Panera Bread’s Power Menu

If I was a good girl, I would bring my lunch to work every day and not spend money eating out. Seeing as how I’m just an okay girl, I feel lucky if I bring my lunch once or twice a week, usually Mondays and Tuesdays, when I have time to think and cook and stuff. Wednesday through Friday, it’s sort of up for grabs. Fortunately for me I work in downtown Bellevue, which offers a number of different establishments that have become my go-to spots when I don’t feel like going to the work cafeteria.

Here are a few places that have menu items that you can paleo-ize, or turn into almost-paleo meals.

Specialty’s. I always order online, because it’s way easier to order ahead of time then walk over and pick up. You don’t have to wait in line while people in front of you ask all sorts of questions. Also, online you can personalize, so always remove the focaccia bread and croutons. Ordering online also helps me stay one step ahead and not cave when a server asks if you want to add a dessert or pastry to your order. Here are my go-to salads with changes:

The Spinach-Bacon Salad, no croutons, no focaccia, and swap the poppy seed dressing with raspberry-walnut vinaigrette. There may be sugar in that dressing. I don’t drench it. I think I’ll live.

Greek Goddess. No feta, no focaccia, add chicken breast (again, the goddess dressing may have items in there, so either skip the dressing altogether or just use it sparingly)

Spicy Thai Peanut is good for off-paleo days, (note the peanuts in its name). But if you remove the won ton strips and focaccia and add the chicken breast, it’s grain-free.

Okay, so maybe all of them weren’t perfect. Let’s try again.

Evolution Fresh. You could probably get any one of the smoothies, and I used to be a Smooth Green girl for a long time until an EF lunch collided head-on with a stomach virus that has stopped me from ordering it ever again. Strawberry Mint, which they had over the summer, was a nice change of pace. I also like their Cucumber Pineapple Ginger juice, available at stores. I’ve only bought it once. Still it was delicious.

My current favorite order is the Lani’s Quinoa Spinach Salad. It seems it’s not on the web site so I can’t tell you the full official name, but it is in the Bellevue store. Here I ask them to remove the chickpeas, but add the grilled chicken breast. In addition to the quinoa and spinach there are other vegetables, herbs and seed mix and a lemon-tahini dressing.

My non-paleo usual is the Kevin’s Quinoa, Organic Kale & Butternut Squash Bowl. It includes feta and black beans, too, and uses a mild harissa sauce. I also have them add chicken.

Any of these can be served as a “simmer” with broth soup, or in a wrap, though I always order it as a cold salad.

I recently added Panera Bread to the lunch mix, because they have an unlisted Power Menu, perfect for Paleo. The “Power Mediterranean Turkey Salad” serves sliced turkey breast over lettuce, tomatoes, onions, peppers, kalamata olives and comes with a side of olive oil and lemon wedge. Super simple.

Finally, there is Jimmy John’s. Dear, sweet old Jimmy John’s. They actually have an option posted on the menu, called the “Un-wich” where you can order the sandwich without the bread and it comes wrapped in, well, I guess the lettuce and the paper. I always get the Turkey Tom (#4). Depending on if I’m feeling sassy or not I may order it with cheese. And, seriously, if I’m at Jimmy John’s I’m NOT going to skip the bread, are you crazy? There’s a reason why I go there, and it’s to get a SANDWICH and guess what, Sandwiches have BREAD. So, needless to say I haven’t been to Jimmy John’s in about three months. Sigh.

Dear, dear JJ’s <3

My thanks go out to the servers and wait staff for adjusting their usual habits to create these dishes for me.