Create your own pasta at Macaroni Grill is an awesome (and filling) dinner choice for date night, family dinner, or girl's night out!
Ask your waiter for the cute form to fill out when you sit down. Read all the options, it's a good distraction from the greasy bread and oil on the table!
For the base, choose spaghetti or capellini- angel hair pasta (both are 340 calories) with pomodoro sauce (190 calories).
Next, you can pick 3 veggies. I went with asparagus, roasted mushrooms, and tomatoes. (Adding 45 additional calories.) See picture below.
Other veggies choices include artichokes, spinach, peppers, onions, sun dried tomatoes, etc. - mostly all 5-20 calories.
Finally, you can choose a protein for a few extra bucks. I actually went with eggplant (pictured) for 35 calories extra, but you can choose shrimp, grilled chicken or meatballs.
Also, it's a good idea to add the field greens side salad with Mediterranean dressing to your meal as an appetizer. For $3 and 110 calories, it's a way better choice then the bread on the table.
My very filling meal for $16 (before the coupon- I'll get to that in a second) was about 600 calories - since I had the salad, ate 2/3 of my meal and nibbled on some bread! (It's hard not to!) Not bad for Italian food!
Other MG tips:
They have a light menu with a few items under 600 calories (labeled on their menu with an icon.) I haven't tried them all yet, but the Pollo Caprese (pictured) and the Grilled Shrimp Spiedini are both very good- note, the Spiedini is not very filling.
Pollo Caprese: grilled chicken breast, capellini pomodoro, arugula sala
560 calories - pictured
Grilled Chicken Spiedini: roasted vegetables, lemon oil
410 calories
Mediterranean Sea Bass
pan-seared fillets, vine-ripened tomatoes, arugula, cannellini beans, balsamic glaze
570 calories
Caprese: vine-ripened tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil
480 calories - appetizer
Grilled Shrimp Spiedini
roasted vegetables, lemon oil
380 calories
Another great tip is to sign up for the MG email. They have awesome buy 1 get 1 free coupons and more pretty often. Last night, we saved 40% off the bill with a sweet MG email coupon- yes!
Choosing MG for lunch (they email out lunch coupons sometimes!) is a great tip too. You can order a "pick two" with a side salad (110 calories), pomodoro soup (190 calories), 1/2 roasted turkey sandwich (300 calories) and/or capellini pasta with pomadaro sauce (340 calories). Yummy!
Finally, dishes to stay away from:
Appetizers-
Mac and Cheese Bites: 990 calories
Italian Nachos: 1015 calories
Meals-
Mom's Ricotta meatballs and spaghetti with bolognese: 1190 calories
Fettuccine Alfredo with Chicken: 1490 calories- eek!
... And more!
Instead, enjoy some of the lighter dishes.... and maybe a glass of wine to splurge. Wine is 1/2 off through Labor Day at MG!
Read the full nutrition facts here:
http://www.macaronigrill.com/docs/nutritional/nutritional-menu.pdf
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