Beef and Bean Salsa Chili

Looking out my window this morning it’s lightly snowing, overcast.  If I didn’t know it was April, I would think it’s November!  Some of my blog friends have it worse.  Suzie had ice storms and Debbi and Carrie had snow storms and had to bring out their shovels again.  So I know I can’t complain too much, but I still want to whine just a little bit!

Last week in the dairy discount bin, I bought Silk chocolate soy milk.  Holy shizz, where has this been all my life!  So delicious!  It’s 90 calories a cup.

  I made a smoothie:  1.25 cups chocolate soy milk, 1 frozen banana, 1/2 cup frozen blackberries and 2 cups of bay spinach.  I was going to add some chocolate protein powder to this, but forgot.  This was delicious!

I keep leaving my tall plastic cups at work, so I had to improvise!

Yep, I had to use Tony’s Grey Goose vodka glass, because that was the only thing big enough to hold it.   I have only one problem with smoothies though.  While I know how much insulin I should take, it takes me sometimes 40 minutes to finish drinking it, so the insulin starts working before I’ve met it with enough food.

So when it came time to work out, my blood sugar was only 90, while perfect, too low to work out.  I ate two tangerines, hoping that would help, but 30 minutes later it was only up to 126. 

Chili seems to be universally loved in my office, so I decided to make chili for Souper Friday.  I kind of made this up as I went along, and totally love how it turned out.

Beef and Bean Salsa Chili

• makes 10 generous cups
• 215 calories, 7.8 fat, 391 sodium, 22 carbs, 7 fiber and 14.4 protein

Ingredients

• 1 pound lean ground beef (mine was 93%)
• 1 red pepper
• 1 green pepper
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 2 carrots
• 2 stalks celery
• 2 cans seasoned black beans, divided**
• 1 can hominy
• 1 can fire roasted tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 1.5 cups salsa (I used my baja fresh salsa)
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• salt and pepper to taste

In a large stock pot, cook beef until cooked through.  Drain any fat.  Add in the garlic and cook for 2 minutes.  In a food processor, put 1 can of black beans, the peppers, carrots and celery and puree until smooth.  Add to beef and garlic.  Reduce heat to low, and add the hominy, tomatoes, chili powder, cumin, salsa and broth.    Simmer for 30 minutes.  Salt and pepper to taste, and make any adjustments to the spice level.

** I use seasoned black beans, so I don’t rinse them.

Garnished with some chopped cilantro and Mexican shredded cheese and a squeeze of lime over the top.  This one got rave reviews.  Now I have jalapeno in my salsa, so this had a nice heat level to it, so depending on what kind of salsa you use, you may need to add some chipotle pepper or jalapeno to yours to kick it up.

I know I put this on facebook, but I bought a 32 ounce bottle of Louisiana hot sauce for .90 cents!  I know I have too much hot sauce to use up already, but I couldn’t pass that up!

Since I didn’t work out, I went thrifting!  There is a thrift store about 10 minutes from my office.  I bought a couple rocks glasses, and as much as I wanted to buy this, passed up this snowman glass.  (I might go back next week and get it though!)

And for a Friday, work actually went by pretty fast.  I called Tony on the way home and said “did we decide what to have for dinner?”  And he said “I thought when I mentioned the “P” word last night that it was already set in stone.”   You know I wasn’t going to let Friday go by and not have Party Pizza Friday! 

He called it in, and I picked it up on my way home.

Meatza Pizza with hot giardiniera to top it.  I ended up eating 2 more squares after this plate. 

Stats for the Day:

• no workout
• 1564 calories, 74 fat, 161 carbs, 29 fiber, 73 protein
• 41% of calories from carbs, 43 fat and 16 protein

I have a jar by our desk at home that I put in all my “food” money, meaning the money my bosses, my SIL and my Souper Friday pay me.  I counted it up yesterday and I have $164 dollars!  So I am buying a new lens for my camera, so a trip to Best Buy is in our plans today.

And tomorrow, my Mom is singing in a concert at Pilgrim Church in Oak Park – SING TO LIVE! 

Founded in January 2005, Sing to Live® Community Chorus was created to provide a musical outlet and supportive community that celebrates hope and survival for singers whose lives have been touched by breast cancer. In addition, we provide the gift of music to the breast cancer community by, in part, offering complimentary concert tickets to breast cancer survivors. We welcome singers, both men and women, who have a strong passion for our mission, a personal connection to breast cancer, and who love to sing. Breast cancer survivors and singers who have immediate family members affected by breast cancer are given priority to open choral positions.

After the concert we’ll be going out to eat at a place called Burger Boss, that’s supposed to have amazing burgers and sweet potato fries. 

Without the icky onions, I am all over this burger!
South of the Border

All-Natural Pepper Jack, Spicy Chipotle, Jalapeños, Lettuce, Tomato, Raw Onions, Brioche

What’s going on this weekend in your neck of the woods?  You’ll want to come back Monday for . . .

Tony’s VLOG debut with his chicken fried rice! 

It’s up on youtube if you can find it! Have a great weekend!