Veggie Chili with Soy Chorizo

I changed my layout – what do you think?  Foodbuzz got bought out, so I got an email from the new advertisers giving me the codes to add it to the side of my blog.  Only one problem – I use wordpress.com, not wordpress.org and wordpress.com doesn’t allow me to add plugins.   Oh well!

I love sleeping in on Saturday mornings!  Our bedroom has black curtains, so it could be blazing sunny outside and we would have no idea.  We don’t have any street lights in our neighborhood, so at night, you literally can barely see your hand in front of your face – we love it!

So I woke up at 9:00 today!  Helen, I am sure you haven’t slept in that late in years!

Yesterdays breakfast – I am going to call a creamed spinach egg McMuffin.  I sauteed a cup of baby spinach in a tablespoon of fat free half and half, then added an egg and scrambled it – the spinach/egg mixture was so light and fluffy – I had 2 pieces of bacon and 1/2 an ounce of cheese.  Sadly, I forgot my fruit on the counter at home.  Breakfast comes in at 311 calories, 14 fat, 27 carbs, 2.3 fiber and 16 protein.

I have to say, the more I run, the better my legs feel.  I am not kidding when after running three 5ks in a row a couple weeks ago, I was like an old woman getting out of bed in the morning.  But now?  I don’t have any problems in my legs.  I went into my run feeling really good.

Only one tiny problem.  My co-worker had an app for her phone to remind her to drink water.  I thought “I already drink enough water, I don’t need that!”  But I decided to download it anyway. It’s called Water Your Body.

Based on my weight, the minimum I should be drinking is 86 ounces of water a day.  Yesterday, I am driving to work and I hear this sound of water being poured into a glass.  When I got to a stop light, a little message popped up and said “you haven’t had any water yet today!”

And when I didn’t add a glass of water to my tally, it would remind me again throughout the day.  So I definitely have gotten my water in the last couple of days.

I started my run and you guessed it, I couldn’t finish it because I had to pee – I was so close too! Look at my time at 2.75 miles in!!!

When I got back from my bathroom break I finished the last part of the 5k:

Combined that would have given me a time of 35:58 for my 5k, only 58 seconds off my goal of 35 minutes, but I can’t count it – but I am so close!

It was Souper Friday at my office again yesterday – I think everyone looks forward to it?  Yesterday I decided to make a vegetarian chili (well, almost, but I used chicken broth).  The base of my chili? Soy chorizo!  Thanks google images:

My store sells this for .99 cents.  I didn’t try it by itself, but it gave a nice smoky hint to the chili.  Of course, I didn’t tell anyone at work it was in there until after they said they liked it!   This made A LOT of soup – 12+ cups, but I put in the nutrition for 12 cups and each cup comes in at 143 calories, 2.5 fat, 24 carbs, 6.6 fiber and 7.3 protein – nice!

Veggie Chili with Soy Chorizo

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces soy chorizo
• 1 can diced tomatoes with chile
• 1 can black beans, drained
• 1 can kidney beans, drained
• 1 can chili beans, not drained
• 1 28 oz. can hominy, drained (about 3 cups)
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1 orange or yellow pepper, chopped
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 32 ounce can crushed tomatoes
• salt and pepper to taste

Heat a large stock pot over medium high heat.  Cook the soy chorizo about 5 minutes, breaking it up on the bottom of the pot.  Add in the tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes.  Add in chili powder, cumin and garlic and cook for 1 minute.

Add in the carrots and peppers and cook another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.   Now add in remaining ingredients, reduce heat to low, put a top on the pot and let it simmer for 30 minutes, or until the veggies are tender.

On the side I made homemade tortilla chips – those went so fast I didn’t get a picture, but thanks google images!  I had a cup and a half of chili, a little bit of cheese, cilantro and sour cream and 5 tortilla chips – lunch comes in at 405 calories, 17 fat, 48 carbs, 10 fiber and 16 protein.

I had five people respond that they were in for chili – but somehow I made $23 bucks!  Nice!  This had a nice balance of heat with the canned tomatoes with chiles, but I did offer Tabasco and Frank’s hot sauce on the side.  Tony asked if I had taken the Buffalo Tabasco to work and I said – no way – one needs to stay at home and I need to get a second one for the office.  Not gonna lie, the bottle is already 1/3 gone!

I had to work a little late last night – I texted Tony to let him know, and he asked “can I start dinner?”  That only means one thing – he doesn’t want pizza!  I bought some marinated pork but I didn’t realize when I bought it that the marinade had crushed red peppers in it – Tony can’t handle the spice.

He took matters into his own hands and dinner was ready when I got in the door – polish sausage with Zataran’s red beans and rice – it was delicious!  My bowl comes in at 441 calories, 18 fat, 47 carbs, 6 fiber and 18 protein.

I have a confession to make – I had two glasses of wine last night.  I know I said that I wasn’t going to drink for 21 days, but it was a long week, Friday night, and I gave in.  But I have a slight head ache this morning, so I am not going to make that a habit by any means.  I even included the calories in my daily intake!

Stats for Friday:

• 1352 calories, 51 fat, 129 carbs, 19 fiber and 51 protein
• 45 minutes total treadmill, included 5k
• completed 11 5ks in the last 13 days for 34.1 miles!
• average blood sugar 153
• 2 glasses of wine

This morning we are clean sweeping and deep cleaning our living room in preparation for Thanksgiving – moving the couches, etc.

Then this afternoon I am going to Hannah’s house!  They are having a pre-holiday open house and I can’t wait to see her face.  I am making her some granola with honey roasted cashews – she loves cashews just like my Dad did!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!