As promised...

Tosca Reno's White Chicken Chili
Serves 8-10
From The Eat Clean Diet Cookbook

3 medium Poblano chiles, stemmed, seeded, and chopped
2 medium Jalepeno chili peppers, seeded and deveined, chopped
2 Vidalia onions, peeled and chopped
2 ribs celery, trimmed and chopped
1 large leek, white only, well rinsed and chopped
6 cloves garlic, passed through a garlic press
2 Tbsp ground cumin
2 Tbsp dried oregano
2 Tbsp dried basil
1 tsp fresh rosemary
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 cups water or low sodium chicken stock
2 x 15 oz cans of navy, cannellini, or other small white bean or combination, drained and rinsed
3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed (I used about 2 and 1/4 and it was PLENTY)
Juice from 2 fresh limes
Juice from 2 fresh lemons
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
4 green onions, trimmed and chopped for garnish

Preparation:

1. In a large saucepan or dutch oven, place all chiles, onions, celery, leeks, garlic, cumin, oregano, basil, rosemary, olive oil,  sea salt, and black pepper. Cook over medium heat until onions become translucent--about ten minutes.
2. Add 8 cups cooking liquid, beans, and cubed chicken and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and let mixture simmer for 40 minutes. Add lime and lemon juices, cilantro, and green onions. Remove from heat and serve immediately.

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!! Loooove it.

Oh wagon, where art thou?

I fell off a little today. Dinner was Cici's. I wasn't too bad. I had like the equivalent of 2 normal slices of pizza, maybe 2.5, a salad, one cinnamon roll, and one brownie. Haha. My stomach is NOT happy though, I will tell you that much. Oh HFNHC, you are so good at making me feel so guilty. :-)

DH and I may go to Williamsburg for some Christmas shopping. I'm hoping to find an ornament for my Nestie Exchange, but I'm having trouble finding the right thing for her. :-/

11 more days till the family trip to Disney... Can't wait! We got our trading pins in the mail yesterday and we are going to have a BLAST!!! It'll be great to see everyone again, especially my precious niece. :-)

All for now. Though, I promise to post the new recipe (and pics) by the end of tomorrow!!!

YUMMY Chili

So it's been raining for the past two days, which means no running, but it does mean a healthy appetite for some yummy soup. I'll post the recipe and pictures tomorrow, but let's just say that Tosca Reno's White Chicken Chili is AMAZING. I am soooo full!

Today was not a good HFNHC day at all. I didn't drink any water until at least 8 PM, I ate TWO meals, but three if you count the endless number of pepparkakor that DH and I consumed during our epic Thursday night TV viewing. At least I did exercise! I have a feeling I'll be sore tomorrow, which is no bueno because I HAVE to run my 2.5 miles for C25k W7D2!! Woot!

I also had the strangest dream about aliens coming to the planet disguised as humans. The government handed out sheets of paper for citizens to write down the names of suspected aliens. Apparently they wanted to kidnap us. Luckily, DH and I found a society of young people (high school aged kids) successfully hiding and formulating a plan to rise up against the aliens. This society also had a large selection of wonderful literature such as The Great Gatsby and other great titles as if they were educating themselves. If only the latter part were a reality and teenagers wanted to read and learn about great literature. Ooookay... Goodnight!

Slacker

I am one. OK. Now that we've established that, we can move on.

Yesterday was a good day. I ran W7(holy halibut! W7 already?) D1 of c25k (25 minutes of running, 2.42 miles; getting closer to 6 min mile pace!), we had an old college friend over for dinner and a movie since he was in town on business, and I made a pretty spectacular dinner.

CLEAN Spaghetti Carbonara

Story: My mom was really sick (before I was born) and my dad had to do a lot of cooking, so his boss gave him a recipe for a very simple pasta dish that has stayed with the family for many years now.

1 lb Whole Wheat Pasta
6 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil (divided 4, and 2)
4 tsp salt
3 eggs (or whites)
1 package of Turkey Kielbasa Sausage plus any seasonings you'd like to add (I use black pepper and oregano)
1/2 cup-1 cup parmesan cheese

Bring 4 tbsp EVOO and salt to boil. While water gets to boil, cut sausage into small, bite-sized chunks.
Add pasta to boiling water and cook to desired softness. While the pasta cooks, brown the sausage with seasonings (I use EVOO to do this, but cooking spray works).
Drain, place back in pot, and add the eggs, tossing with HOT pasta to cook the eggs. Add 2 tbsp EVOO, sausage, and Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to taste if desired.

As of week 1 of the HFNHC, I am winning. That's because I'm awesome. :-)

I contacted HR of the county schools for the county I live in and she said that my name should come up for orientation for subbing in the next few weeks. That'd be wonderful, really wonderful.

Sunday!

Well, it's been a full, but good day.

1. I finished W6D3 of C25k. 2.35 miles in 25 minutes.
2. We had some friends over for lunch today, which was reallly fun. I made Ina's Pork Loin again, which I thought was delicious. :-)
3. I left my purse in DH's car, and he left for church before I did, so he had to come all the way home to bring me my keys. Oops.

Yesterday, I finished the first week of the HFNHC, gaining about 1000 points in the week. That felt good and I feel like I could be up in the lead, but who knows. :-) I'm trying to do a lot of the 1x/challenge tasks right away to boost the score and make sure I get those things done. :-)

Baked Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta and Sweet Potato Oven Fries

Two new recipes today....

Baked Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta
Ellie Krieger's The Food You Crave

1 tbsp olive oil
1 med. onion, diced (1.5 cups)
2 cloves garlic, minced (about 2 tsp)
Two 14.5 oz cans no-salt-added diced tomatoes, with their juices
1/4 cup finely minced fresh flat-leaf parsley (I used a lot less dried herbs)
1 tbsp finely minced fresh dill (I used rosemary)
1 1/4 lbs  medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
Dash of salt
Dash of black pepper
2/3 cup crumbled feta cheese (about 3 oz)

Preheat the oven to 425*. Heat the oil in an ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cool stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer for about 5 minutes, until the tomato juices thicken.

Remove from the heat. Stir in the parsley, dill, and shrimp and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the feta over the top. Bake until the shrimp are cooked through and the cheese melts, about 12 minutes.

Review: Okay, I don't know if I didn't simmer the tomatoes long enough or if the frozen shrimp made it extremely watery, but it was very watery. Tasty, but watery. DH really liked it and thought it was tasty. This coming from a man who doesn't care for tomatoes!

For a Thursday night T.V. watching snack, we had...

Sweet Potato Oven Fries
Tosca Reno's The Eat Clean Cookbook

Eat Clean Cooking Spray
Fresh Rosemary to cover a baking sheet (I used dried)
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp ground pepper
2 medium sweet potatoes (about a lb) scrubbed and blotted dry

Preheat oven to 400* F

Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Spread rosemary on sheet in layer, making sure the surface is covered. Mix all other ingredients, except potatoes, in a small bowl. (Instead of doing this, I just sprinkled each over the potatoes and used cinnamon instead of the paprika to complement the sweetness of the potatoes).

Square off potatoes and slice into "steak fries." Lay the strips on the rosemary in single layer. Sprinkle with mixture and spray generously with cooking spray. Bake 20 minutes.

Spray again and return to oven for 25 minutes or until fries are golden and puffed.

Review: These were really squishy after even the second 25 minutes, and I ended up leaving them in for another 10 minutes at least. I did NOT care for these at all, but I think that's because I just do not like sweet potatoes. I was very excited about trying a new veggie, but I still feel yucky after trying to eat them... On a lighter note, DH LOVED them and ate them ALL.

HFNHC is going well and I love doing it. :-) Part of doing the Sweet Potato Fries was for a part of the challenge. :-) Try a new vegetable and post a review. Since making sure I drink all the water, I am visiting the potty quite a bit these days! Haha.

Notice Increased Activity?

That's probably because I get 5 points every day that I blog about the HFNHC and I am in it to win it, baby!

Today was a full and crazy day. I got out more Christmas stuff and ended up wrapping all the presents. Our tree looks great now. I guess I should post a photo of it sometime! I got the stockings on their holders (which look AWESOME) and made a big mess. After spending all day watching Bones and wrapping gifts, I went to church (where I actually made GOOD choices and stuck to Clean Eating as much as possible at dinner). Working with the Upper School youth is chaotic but fun. Tonight, we made signs for their tailgate at the Godwin/Deep Run game. Neither school have I ever been to, but I ended up making the BIG sign for Godwin, but it's okay because my good friend from college did go there, so I made it for him. :-)

After church, DH and I hit up the gym for a little C25k action. W6D1: OVER. It's getting tougher, and it's a WHOLE different world when you're on a treadmill. I really really really prefer the open road. It's easier for me to focus on other things because there are a million more distractions (such as psycho dog that runs at us every time we pass his house. Yes he does have an electric fence). The treadmill feels like death and my feet hit it so heavily and I hate it. Haha. I guess I've complained enough.

I really like doing this challenge because it makes me really think about the choices that I make throughout the day and I really think it will help me develop better habits in life, though I haven't made it without leftover Halloween candy since the 1st day. Haha.

Charlottesville

I always forget how much I love Charlottesville. It's such a great town full of so many fun things. I believe it will always be my home and I doubt if I'll ever forget how to get around the city unless there are drastic changes.

Today is day 3 of the HFNHC (Health and Fitness Nestie Holiday Challenge). Because I went to Cville and ate at a FABULOUS restaurant called Orzo with my mother, I did not adhere to a few of the smaller point winners. Oh well, it was SO worth it. I think I still managed to rack up almost 100 points today. I really am having fun doing this so far. I like to see how much I can fit into one day because I REALLY want to WIN!!! The veggies and fruit still seem to be a struggle for me, but after these two months, I bet I'll get REALLY good at fitting those in! I am concerned about this weekend because we are going to the IL's and my MIL is a good cook, but of course all those good meals mean not many points in the challenge! Haha. I'll figure something out I'm sure. Well, it's off to bed. We got fewer than 5 hours of sleep last night because we stayed up late talking and then were up at 6 to vote in the election (just doing our civic duty). Go Bob McDonnell!

Super Quick Post

I'm supposed to reflect every day as part of the HFNHC, so here's lookin' at Monday, Kid.

C25k W5D3 was CRAZY. 20 MINUTES OF STRAIGHT RUNNING. WHOA. 1.9 miles... Not bad. Darn hills... DH was SO encouraging. It really helped. :-)

Did not avoid sugar today... it was calling to me. Darn Halloween candy. I'm finding it very difficult to get so many fruits and veggies in though... A lot of my apples and other "servings" are really like 2 servings, which helps, but oy, it's a lot.

We did a lot of Christmas shopping today! Yay! More tomorrow. ;-)

Health and Fitness Nestie Holiday Challenge

So... I'm doing a health and fitness challenge on The Nest (aka my online home), and you lovely people will get to read about it! Since it's day 1, there's not a lot to report, but for Daily Tasks, I am well on my way to completing 1. Drinking enough water 2. Eating 5 servings of fruits and vegetables 3. Wearing sunscreen (EASY! It's in my makeup!!) 4. Avoiding sugars 5. Eating whole grain breads and baked goods and numerous other things. Avoiding the sugar is SUPER hard right now because there is a BIG bowl of Reese's, Almond Joys, Hershey's, and Kit Kats in front of me that is left over from the ZERO trick-or-treaters we had last night. Uff da!

Lunch today knocked my socks off. I used some of the turkey to make some AMAZING sandwiches with swiss cheese, lettuce, and honey mustard on Arnold's WW Sandwich Thins and then we had salads and strawberries. I also tacked on a few almonds because they were sitting in a paper towel on my side table from yesterday. :-)

I'm excited about this challenge. It's just what I need right now. :-)

It's raining AGAIN, so C25k W5D3 will wait until tomorrow... Poo. Haha.