Sides for dinner

Sometimes we have to eat in a restaurant that doesn't really offer the kind of food we like to eat. You know; you've been in those restaurants. The cooks are not chefs, most of the food is prepared off-site and reheated, and the greenest thing on the menu is iceberg lettuce.

Here's what we like to order in those places – sides. Combine a couple of these and you'll have a meal you can live with.

A baked potato (dry)

An order of the vegetable of the day (no sauces, and preferably no butter)

A side salad (no cheese, no croutons, oil and vinegar)

A scoop of tuna salad or chicken salad

An egg (and maybe some salsa on the side!)

A scoop of rice (if it's brown rice, even better)

A side of salad dressing (look for dairy-free options like vinaigrette, or maybe even thai peanut!)

It's also kind of fun to see your server's expression when you move food around – putting the vegetables on the potato and topping it all with salsa or a sprinkle of vinagrette; moving the tuna salad to the top of the side salad and adding the vegetables around the edge, mixing the egg and vegetables and topping with salsa, rice and vegetables topped with peanut salad dressing….

Be creative. Look at the menu as though everything is a la carte, and then order that way.