Day 13 - Awesome Thai Salad

Dinner started as a struggle to find something my 5 year old would eat. His older sibs are omnivores, and eat most anything put in front of them, especially veggies, but this one is trying my patience. After nearly coming to a stalemate, he agreed that pasta with "red sauce" would be OK.

Not wanting to cook something separate for the adults, I started the pasta and began to explore the fridge for salad options. I started with  a 1/2 bag of baby spinach, to which I added thin sliced cucumbers (cut on a cheap japanese mandoline/slicer - get one, it makes this sort of thing a snap and the results look great), red bell peppers cut in strips, diced cashews, cilantro leaves, and fresh baby asparagus, which I popped in the pasta water for about a minute, then rinsed in cold water. For dressing a combined a couple spoonfuls of bottled Thai Peanut sauce, the kind used for marinade or satay dipping sauce, with a spoonful of rice vinegar (milder than most other types) and a sprinkle of sugar. This was used to lightly dress the salad, which ended up tasting awesome I definitely recommend trying this dressing with similar ingredients, including bean sprouts, peanuts, shredded cabbage, thai basil, etc.

I ended up eating a small bowl of the pasta, and 3 large bowls of the salad.

I also weighed the cashews and craisins I have been munching on, and it turns out a handful of each comes in at 1 oz. That is about 150 cal for the cashews and 130 cal for the craisins, together 280 cal, which is a hearty snack, but one can see how mindless munching could blow a diet pretty quickly.

One final note - Today I tried on an old leather jacket of mine which has been too tight to wear and it fit! (although a little snugly)  Since it does not give a bit when zipped up, it  really lets me know if I have lost some of the jiggly yellow stuff. 

Breakfast - 1 bowl whole grain cereal with handful each cashews and craisins + skim milk.

Lunch - 1 bag of beef jerky (about 250 cal), grabbed while running errands

Dinner - 1 bowl pasta with tomato sauce, 3 bowls Thai salad.