Angela and I are at the dance studio until late one day a week so I decided
to pack our dinner at least once in a while. This week I decided to make a
pasta salad. This is actually a vegetable salad with some pasta in it. I
use Quinoa pasta which is high in protein. I also add a can (or more
depending on the size of the salad I'm making) of kidney beans. I try to
make it about 3/4 vegetables and the rest pasta.

Last time I made this salad, I had 8 quarts. Far too much for the two of
us. So tonight I thought I would be smart and get as much cut up stuff as I
could from the salad bar at the local grocery store. I got two spoonfuls
(smallish spoons) each of carrot shreds, grape tomatoes and cucumbers and
about 4 spoonfuls of sliced green onions. I also wanted mixed bell pepper
strips but wanted some of those to put in tonight's dinner as well. I had
Angela get a separate container of those. Had about a cup total, with not
quite half going into tonight's dinner.

I also bought 5 radishes. One was black inside so tossed it. Sliced those,
added them and also two ribs of celery, sliced and a good handful of flat
parsley, chopped. Added two cans of black olives. Two cans were necessary
because Angela always sneaks into the bowl and picks them out, and a can of
drained kidney beans. And by the time the pasta got in there, I had a joke!
Nice veggie salad, but had to use a magnifying glass to find the pasta. So
I cooked up the other two servings and added them. And what I wound up with
was about 4 quarts of salad! Oh yeah and there is Italian dressing mixed in
too.

I guess it's a really good thing we like this salad. But what can I do next
time to ensure that I don't have leftovers? We have leftovers from
tonight's dinner as well. I still can't seem to adjust my cooking for just
the two of us. I really did try tonight! How can I manage to buy less
veggies for the salad and still get the variety of stuff that I want?