Same day...

You wouldn't know it from the photo, but my dinner tastes SO good tonight! And just to set the record straight, I've been at odds with myself all day, so I had a real struggle in my head over what to do. My son isn't eating at home tonight and neither is my husband. Normally, this would signal me to call up girlfriends and head for the nearest plate of something alfredo, snarf it down in eager anticipation of what the dessert tray held, and kill another 2 hours over dessert and decaf coffee. I wasn't up for the challenge tonight. Temptations are something I just need to avoid. Maybe one day one will sneak up on me and I'll be ok, but I have a long history of not being ok in that particular situation. Eating is, or has been a very social event. I find tonight that it is equally as difficult to dine alone. I'm faced with choices outside of my routine. One large variable in tonight's setting is the fact that I have $3 in my wallet and will not justify dinner for one going on the credit card, especially since I was having a particular hankering for dollar menu fare. I was targeting things like Wendy's chili and Taco Bell Fresco tacos, but still...either way...not enough of a purchase to charge, and too little cash to have a real meal. Stop for just a moment and consider how much thought and energy went into talking myself through this! Ordering Chinese delivery was another option, but I wouldn't know where to begin on making a good calorie choice there. So I went to my kitchen and retrieved things I only really wanted to eat. I had looked at cans of soup, but being here by myself and no one to have the other 1.5 servings, plus all the sodium...not a good choice. So what I ended up with was: 2oz onion, 2oz green pepper, 3oz mushroom, 1oz celery, 2oz hot Italian sausage crumbles squeezed in papertowel, and a single serving sized cup of Minute Wild & long Grain Rice. I sauteed the veggies in Pam, added the sausage and heated rice, and to the tune of 481 calories, it was far better than anything I would have driven out in to the world to retrieve tonight. I still have 144 calories left for later, but take a look at that photo! That was a one skillet meal, measured out precisely on digital scales, and I got to eat the whole thing for only 481! And that's a ton of veggies! Double what I would normally do, but I wanted to make it so rice was not the main ingredient. It was good...it was real good!