I'm hosting a little dinner party tomorrow night. I love to entertain, and cooking is one of those areas where I love to pull out all the stops -- decadent ingredients and delicious recipes and fancy combinations of fancy foods. I am a good cook and I really enjoy seeing people enjoying what I've made.
It's a little more complicated to throw a great dinner party when you are dieting and still want to have fun. No one wants to have wasa crackers and fat free cheese or something. But at the same time, I don't want to go overboard.
I think I've come up with a pretty good solution. We're having grilled shrimp for an appetizer. Those are super low in points and are all protein, so I can eat as much of that as I want. I've got grilled bread to go with it, but I don't eat wheat anyway, so it's not an issue. But other people can enjoy it. We've also got some little bits of different kinds of cheese to munch on, and I can steer clear of that.
Then we are grilling pizzas. The nice thing about grilled pizza is that you can make the crust really thin, and also, you can control your ingredients. I am making my own pizza dough, so I know exactly what that will cost me in points. And I have a bunch of good but healthy toppings to go on it. The best ones for me will be a kale/spinach/shallot saute that is great with just a little crumble of feta (almost like spanakopita), and some rosemary/balsamic-marinated grilled mushrooms. I can pile a pizza with those and feel great about it. We also have some prosciutto, which is nice because a little goes a long way -- you just need a few paper thin slices. And then there are the standard toppings like sausage, olives, tomato sauce, and mozzarella, which I will use in extreme moderation. I am going to stick to sprinkles of the stronger-flavored cheeses -- a little parmesan goes a long way, and doesn't add nearly the calories that a bunch of mozzarella would.
I've already told my guests that I am not eating sugar right now, and asked them to bring the dessert. That way I can beg off from eating it in advance. With luck, they'll realize that this means they can bring something made from wheat, and then I won't even be tempted.
I worry a little bit that in the moment, I will throw caution to the wind and go crazy, just cramming as many toppings on my pizza as possible. That won't really do, so I am trying to be smart about it beforehand: I've already filled my WW tracker with all of the foods I am planning to eat, and the quantities I can have of each. I think that will keep me honest. Mostly I want to have fun and not be obsessed with counting calories or olive slices instead of just socializing and catching up with friends. I figure if I obsess now, I can relax later.
So that is my obsessive food talk for today. I'll report back tomorrow with how it goes. For now, off to start my pizza dough!
Dinner:
Spinach/romaine salad with champagne pear vinaigrette (Trader Joe's, delicious, low fat)
NY Steak, perfectly seasoned and grilled by my husband, who knows where it's at when it comes to grilling
Mashed potatoes, with very specifically measured amounts of butter and milk (they were delicious anyway)
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