The Chili that almost wasn’t!

Holy Hannah people!  Remember a week or two ago I was all excited because I had pretty much caught up on Google Reader?  Well, geesh, wouldn’t you know that you people sure blog a lot and I was behind again!!  Not to mention all of the new bloggers that have come out of the woodwork today because of the Amazing giveaway!  So cool to hear from all of you lurkers out there! 

Tonight’s dinner plan was almost foiled when I opened the pantry to realize that we are out of navy beans.  Bugger.  Turkey and navy bean chili was on the menu.  I wanted to substitute black beans, but FH doesn’t like those so I just about scrapped the plan.  But realized that was silly and just went ahead with it anyway.

I use my Mom’s chili recipe as a base, but just swap in extra lean ground turkey and whatever beans I have on hand.  Also added some canned diced tomatoes (with olive oil & garlic).

Tonight I also included a bit of my Mexican seasoning and extra cumin along with the chili powder and cayenne.  (And left out the sugar because I use balsamic vinegar).

When I got to adding the beans, I separated out a portion for FH into another pan and just continued on with my portion.

Added corn to both.  Topped with snipped green onions (and a smidge of light sour cream on mine) and served with cheesey toast.

I also fiddled with the polenta again.  Jessica left a comment to try making “chips” so that’s what I did.  Sliced very thin, coated lightly with olive oil, sprinkled with salt, garlic powder and paprika.  Baked in a 450 oven for 20 minutes, turning at the halfway point.

They totally crisped up and were quite yummy!  Unfortunately my timing was off and they were cold by the time I added them to my chili bowl…but I still enjoyed them!

While I read the many entry comments and tweets about the giveaway and caught up on the 6,852 post in Reader we had some tea and cookies.

What would you substitute for refined white sugar in a cookie recipe?  In this case it can’t be agave (and don’t say artificial sweetener please!).

I guess I should head up to bed.  At least I get to sleep in tomorrow…FH has a class that’s like a 45 minute drive away so it’s silly for me to drive him/pick him up.  I’ll have to move my workout to when he gets home, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing considering I’m tackling Day 2 of Fitnessista’s Iron Pumping.

*kill me now*  eeeeek!  ;)

Ole!

I thought FH was having a little snooze so I came upstairs to kill some time on my computer…thinking I’d go back down at 9pm and relax on the couch. Only now I just realized I totally forgot to blog while sitting here.  Duh.

I did, however, clear about 250 things from my Google Reader so I’m pretty pleased about that.  Anyone that I haven’t been keeping up with daily I decided to just read anything they’ve posted in January and marked the rest as read.  There are just so many of you to keep up with!!

After picking FH from work this afternoon I snacked on a tangerine while plodding through work…

Lotsa seeds but super juicy and sweet.

FH had to start fasting at 6pm (ewwwwwwwwwww!) for some blood work he is having done in the morning so I suggested he make whatever he wanted for dinner because chances of me being ready to eat by then were very slim.  I was right…I think I went down around 6:30.

<haha…I was just distracted by my cat chasing his own tail…dufus>

I knew exactly what to make for my supper…Guiltless Gourmet Burrito!  Ole! 

Along with it I made a Mexicali-inspired salad…

In the big silver bowl tonight: 

• baby spinach
• yellow pepper
• tomatoes
• green onions
• avocado
• light cheddar cheese

Dressed with salsa, light sour cream, salt, pepper, and a squeeze of fresh lime.

Hint:  I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again.  Grate your cheese on the small side of your grater.  This is barely 1/2 oz and look how far it goes!

This meal was huge!  I’m stuffed.

OK, not too stuffed for a “Brookie”.

I had to laugh because all of the comments last night were about the damn Brookies.  haha.  People, there was a lovely section about beautiful handmade dishes in there!  Note to self:  don’t post dessert when attention wanted elsewhere.  LOL.

Anyway, it’s been a long day and I think I hear the kettle calling my name.  Tea time!  Nighty night!

The One with the Organic Cookies

I’m down to 134 posts in my Reader!  So you know what I’ve been doing for a major part of the evening.  :)  I love you guys all so much I have a hard time just skimming through!!

In addition to gluing my eyes to my laptop I also had my grrreat chiropractor appointment, a trip to WalMart for much needed new gloves and practical Winter boots (third Halifax Winter approaching…figured it was time for snow shovelling apparel), had a lovely hot shower, and made a treat for tomorrow evening’s Halibloggers GTG (ya, we’re going through withdrawals already!).

Oh, and made dinner.  :)

Fish ‘n’ Chips my style. 

Sweet Potato Fries…simply tossed with a smidge of veggie oil and sprinkled with seasoning salt.

Haddock…dredged in seasoned egg whites and flour/parmesan/cayenne…and pan-fried in a smidge of real butter.

Added the leftover maple brussel sprouts.

And homemade tartar sauce.

Afternoon snack was a chocolatey granola bar. 

Big tip from me to you: I’ve been keeping high fibre chocolate based granola bars on hand to help keep the chocolate “monster” at bay.  Today I managed to avoid the entire Halloween candy display knowing I already had a box of these in my basket.  :)

Tonight’s tea:  vanilla nut creme… nom nom nom

Served with another new treat I found at Pete’s the other day.  Late July Vanilla Bean with Green Tea Sandwich Cookies

Completely organic, no yucky stuff, made with whole grains, only 110 calories for 2 cookies.

Two big thumbs up.  Creamy and deeeelish.  Like an Oreo but so much better.  :)

I’ve yet to meet a Late July product I didn’t like love.

Tomorrow I need to work on embracing balance.  Today was healthy and controlled, but missing fruits and veggies in a major way.  I have those beautiful bits of pomegranate just sitting there waiting for me to show them some love!

289 and counting…

That’s how many blogs were awaiting my eyeballs when I opened up my Google Reader on Tuesday morning.  And of course as I tried to get through them, you all kept on posting up more stuff!  I’m down to 195 now, but sadly I have had to skip/skim more than a few.  Whew…it’s insane in there!  ;)

So far today isn’t too exciting in the land of food.  Just coffee and oatmeal.  I think I’ll dig into some fruit here shortly before I head out the door for my much-needed, glorious chiropractor appointment. 

All out of bagels now, so oatmeal was on the menu.

In the pot: 1/3 cup unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze, 1/3 cup water, 1/3 cup oats, 1/2 very ripe banana, 2 heaping tsp ground flax.

Toppers:  hulled hemp seeds, toasted pecan pieces, spoonful White Chocolate Wonderful PB.

Today’s batch was particularly creamy…just the way I like it!

And half-caf of course. 

Not loving the decaf.  Not because it’s decaf.  But it’s watery tasting.  I’ve tried adding an extra scoop of grounds to the filter but it’s not helping.  Thank goodness this is half-caf!!  I don’t know if I could handle this decaf straight up…

HA!  Google Reader jumped to 196 while I was writing this.  Yeesh.  Gah…197!