But then again, I might not. Die, spammers. Die. In a fire. Gently.. and hopefully you’ll be sleeping or passed out from drinking too hard that night, but still. Die.

So, I finally made the chili last night in the small crock pot, and here’s the recipe:

2 cans of diced tomatoes with green chilis
2 cans of tomato sauce
2 cans of light red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 lb 80/20 hamburger
1 lb of italian sausage
2 heaping tblspns diced garlic
1 packet of your favorite chili spice

Brown the meats and toss in a crock pot. Toss everything else in. Turn on crock pot. Stir. Wait an hour or two. Eat.

So after dinner, I figured I’d put up the rest of the chili, minus two bowls that I was going to take into work today, one for my lunch and one for Vicki — this is when I notice that I really didn’t pay close attention to the -size- of the bowls that I bought at the Dollar store.  They are 1.2 cups each.  They are very small.  But you know what.. maybe this is just how I get to handle tackling portion control in my life.. so, life? I ACCEPT YOUR CHALLENGE!

I’ve already had my chili for lunch, and it was delicious. And while I’m sure I could have eaten a lot more if it was in front of me, I’m satisfied with what I had. I’m also having an orange, which is delicious as well.

So here I am.. day 16. Pants are looser. Makes my mornings very happy.

Subway is healthy. And you have to stand there and watch them make your food.. you’re consciously aware of what’s being put on to your sandwich, so is it really fast food?

Yes.

No one will know if you just pop over and get something to eat at (insert place I’m not supposed to be going to of your choice).  I mean, it’s just myself I’m letting down, right?

Yes, it is. Shut up and stop bothering me!

Stupid brain.  Anyway, last night’d dinner was a small can of plain tomato sauce which I Italian’d up, with 1/2 a can of lite cream of mushroom and roasted garlic soup.  I mixed that over pasta and frozen peas, and it was delish.  The sauce wasn’t extra creamy, but had an ‘umph’ that my spaghetti sauce doesn’t normally have — which was pretty cool!

Tonight I’m making chili with beef and sausage.  Just need to pick up some kidney beans.  The bonus of that is that I’ll freeze most of it and be able to drag a bowl out when I need a chili fix.  I want to do the same thing with a nice stew.  Should be able to this week.. but we’ll see. Woot!

Cooking for people is awesome. Shopping for that is also ok.  I don’t really like shopping in general, but that part is ok.  But when it’s just me? Can’t I just stock my fridge up with as much deli meats and cheeses as it will comfortably hold and live off of sandwiches until the next time I have to cook for someone?

Apparently, while that’s a very appetizing idea — especially since I found a new bread that I’m currently in love with: Dark German Whole Grain Bread.  It’s bread from the Gods, and now the #1 reason why I will /never/ accede to putting myself on a low-carb diet.  No bread?  FASCIST!  Anyway, so back to what I was saying; while that’s a very appetizing idea to live off of sandwiches forever, it’s not exactly the best thing in the world for you nutritionally. Probably. If there are any nutritionists reading this and want to disagree? PLEASE. HELP A LADY OUT.

And so it’s been fast food or dining out for me. And that’s all well and good money-wise. Coupons and dollar menus make it a very simple decision when one is just thinking purely about the cost of eating in dollars.  But now I’m looking at the cost of what I’m eating in ass-size.  In how out of breath I am when walking from my car to my desk in the morning, and vice versa.  It’s just effing ridiculous — so, I’m using Lent as an excuse to test my willpower. Can I go for 40 days straight without going the easy route of drive thru’s and restaurants?

Today is day 7 of my health experiment.  I almost cheated yesterday when I saw a Captain D’s coming up and I actually had the thought, “Hey.. they have a salmon sandwich. That’s healthy, right?”  That’s not the POINT, Rachel. The point is to get off of the FF tit.  Cut the apron strings.  And stop rationalizing. No, it’s not -that- healthy after they slather it with mayo and put cheese on it.   So I didn’t stop, I went home, had an apple, and opened up a can of salmon and made a light mayo sandwich with salmon salad.  And it was good. Maybe I -can- live off of sandwiches. Please?  I’ll put veggies in and around them, even!

They will be collecting school supplies for Knox County Teacher Supply Depot in lieu of fines May 3-10, 2009 at all library locations.

One approved school item will wipe out $10.00 worth of fines with a maximum of $50.00 worth of fines removed. Fees for lost or damaged materials or Unique Management referrals do not apply. Approved items include packs of construction paper, a bottle or stick of glue, scotch tape, a box of crayons, index cards, packs of ink pens, packs of notebook paper and post-it notes. All items must be new and in the original packaging. No used items will be accepted.
For more information, call 215-8750.

Eric? Calling Eric Trisler? I believe it was you, was it not, that had some leftover fines?

We’d also had a team meeting today, and Vicky brought in some Oreos as a snack for everyone.  This is me laying the groundwork, just in case you hadn’t noticed, for my awesome lunch-dessert.  Anyway — I popped the lasagna in the microwave to heat it up, and once that was done, I walked back to my desk.  Between the microwave and my desk was the tray of Oreos, so I took a few (ok, I took four.) and popped them on top of the plastic lid of my still-very-hot lasagna before going the rest of the way to my desk.

Taking the lid with the cookies off the bowl, I set it aside and didn’t think about it for the next 30 minutes of enjoying my fabulous lasagna.  But when I did pick up the first cookie and twist-and-pull as one is supposed to do with Oreos? The frosting/white stuff in the middle had gotten very warm and melty — and had stayed that way. Oh. My. Goodness. Not only did it make the Oreo experience even more enjoyable and fulfilling — I only had two cookies before my sweet-craving was satisfied. Which is a win, in my book.

In other news, I’ve been catching this new show on Lifetime that my mom pointed out to me called “Cook Yourself Thin”, and it’s GREAT. The ideas they have are completely doable, and though just like a lot of other diet cooking shows, they say that they want to give you the foods you like without the guilt of fat and calories — I actually believe it’s possible with some of their recipes.  I especially liked the spinach and mushroom veggie lasagna — mostly because I know my three cheese lasagna was of the “no no” variety.  The recipes are easy, and they LOOK delicious.  I’ll be keeping an eye out for the book, too.

http://www.mylifetime.com/on-tv/shows/cook-yourself-thin/recipes

That seems to be par for the course lately — the week rushes by, I wonder what happened to my days, then Friday comes with the delicious weekend taunting me on the other side of my work-fence.  Then the weekend is over in a blip, and it’s Monday again. Wash, rinse, repeat.

This weekend was pretty freakin’ awesome, though.  I made a ginourmous pan of lasagna and Eric and Venture came over to partake of it.  Sara from work stopped by, too, but there was no partaking for her.  Very sad, really.. but she had already eaten with her mother, so I suppose I can forgive her.   The boys and I drank a few Yuenglings and a few shots of black cherry vodka, and got down to some serious chin-wagging. Largely about Pink Floyd and the drama behind the creation of “The Wall.”  Good times. (and I don’t even mean that sarcastically! It was good times. Hell, it was GREAT times!)

I was supposed to go out to Pelissippi to meet up with Venture the next day to see Ed Buckner give a talk sponsored by the Rationalists of East TN entitled, “This Is a Free Country, Not a Christian Nation: In Freedom We Trust.”  However, I missed it due to sleeping too much.  Oddly enough, according to Venture, he missed it too for the same reason, even though he was actually in attendance.  Apparently he got there early, took a disco nap, and no one wanted to be rude and wake him up once the talk started. Hehe. Ah well.

So, instead of that, I ended up heading out to lunch with Sara and her roommate Teak to Makino’s for a sushi buffet.  Oh my gravy, but I love Makinos.  They had a roll — it was shredded crab (the real stuff) and some other nummy thing, rolled in rice.  And then tempura battered and deep-fried.  Topped with cheddar cheese.  Dude. This is not sushi, this is comfort food!  But you know what? It was DAMNED good.

Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo, and I’m bringing in bean salsa to work — Robert better be bringing in the scoops.  And for anyone not in the know? Bean salsa is THE FREAKIN’ BOMB-DIGGETY. To prove it, here’s the recipe:

Bean Salsa

1 can pinto beans
1 can black beans
1 can black eyed peas
1 can shoe-peg corn
1 can Rotel tomatoes with chilis
1 bunch of green onions, chopped
1 bottle of Zesty Italian Dressing
*optional: cilantro
Put everything in a bowl. Stick in fridge overnight. Eat next day with scoops tortilla chips.

Easy, right?  And I’m typing that from memory, so.. Mom — was that everything?

Mercy Thompson is a ‘walker’, not to be confused with a skin-walker, who finds herself caught up in the troubles and politics of the Fae, the Werewolves and the Vampires.  She’s a poor little Coyote who just can’t catch a break sometimes.  She’s an appealing character who doesn’t ‘Mary Sue’ her way through her various trials and tribulations, and makes some rather tough decisions without being insipidly obtuse, or spiteful.

The first book, Moon Called, introduces Mercedes (Mercy) Thomspon as a VW mechanic in Kennewick, Washington.  Having been fostered as a young child with a werewolf pack, she understands the requirements and duties of ‘pack life’, but has set herself outside of that sphere, choosing instead to live her life on her own terms, and by her own set of rules.  With a degree in history, she credits Zee, the fae who sold his garage to her, for providing employment after college that didn’t include the phrase “would you like fries with that?”

All in all, a good read — and a quick one.  Easy brain candy, without a lot of guilt (there’s plenty of romantic tension, though!).

Blind Date

“Always wear clean, normal underwear,” my mother says. And yet
Before I leave my home, the last thing on my mind is
‘check your panties’. No–I’m channeling
Darcy, as my mind is definitely more agreeably
engaged.  And that’s probably why I can’t
find my keys. Dammit, damn it all to–
good grief, there they are. Alright..keys, directions to the
hotel, obligatory gift for the couple who are the
idealized version of happiness that everyone else will
judge their own relationship by, and find lacking. I wonder if I’ll get to
keep the centerpiece, or if I’ll have to
look around it just to
make conversation with my devastatingly single
new date,
oh so helpfully acquired in a fit of
pique — not my fit, my boss’s fit — at my seemingly
quaint little notion that it would be perfectly acceptable for me to
run along to a wedding without a date, to go
stag as it were, and that’s just not going
to happen at her pretty princess’s nuptials. You have to
understand, the date she picked for me was delicious,
very goal-oriented and not
without a sense of humor. I know this because as I tripped on the raised
‘XXVIII’ inlay on the hotel floor, he helped me to my feet and said with a smile,
“You’re wearing
zebra satin underwear.”

Many thanks to Writer’s Digest’s Writing Prompts for the exercise.