Today is sort of a nothing day as far as weight loss goes--no spectacular successes, no spectacular failures. Though, on reflection, I may be selling myself short, because for one thing, I went to a funeral today, and managed to hold back at the buffet afterwards. Not that it was much of a buffet (I'm not being mean, but it wasn't) but when did that ever stop me before? I managed to eat a little, have a small dessert, and be done. Also, I learned a lesson I really didn't need about clothes, which is, if they fit, they're better. My black skirt may have had its last outing, and I was going to wear a black top with a square neck that was quite flattering, but a little on the va-va-voom side, so I decided against the Sicilian hootchie mama look and went for the black top that fits like a sack. Bad idea. Really bad idea. However, no one was looking at me, I was not even a sidelight at this funeral, so it really didn't matter.

It finally got to be spring here, so in the afternoon, I went shopping for ingredients for one of our favorite pasta meal salads. I like to eat normal stuff whenever I can, just tweaked a little bit, and this was a spectacular tweaking. This recipe originally came from "In Style" magazine, and it was served as a side at some chi-chi Los Angeles thing, but I've fiddled with it, and over time, it has become a household favorite. Here goes:

Orzo Salad
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 (give or take) balsamic vinegar
chopped fresh tarragon to taste
salt and pepper to taste
2 oz. pine nuts (also known as pignoli, or, just to show off, snoba, in Arabic)
3 or 4 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 lb tri-color orzo, or plain if you can't find tri-color
8 oz. chicken breast
6 oz. non-fat feta
1 package each frozen peas and frozen snow peas
1 large-ish cucumber
1 yellow or red pepper
3 or 4 scallions

Mix the oil, vinegar, tarragon, salt and pepper and set aside. If you're feeling particularly ambitious and are able to plan ahead (I'm not) you can mix this the night before and add two or three crushed garlic cloves, which you can discard later
Boil the orzo
Cook the chicken however you want--like the chicken salad recipe, all that counts is that it's not raw
brown the pine nuts and minced garlic in a dry, non-stick pan, stirring frequently
Mix the pine nuts, garlic, veggies, feta, and chicken, then add the oil and vinegar mixture
Add the orzo

This comes out to three points per cup, which is a LOT of orzo salad. Two cups makes a perfectly fine dinner. I sometimes add shrimp, which I won't tonight, because my father is still allergic, as he has been for the last 45 years or so. I don't think the shrimp would change the point value much, really...volume would offset added calories, if you get what I mean.

I told my daughter we were having this--it's one of her huge favorites--and she said, loudly, "Are you serious!!!!!" She was very happy.