I couldn’t even turn the computer on this morning.  The storms rolled in around 8:00 a.m., and when it didn’t look like it was going to let up, Tony and I decided to go out to breakfast and run some errands.  We may get some more storms this afternoon so I have to be quick!

I did not do Jilian’s Shred yesterday as planned – I was on a cleaning mission!  It’s the domino effect, I started back by the computer and worked my way to the kitchen, bathroom and living room, in between doing loads of laundry – I probably cleaned for three hours!

I definitely worked up an appetite:

The Jack Daniels Burger at Friday's

I ate 3/4 of it, without the sauce, and a few fries.  After lunch we went to the grocery store!  I was so happy – I had an awesome shop – we spent $87, and had $17 dollars in coupons!

Some of the items on the menu this week:

I had steak and shrimp cocktail on the menu for dinner last night, but since we ate lunch so late and it was on the big side, so dinner ended up being shrimp cocktail, cheese and crackers, some deli ham and a sliced apple – love plates like that!  The recipe is no fail – you can find it here.

the ice water bath is key - stops the cooking immediately

My plate:

I had a hard time with this weeks BSI ingredient – bulgar wheat.  Turns out I’ve never seen it, or tasted it!  I thought it was a grain, so I was looking in the rice aisle – I couldn’t find it anywhere!  Then asked and it was in the flour section.

I decided to make a vegetarian chili, using bulgar wheat in place of ground beef.  I am actually really happy with this recipe!

Vegetarian Chili (printer friendly version here)

Makes 10 servings (1 cup = 325 calories, 1.7 fat, 61 carbs, 15 fiber and 19.5 protein)

Ingredients

1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
3 cloves garlic
2 cups tomato sauce
1 cup tomato, diced
2 cups red kidney beans
2 cups black beans
1/2 cup bulgur wheat
1 cup water
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin, ground
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup corn

Directions

  1. Put chopped peppers, garlic and tomato in a food processor and puree.
  2. Add pureed mixture to Dutch oven and cook for 5 minutes.
  3. Add all remaining ingredients, except for corn, and simmer for up to one hour, or until nice and thick and the bulgur is cooked through.
  4. Add corn and cook 5 more minutes. Serve with cheddar cheese and sour cream.
not a fan of chunky chili's so I pureed the canned tomatoes and veggies
these tomatoes give a nice heat to the chili - it was mild for me, but Tony liked it!
I had no idea how long it needed to cook - the package said 1 cup of bulgur to 1 cup boiling water, and let sit for an hour, so I simmered the chili for one hour

Of course, I added fresh sliced jalapenos to mine!  Thanks for hosting this week Healthy Exposures!

I am off to update the 101 Days of Summer Challenge!  I can’t believe its the end of week four already!  I hope to update it before more storms come in – so it might be updated in pieces.

Enjoy your Sunday!