A Potluck Dinner

The weekends are always a challenge for me.  After a long week of work, the last thing I want to do is think about cooking, so it usually ends up being pizza for dinner.  Or some sort of frozen dish I can heat up and mindlessly eat while catching up on my shows.  Or worse, I go out with friends for dinner.  But, tonight is the worst of all- an international potluck dinner.  I wanted to cook an "American" dish and remembered how well a macaroni and cheese dish had done at a previous dinner I'd had.  I think mac and cheese is about as American as you can get.  This recipe is not your typical mac n' cheese.  It has 3 cheeses with tomatoes and sunflower seeds and is a real crowd pleaser.  It also has about a million calories and contains two of my worst addictions- pasta and cheese.

Why would I make this, you ask, when I'm trying so hard to watch what I eat?  For one thing- as I said, it's all American cuisine.  Plus, it's easy to transport.  Another thing is that bringing this dish to a party means I get to have a taste, but there is most likely be none left over for me to take home, a huge benefit.  Finally, I'm hoping that someone will be thoughtful enough to bring something halfway healthy, a probability, since many other countries eat much healthier than we do, in general.

My goal for tonight is to limit my portions.  I'm sticking to one plate of food, no matter what.  And not a heaping one, covered with every bit of food on the table, but a reasonable dinner size-plate.  I'm also going to seek out things that will fill me up like vegetables, beans, rice, etc and avoid pasta, bread, cheese, chips, and sweets.  Finally, I have a friend coming with me to the dinner, and I will commission her to make sure I don't stuff myself.  She's already on board with my diet, so I think she'll be willing to help me out.

It's a rough weekend.  I've got another event on Sunday for which I've been asked to make a cheesecake.  And as if cheesecake all on it's own isn't bad enough, this will be chocolate turtle cheesecake.  It's all my fault for being a good cook that this came about.  But I'm determined to stay strong this weekend.  I'm loaded up with a bunch of healthy recipes for meals and will stop by the farmer's market this afternoon to load up on the fruits and veggies.  I'm looking at is as a pre-test for the holiday season.  Parties, dinners, holidays, events will all go on, but they don't have to be an excuse for me to spend all winter pigging out.

One more final motivation for me to be good tonight- I'll weigh in tomorrow and report how my first week went.  Wish me luck!