Food with Conscience: Healthy Summer Holiday Eating

We've just returned from a great holiday in Washington DC, conveniently timed with Husband's long-time wish to attend the 111th annual US Open. We courageously decided to drive the 10 hours instead of flying, but chickened out 6 hours later by staying over at a popular hotel chain, with complimentary breakfast. There aren't many safe food options in the middle of nowhere, so we decided to play it safe and ordered hamburgers, fries and a high calorie salad (yes, ranch dressing with croutons) from a well-known food chain. The breakfast offered good variety, but turned out to be not very satisfying. Everything was plastic, including the food. Less than an hour later, my 4 year old was ready for a snack (and she had had a substantial-sized breakfast). So we jokingly called it the 'Dollar store' breakfast- looks good but will probably not last long.

When we arrived in Washington, I was pleasantly surprised by the number of healthy eating-out options available that are also child- and budget-friendly, all within walking distance from our hotel (Dupont Circle area). By healthy I mean amazing on-site open flame stone baked flat-breads such as that found at Cosi, who offer fresh sandwiches with wholesome toppings (with a side of baby carrots or chips with each meal) and the Mexican Grill Chipotle, who make a delicious gourmet burrito (see picture below) stuffed with cilantro-lime rice, black beans, a variety of barbecued meats, and fresh salsa and guacamole. Panera Bread offers yummy breads and pastries, but we opted for a refreshing strawberry poppyseed and blueberry salad, and the Sierra Turkey on Asiago Cheese Focaccia with smoked turkey, chipotle mayonnaise, field greens and onions. With our South African roots, Nando's Peri Peri Chicken is a firm family favourite, so we were happy to stumble upon one close by. The chicken marinade can be spicy for some kids, so opt for the lemon and herb sauce that has less of a zing (or the kids menu), but there are options like corn on the cob and fresh Portuguese rolls to complement the meal as an alternate to fries, and pita's and wraps. A whole chicken plus two large sides comes to less than $24.

If you're heading to the Capital, the frozen custard at the Shake Shack is creamy-delicious and so nice in the summer heat. Also good to know that all their dairy is hormone-free. The burgers looked good, but we didn't get to try them.

All restaurants have a kids menu, though we preferred to order two adult portions for all four of us. Most meals came to no more than $25-30 per meal. We always carried chilled bottled water, so there was no need to buy any drinks.

Incidentally, on writing this post, I discovered that three of the four restaurants we visited were chosen as one of America's 10 Best Family restaurants 2011 by Parents Magazine. Coming from Canada, we weren't familiar with these restaurant chains, so I was quite pleased to see our parent radars seem to work very well! Kudo's to Husband who picked many of our meals.

While most people may associate holidays with overindulging, I think we left Washington with good 'food conscience', despite our initial 'plastic' food encounter!

The Chipotle Burrito- tastes as yummy as it looks.