The 'Now I Have Groceries' Post

Well, I am back after three days of no posts and am happy to report that I have now gotten groceries so the poor man beige meals are in the past, for now at least. The results of the poll are in and it seems many of you share my affinity for chips - 66% of voters chose chips as their go-to junk food, with 'Other' and 'Sweets' both at 16% of the vote. I had heard that there were some issues with my polls before, mainly with the fact that two people could not vote separately from the same computer. I've fixed that setting in my blog to allow for multiple votes so hopefully that issue is now remedied. This week's poll is dedicated to my dear friend cheese. Randy has commented that since dating me, his cheese consumption has gone up. What can I say - I love cheese. So this week, I implore you to choose your favorite type of cheese. I included as many kinds as I could think of on the spot and also included 'Other' again as I know there are definitely cheeses I did not mention. See, all this talk of cheese is making me want cheese now. If only it were are healthy as broccoli.

Thursday (grocery day), I didn't bother to pick up fast food as I knew we would probably be getting a decent load of groceries (side note: why are groceries so damned expensive?) so I figured I would once again scrape together whatever I could from what was left in the house. The result was two whole wheat sub rolls halved with mayonnaise, chicken fingers and tomatoes inside and some oven fries. I don't have a picture of this because there was some sort of glitch in the camera that deleted it but it's really nothing to see anyway. Just a rush meal using leftover back of the fridge/freezer foods we had.

Yesterday I made a Jillian Michaels recipe from her 'Master Your Metabolism' recipe. It was one of the vegetarian recipes for Black Bean Chili. This is what it looked like:

Jillian Michaels' Black Bean Chili

I was really pleased with this recipe considering it is so healthy. I just have a few comments about it. I really wish that I had read the entire recipe once over before deciding to make it.The total cooking time is almost three hours and since I didn't realize this and didn't start making it until 4:30, it was a bit of a late supper for us by the time it was finished. Also, it called for 1/2 cup bulgur. When I read that, all I thought was , "Wow, that's a disgusting sounding name", and had no idea what it actually was. So, of course, I googled it and found out it is a type of whole wheat. Luckily, I was able to find it at the Scoop and Save which is a specialty spice/grain store here in Grand Falls (very similar to Nan's Pantry in Gander) so I am sure it is not hard to find if you look for it. I also halved the recipe because it said it serves 8 (although Randy and I had two servings each because one serving is less than 300 calories). All in all, it was pretty tasty albeit time consuming. I also added quite a bit of hot sauce for flavor once it was finished cooking. So if you have the time and patience, it is well worth it to make this recipe - the bulgur make the chilli very filling and you don't really miss the meat that would normally be in a recipe like this. See the bottom if you are interested in the recipe (I have been told that's what is missing from my blog, and I agree, so I'll now try and include recipes whenever I can).

Today Randy took me out for supper and we decided to go to Clem's again (the nice restaurant in the Hotel Mount Peyton that we went to in a previous post of mine). Randy again ordered the T-bone steak and I ordered a Hot Turkey Sandwich with all white meat and mashed potatoes. I also had a glass of white wine while Randy had a beer again. This is what my meal looked like:

Clem's Hot Turkey Sandwich

This time we were not lucky enough to have the restaurant to ourselves - there were about three or four other couples there. We didn't get a roll after we ordered and at first we just assumed that they were out of rolls. However, three other couples sat down after us and all of them got a roll before their meal came. Seems like something ridiculous to get upset over, but we were looking forward to the roll! And it doesn't make any sense that we were the only couple at the restaurant not to get one. Randy commented to the waitress that she forgot it and she offered to give us one, but at that point, our meals were already there so there was no point in getting it.

The lack of roll combined with Randy's sub-par steak made our experience at the restaurant not as enjoyable as last time. We were also served a side of carrot and green beans with our meal that was doused in rosemary. Normally, I like rosemary but in small amounts. These veggies were dumped with it so it was overpowering. I tried to scrape off as much as I could but it definitely still lingered. My hot turkey sandwich and mashed potatoes were delicious but the steak not bein juicy, the roll not being there, and the veggies being rosemary death, made for a less than thrilling visit. We will definitely go back as it is a favorite restaurant of ours and we normally enjoy it but hopefully it will be better next time. This is what Randy's steak looked like:

Clem's T-Bone Steak

Tomorrow I am planning on making a Chicken and Rice Soup recipe that I have in one of my cookbooks. Shout-outs from the past three days go to: Watermelon Jolly Ranchers, Peanut butter and banana toast, and Epicure Onion Dip.

And now for the Sebastian picture of the day: This is Sebastian chilling out on his new cat tower. He's too fat to actually fit inside so he sleeps on top of it:

Jillian Michaels Black Bean Chili

Serves 8

2 cups black beans

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 medium onions, finely chopped

2 green peppers, finely chopped

6 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp cumin

1 tbsp oregano

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes with their juice

1 teaspoon grated orange zest

1 cup orange juice

1 tbsp honey

1/2 cup bulgur

1/2 teaspoon salt

Place the beans in a colander, rinse and drain. Place them in a Dutch oven or other large, heavy pot and add water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, partially covered, about 1 hour. Drain and set aside.

Heat the oil in the same large pot over medium high heat until hot but not smoking. Add the onions and green peppers and cook, stirring occasionally, until just starting to brown, 8-10 mins. Stir in the garlic until fragrant (about 30 secs). Stir in the chili powder, cumin, oregano, cinnamon, and black pepper (take off the burner to stir these in). Put back on the burner and stir in the tomatoes, orange zest and juice, honey, and 3 cups of water. Add the reserved beans. Return to a simmer and cook, partially covered, checking occasionally and adding more water as needed, until the beans are tender (about 1 and a half hours). Stir in the bulgur 15 mins before removing the chili from the heat. Taste and add up to 1/2 teaspoon salt for flavour.

Calories per serving:  297

Fat: 4.7 grams

Protein: 14.6 grams

Health benefits: Anti-cancer, heart healthy, boosts immunity, boosts metabolism, improves digestion