Pittsburgh Girlie

Part of wanting to be healthier has meant learning to cook and learning to cook healthier. I’m not convinced that I’ve reached the cooking healthier part, other than we’re eating out less and I’ve pretty much weaned him off of freezer to microwave food.

I love soup and this time of the year is just perfect for soups. I love my crockpot and my crockpot loves making soups. It’s really an ideal relationship. My latest soup was a very altered version of a taco soup.

A friend of mine was talking about making taco soup midday and I was so hungry I nearly ate my hand. She sent me to the blog post Original Taco Soup CrockPot Recipe at A Year of Slow Cooking. I’ve definitely made a few other things from this blog and I’ve never been let down.

At this point you are probably wondering how potato got into my title for taco soup. Initially I didn’t know if this was going to work or not, but I had a bunch of potatoes that I needed to use or they were going to start turning. I substituted finely cut potato for the canned corn. Because, well I don’t like canned corn and I figured one starch for another. Plus, grocery shopping for each recipe is a pain if I’m not doing strict meal planning things.

I wasn’t really sure if this soup was even going to be any good. But it was. It makes A LOT though. So there was a lot of good soup that we spread out across a few lunches and another dinner.

Here’s what I ended up using:

• 2 cans of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
• approx. 6 medium sized red potatoes, sliced thin (I added another can’s worth of water)
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can tomatoes and chilies
• 1 lb browned ground beef
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• 1 packet ranch dressing mix
• shredded cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips for serving

Here’s what I did:

• Brown meat and drain the fat
• Add meat and season packets to crockpot
• Add potatoes, add an extra can of water somewhere along the way
• Add drained, rinsed beans
• Add tomatoes and chilies
• Stir

Cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4-5.

There’s a toy I want, a Nike+ SportWatch. It’s pretty and fancy a nice and would definitely make tracking runs easier. I don’t need it. But boy do I want it. Not using my credit card was part of my resolutions and I don’t have much extra cash sitting around for stuff like this. I don’t run enough and I’m not committed enough to running, yet, to justify the expense.

So, I came up with a silly but genius way for me to earn this new toy. For each mile I run I put a dollar away. I told a friend (Coach K) about it, hoping she’d like my idea. She beyond liked my idea and said it was certain that after I had run the 200 miles to earn this I would either hate running or be hopelessly addicted. I was floored when she offered to match me dollar for dollar on each run I do with her that goes beyond my current max. Thanks Coach

I am psyched. Absolutely. Just now I’m trying to figure out a way to track this. Oh, and continue to be motivated to run in the cold windy ick that is a Pittsburgh winter.

The winter is hard for me, or the cold is, or the dark is. Whatever combination of these factors makes starting the day just incredibly difficult. This isn’t new but every time is sneaks up on me and it’s a surprise.

I know these complaints are any different than anyone else starting their days. I know I’m not special in this. I don’t even know why I’m writing this. Well, that’s a lie. I’m writing this because I haven’t written in a few days and I feel guilty.