Post 'em here. All those disappointing meals you thought were healthy but are really high calorie
Replies
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quiksylver296 wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »Keep these coming. I've got some grocery shopping to do......
Wanna go to dinner with me, @Tacklewasher ? I'm totally craving that TGIFriday's Jack Daniel's chicken sandwich now. With a Long Island, of course!
Sure. You coming to pick me up so I can have a few drinks too?
Never been to a TGIF's.
Think I can get through all the fires?!?
Smoke is more of an issue than actual fires here. I keep thinking I should just hang my ribs from a clothes line instead of firing up the smoker. Hell, I don't smoke at much more than 100F anyway.8 -
I didn't think it was healthy, but I was still amazed at the calories in "1 serving" of shrimp pasta I had the other night at a restaurant. 1600 calories. Not counting the garlic toast they served with it, or the drinks I didn't have (I just stick with water). That's an entire day's worth of calories.... more than that for some people.
Salads can be surprising sometimes though. Forgot to check calories on a dressing the other day before putting it on, and found out after that the 3 tbsp I used added up to 240 calories.4 -
Most of these high calorie meals have outrageous calorie counts because of added fat, typically in the form of cheese, sauce or dressings. You can cut so many calories on restaurant salads by omitting any croutons or tortilla strips and getting the dressing on the side. Dressing on the side allows you to have more control over what you consume and you can better estimate how much is eaten.
ETA: there is something fundamentally flawed about your calorie counting practices if you thought anything with 1/4 cup of dressing would ever be low calorie. Unless your balasmic is 100% vinegar, that's an enormous amount of calories. Personally, I don't like to eat a meal where 75-90% of the calories in the meal come from...dressing11 -
SuzySunshine99 wrote: »Since we are on alcohol now...wine. I never really thought much about having a couple two three glasses until I had to log them.
That part. Friends laugh at me now when I say I had 2 or 3 ozs of wine, but it works for me3 -
vivelajackie wrote: »KetoZombies wrote: »Thinking I should have a nice healthy bowl of oatmeal instead of bacon for breakfast HA
Mm, bacon. Though, a serving of good old-fashioned is only 150 calories. It's the additives that pile up the calories (much like any food though).
I buy center cut bacon. 2 slices for 50 calories. I love bacon1 -
HardcoreP0rk wrote: »Most of these high calorie meals have outrageous calorie counts because of added fat, typically in the form of cheese, sauce or dressings. You can cut so many calories on restaurant salads by omitting any croutons or tortilla strips and getting the dressing on the side. Dressing on the side allows you to have more control over what you consume and you can better estimate how much is eaten.
ETA: there is something fundamentally flawed about your calorie counting practices if you thought anything with 1/4 cup of dressing would ever be low calorie. Unless your balasmic is 100% vinegar, that's an enormous amount of calories. Personally, I don't like to eat a meal where 75-90% of the calories in the meal come from...dressing
Yes, that's what this post is about.
1/4 cup is what cooks on the line will put in for a salad when the dressing is not on the side. To them, it's just one ladle. Clearly, we know better than that now. In the past, salad seemed like the healthy choice but now we know it's packed chock full of bad things.11 -
Rice and pasta.
A serving is so much smaller than I would want.
I cut both out for a couple of months and replaced with salads. Slowly integrating back into my diet, but BOY -- 1/4 of dry rice doesn't look satisfying AT ALL. I could eat a TUB of salad for the calories. But maybe I'm just a volume eater.
Same here. I just recently bought a bag of brown rice for the first time in 2 years. Pasta. I do not even bother. I do not want to weigh pasta and when I do that sad little serving makes me want to cry.3 -
HardcoreP0rk wrote: »Most of these high calorie meals have outrageous calorie counts because of added fat, typically in the form of cheese, sauce or dressings. You can cut so many calories on restaurant salads by omitting any croutons or tortilla strips and getting the dressing on the side. Dressing on the side allows you to have more control over what you consume and you can better estimate how much is eaten.
ETA: there is something fundamentally flawed about your calorie counting practices if you thought anything with 1/4 cup of dressing would ever be low calorie. Unless your balasmic is 100% vinegar, that's an enormous amount of calories. Personally, I don't like to eat a meal where 75-90% of the calories in the meal come from...dressing
Yes, that's what this post is about.
1/4 cup is what cooks on the line will put in for a salad when the dressing is not on the side. To them, it's just one ladle. Clearly, we know better than that now. In the past, salad seemed like the healthy choice but now we know it's packed chock full of bad things.
It's helpful to remember that vinaigrette has a ratio of 3 parts oil to 1 part acid. So if you have 1/4 cup, that's 4 tablespoons. 3 of 4 tablespoons is likely pure oil...so you're looking at roughly 360kcal from the oil in that dressing.14 -
HardcoreP0rk wrote: »HardcoreP0rk wrote: »Most of these high calorie meals have outrageous calorie counts because of added fat, typically in the form of cheese, sauce or dressings. You can cut so many calories on restaurant salads by omitting any croutons or tortilla strips and getting the dressing on the side. Dressing on the side allows you to have more control over what you consume and you can better estimate how much is eaten.
ETA: there is something fundamentally flawed about your calorie counting practices if you thought anything with 1/4 cup of dressing would ever be low calorie. Unless your balasmic is 100% vinegar, that's an enormous amount of calories. Personally, I don't like to eat a meal where 75-90% of the calories in the meal come from...dressing
Yes, that's what this post is about.
1/4 cup is what cooks on the line will put in for a salad when the dressing is not on the side. To them, it's just one ladle. Clearly, we know better than that now. In the past, salad seemed like the healthy choice but now we know it's packed chock full of bad things.
It's helpful to remember that vinaigrette has a ratio of 3 parts oil to 1 part acid. So if you have 1/4 cup, that's 4 tablespoons. 3 of 4 tablespoons is likely pure oil...so you're looking at roughly 360kcal from the oil in that dressing.
11 -
HardcoreP0rk wrote: »HardcoreP0rk wrote: »Most of these high calorie meals have outrageous calorie counts because of added fat, typically in the form of cheese, sauce or dressings. You can cut so many calories on restaurant salads by omitting any croutons or tortilla strips and getting the dressing on the side. Dressing on the side allows you to have more control over what you consume and you can better estimate how much is eaten.
ETA: there is something fundamentally flawed about your calorie counting practices if you thought anything with 1/4 cup of dressing would ever be low calorie. Unless your balasmic is 100% vinegar, that's an enormous amount of calories. Personally, I don't like to eat a meal where 75-90% of the calories in the meal come from...dressing
Yes, that's what this post is about.
1/4 cup is what cooks on the line will put in for a salad when the dressing is not on the side. To them, it's just one ladle. Clearly, we know better than that now. In the past, salad seemed like the healthy choice but now we know it's packed chock full of bad things.
It's helpful to remember that vinaigrette has a ratio of 3 parts oil to 1 part acid. So if you have 1/4 cup, that's 4 tablespoons. 3 of 4 tablespoons is likely pure oil...so you're looking at roughly 360kcal from the oil in that dressing.
Sorry to bother you. I guess I'll go kitten myself.9 -
Texas Roadhouse 8 oz. salmon - just the fish is 690 calories. (They do some sort of herbed butter sauce on it, plus tartar sauce.) Add a potato (380-650) or sweet potato (350 - 770) and salad (230 + dressing) and bread (227 per roll) - and in one meal I can undo the calorie burn from my longest long run.1
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Or your joke crashed and burned so hard that FEMA has chosen to divert resources from hurricane relief just to deal with it.
To be honest, even now that I know it was a joke I still don't get it. Maybe it's because I steer clear of any cleanse-related thread?
I don't get it either haha1 -
MegaMooseEsq wrote: »
I worked as a barista a million years ago and we used to call everything in the bakery case "cake" (not in front of the customers, of course). The worst was the "bread", which was actually frosted, but people really did think it was healthier because of the name. And hey, cake is great, but would you really have it for breakfast every day?
Yes. Chocolate cake with a glass of milk is the perfect breakfast. But that's just me.12 -
It's sad for me to read how many calorie dense, nutrient foods (like Avocado) are being labeled unhealthy. You can have a very high fat diet and feel very content while dieting. Processed foods that are low in fiber and high in added sugar may like a better option than half an avocado if we are only judging a food's healthiness by calories. In reality, I think those processed foods are really what leave you feeling more hungry and make it harder to stick to your calorie deficit. The avocado takes longer to digest, in addition to the other wonderful nutrient rich things it does for your body.17
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I don't think anyone is labeling them unhealthy. The post is probably more focused on surprisingly high calories for things besides the obvious like doughnuts, etc.6
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I got a cauliflower "steak" at Mom's Organic recently. Come back to MFP and find it's 691 calories. Not "unhealthy," but a reminder that estimating calories is sometimes impossible!4
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I got a cauliflower "steak" at Mom's Organic recently. Come back to MFP and find it's 691 calories. Not "unhealthy," but a reminder that estimating calories is sometimes impossible!
I would love to know how they managed to do that. Was it wrapped in foie gras?
ETA: ahhhhhh..its a whole meal with rice and stuff...6 -
HardcoreP0rk wrote: »HardcoreP0rk wrote: »Most of these high calorie meals have outrageous calorie counts because of added fat, typically in the form of cheese, sauce or dressings. You can cut so many calories on restaurant salads by omitting any croutons or tortilla strips and getting the dressing on the side. Dressing on the side allows you to have more control over what you consume and you can better estimate how much is eaten.
ETA: there is something fundamentally flawed about your calorie counting practices if you thought anything with 1/4 cup of dressing would ever be low calorie. Unless your balasmic is 100% vinegar, that's an enormous amount of calories. Personally, I don't like to eat a meal where 75-90% of the calories in the meal come from...dressing
Yes, that's what this post is about.
1/4 cup is what cooks on the line will put in for a salad when the dressing is not on the side. To them, it's just one ladle. Clearly, we know better than that now. In the past, salad seemed like the healthy choice but now we know it's packed chock full of bad things.
It's helpful to remember that vinaigrette has a ratio of 3 parts oil to 1 part acid. So if you have 1/4 cup, that's 4 tablespoons. 3 of 4 tablespoons is likely pure oil...so you're looking at roughly 360kcal from the oil in that dressing.
I hear some people make a vinaigrette that is 2/3 thick, aged balsamic and 1/3 oil. And that they carry it in their purse in a fine tip squeeze bottle and weigh it out to the gram. Of course, I would not know anyone like this.20 -
French_Peasant wrote: »HardcoreP0rk wrote: »HardcoreP0rk wrote: »Most of these high calorie meals have outrageous calorie counts because of added fat, typically in the form of cheese, sauce or dressings. You can cut so many calories on restaurant salads by omitting any croutons or tortilla strips and getting the dressing on the side. Dressing on the side allows you to have more control over what you consume and you can better estimate how much is eaten.
ETA: there is something fundamentally flawed about your calorie counting practices if you thought anything with 1/4 cup of dressing would ever be low calorie. Unless your balasmic is 100% vinegar, that's an enormous amount of calories. Personally, I don't like to eat a meal where 75-90% of the calories in the meal come from...dressing
Yes, that's what this post is about.
1/4 cup is what cooks on the line will put in for a salad when the dressing is not on the side. To them, it's just one ladle. Clearly, we know better than that now. In the past, salad seemed like the healthy choice but now we know it's packed chock full of bad things.
It's helpful to remember that vinaigrette has a ratio of 3 parts oil to 1 part acid. So if you have 1/4 cup, that's 4 tablespoons. 3 of 4 tablespoons is likely pure oil...so you're looking at roughly 360kcal from the oil in that dressing.
I hear some people make a vinaigrette that is 2/3 thick, aged balsamic and 1/3 oil. And that they carry it in their purse in a fine tip squeeze bottle and weigh it out to the gram. Of course, I would not know anyone like this.
Is that like reduced balsamic? I know you cook it down for caprese salad....2 -
French_Peasant wrote: »HardcoreP0rk wrote: »HardcoreP0rk wrote: »Most of these high calorie meals have outrageous calorie counts because of added fat, typically in the form of cheese, sauce or dressings. You can cut so many calories on restaurant salads by omitting any croutons or tortilla strips and getting the dressing on the side. Dressing on the side allows you to have more control over what you consume and you can better estimate how much is eaten.
ETA: there is something fundamentally flawed about your calorie counting practices if you thought anything with 1/4 cup of dressing would ever be low calorie. Unless your balasmic is 100% vinegar, that's an enormous amount of calories. Personally, I don't like to eat a meal where 75-90% of the calories in the meal come from...dressing
Yes, that's what this post is about.
1/4 cup is what cooks on the line will put in for a salad when the dressing is not on the side. To them, it's just one ladle. Clearly, we know better than that now. In the past, salad seemed like the healthy choice but now we know it's packed chock full of bad things.
It's helpful to remember that vinaigrette has a ratio of 3 parts oil to 1 part acid. So if you have 1/4 cup, that's 4 tablespoons. 3 of 4 tablespoons is likely pure oil...so you're looking at roughly 360kcal from the oil in that dressing.
I hear some people make a vinaigrette that is 2/3 thick, aged balsamic and 1/3 oil. And that they carry it in their purse in a fine tip squeeze bottle and weigh it out to the gram. Of course, I would not know anyone like this.
Is that like reduced balsamic? I know you cook it down for caprese salad....
A high quality aged balsamic will be fairly viscous as far as vinegars go--the grape just is reduced, fermented, then aged for 12 or 18 years or so. So on a Caprese, you can use a fine balsamic out of the bottle, or if you just have a thinner balsamic, you can reduce it.2 -
shaunshaikh wrote: »It's sad for me to read how many calorie dense, nutrient foods (like Avocado) are being labeled unhealthy. You can have a very high fat diet and feel very content while dieting. Processed foods that are low in fiber and high in added sugar may like a better option than half an avocado if we are only judging a food's healthiness by calories. In reality, I think those processed foods are really what leave you feeling more hungry and make it harder to stick to your calorie deficit. The avocado takes longer to digest, in addition to the other wonderful nutrient rich things it does for your body.
Too many calories are unhealthy period. There are more foods in the world than processed low fiber high sugar foods and avocado.8 -
French_Peasant wrote: »French_Peasant wrote: »HardcoreP0rk wrote: »HardcoreP0rk wrote: »Most of these high calorie meals have outrageous calorie counts because of added fat, typically in the form of cheese, sauce or dressings. You can cut so many calories on restaurant salads by omitting any croutons or tortilla strips and getting the dressing on the side. Dressing on the side allows you to have more control over what you consume and you can better estimate how much is eaten.
ETA: there is something fundamentally flawed about your calorie counting practices if you thought anything with 1/4 cup of dressing would ever be low calorie. Unless your balasmic is 100% vinegar, that's an enormous amount of calories. Personally, I don't like to eat a meal where 75-90% of the calories in the meal come from...dressing
Yes, that's what this post is about.
1/4 cup is what cooks on the line will put in for a salad when the dressing is not on the side. To them, it's just one ladle. Clearly, we know better than that now. In the past, salad seemed like the healthy choice but now we know it's packed chock full of bad things.
It's helpful to remember that vinaigrette has a ratio of 3 parts oil to 1 part acid. So if you have 1/4 cup, that's 4 tablespoons. 3 of 4 tablespoons is likely pure oil...so you're looking at roughly 360kcal from the oil in that dressing.
I hear some people make a vinaigrette that is 2/3 thick, aged balsamic and 1/3 oil. And that they carry it in their purse in a fine tip squeeze bottle and weigh it out to the gram. Of course, I would not know anyone like this.
Is that like reduced balsamic? I know you cook it down for caprese salad....
A high quality aged balsamic will be fairly viscous as far as vinegars go--the grape just is reduced, fermented, then aged for 12 or 18 years or so. So on a Caprese, you can use a fine balsamic out of the bottle, or if you just have a thinner balsamic, you can reduce it.
How's the sugar content compare? Because reduced balsamic is incredibly sweet. What's driving the viscosity of the aged balsamic? Is it sugar? Or something else.0 -
HardcoreP0rk wrote: »French_Peasant wrote: »French_Peasant wrote: »HardcoreP0rk wrote: »HardcoreP0rk wrote: »Most of these high calorie meals have outrageous calorie counts because of added fat, typically in the form of cheese, sauce or dressings. You can cut so many calories on restaurant salads by omitting any croutons or tortilla strips and getting the dressing on the side. Dressing on the side allows you to have more control over what you consume and you can better estimate how much is eaten.
ETA: there is something fundamentally flawed about your calorie counting practices if you thought anything with 1/4 cup of dressing would ever be low calorie. Unless your balasmic is 100% vinegar, that's an enormous amount of calories. Personally, I don't like to eat a meal where 75-90% of the calories in the meal come from...dressing
Yes, that's what this post is about.
1/4 cup is what cooks on the line will put in for a salad when the dressing is not on the side. To them, it's just one ladle. Clearly, we know better than that now. In the past, salad seemed like the healthy choice but now we know it's packed chock full of bad things.
It's helpful to remember that vinaigrette has a ratio of 3 parts oil to 1 part acid. So if you have 1/4 cup, that's 4 tablespoons. 3 of 4 tablespoons is likely pure oil...so you're looking at roughly 360kcal from the oil in that dressing.
I hear some people make a vinaigrette that is 2/3 thick, aged balsamic and 1/3 oil. And that they carry it in their purse in a fine tip squeeze bottle and weigh it out to the gram. Of course, I would not know anyone like this.
Is that like reduced balsamic? I know you cook it down for caprese salad....
A high quality aged balsamic will be fairly viscous as far as vinegars go--the grape just is reduced, fermented, then aged for 12 or 18 years or so. So on a Caprese, you can use a fine balsamic out of the bottle, or if you just have a thinner balsamic, you can reduce it.
How's the sugar content compare? Because reduced balsamic is incredibly sweet. What's driving the viscosity of the aged balsamic? Is it sugar? Or something else.
Serious question: are you supposed to put sugar in vinegar when reducing it? The BF loves caprese salad but I think I goofed up when making the drizzle last time.0 -
HardcoreP0rk wrote: »French_Peasant wrote: »French_Peasant wrote: »HardcoreP0rk wrote: »HardcoreP0rk wrote: »Most of these high calorie meals have outrageous calorie counts because of added fat, typically in the form of cheese, sauce or dressings. You can cut so many calories on restaurant salads by omitting any croutons or tortilla strips and getting the dressing on the side. Dressing on the side allows you to have more control over what you consume and you can better estimate how much is eaten.
ETA: there is something fundamentally flawed about your calorie counting practices if you thought anything with 1/4 cup of dressing would ever be low calorie. Unless your balasmic is 100% vinegar, that's an enormous amount of calories. Personally, I don't like to eat a meal where 75-90% of the calories in the meal come from...dressing
Yes, that's what this post is about.
1/4 cup is what cooks on the line will put in for a salad when the dressing is not on the side. To them, it's just one ladle. Clearly, we know better than that now. In the past, salad seemed like the healthy choice but now we know it's packed chock full of bad things.
It's helpful to remember that vinaigrette has a ratio of 3 parts oil to 1 part acid. So if you have 1/4 cup, that's 4 tablespoons. 3 of 4 tablespoons is likely pure oil...so you're looking at roughly 360kcal from the oil in that dressing.
I hear some people make a vinaigrette that is 2/3 thick, aged balsamic and 1/3 oil. And that they carry it in their purse in a fine tip squeeze bottle and weigh it out to the gram. Of course, I would not know anyone like this.
Is that like reduced balsamic? I know you cook it down for caprese salad....
A high quality aged balsamic will be fairly viscous as far as vinegars go--the grape just is reduced, fermented, then aged for 12 or 18 years or so. So on a Caprese, you can use a fine balsamic out of the bottle, or if you just have a thinner balsamic, you can reduce it.
How's the sugar content compare? Because reduced balsamic is incredibly sweet. What's driving the viscosity of the aged balsamic? Is it sugar? Or something else.
Serious question: are you supposed to put sugar in vinegar when reducing it? The BF loves caprese salad but I think I goofed up when making the drizzle last time.
Many people include sugar, honey, etc when they make a balsamic reduction. I have no idea how long you'd have to reduce it to get the desired texture if you DIDNT add a sugar. But for me...I just dont make it, because it is too sweet for me in general.3 -
HardcoreP0rk wrote: »HardcoreP0rk wrote: »French_Peasant wrote: »French_Peasant wrote: »HardcoreP0rk wrote: »HardcoreP0rk wrote: »Most of these high calorie meals have outrageous calorie counts because of added fat, typically in the form of cheese, sauce or dressings. You can cut so many calories on restaurant salads by omitting any croutons or tortilla strips and getting the dressing on the side. Dressing on the side allows you to have more control over what you consume and you can better estimate how much is eaten.
ETA: there is something fundamentally flawed about your calorie counting practices if you thought anything with 1/4 cup of dressing would ever be low calorie. Unless your balasmic is 100% vinegar, that's an enormous amount of calories. Personally, I don't like to eat a meal where 75-90% of the calories in the meal come from...dressing
Yes, that's what this post is about.
1/4 cup is what cooks on the line will put in for a salad when the dressing is not on the side. To them, it's just one ladle. Clearly, we know better than that now. In the past, salad seemed like the healthy choice but now we know it's packed chock full of bad things.
It's helpful to remember that vinaigrette has a ratio of 3 parts oil to 1 part acid. So if you have 1/4 cup, that's 4 tablespoons. 3 of 4 tablespoons is likely pure oil...so you're looking at roughly 360kcal from the oil in that dressing.
I hear some people make a vinaigrette that is 2/3 thick, aged balsamic and 1/3 oil. And that they carry it in their purse in a fine tip squeeze bottle and weigh it out to the gram. Of course, I would not know anyone like this.
Is that like reduced balsamic? I know you cook it down for caprese salad....
A high quality aged balsamic will be fairly viscous as far as vinegars go--the grape just is reduced, fermented, then aged for 12 or 18 years or so. So on a Caprese, you can use a fine balsamic out of the bottle, or if you just have a thinner balsamic, you can reduce it.
How's the sugar content compare? Because reduced balsamic is incredibly sweet. What's driving the viscosity of the aged balsamic? Is it sugar? Or something else.
Serious question: are you supposed to put sugar in vinegar when reducing it? The BF loves caprese salad but I think I goofed up when making the drizzle last time.
Many people include sugar, honey, etc when they make a balsamic reduction. I have no idea how long you'd have to reduce it to get the desired texture if you DIDNT add a sugar. But for me...I just dont make it, because it is too sweet for me in general.
Ohh.....
Thanks @HardcoreP0rk!0 -
HardcoreP0rk wrote: »French_Peasant wrote: »French_Peasant wrote: »HardcoreP0rk wrote: »HardcoreP0rk wrote: »Most of these high calorie meals have outrageous calorie counts because of added fat, typically in the form of cheese, sauce or dressings. You can cut so many calories on restaurant salads by omitting any croutons or tortilla strips and getting the dressing on the side. Dressing on the side allows you to have more control over what you consume and you can better estimate how much is eaten.
ETA: there is something fundamentally flawed about your calorie counting practices if you thought anything with 1/4 cup of dressing would ever be low calorie. Unless your balasmic is 100% vinegar, that's an enormous amount of calories. Personally, I don't like to eat a meal where 75-90% of the calories in the meal come from...dressing
Yes, that's what this post is about.
1/4 cup is what cooks on the line will put in for a salad when the dressing is not on the side. To them, it's just one ladle. Clearly, we know better than that now. In the past, salad seemed like the healthy choice but now we know it's packed chock full of bad things.
It's helpful to remember that vinaigrette has a ratio of 3 parts oil to 1 part acid. So if you have 1/4 cup, that's 4 tablespoons. 3 of 4 tablespoons is likely pure oil...so you're looking at roughly 360kcal from the oil in that dressing.
I hear some people make a vinaigrette that is 2/3 thick, aged balsamic and 1/3 oil. And that they carry it in their purse in a fine tip squeeze bottle and weigh it out to the gram. Of course, I would not know anyone like this.
Is that like reduced balsamic? I know you cook it down for caprese salad....
A high quality aged balsamic will be fairly viscous as far as vinegars go--the grape just is reduced, fermented, then aged for 12 or 18 years or so. So on a Caprese, you can use a fine balsamic out of the bottle, or if you just have a thinner balsamic, you can reduce it.
How's the sugar content compare? Because reduced balsamic is incredibly sweet. What's driving the viscosity of the aged balsamic? Is it sugar? Or something else.
Serious question: are you supposed to put sugar in vinegar when reducing it? The BF loves caprese salad but I think I goofed up when making the drizzle last time.
The only time I have reduced balsamic is when I am making a pork tenderloin or some such, and I am deglazing the pan. I haven't ever thought about putting sugar in it because it is grape juice and is already naturally sugared. For a Caprese, I am using home-grown, organic, heirloom tomatoes, and believe in showcasing the literal "fruits of my labor" with the very best balsamic--not the kinds that you would find at most grocery stores. You might want to seek out one of those shops where you can taste-test different olive oils and balsamics before buying a bottle--they will be on the more expensive side, but for a Caprese or really any kind of salad or veg, if it's good enough you just need a very slight drizzle. The quality of tomatoes is equally crucial.
For a vinagrette, you need really good ingredients, and you also need a tsp or so of Dijon to emulsify it. (And such a vinaigrette can also be used for Caprese).6 -
HardcoreP0rk wrote: »French_Peasant wrote: »French_Peasant wrote: »HardcoreP0rk wrote: »HardcoreP0rk wrote: »Most of these high calorie meals have outrageous calorie counts because of added fat, typically in the form of cheese, sauce or dressings. You can cut so many calories on restaurant salads by omitting any croutons or tortilla strips and getting the dressing on the side. Dressing on the side allows you to have more control over what you consume and you can better estimate how much is eaten.
ETA: there is something fundamentally flawed about your calorie counting practices if you thought anything with 1/4 cup of dressing would ever be low calorie. Unless your balasmic is 100% vinegar, that's an enormous amount of calories. Personally, I don't like to eat a meal where 75-90% of the calories in the meal come from...dressing
Yes, that's what this post is about.
1/4 cup is what cooks on the line will put in for a salad when the dressing is not on the side. To them, it's just one ladle. Clearly, we know better than that now. In the past, salad seemed like the healthy choice but now we know it's packed chock full of bad things.
It's helpful to remember that vinaigrette has a ratio of 3 parts oil to 1 part acid. So if you have 1/4 cup, that's 4 tablespoons. 3 of 4 tablespoons is likely pure oil...so you're looking at roughly 360kcal from the oil in that dressing.
I hear some people make a vinaigrette that is 2/3 thick, aged balsamic and 1/3 oil. And that they carry it in their purse in a fine tip squeeze bottle and weigh it out to the gram. Of course, I would not know anyone like this.
Is that like reduced balsamic? I know you cook it down for caprese salad....
A high quality aged balsamic will be fairly viscous as far as vinegars go--the grape just is reduced, fermented, then aged for 12 or 18 years or so. So on a Caprese, you can use a fine balsamic out of the bottle, or if you just have a thinner balsamic, you can reduce it.
How's the sugar content compare? Because reduced balsamic is incredibly sweet. What's driving the viscosity of the aged balsamic? Is it sugar? Or something else.
It's just the reduction process--it's concentrated grape juice, basically. I haven't looked into sugar because I don't track it, especially not if it is natural. If someone is doing Keto, they probably would need to. But again, just a slight drizzle is sufficient to let ingredients shine through.0 -
French_Peasant wrote: »HardcoreP0rk wrote: »French_Peasant wrote: »French_Peasant wrote: »HardcoreP0rk wrote: »HardcoreP0rk wrote: »Most of these high calorie meals have outrageous calorie counts because of added fat, typically in the form of cheese, sauce or dressings. You can cut so many calories on restaurant salads by omitting any croutons or tortilla strips and getting the dressing on the side. Dressing on the side allows you to have more control over what you consume and you can better estimate how much is eaten.
ETA: there is something fundamentally flawed about your calorie counting practices if you thought anything with 1/4 cup of dressing would ever be low calorie. Unless your balasmic is 100% vinegar, that's an enormous amount of calories. Personally, I don't like to eat a meal where 75-90% of the calories in the meal come from...dressing
Yes, that's what this post is about.
1/4 cup is what cooks on the line will put in for a salad when the dressing is not on the side. To them, it's just one ladle. Clearly, we know better than that now. In the past, salad seemed like the healthy choice but now we know it's packed chock full of bad things.
It's helpful to remember that vinaigrette has a ratio of 3 parts oil to 1 part acid. So if you have 1/4 cup, that's 4 tablespoons. 3 of 4 tablespoons is likely pure oil...so you're looking at roughly 360kcal from the oil in that dressing.
I hear some people make a vinaigrette that is 2/3 thick, aged balsamic and 1/3 oil. And that they carry it in their purse in a fine tip squeeze bottle and weigh it out to the gram. Of course, I would not know anyone like this.
Is that like reduced balsamic? I know you cook it down for caprese salad....
A high quality aged balsamic will be fairly viscous as far as vinegars go--the grape just is reduced, fermented, then aged for 12 or 18 years or so. So on a Caprese, you can use a fine balsamic out of the bottle, or if you just have a thinner balsamic, you can reduce it.
How's the sugar content compare? Because reduced balsamic is incredibly sweet. What's driving the viscosity of the aged balsamic? Is it sugar? Or something else.
Serious question: are you supposed to put sugar in vinegar when reducing it? The BF loves caprese salad but I think I goofed up when making the drizzle last time.
The only time I have reduced balsamic is when I am making a pork tenderloin or some such, and I am deglazing the pan. I haven't ever thought about putting sugar in it because it is grape juice and is already naturally sugared. For a Caprese, I am using home-grown, organic, heirloom tomatoes, and believe in showcasing the literal "fruits of my labor" with the very best balsamic--not the kinds that you would find at most grocery stores. You might want to seek out one of those shops where you can taste-test different olive oils and balsamics before buying a bottle--they will be on the more expensive side, but for a Caprese or really any kind of salad or veg, if it's good enough you just need a very slight drizzle. The quality of tomatoes is equally crucial.
For a vinagrette, you need really good ingredients, and you also need a tsp or so of Dijon to emulsify it. (And such a vinaigrette can also be used for Caprese).
I'm a total pleb and use JUST balsamic vinegar in my salads. Not even oil.
Walked into Oil & Vine store once, realized that I could buy a car for the cost of the infused oils there, and left.5 -
French_Peasant wrote: »French_Peasant wrote: »HardcoreP0rk wrote: »HardcoreP0rk wrote: »Most of these high calorie meals have outrageous calorie counts because of added fat, typically in the form of cheese, sauce or dressings. You can cut so many calories on restaurant salads by omitting any croutons or tortilla strips and getting the dressing on the side. Dressing on the side allows you to have more control over what you consume and you can better estimate how much is eaten.
ETA: there is something fundamentally flawed about your calorie counting practices if you thought anything with 1/4 cup of dressing would ever be low calorie. Unless your balasmic is 100% vinegar, that's an enormous amount of calories. Personally, I don't like to eat a meal where 75-90% of the calories in the meal come from...dressing
Yes, that's what this post is about.
1/4 cup is what cooks on the line will put in for a salad when the dressing is not on the side. To them, it's just one ladle. Clearly, we know better than that now. In the past, salad seemed like the healthy choice but now we know it's packed chock full of bad things.
It's helpful to remember that vinaigrette has a ratio of 3 parts oil to 1 part acid. So if you have 1/4 cup, that's 4 tablespoons. 3 of 4 tablespoons is likely pure oil...so you're looking at roughly 360kcal from the oil in that dressing.
I hear some people make a vinaigrette that is 2/3 thick, aged balsamic and 1/3 oil. And that they carry it in their purse in a fine tip squeeze bottle and weigh it out to the gram. Of course, I would not know anyone like this.
Is that like reduced balsamic? I know you cook it down for caprese salad....
A high quality aged balsamic will be fairly viscous as far as vinegars go--the grape just is reduced, fermented, then aged for 12 or 18 years or so. So on a Caprese, you can use a fine balsamic out of the bottle, or if you just have a thinner balsamic, you can reduce it.
1 of my favorite condiments:
(it's in the database for those curious about calories/sugar content.. it's reduced to a thick glaze and in a squeeze tube). I usually drizzle about 8-10g on top of a salad (that I've also spritzed with some non-reduced balsamic vinegar spray and olive oil). Also nice on hard boiled eggs.2 -
I generally make salads at home with my own vinaigrette. I use oil and vinegar infused vinegars and oils. Yep, there is added sugar. But when I'm only using a tablespoon of each it's not a big deal.
In any case, I put about 1T vinegar, 1T oil, and 1t mustard in a nice salad bowl. Whisk with a fork or whisk. Add in 4 cups of salad stuff, and mix by hand. Literally, put your hands in the bowl to mix the salad. I get far better distribution of dressing/lettuce/tomatoes/cucumbers etc.
My favorite from oil and vinegar is their fig. Nothing is better for a winter salad with pears and a bit of gorgonzonola tossed into a salad.0
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