Good Cook, Good Food...Bad for the Posterior

Good cook, good food

    My husband says I'm a good cook.  The kids agree.  Apparently my waistline agrees too.

    I think we can all agree that buying fresh produce is expensive.  In addition, the meats that are "better" for you are expensive as well.  The most affordable meat, in the past, has been ground beef, especially the kind that is higher in fat.  Lately, though (maybe it's California), I've noticed the price of chicken is comparable.
    Anyway, I have always spread my food budget out as much as possible.  I realize the majority of us do.  That being said, I seriously buy CHEAP.  When I first began my household, we were eating pastas and hamburger.
    We still do.  That's how I cook.  Over the past four or five years, I've started to incorporate other things, but hamburger and pasta is still the majority of what we eat.  And cheese, lots and lots of cheese.

Ref

    This is a very close representation of one of everyone's favorite dish.  This is baked goulash.  Of course, we don't call it that, it's called Squiggle at our house.
    Here's the short story explaining that, because we all need a diversion.
    When our third child, Stephanie, was about six, she approached me as I was making supper. 
    She asked, "What's for supper?"
    "Goulash," I replied as I was stirring the hamburger.
    She scrunched her nose and states, "I hate goulash."
    Later, when I placed the plate in front of her, she asked, "What is this?  Is this goulash?"
    "Uh, no," I lied.  "It's squiggle.  And you put cheese on it, like this."  And I plopped a pile of shredded cheese on it.  Well, all the kids loved the idea and that's how squiggle was born in our house.
    We have it about twice a month.  Spaghetti, we have about twice a month.  We have at least one other meal a week with pasta and at least one other per week with rice.
    We eat LOTS of carbs.


Ref

    They're cheap.
    And they're tasty.

    Well, since I've been paying attention to calories lately, I flipped the package over before I opened it.  HOLY COW.
    I got my calculator out again.  It's kinda bulky....
   So I figure one cup of this stuff is about 700 calories.  8-/
   Here's the thing, I dished myself up about a cup and a half (I was starving...I had a rough day sticking to the 1500 calories...we'll talk about that later...).  As I was eating it, I realized when we have had this in the past, I've had about four times the amount I was eating.  UHGG.

    The picture is becoming clearer.

    I'm going to have LARGE problems with portion control.

    AND I'm going to starve.