The weekend in food

FRIDAY

Friday night was Girls Night Out and we planned to go to our favorite local pizzeria because I was very excited to try the gluten free crust. But all through the week, I just had this nagging doubt about this plan. The thing is, these are my "fat friends." We always plan our get-togethers around food. And they're the friends who, when one of us has had a craptastic life event, would we call each other, hit the supermarket for junk food, and pig out. I never had to binge alone because I had "binge buddies."

But...the little voice in my head told me that this had to change. Our relationship is so much deeper than that. I expected some resistance from them, but they were totally okay with a change in plans. I suspect that they've also been thinking we need to shift our friendship away from being so food centric.

We did end up going out to eat but the whole mindset about doing so was different. We'd been having fun, and we were hungry. It was more of a "food for sustenance" type thing. We went to a restaurant that serves Middle Eastern cuisine so it was a culinary adventure as well. Aladdin instead of Chef Boyardee, for the win.

SATURDAY

On Saturday the family attended a Mother's Day banquet. Because several of us are eating gluten free, I decided to take food that would be safe for us. I made this Antipasto Pasta Salad with quinoa pasta. I made only a few tiny alterations: instead of anchovy paste in the dressing I used stone ground mustard, and I left out the onions. This recipe is definitely a keeper! Wow, is it yummy! And my niece made gluten free brownies. Topped with peanut butter sauce. And toasted marshmallows. Oh, sweet mercy. 

Thank goodness the only food rule I'd set for the evening was to eat gluten free. I chose to not worry about calories and macronutrient balance. I just wanted to enjoy myself...and I did. (And can I confess that I was massively thrilled that the scale dropped into the 180s the day after I indulged in brownies?!? Oh yeah baby! I'm gettin' back some metabolic balance, I think.)

SUNDAY

I had to work Job 2 and it was a long crazy busy day. There was no time for a lunch break so I just grabbed a yogurt that I could eat quickly. My opinion of yogurt is generally "Meh" because most brands/flavors are too sickeningly sweet.

Yesterday I tried Chobani Pomegranate. OMG...can I buy a case of this stuff? Or a maybe a truck full? Or maybe a warehouse? Perfect texture, perfect flavor, perfect sweetness. And it has lots of little crunchy seeds that add a whole extra texture layer to the flavor experience. Fantastic to the nth degree.