Fun With Carbs

When we were honeymooning in Greece, my husband started to wax rhapsodic about American fast food. In particular, Pizza Hut. Greek pizza, with its pastry-like crust, just wasn’t doing it for him. So upon our return, after he promptly came down with what we think might have been the flu, I ordered in Pizza Hut for the patient. His aches and pains and coughs seemed to vanish as he blissfully finished half a pie. The next day, he told me Pizza Hut had called back to conduct a customer survey, and he reported that he had given high marks across the board for its crust, sauce, cheese, delivery time and service.

Shudder.

I’m not a Pizza Hut hater, really. In fact, I love the crispy, buttery crust. However, if you ask me, the sauce is reminiscent of canned Spaghetti-Os and the cheese’s texture is more than slightly plastic. And we live in Connecticut, home to some of the country’s best pizza. But it made me think – do other foodies have their own pre-packaged, highly processed, chain-restaurant guilty pleasures? They must…

Some favorites I’ll admit to:

• Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, especially Easy Mac. But I can’t stand the sodium-packed taste of the orange cheese powder on its own, so I always add a little milk and a sprinkle of canned parmesan. I also love the Annie’s Organic mac and cheese with the bunny on the box.
• Dunkin’ Donuts egg-white flatbreads. Yeah, I know they’re pre-frozen and tossed into a toaster oven for two minutes. But man, do they taste good with a medium French vanilla, skim and one Splenda.
• Anything from Sonic. At this moment in time, there are no Sonic Drive-Ins within 2 hours of me. But thanks to my very patient friend Kate, I’ve been able to visit an outpost in Jacksonville, Fla. Cheeseburgers. Tater tots. Onion rings. Grape slush. <Homer Simpson drool>

Your turn. Don’t be shy. Tell us your favorite foodie guilty pleasure…