Another victory dining out! (Day 11)

Today began with another wonderful time of worship with my church family. I almost didn't go. My back was hurting so much and I couldn't remember if I took my anti inflammatory or not when I ate my breakfast, which, by the way, was rice cakes with Better'n Peanut Butter and fruit spread. It's a once a day pill, so I just had to do without. I don't think I took it, but I couldn't take the risk of the overdose if I did ... but I don't think I did ... anyway ...

I really didn't want to miss church so I got in the shower, just in case ... and asked God to ease the pain so that I could go. And He did. And I did. And it was good.

Had a late lunch out with my hubby and son in law. My daughter is away on business right now. We went to Olive Garden. I did my research online before we went and decided what I would order. From their "Garden Fare" low fat selections I chose: Minestrone Soup (100 calories, 1.5 g fat, 3 g fiber) and Linguine ala Marinara with whole wheat pasta(430 calories, 6 g fat, 9 g fiber).

The guys wanted to order an appetizer, but I whined ... no ... I asserted my concern that I didn't want to be tempted by an appetizer and would appreciate it if they did not order one. They did not and I was glad. I did have just one breadstick, which I did not write on my list, but I rubbed the butter off the top of it. I thought that choice was OK. I also had some grilled veggies off my husband's plate that he wasn't going to eat anyway.

Next time I'll ask them to add some onions, mushrooms and bell peppers to the linguine. I had forgotten that I had asked them to do that before. They're good about that, and there's no extra charge for it.

Since that was a late lunch, we didn't really have dinner. I had a snack in the evening ... a new recipe, Garbanzo Guacamole, on guess what ... rice cakes! This was delish! I didn't take a picture because it wasn't too visually appealing, but it more than made up for it in taste. So simple too!

Garbanzo Guacamole

Ingredients: 1 can garbanzo beans, drained (reserve some liquid); 1 Tbsp. lemon juice; 1/2 small onion, chopped; 1 medium or large tomato, diced; 1 clove garlic, minced.

Directions: Mash garbanzo beans with potato masher, add remaining ingredients and mix. Add some of the reserved liquid as needed to smooth out mixture. (You could also use a food processor and pulse ingredients until combined. Mine needed washing and I was feeling lazy.)