It Only Takes One Tree To Make A Thousand Matches, It Only Takes One Match To Burn A Thousand Trees

It is a hot sweltering day, so much so that I even took my kids outside for class today. It's hard to love teaching on the 3rd floor on days like today.

I did measure and track everything very accurately today and my turkey/cheese/lettuce/tomato on thin bagel with Miracle Whip was fantastic!

As intended, I'm monitoring how I feel before and after dinner. Before dinner, I was looking forward to the meal; it looked so colourful (pork chop with mushrooms and onion, baked potato topped with bruschetta, and mixed veggies). I was quite hungry, and finally feeling ready to calm down a bit after the insane week we've had. I had made really good choices today. When I got home and was feeling snack-y, I had some baby carrots and then made some baked kale (more on that later). I usually crave carbs when I get home, and munch on croutons or crackers. So I was very happy with myself for making better choices.

I ate dinner slowly, although distracted by both my latest episode of Numb3rs and this very post! It was quite tasty, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. When I was done, I tuned in to my stomach and was definitely satisfied and full. It did annoy me, however, that literally as I was chewing my last bite off my plate, my mind flips to "What can I have for dessert?". I don't have any dessert planned for tonight, but I have 4 points left over. But I am full, so why do I need dessert?? I always seem to want a sweet taste in my mouth to finish a meal. I've tried having one small chocolate after dinner just to get the taste, but it's a slippery slope and it's hard to stop at one sometimes.

I found a Hungry Girl recipe for baked kale, which claimed to be a 'potato-chip like snack', and who am I to resist a claim like that? I surprisingly found kale at Price Chopper and while hungry and craving carbs before dinner, I decided to give it a try. I followed the recipe to a T, but it was not a success. It tasted like eating the burnt remnants off a barbeque, and they had the texture of crunchy air. It didn't turn me off of kale, but it certainly qualified as a new food I haven't tried before, so I am therefore one-fifth of the way to completing Goal #70. I have some kale left over so I will have to find a new recipe to give it a second try.