Friday, 10/22/10:

WEIGHT before eating today:  155.5

Daily Calorie Goal:  1200 or less 
Total calories eaten today:  Not sure...  (900 by 5:00 p.m., then Blackwoods.  Grrr.)

Had an OK day with eating, but it seemed like I was hungrier than usual.  I had a gut-ache ALL day, and it felt like hunger, rather than something else.  By only 8:30 I was famished, so I ate "breakfast," if you can call a little smoked salmon washed down by a Slim Fast shake that.  I managed to wait until 1:15  to eat anything else.  I ate my favorite Ezekiel-bread-scrambled-egg-sandwich for lunch with a cup of hot tea, and I was full until 5:00, when I broke down and inhaled 175 calories-worth of SKITTLES, of all things.


I hate it when I do that.


My willpower was floundering a little after that, and I waffled back and forth between heading home from work with baby at 5:30, or meeting up with the teenager and my Mom, who were on their way to Blackwoods Bar & Grill for supper before attending a concert at UMD.  I honestly thought long and hard about this.  Ultimately, my rabid hunger (thanks to my post-Skittle-insulin response) won out, and I joined them.

Supper was great, and I kept it relatively light, as far as restaurant meals go for me.  I had a "crostini" appetizer (rounds of baguette-type toast topped with a half-inch-thick glob of mozzerella cheese and drizzled with a gooey-sweet "balsemic glaze," YUMMMMM!!!), and a raspberry-chicken salad, and two glasses of fountain Coke Classic.  I also drank most of the large milk I ordered for baby, but at least that was good for me.


I'm going to have to make that crostini.  It was carbs, and it was chewy-gloppy cheese, but OMG, was it delish!  If I can find a recipe for the glaze or fabricate my own, I'd make this as often as I make my bruschetta.  (I stole Olive Garden's bruschetta recipe off the Internet, LOL!)


I'm not one to be greedy, so here it is:  (It's SOOOOOO easy, and crazy-tasty!!!)

I don't eat here often, because of the high prices and the CHEESE COMA afterwards.

Yours will look EXACTLY like this.  Fabulous!

 Olive Garden's Bruscetta

3 firm roma tomatoes, finely diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon minced fresh basil
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 Tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons diced marinated sun-dried tomatoes
pinch dried parsley flakes
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
9-10 slices ciabatta bread (or Italian bread)


Directions:
1.  Toss diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, olive oil, vinegar and salt in a medium bowl.  Cover and chill 1 hour.  
2.  When you are ready to serve the dish, preheat oven to 450 degrees.
3.  Combine Parmesan cheese with dried parsley in a small bowl.  Arrange the bread slices on a baking sheet.
4.  Sprinkle a couple of pinches of the Parmesan cheese mixture over each bread slice.  Bake for 5 minutes or until the bread starts to crisp.
5.  Pour tomato mixture into a serving dish (strain off the liquid), and serve it up alongside the toasted bread slices.  Makes 4 servings.


Voila!  Tomato-ey goodness!!!

Once again, I digress...

Once I got home, my Friday wound down with me grumbling to myself about the Blackwoods calories while I ate not ONE, but TWO Blue Bunny English Toffee Bars.  This certainly did not help matters much.

130 calories each, and SO tasty!!!