Counting kCals and Cooking Light

Far from feeling deprived, I'm enjoying food more, and I don't feel hungry when I go to sleep or anything. I do feel very, very hungry between lunch and dinner--I always have--so I'm going to make sure to have a snackie with me no matter where I am at that time, to shield against the evils of gooey cookies and trail mixes with sesame sticks. (I always eat waaay too much sesame stick trail mix. I'm a sucker.)

I think I have the good people at Cooking Light to thank for my satisfaction-while-dieting. Their magazine is first a feast for the eyes--the photos!--and, later, for the nose and palate. The recipes, so far, are filling and tasty and nutritious. They even do this great thing: The Game Plan. When they pair a main dish with a side dish or two--you know, a recommended menu--they give a little Game Plan Box, which explains how to tackle both recipes at once. For example, if you're making a pasta dish with a salad, it might say--

The Game Plan
Put on pasta water to boil.

While water heats, chop the onions.

Place pasta in water.

While pasta cooks, rinse the arugula.


And so on.

This is a delight for me, because the lack of a Game Plan is precisely why cooking becomes stressful for me. Invariably we end up eating a bizarre two- or three- course dinner when I cook, the potatoes finishing 40 minutes after the chicken. Or perhaps the garlic burns in my mad dash to drain the pasta, and I burn myself in the rush. It's the timing, ya dig?