The calculations are constant under certain conditions.

When drizzles all day, and you\’re tired of being shut up indoors; can you go for a ride? Will the wind rise too much? Will lightning move in?

That was the case last Saturday. With the hybrid in the shop, I didn\’t have my usual way to go grocery shopping. So I stayed home, and did some more cooking during the morning. Here is where calculations come in again.

I sound like a broken record talking about that salvage store, but what can I do? That place is habit-forming, and I have plenty of canned goods from the store. Among them were two cans of Chef Boyardee® pasta and meatballs.

Pasta again! All that high-carb stuff, unsuited to a prediabetes eating plan. How can I use it up? On went the thinking cap. I soon hit on a way to \”dilute\” the original canned product.

Step 1: put 1/2 cup of the canned pasta stuff in a large cooking pot. Portion out the rest, 1/2 cup to a food storage box. Freeze them for later.

Step 2: to the cooking pot, add: one 28 oz can of tomatoes; one 15 oz can of tomato sauce; 1 cup chopped red onion; and 1 1/2 cups chopped zucchini. Put the pot over medium heat. When it\’s about at the boiling point, turn the heat down to a simmer. Cook 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until zucchini is tender. Makes ~6 1/2 cups. Per 1 cup: 78 calories/14 grams carbs.

By 3 pm, I had had enough of cooking, carb-counting, and sitting around. I decided to go for a short ride, although it was still drizzling. I couldn\’t know whether drizzle might suddenly turn to deluge. Call it a calculated risk.