I just want to make a quick post since it’s been a while (we will get to our Thanksgiving posts, really).  I had a realization (and discovery) the other day while holiday shopping, and I thought it might be a useful idea for anyone doing the McDougall thang.  I was starving and wasn’t going to be home for some time.  So I remembered that Wendy’s has plain baked potatoes.  I ordered one and planned to just put some salt and pepper on it and eat it with ketchup

(kind of like fries or hashbrowns).  But then I recalled how much I liked their BBQ sauce when I used to get their chicken nuggets.  I ordered some so I could check the ingredients on it, knowing that some BBQ sauces are made without oil and hoping theirs would be McDougally too.  Happily, it turns out both their BBQ sauce and the ketchup they use (Heinz) are McDougally!  That potato was a life saver. And a few days later my girl and I were all-day shopping again, so I took her to Wendy’s and we had a filling (extremely cheap) and tasty, quick lunch of 2 BBQ potatoes each, with unsweetened iced tea.

In a couple of weeks, we are going to drive up to Denver to visit my family for the holidays.  This Wendy’s realization was well-timed and Jasperfields had another great idea for fast food on the road.  She suggested we bring a bottle of balsamic reduction (or regular balsamic vinegar but we like the reduction better) so we can order salads at fast food places as well.   It’s going to make a huge difference to have some choices while we’re on our road trip – and it will be nice not to have to rely solely on the food we bring with us.  It also just feels good to know that in a pinch, we can find something fast and cheap to eat without adding unwanted fat and calories.

And since balsamic came up, let me say that the balsamic reduction we make for our salad dressing is extremely tasty and healthy.  We don’t add any sugar or anything, we just let the vinegar simmer in a pan until is gets slightly thicker and starts to have a sweeter, almost smokey flavor.  Then we put it in the fridge and when it cools it usually thickens a bit more to a thin syrupy consistency.  If it gets too thick, you can always reheat it, adding a bit of water to it.  It’s easy and delicious and much more mellow than unreduced vinegar.  Here’s to flexibility and making McDougall work even in the busy hustle and bustle of our lives!