A friend of mine is the manager at a local Red Lobster, so in honor of you Justin, here is the Eat This, Not That for this restaurant.

Eat This:

• Live Maine lobster with cocktail sauce and seasoned broccoli. Lobsters are a good source of phosphorus, which helps the body to turn carbs and fat into energy and use protein to repair cells and tissues.
• Garlic grilled jumbo shrimp with lemon juice and a baked potato with pico de gallo.
• Broiled flounder with lemon juice and a garden salad with red wine vinaigrette.

Little Trick: Request your baked potato with a scoop of pico de gallo instead of butter and sour cream. Besides saving you a few hundred calories, the tomato salsa also provides a dose of powerful antioxidants.

Not That!

• North pacific king crab legs with melted butter and wild rice pilaf. Crab is naturally low in fat and calories but introduce a coat of butter to each bite and this otherwise healthy meat takes a turn for the worse.
• Snow crab legs with melted butter and a cheddar bay biscuit.
• Crab Alfredo.

Hidden Danger: Melted butter. Seafood is great source of heart healthy omega-3s, but not when it's drenched in butter. One fluid ounce drizzles on another 21 grams of fat. Ask for a lemon wedge or cocktail sauce isntead to flavor your fish.

Check out this great cooking school in Mequon: Live to Eat offers cooking classes about anything from grilling to appetizers. Check it out!

It's back: Eat This, Not That Subway style!

Eat This:

• 6-inch Double Roast Beef Sub. Wnat an exciting stand-in for mayo? Try the Sweet Onion Sauce or the HOney Mustard. Both go well with nearly everything and will spare you 12 grams of fat. Even with twice the meat - and double the protein - this sandwich still has only a fraction of the fat found in the tuna.
• 6-inch steak and cheese.
• Oven roasted chicken breast salad with fat free Italian dressing.
• Roasted chicken noodle soup.

Not That!:

• 6-inch tuna sub. Gloppy mayo-based tuna salad sends this sandwich's fat count skyrocketing.
• Meatball marinara.
• Turkey breast salad with ranch dressing.
• Wild rice with chicken soup.

Little trick: Looking to cut down on the salt? Stick with Swiss cheese. It has one-third the sodium of cheddar, and one-fourth the sodium of provolone.

Little trick 2: Rather than order a large sub, double up on your meat on a small. You'll save more than cash: Try this with a turkey sandwich and save 230 calories.

Guilty pleasure: Chili con Carne
The beans contain selenium and 12 grams of fiber, while the beef gives you a protein boost with 19 grams. And Tulane University researchers found that eating beans four times a week can lower the risk of heart disease by 19 percent.

I came across this cool quiz from Whole Foods called How green are your groceries? Check it out and tell me how green your shopping is!

I read in the paper about this really great website called FoodieView. It's kind of a great go-to site for any and all information you could possibly want or need relating to food. You can search recipes, restaurants and articles. Check it out sometime. It's sort of like the Google of food!

Check out this recent article in the Shepherd Express called Food Crawl: Walking Milwaukee's Culinary Past.

As most of you know, I had been planning a surprise birthday party for my mom for the last several months. It was this last Saturday and I thought I'd share with you all the menu!

While we waited for my mom to arrive home, I left out some snacks.

• Hummus with pita chips, carrots and celery.
• Buffalo Chicken Meatballs with a Blue Cheese Scallion Dip.
• Caprese Skewers (grape tomatoes, basil leaf and fresh mozzarella).

Once she got home, I started with the meal courses, which were also appetizer portions.

• Avocado Shrimp Toasts. Mash some avocado with lime juice, salt and pepper, spread that on toasted french bread, and serve with a lightly grilled shrimp on top.
• Tortilla Espanola. The unofficial dish of Spain, this was probably the biggest hit! It's sort of a skillet pancake of sliced potatoes, onions and eggs. SO GOOD!
• Mushroom Beef Sliders. Literally only a few ingredients: ground beef, worcestershire, chopped mushrooms and parsley. Serve on a bun with fried onions.

Then came all the desserts - wow did we have way too many desserts!

• Chocolate covered strawberries
• Chocolate brownies
• Chocolate and frosted cupcakes
• Carrot cake
• Cheesecake

Tomorrow, May 9 is Stamp Out Hunger Day. Leave food to donate near your mailbox and your mailman will pick it up. For more information, check out this link.

Did you miss my Eat This, Not That entries? They're baaaaaaack! Today is Dairy Queen, mm, that sounds good...

Eat This:

• Small chocolate sundae. Indulge: This sundae has less than half the fat of a small chocolate-dipped cone.
• DQ Homestyle burger.
• Grilled chicken salad with fat-free Italian dressing.
• DQ sandwich.

Not That!

• Small chocolate chip cookie dough Blizzard. Always opt for a small-sized Blizzard - larger sizes have from .5 to 6 grams of harmful trans fat.
• Side salad with DQ ranch dressing.
• 6-piece chicken strip basket.
• Small chocolate malt.

Weapon of mass destruction:

• Large strawberry CheeseQuake Blizzard. This creation combines ice cream, strawberry syrup, and unks of cheesecake for a high-fat dairy dessert.
  

This is technically called an Easter Breakfast Casserole, but I think you can make it anytime of the year and anytime of the day - not just breakfast! Note: it requires refrigerating overnight, so make it ahead.

1 pckg (12 oz) breakfast sausage links
6 English muffins, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup (4 oz) shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup (4 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped red pepper
12 eggs
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 cup bacon bits

Cook sausage according to package directions. Cool slightly; cut into 1/4-inch slices. Place English muffin cubes in a greased 13x9-inch baking dish; drizzle with butter. Layer with sausage, cheese, onion and red pepper. In a lare bowl, combine the eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Pour over cheese. Sprinkle with bacon. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Uncover and bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Let stand 5 minutes.

Makes 12 servings.

Try these Chocolate Cherry Triangles and let me know how yummy they are!

2 7-inch whole wheat tortillas
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup cherry preserves
1/4 cup crushed granola
2 tsp mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
optional: powdered sugar

Place tortillas on cutting board. Spread each tortilla with half the peanut butter, then half of the preserves. Sprinkle with crushed granola and chocolate chips.

Fold tortilla's in half. Cut each one into 4 wedges. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired.

Makes 8 servings

Sometimes you really crave something simple - a yummy comfort food like tuna noodle casserole. I wouldn't change or add anything to this recipe - except I don't like mushrooms, so I use cream of celery.

2 cans Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 cup milk
2 cups frozen peas
2 cans tuna, drained
4 cups medium egg noodles, cooked and drained
2 tbsp dry bread crumbs
1 tbsp butter, melted

Stir soup, milk, peas, tuna and noodles in a 3-quart casserole dish.
Bake at 400 for 30 minutes or until hot. Stir.
Mix bread crumbs with butter and sprinkle over tuna mixture. Bake for 5 minutes or until breadcrumbs are browned.

8 servings

It's broccoli day! Here are a few ideas of ways to add broccoli to your average meal.

Mac and cheese: Add a bag of frozen broccoli to the noodles as you're boiling them, then follow the package instructions for a healthier version of some cheesy mac.

Tortellini with tomato sauce: Again, add a bag of frozen broccoli to the tortellini as they're boiling. Drain and stir in a jar of tomato sauce for a yummy pasta dinner.

Chicken and rice: Cook the chicken in a skillet and take it out when they're done. Then cook the rice according to the package directions and add a frozen bag of rice towards the end. Add the chicken and season with whatever you feel like (Italian seasoning is easiest).

Happy May Day!