eating out

This week's topic and challenge have to do with eating out. I hardly ever eat out. What I like to get "out" is cafe mochas. Starbucks' version is so much yummier than what I can concoct at home.

For special occasions, if I do eat out, I like to find the restaurant menu ahead of time and find something that I will like and that seems to be reasonable calorie-wise. Most restaurants have that info online. If I wait until I get to the restaurant, it is too easy to get sucked into what looks good on the menu or ordering too much because I feel really hungry. Best to have a plan of attack.

So, for the challenge this week, here are some eat-out items that are point friendly. I chose to look at Olive Garden's menu. The lunch menu is friendliest.

I like the capellini pomodoro, which is 8 points. If I'm really on top of my game, I'll box half and only eat half. It's very cool to have a microwavable hot lunch for work the next day. The Linguine alla Marinara is only 6 points. The bad news is, the dinner servings are almost double -- 16 and 10 points, respectively -- so a to-go box is a must. No one needs that much pasta in one serving.

The breadsticks are the killer, at 3 points each. (Can I eat just one?) The salad is manageable. About 2 points per serving. I don't eat the olives, but the dressing is on the salad instead of on the side, which is a bummer. A serving of Minstrone soup is 2 points, and that gives me a little leeway to have a breadstick or 2.

The problem with eating out is this: I have a dinner to go to this week, not at a restaurant. It is at a country club. I don't know what will be served. I don't know how to prepare. I don't know how many points to "reserve" for the evening. I won't know how many points are in anything that is served there. All I can do is estimate and guess. Yes, avoid anything fried and try to get salad dressing on the side. But I have no idea what to expect there. That is the frustration and that is why I wish food and socialization didn't have to go hand-in-hand. In this case, it is food and education.

There is no escape! What's a girl on a program to do?