One of the attorneys in our office has a birthday today, so we brought in treats yesterday.  I am not much of a baker, but I found this on the discount rack at Tuesday Morning and found it in my cupboard.

pumpkin

I have a mini donut bake pan, so this made 18 mini donuts.  Only one slight problem.  I didn’t spray my pan for the remaining six that I baked, and they stuck – the tops peeled off but the bottom of the donut stayed in the pan. Sad smile

My breakfast – one of the Chobani flips – loved this one!  And a mini pumpkin donut.

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The donut was actually not very sweet, but with the glaze it was the perfect balance.

Work was busy, so no work out yesterday.  I decided to make a vegetarian black bean soup for Souper Friday.  I had a big can of black beans, I had veggie stock, and I had my homemade refried beans (the recipe will be posted tomorrow Rhonda!).

This soup could not have been easier to put together, and it got RAVE reviews.  One of my co-workers told me it was the best soup I’ve made so far!

Refried Bean Black Bean Soup

  • makes 8 generous servings – 232 calories, 1.5 fat, 43 carbs, 8.6 fiber and 12 protein

Ingredients:

  • 1 32 ounce can of black beans, rinsed and drained (about 3 cups)
  • 4 cups vegetable broth
  • 3 teaspoons minced garlic
  • 1 can mild Rotel tomatoes with chile
  • 2 cups tomato puree
  • 2 cups refried beans
  • 2 tablespoons ketchup
  • 2 teaspoons Worchestershire sauce
  • 3 teaspoons Buffalo Tabasco
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder
  • 1 tablespoon ground cumin
  • salt and pepper (I didn’t add any additional salt, depends on what kind of broth you use)
  • juice of 1 lime
  • zest of 1 lime
  • 2 cups cooked rice

Since I knew I was going to be heating this up in my crock pot at work, I put all the ingredients in my big tupperware bowl with a lid.  I brought the lime, zester and rice on the side.

Once at work, I dumped the soup and cooked it on high for 2 hours.  Then I put it on low and let it simmer for another hour.  15 minutes before serving, I added the lime juice, lime zest and rice and mixed well.

My garnishes were Mexican shredded cheese, green onions (brought by my co-worker J!) and chopped cilantro, and tortilla chips on the side.

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The heat level was absolutely perfect – the ideal FLAVORFUL heat, not overpowering at all.  This one is definitely a keeper!

Who else is excited about day light savings??!!  I was just happy that I got home around 5:45 last night and it was still light out. Open-mouthed smile  Grilling season, here I come!

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I had cheese ravioli on the menu for our Lenten dinner.  Since I am not Catholic, I made a quick meat ragu on the side – this literally came together in about 5 minutes.

  • 3/4 cup tomato sauce
  • 2 ounces raw ground beef
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1/2 teaspoon Italian seaoning
  • 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
  • 1 big handful of baby spinach

The cheese ravioli only took about 7 minutes to cook.  I just threw all the ingredients above in a skillet, and cooked it on high until the meat was cooked through and the spinach wilted.

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With a sprinkling of shredded Parmesan cheese on top, this was pure comfort food in a bowl.  And I didn’t snack at all after dinner last night – woop!

So excited!!  I am meeting Hannah and my Mom for lunch today to celebrate her birthday!  Yesterday, she already went and got her new adult license and she got an iPhone so now we can face talk any time!!  Can’t wait to see her face.  I haven’t seen her since she was 20! Winking smile

Hope you have a great weekend!  We will have temps in the high 40’s tomorrow – hope it melts all our snow!  See you Monday!

I’ll leave you with a picture I found last week when I was putting Hannah’s birthday photo collage together – me and my twin sister circa 1985!  Love how the Sun-In is still growing out!

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Can you guess which one is me?