Categories: Restaurant Reviews

7 Sep 2012, Comments (0)

Cosi Asian Shrimp Salad

Author: Healthnuttxo

SORRY I have been missing as of lately! But no worries, I am back, and here to stay!

Today’s review….Cosi Asian Shrimp Salad!!! MMMM!!!! Because who doesn’t love salads, right? 😉

I ordered this one after a long day and I wanted a nice little treat that was also healthy. I don’t eat out much, due to added sugars, preservatives and such that may be in the foods, as well as sodium. However, this salad definitely hit the spot.

A generous bed of lettuce, with shrimp, edamame, cucumbers, pieces of the Sesame Break Bar, tiny pieces of pineapple, and a yummy dressing. The lettuce was crunchy and fresh, and the shrimp was the perfect consistency. There was a good amount of shrimp, so I know I was getting a good amount of filling protein. That’s really important to me, I do NOT like when I get salads and there is hardly any chicken or protein on it. Not filling enough for me! The shrimp itself was not too chewy or rubbery, which is definitely a plus for me. I loved the tiny bits of pineapple, as they added some zing to the salad. The cucumbers, very crispy and also fresh, were abundant, although I am not a cucumber fan, so sadly most of mine were not eaten 😀

Moving on, the best part of the salad, hands down, was the pieces of the Sesame break Bar. SO GOOD! Crunchy, slightly sweet and nutty, it really pulled the salad together and made it feel like such a treat. I honestly was tempted to see if I could buy just the Sesame Break bar!

Lastly, what’s a salad without a good DRESSING? This one was very good. Tangy yet sweet, and a generous amount. It wasn’t flooded with dressing, which I like, but everything was well coated. It also had a little bit of spice to it.

Overall, a definite try! It also comes in the Asian Salmon Salad variety, but I am more of a shrimp person than salmon. As for the nutrition, according to the website it is

375 calories, 17 grams of fat ( 3 saturated), 1123 mg of sodium (yikes!) , 6 grams of fiber, 25 grams of sugar, and 20 grams of protein.

This salad has a bit too much fat/sodium and sugar for my likings,  but it is a good treat every now and then. It comes with bread and carrots as well. Overall, 4 stars

9 Feb 2012, Comments (2)

Crumbs Bake Shop Chocolate Snowball Cupcake

Author: Healthnuttxo

Source

I’m hesitant to post anything even mentioning the word “snow”. It may be bad luck. So far, where I live, we lucked out and got little to hardly ANY of the white fluffy stuff. And, call me boring, but I’m glad. I hate snow. 1-2 inches? Sure. Enough to get the ground looking pretty and the feel of winter really in the air. 1-2 feet of snow? Me hauling the shovel for 2 hours with frostbitten fingers and then a useless back the next day and sore body? Driving in that slippery stuff to get to work? Looking at the gray, gross and dirty snow a few days after the storm? Noooo. Me no likey.

SO, if it snows upon me posting this review, I apologize. And if it snows upon me posting this review and you like snow, then, hey, you’re welcome! But if it actually does snow I may be freaked out just a tad…

ANYWAY- I went to Crumbs Bake Shop and ordered the Chocolate Snowball Cupcake. It just appealed to me. It didn’t have a ton of toppings, and was simple, shiny and looked really good. Come to think of it, I’m not a big sprinkles person, and this cupcake was rimmed with sprinkles, so I don’t really know why I bought it. Impulse buy. *Sigh*

However, I am glad I got it! It was $3.75, which isn’t too terrible but also not cheap, and I usually only eat half a a time anyway because it has a lot of sugar (like any dessert).

The top was a thick chocolatey layer, almost waxy in consistency, and dark chocolate in flavor. I almost wish it was a milk chocolate rather than a dark chocolate flavor, as it was a tad bit bitter. I can see why they added the dark chocolate layer, perhaps to balance out the cupcake, but I would have preferred a more milk chocolate icing/frosting flavor.

The sprinkles on the side were softer than I expected, but still added a tiny bit of crunch, and some added chocolate flavor. Underneath the chocolate layer, was a layer of chocolate mousse . I wasn’t crazy about the mousse- it was a bit too tangy for me. It had a bit of a cream cheese flavor which I didn’t really enjoy, but I did like the soft, thick and smooth texture. Lastly, my favorite part, the cake. A delicious chocolate cake- rich, moist, and fudgy, it tasted like a brownie but had cake consistency. I don’t know what they do, but  I ALWAYS like the cake part of their cupcakes! (at least the ones I have tried so far!)

Overall, a pretty good cupcake. I have yet to find a cupcake at Crumbs that I love 100%, but I will keep looking (and reviewing!!) until I find one. However, this one gets 3 1/2 stars, because it was tasty, and not as sugary-sweet as I expected it to taste.

Oh…bonus! This cupcake has only 400 calories– not bad considering I’ve seen some hefty caloric cupcakes at this place!

20 Jan 2012, Comments (0)

Dunkin’ Donuts Turkey Sausage Flatbread Sandwich

Author: Healthnuttxo

I ordered something so out of my element. Turkey. Sausage. Normally if I eat out, I’ll get the vegetarian option of a sandwich, but this time I wanted to try something different. (WHO am I? And what have I done with myself?)

So, alongside a medium coffee (caffeine addict right here), I ordered a Turkey Sausage Flatbread Sandwich from Dunkin’ Donuts. It was made fresh, and was steaming hot when I got it, so I was quite content with that.

Another weird quirk of mine, I never eat sandwiches whole. I eat them piece by piece. So first I ate one side of the flatbread, then the egg/sausage component, and then the other side of the flatbread with cheese. I can’t help it, I just like to eat sandwiches this way. Although I did also try a bite of the sandwich all together and it was quite delicious.

And here’s a closeup of the sandwich.

The flatbread itself was chewy and doughy on the inside, and then the outer edges had a slight crisp/crunchiness to it. It was rather bland in flavor by itself, but went well with the egg and cheese component when I ate it together.

The egg part was really delicious, and had a fluffy consistency which surprised me that it wasn’t rubbery at all. It had some green pieces in it which I’m assuming would be spinach, along with pieces of turkey sausage. The turkey sausage was really good, and had a bit of spice to it. I haven’t had sausage of any kind in the longest time, but the turkey sausage (from what I remember) tasted very similar to regular sausage.

The cheese on the other piece of flatbread melted well, but really didn’t add too much to the sandwich. The flavors of the egg and sausage part overpowered the flavor of the cheese.

Overall, I enjoyed this. It was kind of small, maybe about the size of my hand with extended fingers. It had a lot of flavor and was really quite good. I would buy it again for sure, and it wasn’t terribly high in sodium, fat or calories. It had 280 calories, 8 grams of fat, and 770 mg of sodium. I would give it 4 stars.

Full nutritional information can be found here . Although after looking at that ingredient list, I don’t think I will be buying this very often. Too long!

What’s your favorite thing to order at Dunkin? I used to love the cinnamon roll donuts :’)

17 Dec 2011, Comments (6)

Crumbs Raspberry Hamentashen

Author: Healthnuttxo

Hamentashen.

Yes, I had no idea what it was when I bought it. So if you know, props to you. I was told by a friend that it was a Jewish cookie, and to this moment that’s all I still really know about it. (So please, if you know anything, let me know!)

Regardless, amongst all the heavily frosted cupcakes and cookies available at Crumbs, I picked the Hamentashen. I didn’t want an overload of sugar, but I wanted something sweet and delicious. I picked up one of these for a little over 2 dollars each, and got the Raspberry flavor.

When I picked the Hamentashen, the lady behind the counter was confused. She asked why I purchased such a “grown up” cookie amongst all the cookies and cupcakes. Uhoh. Would this taste good??

The cookie basically had a “cookie/dry” part and a fruity/jam-like center. When I first tasted it, it reminded me of pie. And…I LOVE PIE.

The cookie part was crunchy on the outer edges, but as you get closer to the middle it was super soft, like the inner pie crust. It was buttery tasting and mildly sweet, and kind of reminded me of a butter/shortbread cookie.

The fruit on the inside, not scarce at all, was smooth and sweet, and also very fresh. I was afraid raspberry would be overly tart, but it wasn’t. It had a mild bit of tartness, and that’s it. AND, there was a lot of fruit filling!  To prove it, here’s a little pic

Overall, yes, it’s not a SUPER sugary cookie, but it was rather big (about size of my hand) and really good! I’ve already bought a couple more after eating my first one, and they do not disappoint! And, only 110 calories! Which is awesome given the 500-600+ calorie cupcakes/treats there!

4.5 stars

What’s your FAVORITE holiday cookie or cookie in general ( besides chocolate chip!)? I really love oatmeal raisin 🙂

25 Nov 2011, Comments (2)

Starbucks Caramel Macchiato Biscotti

Author: Healthnuttxo

Who’s obsessed with Starbucks!?!

meeeeeeeee.

I’m definitely guilty of going to Starbucks every week (err, day) to get my caffeine fix. What’s a girl to do when she has to do 8 million things in one day and needs caffeine to keep her going? It HAS to taste good and Starbucks does coffee right. Perfect in fact. So yummy.

Anyway, I got a caramel frappuccino and saw the Starbucks Caramel Macchiato Biscotti waiting at the counter. Oh, Starbucks, you are so sly. Not only am I spending over 5 dollars for a drink, now I am spending additional money on a biscotti that I probably don’t need. But, I saw it, it looked interesting, and well, I bought it. I. Am. An. Impulse. Buyer.

Moving on,

Here’s what it looked like.

There were three “layers” of the biscotti. A white layer on top with some sort of drizzled frosting, a middle thin brown layer, and a bottom layer that was frosted. The top layer tasted like a plain biscotti, nothing special. Crunchy, with a tad bit of vanilla flavor in it. The middle layer was also relatively bland, but had more of a coffee flavor to it. The bottom layer, my favorite, was sweet and had a coffee/caramel flavor to it, as well as being slightly softer than the rest of the layers as it had the frosting on it.

I wouldn’t say this biscotti was amazing, but it was ok. It was crunchy as a biscotti should be. I probably would have liked it better had the whole thing been frosted rather than just the bottom, just because I think without the frosting the biscotti would have been rather boring and bland. A good dunking-in-your coffee kind of cookie, but I also bought this with a frozen drink so that was a tad difficult (FAIL!!)

Overall, I would skip this biscotti. It probably wasn’t worth the additional 170 calories, as it was kind of small and lacked amazing flavor. If you want an amazing treat for around the same number of calories, I HIGHLY suggest this product I reviewed in the past. SO. GOOD!

I also don’t think this was worth the 15 grams of sugar and 3.5 grams of saturated fat. Really?? Where did THAT come from!?! So overall, 2 stars

1 Biscotti is 170 calories, 6 grams of fat, 27 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 15 grams of sugar, 3 grams of protein.

21 Nov 2011, Comments (8)

Cosi Turkey and Stuffing Sandwich

Author: Healthnuttxo

Presenting….

one of the BEST sandwiches I ever had!

Well, at least best sandwich I had eating out. Nothing can beat a homemade peanut butter and jelly sandwich on fluffy white (yea, I said it) bread with globs of peanut butter and jelly. MMM.

Anyway, insert the Cosi Turkey and Stuffing Sandwich. I’ve been WAITING for this baby. It’s seasonal, and I always happen to fall in love with seasonal items. Good for the companies, bad for me when I want a stuffing sandwich in July, or some fruity flavored thing in the winter (so typical of my body to crave out of season….how DARE it!!!?)

I went to the gym Friday and afterward wanted to reward my muscles with some protein after a hard muscle workout.  My options were scrambled eggs (which…. I have every day), yogurt (for lunch? Nah…) or a nice sandwich from Cosi. Bread? Carbs? Protein? Count. Me. In.

I ordered the sandwich, which came with carrots, and a drink and it came to about $10.00. A little on the pricy side for sure, but usually worth the money in flavor.

Here’s what the sandwich looked like once I got home.

One bite….and I was hooked.

Starting with the bread (<3) which I’m almost positive I asked for Whole Grain, and I’m pretty sure I got white bread. I would know…the Whole Grain usually has a whole bunch of flax seeds and such in it, and this one I found MAYBE one or two stragglers. Hmm. Whatever. It was still beyond delicious so even though the inner soon-to-be nutritionist was yelling Uh, RETURN THIS! Go get your whole grains! Stop eating refined carbs! my brain was yelling There’s no way I’m walking back 10 blocks to return a sandwich and taste buds were yelling this is too dang delicious to stop eating.

So it was settled. I ate the white-possibly-whole-grain-but-I’ll-never-know bread. Flaky, crusty, goodness. Mmm.

The turkey pieces (medallions??) were chewy and there were PLENTY of them. They were a bit salty and otherwise a wee bit bland/dry if eaten alone, but still good.

The stuffing was so good. It was flavorful, and I tasted a piece of celery in there. It was very bready, and very yummy, with spices (but NOT spicy!)

Lastly, the cranberry. Sweet and soft, and like a spread. Went perfectly with the stuffing and turkey.

Overall, HELLO leftover sandwich BEFORE Thanksgiving! I would call that a win. There’s 435 calories in this sandwich which is a bit more than I’d eat normally for lunch also considering the carrots (um…and the cookie I ate with it but let’s forget about that….) but it was well worth the money and the calories.

Who invented this sandwich? She or he is a genius. 4.5 stars

17 Oct 2011, Comments (9)

Crumbs Pumpkin Cupcake

Author: Healthnuttxo

Tis the season (can I say that if it’s not Christmas time??) for pumpkin flavored items. You’ve seen them all over for sure. Pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread, pumpkin drinks….and a new one for me. The Pumpkin Cupcake by Crumbs Bake Shop.

Was I excited? Uh, YEA I was excited. Even AFTER paying $3.75 for one cupcake and choking down the 560 calorie price tag (WAY too much. Even too much for a “snack” if a person shares this cupcake!). But whatever. Only live once right? Could I honestly go to November, when this pumpkin cupcake will (most likely) be long gone saying, oh, I wish I tried it at least…

Well, obvously not. Because I bought it, and I ate it. But did I like it?


Well….

I was hopeful. The first bite was awesome. I thought I was REALLY going to like this. But then I kept eating it, and with each bite lost a little bit of hope in my  little pumpkin friend.

For starters, this was such a soft cupcake. A friend  of mine who tried this as well said it was like a pumpkin muffin and I agreed.   There was certainly a delicious pumpkin flavor, and it had  raisins  in it as well. The raisins were so unexpected. Id just be eating and then get this soft chewy thing…OH a raisin!  I could taste a bit of cinnamon/nutmeg too, which I really liked. The cupcake as a whole was pretty sweet, and I tasted some ORANGE ZEST in it as well. It was a tad on the dry side, and I felt like I really needed a glass of milk to go with it!

The single walnut on top was crunchy, and more for decoration purposes than taste for me, as it was just ok tasting. Nothing special.

The frosting, even though the orange freaked me out a bit just thinking of how much food coloring was in it, was super soft and creamy. It was almost like a whipped frosting.

BUT…..I did NOT really like the frosting. It had too much of a buttery/ tangy cream cheese flavor that I really did not enjoy. The first bite was good, then as I continued to eat it, I tasted more of the tang. It was really offputting for me and I felt like it did not mesh well with the pumpkin flavors/cake part. I did, however, like the chocolate drizzle on top of the frosting. It added a little bit of a treat!

Overall, it was ok. The icing turned me off too much. Too buttery tasting! I probably wont buy it again. And I’m kind of upset, I could have totally used those calories elsewhere. Oh well.

2 1/2 stars

15 Oct 2011, Comments (7)

Panera Bread Breast Cancer Bagel

Author: Healthnuttxo

Source

Does it really get any better than Panera Bread? Soups, sandwiches, paninis, salads….delicious food items all under one roof. I went  to visit home this weekend (WHY oh WHY is there no Panera where I live?!?!) and knew I had to make a stop to get Panera. I’m addicted to their Chicken Apple Salad and Tuna Sandwich =)

So, as I walked in I was greeted by someone at the door who asked for a dollar donation, in exchange for some bread. I thought why not. What’s a DOLLAR if it helps cure Breast Cancer?

Unfortunately, I ate mine before I took a picture (woops!) but it was pretty much identical looking to the picture from this website listed above.

But, it was delicious. One of the best dollars I ever spent. It was chewy, light and fluffy in consistency. It had a rather sweet flavor, with hints of cinnamon as well. There were a few scattered dried cranberries in the bagel, which added just a touch of unexpected flavor.  In all honesty, it was perfect by itself. I ate it as is, kind of like how someone would eat a hot pretzel. I just tore off parts of the bagel and ate it. However, I definitely think it would be awesome with butter or some cream cheese!

Overall, 4 1/2 stars. A yummy bagel for you, and a $1 toward the Cure. Total win-win!  ; )

What’s your favorite type of bagel?  I really like cinnamon raisin ones!

4 Oct 2011, Comments (8)

Red Mango Pumpkin Spice Frozen Yogurt

Author: Healthnuttxo

Ahh, it’s that time of year again.

I’m a summer girl at heart, but I do love fall. A time of pumpkin and apple picking (love me some candy apples!!), bringing back the UGG boots (woo!!), and….Pumpkin Spice Frozen Yogurt at Red Mango.

It came back to the establishment a few days ago, and while schedule conflicts KEPT PREVENTING ME from getting there, I finally did. And so glad I did too!

I got a small Pumpkin Spice, with graham cracker topping and mango pieces as well.  I believe it was around the higher side of 4 dollars. The pumpkin spice yogurt itelf is amazing. It was smooth in consistency, and thick but not thick like greek yogurt. It was sweet but not too sweet, and just the right amount of tartness. Enough so you can taste it, but not enough to make you scrunch your face up saying that’s TART! So, a good balance in my eyes. There was a mild yet yummy pumpkin flavor.

The graham cracker topping was finely chopped, and even resembled sawdust (although, THAT’S not a recommended fro yo topping!! ; ) ) . It added a pumpkin pie kind of feel to the yogurt, and had a slight honey flavor, which I really enjoyed.

Lastly, the mango chunks were perfect! Sweet and very soft, and not tart at all! A few times I have gotten frozen yogurt, the mango chunks were very firm and very tart. Yes…I am guilty of going in the dead winter when it is practically 0 degrees outside, so I’ve had my fair share of exposure to toppings and flavors- I think it’s safe to say these mango chunks were very delicious, and perfect on the frozen yogurt.

Overall, I would definitely get this again. I wish there were more Red Mango establishments nearby where I live, as I would get it more often! Although maybe it’s a good thing there aren’t too many…I would spend my whole paycheck there 😉

4 1/2 stars

What’s your favorite season and why? There has to be someone out there who loves winter, right??  ; )

26 Sep 2011, Comments (0)

Birdbath Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookie

Author: Healthnuttxo

I shouldn’t have done it.

Coming home from the gym today, I passed by this bakery, Birdbath Bakery. I have such a weak spot for cookies. Cake? dont need it. Ice cream? pass. Brownies? no thank you. But cookies? I. Cannot. Resist. Cookies.

So after I elliptical-ed (is that a word? It is now!) for an hour (ok, ok, 45 minutes) I wanted to take a peek inside the bakery. Maybe get a muffin or something. And then I saw a stack of cookies in various flavors. Some of them were vegan, and some weren’t I ended up getting 2 vegan cookies, and 1 not vegan- the chocolate chip, for 5 dollars.

The staff was very friendly, and I overheard that if you brought your own container in, you get $1 off your purchase AND, I read on the website you get 25% off if you come by skateboard or bike! Eco friendly alert!! 🙂

You can check out their website here- they are pretty amazing!

ANYWAY, back to the goodies. I already froze the other two cookies to eat later, because I KNOW I would eat all 3 in one sitting if they were in front of me.

This cookie. Was amazingly-amazing.I mean, really, HOW could this (half a cookie picture- wonder where the other half went?? =p ) taste bad?!?

Also note the grease spots on the bag. THATS how you know something
tastes good!

This cookie had the slightest crisp on the outside, and was soft, gooey and rich on the inside. It had a buttery taste, and was rather sweet, but very delicious. I noticed it even had a slight pretzel taste to it- weird – but it worked. It added that very slight salty taste that accompanied the big, gooey chocolate chunks.

Overall, a delicious cookie. Aside from the pretzel taste thing going on, a perfect chocolate chipper in my eyes. And at 3 for 5 $, thats a little over $1.50 per cookie, which isn’t too bad. Plus I’m loving the eco-friendly aspect of this place!!!

I kinda love this place.

I kinda couldn’t stop eating this cookie. In fact I demolished it in about 5 minutes.

I kinda can’t go here unless I went to the gym that day.

I kinda dont want to know how many calories, fat and sugar is in this cookie.

Because…I kinda dont care.

It’s that good 😉

SO, if you ever have the chance to go to Birdbath Bakery, I highly recommend the chocolate chip cookie! This was the non-vegan version, but they HAVE a vegan one as well!!  5 stars

Ever been to a vegan bakery? Which one? What did you get?

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