I wrote about Jelly Belly's Sugar free jelly beans before and then not long after I discovered that they also make Sugar Free Gummi Bears with Splenda. They are very delicious, and a great substitute for the usual ones, but they cant be the best thing in the world for you. Especially with the warning that is on the package:

"Consumption may cause stomach discomfort and/or laxative effect."

Even so, for the occasional treat I can look past that warning. Plus the fact that eating low carb means that a little laxative effect sometimes can be the highlight of may day. Too Much Info. I know.

So I have to be honest, the place we went for this meal wasn't a new place for us, but it has become a must visit staple when we go home to visit my family. HuHot is a chain of Mongolian Grills that are around the country and their idea is simple. You pick you meat, your veggies, and mix up your sauces, then you give your bowl to the cooks who then cook it all up on their enormous grill. 

I've mentioned before why I like mongolian BBQ. You are in full control of what goes in your dish so you can pick out all your veggies and load up with meat if you like. Choose sauces that are less sweet and you will have a nice low carb dinner. HuHot stands above other Mongolian grills for us though because of the options. There are so many meats, veggies, and sauces to choose from that you could have a different combination every time. The other grills we go to in California have slim-pickens. Not here. And guess what, if you don't like the food you have no one to blame but yourself. They just cook it for you. 

The meals come with rice and soup or salad but you can skip those of course in lew of more meat.

Harvest time screams for those fall tastes to me. I need something that has squash or pumpkin in it at several points throughout my fall time. The flavors just have a warm cozy taste to them that remind me to slow down and enjoy the season. 

I came across a recipe for Pumpkin Quesadillas that I tweaked to make a bit lower carb. Its a simple and different recipe but they are very filling. A few bites of this will have you full in no time.

-Take one can of pumpkin and mix in 1 Tablespoon of Cumin. This will help give it a nice fall spice taste. 
-Toast up some walnut pieces for 3-5 minutes in a pan.
-Spread the pumpkin mixture on a low carb tortilla and sprinkle some Goat Cheese crumbles on top. 
-Sprinkle in your walnuts and fry them up in a pan for a few minutes.

If you want to sweeten them up you could drizzle a little honey on them, but keep in mind it will drive your carbs up more. 

These are fun and quick and nice for something a little different.

Rejoice Fall lovers. There is a low carb pumpkin drink for the rest of us. Thank you CoffeeMate.

My wife and I subscribe to Rachael Ray's magizine and we came across a great little recipe that we tried the other night for thai lettuce wraps. We used soy sauce instead of fish sauce and Splenda Brown sugar to keep the carbs down. It was super yummy and fun to have a nice new flavor.

The other day I found myself needing to kill some time while I waited to pick my wife up at the airport. As I was driving near to the airport I spotted a shopping mall and it seemed like the perfect place to waste away while the clock moved forward. While I was there I wandered stores, window shopped, and just filled some time with people watching. As it would happen this was all exhausting work and it made me nice and hungry. So I did what anyone else would do and headed to the food court.

After searching through the different places available I settled on a place called Mongrill which is a Mongolian Grill express. It was a great way to get some lower carb dinner and it was very yummy. I used beef, broccoli, pineapple, onions, and a little water chestnuts for my ingrediants. Not sure if this place is anywhere else yet, but would be nice to see it show up in more locations cause the food was good, fast, and hot. 

Hanging out with my friends in Los Angeles the other night and someone suggested a place for dinner called Tender Greens. After harassing me for a while by telling me it was a bread restaurant where all you eat is bread I used my deductive skills to conclude that anything called Tender Greens probably has something to do with fresh veggies and salads. I was correct. 

Tender Green specialized in fresh big salads, sandwiches, and soups that use carefully made fresh meats and veggies as ingredients. I got myself a Chipotle BBQ Chicken Salad which although did have some tortilla strips in it, had very few and was really some of my only carbs for the day. The salad was very fresh and tasty and had great big pieces of chicken on top. What may have been the hardest part to do was to walk down the order line where we passed the fresh veggies and mashed potatoes which all looked amazing.

I can't say for sure but it seems like this place could be spreading to other states soon. Currently its only In California but it has that feel of a Chipotle and Panera kind of marketing going for it. Although the food was great, my salad was $11 dollars! That's a lot in this day for a salad. Don't get me wrong, I love that it's all fresh, but I cant help but believe that most of that money is profit based off of what was going into my salad. I would probably go back for some chicken and veggies though. Cause they looked amazing.

I've been spending the last few days In LA while my wife is away in china. Its given me some great time to spend with friend I haven't gotten to see in a while. We have gotten to share breakfast and dinner together and just catch up in each others lives. What's great about these moments is remembering that no matter how great your food is, its even better when you share it with people you love. 

So we are back in Orange County California. We have been back here for about a week. Currently my wife is spending this week in China with our Peter Pan tour and I am couch surfing with some close friends. Its nice to be back around some friends we hadn't seen in a while. Even so we had such a great time in Fargo with my family that it made it hard to leave. Still the past week has kept us busy with plenty of catch up time with those we love. And some we don't.

I love this place.

Burrito Bowl w/
Lettuce
Steak
Salsa
Sour Cream
& Cheese.