I have the day off from work today, because I am meeting up with one of my long time blog buddies, Ally from Sweet and Savory Eats!   She emailed me and said she’d be in the Chicago area and had some down time before her blog event with Aldi Foods, and wondered if I’d be able to meet up with her.  We’ve always talked about meeting half way (she lives in Iowa) but as a busy stay at home Mom of three kids, the stars never aligned so I knew I didn’t want to pass this opportunity up.  You can check out my guest post on her blog here.

So I got to sleep in this morning, which was nice!  I have about an hour before I need to leave so that gives me plenty of time to blog, eat breakfast, shower, etc.  Can’t wait to meet her in person!

Speaking of blogger meet ups – all my Wisconsin peeps!  I’ll be in Milwaukee the weekend of May 23 for my Spartan Race.  I’ll be available for dinner that Friday night, and then dinner Saturday night and then brunch on Sunday if anyone wants to meet up with me – just leave a comment or shoot me an email at mybizzykitchen@gmail.com.

Since I didn’t eat all of my breakfast the day before, it morphed into breakfast yesterday morning – this time I just decided to put my hash on an English muffin, top it with Cabot cheese and melted it in the toaster oven.  I got these strawberries from Sam’s Club and they are amazing – so fricken sweet.

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I had physical therapy at lunch.  I actually really liked it.  Um, turns out I don’t stretch enough!  My IT bands, my hamstrings AND my calf muscles are all way too tight.  The girl also did something with a rolling pin – not exactly sure what it was but she got up on the table and put all her weight into it and kneaded my thigh muscles with it on the front and back.  At first it tickled, but it felt really good afterwards.  She was on time and I was done in 40 minutes.  I’ll go back on Monday.

So here is my super easy quick chicken tortilla soup.  Jacob was working at Home Depot the night before last in the garden center and he was cold and was wondering if we were going to be having anything hot for dinner.  I quickly scanned in my head what I had on hand and said “how does chicken tortilla soup sound?!”  And he said “whoop!”  You can see what our weather has been like – winter just doesn’t want to let go.

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INGREDIENTS:

1 teaspoon olive oil
1 large clove garlic, grated
1 cup diced carrot
1 small zucchini, diced
1 10 oz. can of corn, drained
1 15-oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 15-oz. can hominy, drained and rinsed
1 28-oz. can tomato sauce
salt & pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon cumin
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 teaspoon oregano
4 cups chicken stock
2 chicken breasts, chopped
4 corn tortillas, chopped

DIRECTIONS:

In a skillet on the side, add 1/2 teaspoon of oil over medium high heat.  Put the chicken in that pan and sear on both sides, about 5-6 minutes.  Meanwhile, add the other 1/2 teaspoon oil to your stock pot.  Add the garlic, carrots, and zucchini and sauté for 2-3 minutes.  Add remaining ingredients and stir until combined, and add back in the chicken and simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes, to finish cooking the chicken.  The corn tortillas will dissolve in the broth and help thicken the sauce.  I love the addition of hominy in this soup.  It’s 325 calories a cup with the cheese and crushed tortillas chips I added on top and 29.5 grams of protein.   I used Cabot’s extra sharp cheddar on top – so good!

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Since I had hardly any steps before working out after work, I decided after strength to do a 5k.  Thankfully my blood sugar cooperated and I didn’t have to cut my workout short.

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It was just me and Hannah for dinner, so we used up some ground beef we had and you don’t have to twist our arms too hard to have tacos.  I had blue corn tortillas and I pan fried them in a bit of coconut oil to make them crunchy.  We had beef and baby spinach tacos with hot sauce Open-mouthed smile

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I managed to do okay on my steps too!

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My daughter-on-law Lizz texted me this picture yesterday.  She had come into town by herself to visit family while Joe was working and we met up for dinner.  Who would have known it would have been the last time Lizz say Tony in person.  This would have been taken I think around November 2013 – and a mere 13 months later, Tony would be gone.   I still can’t believe he is gone.

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Alright, let’s get a happy face on and get ready for meeting Ally for lunch.  Follow along on Instagram if you want!   My Bizzy Kitchen and Sweet Savory Eats’s is Ally’s Instagram.  Make it a great day!