Lots of links.

Or... Two.

If there's one thing that I'm really pumped about this whole thing, beyond the weight loss, it's being able to stretch my cooking skills. I know that I like some sort of weird combinations of food sometimes (cold pasta and ranch dressing, anyone?), but I also know that I can have some good ideas. Case in point: I made my own croutons today to throw into my tomato soup. They were awesome. Cut up some going stale multigrain baguette, little cooking spray to make the seasoning stick, garlic powder, oregano and black pepper and popped it in the oven. I'm Emeril -- BAM. Really perked it all up. Great success.

So, I encountered my first sort of troublesome situation this evening. I recently started my new job as a nanny. Normally it's my responsibility to make dinner, but my "boss" was home early today from work and made enchiladas. I certainly wasn't expecting her to offer me one, (I mean, it's her dinner. She doesn't need to be feeding me and paying me.) but then she plunks down this plate in front of me. I panicked a little. I certainly didn't want to seem rude and decline it, especially since it's only been a week since I started and I want her to like me. To quote The Simpsons, "you don't win friends with salad." I knew what was in Lily's: chicken, salsa and a little cheese. Not horrible. I take a bite. It's about a million times as much cheese and sour cream and corn and black bean salsa (both one point veggies). UGH. But it's so damn good. So I make a decision right away to trim the sides off with the outer tortilla. Because that's just empty carbs and I'm trying to make good decisions. But that's as far as I went. I just decided to make this my dinner and stick to a snack later rather than make my own dinner. It was a sticky situation, I think it was also a good lesson in how to be flexible and recognize that not every day is gonna be perfect.

I also just did a little calculations, and discovered it's possible to get my favorite things in my burrito at Chipotle for only 17 points. I'm certainly not saying this is going to be my new diet. But it's nice to know that it's not 100% out of the question on a special occasion.

I'm stealing this girl's recipe because Lord knows the rice is the best part.

I stumbled across this girl's blog. It's a little outdated, but she's pretty funny and got some good stuff, so I'm using this as a bookmark for myself.

Also, I think we need to play around with the layout and colors of this. Like I should have a color and Sarah should have a color. Let's get this baby going!