01:08 PM CDT on Wednesday, May 24, 2006

The Lunch Ladies, our taste-testing gurus, talked with readers about eating healthy on the go on Wednesday, May 24.

Moderator: Lunch Lady Kimberly is unable to participate in today's chat, but Lunch Lady Gretchen is here to take your questions!

Moderator: All right, let's hear it. What are you all eating for lunch? Healthy or not?

Lunch Lady Gretchen: Hello! Hope everyone is having a good lunch. I decided to be healthy today.

Lunch Lady Gretchen: I brought leftover Chicken Feta Bake that I made for the first time last night. It turned out really good, and it was simple to make. I found the recipe in the paper (The Dallas Morning News, of course) in the coupon section. Here's the recipe, which I've modified a bit.
CHICKEN FETA BAKE
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts
Salt
Pepper
lemon juice
1 cup fat-free or reduced-fat feta cheese
1/4 cup diced red pepper parsley (1/4 cup fresh or 1-2 Tablespoons dried)
Pound chicken flat and put in 13 X 9 glass dish. Sprinkle both sides of chicken with lemon juice (about 1-2 tablespoons total), salt and pepper. Top with feta cheese (about 1/4 cup per chicken breast) and sprinkle with another tablespoon or so of lemon juice. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Top with red pepper and parsley and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Moderator: I'll be having my lunch after the chat — but I brought one of the Lean Cuisine paninis (steak and mushroom) that the Lunch Ladies raved about. I love them! Almost as much as the LC pizzas.
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Someone else e-mailed today to say they love the paninis, too. But she said it's hard to find them in stock because they're so popular.

Bigladiesfan: I will miss this chat — I'm going out for some sensationally un-healthy Tex-Mex ... but I'm with you in spirit.
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Thanks Bigladiesfan. I LOVE Tex-Mex. One of my favorites and one of the easiest to make "healthy" (if you avoid all the chips)

wwanonymous: Advice on what to select for an office brown bag that is being catered by Jason's Deli?
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Ooh, I'm not a good person to ask because I don't like Jason's Deli much at all. They always get my order wrong. But choose the turkey with mustard and get the fruit instead of chips and you'll be OK.

raphie: I have been eating nachos with extra cheese all day!!!!
Lunch Lady Gretchen: OK, now you're just making me hungry again, and I already ate my lunch. Grr.

Lunch Lady Gretchen: It just dawned on me. I hope Bigladiesfan was saying he was a big fan and not that we're "big ladies."

groundfair: Do you have any new favorite meals or snacks we should try?
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Yes, actually I was thinking about Memorial Day coming up this weekend. There are lots of grilling stories out there. Check out today's Taste section. And some light grilling tips and recipes on Weight Watchers website. If you're going to a barbecue, take some marinated chicken breasts or low-fat hot dogs. I like Ballpark's Bun Size Smoked White Turkey Franks for 1 Weight Watchers Point, with Nature's Own Sugar-Free 100% Whole Grain Wheat hot dog buns (also 1 Point).

Lunch Lady Gretchen: On another topic, Cherry e-mailed us last week asking about restaurant recipes or copy-cat recipes. The Lunch Ladies don't do those, but the Taste section of the paper has lots of recipes, and we found this website that has copy-cat recipes.

Lunch Lady Gretchen: I've noticed that corn in the husk is pretty inexpensive these days. If anyone has any good tips for cooking it, e-mail us at breakroom@dallasnews.com and we'll include it in our next newsletter.

brks: I brought a turkey sandwich for lunch, but with mayo. I hate mustard. How bad is mayo compared to mustard?
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Mayo has fat; mustard does not. Have you tried honey mustard? It's sweeter, but be careful to get the fat-free kind, not one made with mayo.

jiffy: Those lettuce-wrapped sandwiches you wrote about today look weird. Kind of gross with all that meat and then lettuce around it. Are they really OK?
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Yes, they weren't very appealing to look at. The flavor was OK though, but I found them too be too high in calories and fat (that darn mayo again).

monkeypants: I love it when the Ladies review local restaurants. Any chance we'll see review of Which Wich soon?
Lunch Lady Gretchen: We've looked into them before, but they weren't offering nutritional info. I'll check again. By the way, there is a new one at Northpark mall in the food court.

Moderator: Yeah, I just checked the Which Wich site, and it still says "nutritional info coming soon"
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Darn, I'll have to go to the downtown location and harass the owner — I used to go there regularly and he was always there.

JenniferD: Have you guys tried the Wendy's Frescata sandwiches yet? Which is your favorite?
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Yes we just tried those recently! My favorite was the club (no cheese or mayo), but my favorite thing at Wendy's is still the Mandarin Chicken Salad.

Lunch Lady Gretchen: I hope the mayo people don't sue me. I have no money, I swear, so it wouldn't be worth it.

Zoesmom: I am having a Weight Watchers Chicken Enchilada Suiza meal. Thoae are my favorite!
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Ooh, good one. Another really good enchilada meal is Amy's veggie enchiladas with black beans.

chef katy: so do you stash healthy bars or something in your car or desk if you cant find good stuff/healthy stuff? Which ones? Why?
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Healthy bars? You mean places that serve light beer? Ha ha. No really, I haven't found a snack bar that I really like, but I always have carrots and fruit in my little fridge at my desk. And I usually have Soy Crisps or light popcorn, too. For sweet cravings I eat sugar-free caramel pudding from Jell-O.

mlt1980: a lot of times sandwich shops will offer a choice of pretzels, chips, or baked lays. i noticed pretzels have even more calories than baked lays. which, if any, is the best choice?
Lunch Lady Gretchen: I would need the nutritional info side-by-side to be sure, but I pefer baked chips personally. Pretzels are a better choice than regular chips, however.

Zoesmom: I like to add a little fat free sour cream to my Chicken Enchilad Meals...just a personal preference. It doesn't add a ton of calories and little to no WW points.
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Really good idea! FF sour cream is a staple in my house, too. I always have some on-hand for tacos, fajitas or tostadas.

JenniferD: Is there anything healthy at Boston Market? I can't find any nutirtional info on them and they've changed their menu.
Lunch Lady Gretchen: We reviewed Boston Market a while back. Here's the link. I'd have to check their menu online to see what is new though. Their mac and cheese is too die for (but not at all good for you).

Moderator: I found Boston Market nutritional info on their web site; try this link.

monkeypants: I'll keep my fingers crossed about Which Wich. The menu has so many vegetarian options! One of my favorite veggie options for frozen dinners is CedarLane — kinda like Amy's Organic, but better in my opinion.
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Me, too. E-mail us at breakroom@dallasnews.com if you hear about Which Wich before we do.

hd_bell: do you have any good suggestions for a weight watcher with a serious sweet tooth?
Lunch Lady Gretchen: The WW Key Lime Pie! It rocks! But it's also 3 Points per slice. You'll find it in one of the books they gave you. Also love the WW ice cream cones and cookies and cream bars.

chef katy: Martha Stweart did Corn in the husk this AM on the Today show. Check their website
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Hey, cool, thanks! I bought some this weekend and have been waiting for my boyfriend to cook it 'cause I'm a little frightened by the whole shucking process.

chef katy: PS Weight Watchers taught me to tkae FF cottage cheese in the blender and use it as FF sour cream with better ingredients, protein not dairy exhanges (in THOSE days)
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Does it really taste similar?
chef katy: It tastes like thick sour cream. We would add lemon juice sometimes to give it that little pucker. Just one squirt from the MMaid frz lemon juice bottle would be good.
Lunch Lady Gretchen: I'll give it a try and report back. I'm skeptical.

JakeManiAAC: Hey yall :-)
Lunch Lady Gretchen: It's our favorite Mavs Maniaac! If you lose too much weight on Weight Watchers, will you still be able to be a Maniaac?
JakeManiAAC: LOL yes the Mavs told me I was safe even if I got too small.
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Good to hear. That must be fun, especially lately.
JakeManiAAC: Found a really good new choice for lunch at the store the other day.
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Share with us!
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Jake shares this link to Contessa meals. I haven't tried them yet.
JakeManiAAC: These are already-bagged meals, frozen, meat included. The entire bag of sweet and sour shrimp is like 10 or 12 points rice included! They have 5 or 6 different choices that are all 5 points a serving or under.
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Is the whole bag enough for two?
JakeManiAAC: HAHA Two ManiAACs? Nope. Two mere mortals? Yes. :-)
Lunch Lady Gretchen: I would probably add a side of veggies, too, then. I'm not a ManiAAC, but I have a big appetite. Thanks for letting us know about these. By the way, everyone, Jake says to make them at home and that they reheat well.

hd_bell: I've heard that you can use fat free plain yogurt instead of sour cream too... I havent had the guts to try it either though
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Nah, me either. I think I might just stick with FF sour cream. I don't see the big benefit in substituting.

Moderator: Lunch Lady Gretchen has time for just one or two more questions.

Markie: What's the best way to bounce back from a lunctime splurge? Eat nothing for dinnre?
Lunch Lady Gretchen: NO! You don't want to skip a meal. Just eat a light dinner of a salad with a little chicken or tuna.

silver8602: will you ever print a weekly column instead of a biweekly column?
Lunch Lady Gretchen: We would certainly have enough material, but unfortunately not enough time right now. Kimberly is a full-time news reporter for the site, and I'm a full-time web operations-type person (too hard to explain quickly).

Moderator: That's all the time we have for today. We'll be holding another chat soon, so come back then. Thanks for joining us, and thanks to Lunch Lady Gretchen.

Lunch Lady Gretchen: Bye everyone, thanks for a great chat today. I had fun and now I'm going to go eat something else because you all made me hungry again.