Shroom Burger.  It is (supposed to be) “loaded with fresh, plump, sautéed mushrooms, a hint of garlic Parmesan butter and topped with melted Swiss”.

Sauteed ‘Shroom Burger

From among the burgers that were ordered that night, this was the burger with the least layer of fillings.  My friend found it to be a little dry.  Not until she got to the middle of her burger did she find that hint of juiciness.  She realized she needed her tomatoes and lettuce on her burger.  Haha!

Another friend, E, ordered the Royal Red Robin Burger.  RR refers to it as the aristocrat of all burgers because they “crown it with a fresh fried egg”. It is also “topped with three strips of hickory-smoked bacon, American cheese, crisp lettuce, tomatoes and mayo“.

Royal Red Robin Burger

“E” seemed to like this burger, so much so that he gave his wife, A (Ms. Sauteed Shroom Burger) a deadly stare when she suggested they exchange burgers.  Haha!  The pinkish patty saved the day for our friend.  Wifey didn’t like the undercooked burger.

My other girl friend, M, ordered the Banzai Burger.  It is “marinated in teriyaki and topped with grilled pineapple, Cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and mayo.”

Banzai Burger

Sorry, no verdict for this burger.  M was seated at the opposite end of the table so I didn’t get to interview her.  Haha!

If I may veer away from the “layered” theme now.  One friend ordered the Ensenada Chicken Platter, “two tender, juicy chicken breasts basted with a zesty Mexican blend of seasonings, charbroiled and bursting with Baja-style flavor. Served with a side salad and two dipping sauces.”

Ensenada Chicken Platter

No verdict on this entree as well.  However, I’d like to say that from among the food on our table, this is the only one that resembled the photo on the menu the closest. :)

Abby’s (free) meal was a Corn Dog and Salad combo. :)

Corn Dog and Salad from the Kids Menu

Abby finished her corn dog and ate a portion of her salad.  I tasted the salad and it was crispy good.

All burgers are served with bottomless steak fries.  If you missed RR’s “kids eat free” promo for the month of January, don’t throw a tantrum (nor your Rackmount monitor! hee hee!).  Kids can still eat for free on Tuesdays. ;)

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers
Anderson Arbor
13315 N US HWY 183
Austin, TX 78750-7164
Tel: 512-249-8902
Sun-Thu: 11am-10pm, Fri-Sat: 11am-11pm

These are called Gwa Pao as stated on the pacakging, cuapao as we call it in the Philippines.  Back home, I loved buying these in one of the stalls at Tiendesitas and they are sold with chopped homemade bacon as fillings at 3pcs. for 100 pesos.  Ahhh, those were my pork eating days.

Anyway, these soft white steamed (unfilled) buns allowed me to come up with something new for Abby’s school lunch….

I used hotdogs for fillings.  Hee hee!  And she loved it!  Normally, when Abby has the usual hotdog on a bun lunch, she will end up eating only the hotdog and the bun would find its way back to our home. :)  The reverse happened this time.  I prepared two cuapaos with hot dog fillings for Abby like so…

…and when she came home, both cuapaos were gone but there was still a little piece of  hotdog left.  Nevertheless, I was happy.  These cuapaos, Abby and I will go a long way.  I’ll just have to pair them up with Abby’s favorite fillings. :)

Another winning Mommy moment for me.  Hee hee. ;)

Two slices of whole wheat bread, some lettuce, tomato slices, 3 slices of turkey breast, a teeny weeny bit of vegetarian butter to moisten the bread and I had myself a healthy lunch which shouldn’t be more than 250 calories. ;) Dessert, is another story though. :P