A couple of weeks ago I so graciously received a $25 gift card to Panera Bread courtesy of Women’s Health Magazine asking to try and review new menu items they’ve recently launched. Now, I honestly can’t tell you the last time I dined at Panera Bread and mainly because as the name suggests, the menu consists of mostly bread to which I don’t eat much of.

I really applaud restaurants for cleaning up their menu’s and adding wonderfully healthful menu items for the health conscious diner and so it appears Panera is doing the same. Before heading out, I scoped out the menu much like I always do before dining out. By reviewing the menu beforehand, I’m able to get an idea of what I’m going to order as not feel pressured upon my arrival.

Coach Kozak so kindly accompanied me this evening because let’s be real, he wanted to eat. I was so thrilled to discover upon walking in that they list the calorie count next to ALL of their menu offerings. Not only do they do that but they now have a POWER MENU! The Power Menu offers delicious and beautiful breakfast bowls and salads all sans bread and lower on the calorie side, I love it. Some of the healthy menu items on this new Power Menu include the Power Breakfast Egg White Bowl with Roasted Turkey and the Power Chicken Hummus Bowl. In addition, their website has the full nutrition guide for you to read and review.

This evening however we ordered a couple of salads not featured on the Power Menu just to mix things up. I ordered the regular size Thai Chicken salad with the dressings on the side and the whole grain baguette.

Coach Kozak selected as his meal the Strawberry Poppyseed and Chicken Salad with the regular baguette for his dinner.

I usually eat my salads dry but I was curious to taste their dressings. My salad comes with a Thai chili vinaigrette and a peanut sauce which sounded good.

My method of eating a salad without dousing the entire bowl is to dip my fork in the dressings and grab a forkful of food. My salad was incredibly crunchy, fresh, and flavorful boasting antibiotic-free chicken, romaine lettuce, Thai cashews, fire-roasted edamame, red peppers, carrots, fresh cilantro and wonton strips. YUM!

I then feasted a bit on Coach Kozak’s salad which was full of succulent sweet fruit such as fresh strawberries, blueberries, pineapple and mandarin oranges. It also features crunchy pecans and a refreshingly delicious lemon poppyseed dressing to which I loved.

As you can tell from our plates, we didn’t like these salads one bit. 😉 I only ate half of my whole grain baguette which was a bit chewy but that’s ok, the salad was the clear winner here.

After today’s Panera Bread visit, I now view them as another viable option for a restaurant that I won’t feel bad about stopping in for a healthy breakfast or lunch due to their non-bread menu options. I’ve even recommended the restaurant to my family which says a lot. I’m actually excited to dive into their Power Menu and even indulging in their Frozen Lemonade which will be perfect on a hot and steamy Houston day. Panera gets two thumbs up from the Kozaks!

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