Daily Archives: March 22, 2013

Day 4: Macaroni Grill on keto and movie night success

March 22, 2013   Alcohol on keto, Almonds on keto, Dining out on keto, eating out, keto appetizers, ketogenic diet, Macaroni Grill on keto, peppadew peppers

Thursday is date night. We keep our dates economical, and we discovered that Thursday night is a great night to go to Macaroni Grill.

First of all, they have good happy hour deals between 4 and 7 pm nightly. Wine is $3 a glass, and appetizers are 2 for $9. On Thursdays, they also have a deal where you can buy a bottle of wine half off.

Here’s how to handle this while working the keto plan:

  1. Order bottle of Chianti ($30, half price = $15)
  2. Order two appetizers that are (hopefully) keto-friendly – peppadew peppers with goat cheese and balsamic vinaigrette
  3. Order husband a $5 sausage pizza
  4. Ignore bread and oil
  5. Drink one glass of wine and follow up with multiple glasses of water

Note that BOTH plates of peppers became mine. It was like a $9 gourmet meal.

2013-03-21 17.13.56

The total bill is about $30. This is not exactly the cheapest meal one could hope for, but it’s very good for Macaroni Grill, plus half a bottle of wine goes home with us for another night. In our hey dey, we had lots of money to throw around and we would rack up a $100 check at M.Grill, so this seems like a good deal.

As for the movie night success part, see my blog about salt and vinegar almonds here.

Here’s a peppadew pepper recipe. It’s basically the peppers stuffed with goat cheese and drizzled with balsamic vinegar. YUM.

 

 

Read More

Yummy new keto snack to add to my arsenal: salt & vinegar almonds

March 22, 2013   Almonds on keto, Keto salt and vinegar almonds, keto snacks, Keto tricks

Rick and I went to the movies last night, and I knew enough to prepare by snacking on something before going in. Those concession stands are nothing but a big, expensive, and carb-filled enemy to the keto plan.


I love chili lime almonds and eat them daily as a snack at work. They have often saved me from pigging out on one of the fatty treats that my workplace always has on the snack table. I am a BIG lover of salt & vinegar potato chips, so when I discovered S&V almonds on Amazon a couple of months ago, I started looking for them on the local shelves. I always order in bulk from Amazon, and I didn’t want to take a chance by ordering a whole lot of something that I didn’t like very much. I needed a small taste test first.

Well, Rick found a 1.5 ounce pack at CVS, and they are as good as a handful of salt & vinegar chips. I loved them! I felt like I was indulging in some forbidden treat. Needless to say, I ordered a dozen cans from Amazon this morning. That amount should last me quite awhile, and I’ll always have a nice back-up treat when temptation calls.

 

Read More