Tiny Oranges – Fresh, fun blog for OC moms

I LOVE Chipotle Mexican Grill!  It was one of my biggest cravings when I was pregnant. I have memories of standing in line with my big ole’ belly dreaming of the options to put in my burrito!  But pregnant, or not, it is one of my favorite family friendly places to go out to eat!

I fell in love with this restaurant even more last year when Oprah did a feature on their company and their Food with Integrity philosophy which is all about using  fresh ingredients, sustainably grown and naturally raised with respect for the animals, the land, and the farmers who produce the food. Talk about a “fast food” restaurant you can feel good about taking your family to!

So, when I got this press release, I had to share the info with you because they have rolled out a NEW kid’s menu AND are offering a free kid’s meal on weekends in April with the purchase of an adult meal. Here are the details…

Chipotle recently announced its new Kid’s Menu in Los Angeles and Orange County. As part of the launch, Chipotle will give kids a free Kid’s Meal every Saturday and Sunday in April, starting Saturday, April 2nd and running until Sunday, May 1st, when parents purchase a burrito, salad, burrito bowl (a burrito without the tortilla) or order of tacos.

All of the items on the Kid’s Menu adhere to Chipotle’s commitment to using only the best-tasting ingredients from more sustainable sources that is the hallmark of Chipotle’s food.  Chipotle developed the Kid’s Menu with pint-sized fans in mind, from the actual menu items to the portions and prices. Options include:

Small Cheese Quesadilla ($2.95) – a classic favorite with kids – is served with a side of rice, choice of beans,  small bag of chips and a choice of organic plain milk, organic chocolate milk, apple juice or a soda.

Small Meat & Cheese Quesadilla ($3.50) – a small meat and cheese quesadilla served with a side of rice, small bag of chips and a choice of organic plain milk, organic chocolate milk, apple juice or a soda.

Single Taco ($3.50) – a single crispy or soft taco filled with three items from the line (one naturally raised meat or guacamole, and two other ingredients from the line, like salsa and cheese) served with a small bag of chips and a choice of organic plain milk, organic chocolate milk, apple juice or a soda.

Taco Kit (they build it) ($3.95) – With this unique twist, Chipotle invites children to get creative with their food.  Kids choose any three ingredients (one naturally raised meat or guacamole, and two other ingredients from the line, like salsa and cheese) and two crispy or two soft taco shells.  From there, it’s up to kids to construct and enjoy their tacos. This option also comes with a small bag of chips and a choice of organic plain milk, organic chocolate milk, apple juice or a soda.

So if you are looking for a family friendly restaurant to take the kids to eat this weekend, consider giving the new Chipotle Kids Menu a try!

This is a two post kind of day when I saw this deal come through on Plum District! Only $5 for a $10 gift card to Wahoo’s Fish Taco.

If you live in OC my question is…who DOESN’T love Wahoo’s!?  It’s one of our favorite family-friendly, casual spots to take the kids.

Click here to buy it….hurry, you don’t want to miss this Wahoo’s coupon deal!

{Disclosure: Tiny Oranges is a Plum District affiliate}

One of our FAVORITE super family-friendly restaurants, Beach Pit BBQ, is running a coupon today on Plum District.   The Plum Deal is for $10 for $20 worth of food.  Click HERE to buy it!

We love Beach Pit BBQ!  We go to the one in Costa Mesa and it is great.   I wrote this post about this restaurant awhile back.

It is so nice to have a restaurant where you can take the kids and feel right at home. Dining at Beach Pit BBQ is like chilling in your friend’s backyard.  Super homey, great BBQ and the Costa Mesa location even has a kid’s play area so you can dine while the kids run around.

With six locations now in Orange County, you can find Beach Pit BBQ in Costa Mesa, Tustin, Old Towne Orange, Huntington Beach, Laguna Niguel and Aliso Viejo.

If you haven’t been, snatch up this coupon today and take the whole family.  You will love it!

YUM!

{Disclosure: Tiny Oranges is a Plum District Affiliate.}

I had been hearing a lot of good buzz about True Food Kitchen in Newport Beach since it opened last summer but had yet to check it out until last week. Being an OC mom blogger, one of their representatives contacted me informing me of their new fun-to-eat healthy kid’s menu. This innovative new menu features dishes with sneaky, hidden nutritional elements and is based on the belief of their executive chef that healthy eating applies to ALL ages! I was instantly intrigued.

We went on a Monday night for dinner, and it happened to be my 36th birthday. Baby sister stayed home with the grandparents and Emma got all dressed up and was excited for dinner in a fancy restaurant a la Fancy Nancy going to the King’s Crown! Moms with girls over age 3 probably know what I am talking about!

I was first struck by the AMBIANCE. Very modern and chic with natural elements incorporated all over like miniature gardens of herbs out front, a hostess stand covered with faux clovers and bowls of big, colorful fruits on the bar.

We were shown to our table in the beautiful outside patio…

The general manager, Darryl Cuilla, visited our table and shared a little about their restaurant and it’s concept of “Great tasting food that’s good for you!” {<--- what a concept!}

With a menu based on seasonal, sustainable local ingredients I learned that the restaurant is 98% organic, nothing is fried and the focus is on simple, pure flavors. I was excited to taste these flavors and watch Emma’s reaction to her dinner. Because as we know, super healthy doesn’t always equate to super yummy and kids know the difference.

First we perused the True Food’s Kids Menu. Click that link because you will want to see the inventive options! With items like Almond Butter, Strawberry & Banana Sandwich I was impressed with the creative combinations. Emma opted for the Mozzarella and Organic Tomato Pizza and their Homemade Strawberry Lemonade. In the meantime, Darryl sent over a variety of appetizers for us to try while we were deciding.

My eyes popped out of my head when I saw the delicious platter of Local Vegetable Crudites! Served over a bed of crushed ice, it was a colorful mixture of radishes, snap peas, broccolini, cherry tomatoes & two yummy dipping sauces ($10).

Just look at the COLOR…

And you know they are doing something right when we were popping veggies like they were chips and guac! I called Darryl over and asked, “what makes them taste THIS good?” I mean Emma was eating cherry tomatoes like they were M&Ms and gobbling up the broccolini and saying “yum!” This never happens. I am not kidding you. I wish I had it on video. He told me it’s because the vegetables are SO fresh. You truly can taste the difference.

We also sampled the Herb Hummus which was beautifully presented with triangle pita slices, and a garish of tomatoes, onions & feta cheese on top. The Edamame Dumplings with a daikon radish & white truffle oil. These were to-die-for. So light and creamy! And the Caramelized Onion Tart which had smoked garlic, black fig & gorgonzola. This was the richest of the apps, but still not heavy, and just melted in my mouth. YUM.

I probably could have made an entire meal out of the appetizers alone. But I had my entree coming and it will be one I will be thinking about for awhile.

You know how you have those salads at certain restaurants that you CRAVE? This one will be bringing me back to True Food Kitchen for years to come.

Here is the Chicken Chopped Salad ($14) in all it’s glory!
I might have to rename it the “Best Salad in Orange County”

It was a beautiful combination of chopped chicken, mango, apple, avocado, almonds, manchego cheese & champagne vinaigrette. But here’s the thing. We have probably all had a salad sort of similar to this before at a restaurant, but this one was different. The difference was in the flavor. Every item was so fresh it had a whole new type of flavor to it. For example, the avocado. I have never had one that tasted that good. And the almonds were so fresh and crunchy. And there was a difference in the taste of the chicken, deliciously moist. All the flavors and texture together was superb. Truly. You have to try it.

And then there was Emma. The pizza was GOOD sized. Pretty big actually and she is not a terribly big eater. But will you look at how much she ate of her pizza? It is not the prettiest picture, but she kept going and going, I swear no one else had a piece! Notice the broccolini on the side. Little better than french fries, huh?! My gosh I loved taking her out to eat and feeling good about it!

And then there was dessert.

A flourless chocolate cake made of cocoa, vanilla ice cream caramel that I will be seeing in my dreams. There were actually chunks of pure 78% cocoa in it. Not a bad way to ring in my 36th year!

So mamas, if you are out doing some holiday shopping at Fashion Island, True Food Kitchen would be the perfect place to take your kiddos to lunch. Or meet girlfriends there. Or, take your hubby to dinner on a date. Essentially, it doesn’t matter who you take but you HAVE TO GO! I would recommend probably a daytime lunch visit if you were going with small kids. And I love patios for dining with children.

True Food Kitchen
451 Newport Center Drive
Newport Beach, CA 92660

Click here for hours, menus and directions. I just read they have brunch on the weekends until 3pm. I am so going back.

{Disclosure: My family received a complimentary meal to facilitate this post.
Thanks to True Food Kitchen for the stellar birthday meal!}

Warning:  This post might make you hungry.

Last week I was invited to be a part of a blogger event at Wendy’s to sample their tasty new Pick 2 Menu. And Wendy’s was kind enough to give me a gift card to give away to one of my readers so you can take your family to lunch too. Read below on how to enter to win.

What intrigued me about this menu is that the concept starts with a half portion salad.  I love the idea of a HALF portion salad, especially if you are watching your health and calories.

Here is how the Pick 2 Menu works…

First you pick your choice of one of their fresh, half portion salads.  The choices are: Apple Pecan Chicken, BLT Cobb, Spicy Chicken Caesar or the Baja.

Then you pick your second of the Pick 2 options: a yummy baked potato, tasty chili, Wendy’s famous small frosty (some admitted on Twitter to dipping fries in their frosty!), bottled water, a jr. bacon cheeseburger or a chicken wrap.

I selected the Baja salad..

…because I LOVE a Mexican inspired salad.  It came with jalapeno ranch dressing on the side, but with the guacamole included, I didn’t even use (or need) the dressing and I liked that the spicy tortilla chips came separately.  You can toss these on top for some good crunch.  For a fast food salad, I was really impressed!

I also love that you can download the easy-to-read nutrition facts HERE.  The half Baja salad is 280 calories.  I didn’t use the dressing (add 100 cals) but I did put the chips on top (+80 cals), so 360 calories for a filling fast food salad with 17g of protein I think is pretty good.

Then since it was a rainy day, I chose the Rich & Meaty Chili as my second pick.  SOOOOO good!   I sort of wished I had also ordered fries to dip too.  But that would be pushing the calorie count up for sure!

We were able to “Pick 2″ friends to go with us, so my wonderful photographer friend, Kristin Eldridge joined me.  Here she is placing her order…

She opted for the Apple Pecan Chicken and although I loved my Baja, when I go back I will definitely be choosing that one.  But I will probably hold the bleu cheese, as I am not a huge bleu cheese lover.  She said the salad was really good!  Isn’t this a beautiful picture of this salad?   Kristin can work her magic on any subject!

There are 28 combos available in the Wendy’s Pick 2 menu all for $4.99. Of the 28 combos, 18 are 600 calories or less. The half portion salads are also available as stand alone menu items for $3.99.  The combos strive to be a healthy balance of fruits, veggies, nuts, dairy and protein.

The Apple Pecan Chicken half salad has 180 calories, add the roasted pecans on top (+ 100 cals) and the Pomegranate Vinaigrette Dressing (+60 cals).  So all in, a salad with 340 calories.  Not bad!

And, as a mommy with a newly diagnosed child with a milk and eggs allergy, I also love that the nutrition chart makes it easy to find things without dairy.

Overall, I thought the options were really great, and if I am needing to do fast food, I will definitely consider going through Wendy’s to pick up an Apple Pecan Chicken Half Salad and Bottled Water.   Healthy food on the go – now that’s refreshing!

Hooray! It’s a Tiny Giveaway!

One lucky winner will receive 2 gift cards of $7 each ($14 total to take your family) to enjoy a meal at Wendy’s! Contest runs through 10/31/10 at 5pm PST.  I will post the winner next week on my Facebook page.    To enter, please leave a separate comment for each entry.  And, please leave your email address in the comment (won’t be published) so I can contact you if you are the winner!

1. Simply leave a comment and tell me: which combo would you choose? – 1 ENTRY

2. Like Tiny Oranges on Facebook – 1 ENTRY

3. Follow @TinyOrangesOC on Twitter – 1 ENTRY

4. Subscribe to my feed or email updates – 1 ENTRY

5. Tweet about this giveaway & link to this post with hashtag #WendysPick2 – 1 ENTRY

6. Comment, post or respond in my Forum – 1 ENTRY

GOOD LUCK!

Special thanks to Kristin Eldridge for taking most of the great pictures in this post.   Click HERE to visit her site and see more of her beautiful work.

Wendy’s Pick 2 Bloggers…

Sitting left to right: Nine More Months, Daytripping Mom, Me
Standing left to right: Rockin Mama, Traded My BMW for a Minivan, OC Mom Activities, Thoughts of a Mommy

{Disclosure: This event was sponsored by Wendy’s and The Motherhood and I was compensated for my participation in this campaign and received complimentary lunch at the event.}