Welcome February! January was certainly a learning curve for me in terms of the business and getting used to all that. I have to share a funny (sort of) story about my old job. A week or so ago, I got a call from one of the account managers. I guess he missed the memo that I was gone.
Them: “Hi Lori, are you typing today?” That was always the opening to having a specific job for me.
Me: “I haven’t worked there since the end of last year.”
Them: “Really? Well, do you want to type anyway?”
For real. LOL. Uhm… No, I do not want to type for you.
My computer actually seems to be getting better. It’s almost like it had a stroke and is slowly recovering. Not to make light of strokes, but it is coming back online bit by bit. So, I’m not going to get a new one for now. It still has some problems, but I can work with it and save money in the budget for a future computer.
Anyway, here are a couple of food finds. As you probably know, John is a vegetarian. I don’t like to eat a ton of soy products and I don’t really want John eating a ton of them, but finding non-soy meat analogs for protein can be difficult. We tried some Quorn:
It’s made from a mycoprotein, which I don’t want to think about too hard. This version is the crumbles. I used it in the crockpot to make my favorite chili recipe:
Ingredients:
- 1 lb lean ground meat of choice, browned in a pan – or in our case the veggie crumbles
- 1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
- 1 clove of garlic, finely minced
- 1 (15) oz can petite diced tomatoes (undrained)
- 1 (2 oz) can of diced green chilies (or just buy a can of rotel for these 2 ingredients)
- 1 (15 oz) can of plain tomato sauce
- 1-1/2 Tbsp chili powder
- 1/2 tbsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tbsp paprika
- 2 tsp cocoa powder
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 (15 oz) can beans drained and rinsed – I like the little white beans, personally
Put all of this in the crockpot and cook on low for 4-1/2 to 5 hours and you get a very nice, flavorful chili:
Which brings me to the other item, the itty bitty pretzels!
Long-time readers know that I like big serving sizes and getting the most surface area for the calorie buck. Over the summer, we like to do our Friday night beer walk. The craft brewer we go to has BYO snacks and I love pretzels with my beer. We found this one day and I was a happy camper. There is a bit over 50 little pretzels in a serving!
That’s Snyder’s of Hanover if you can’t get the whole brand name there.
Lastly, not a food find, but here is something that people might want to be using. The environment shouldn’t be a political issue. Period. We all should be doing our part and it’s going to continue to need a lot of help. I’ve been doing the #FollowtheFrog campaign with the Rainforest Alliance. Every few days they send you tips on what you can do to be more eco-friendly. One of the tips was to use Ecosia. Ecosia is a browser extension that you can install as a search engine. They use 80% of the ad revenue generated to plant trees. You can bookmark the search engine or install the extension (which you don’t have to use, you can always switch back to Google). Every little bit counts.
I LOVE THAT SERVING SIZE!!!!!!!! I am all about that too!
As for the work idiots – OMG!!!!!
Thank you for the environment info – very cool!!!!!!
The chili looks so good but I would still use meat. I do try to eat at least vegetarian every 2 weeks. In the other week I try to make something with fish. Especially R. doesn’t want to eat so much meat anymore. But he’s a picky eater who doesn’t like all veggies so it’s sometimes difficult.
I eat my fair share of unhealthy foods, but I am not a fan of substitutes – just curious, because I don’t know much about vegetarianism, isn’t there enough protein in the beans that you could just make a meatless chili altogether? Throwing back to my elementary school days, didn’t rice + beans = protein? Yes I could google this, (or use Ecosia!) but why not ask here… 🙂
Beans have protein, but not as much as we (I) want in a meal. Plus, I like a meaty texture and this is a compromise.
Though I do realize people have valid reasons why they don’t eat meat, my big issue with vegetarianism/veganism is all the substitutions, which I’m not so sure are better. So I get not wanting to think about that protein too much lol!
Would you like my recipe for meatless chili that uses bulgur wheat? It gives it that sort of meaty texture and honestly, it’s so good I make it at least once a winter.
And one of the reasons I like Goldfish crackers is that you get 32 of them in a serving!
I agree on the subs. I don’t care for them so much, but when I want to make some of my old recipes, we have to in order for it to come out similar. Either that or I will have a ton to eat making it with meat LOL.
Well, the recipe sounds delicious, with real meat! I have been having the little dark chocolate covered pretzels as a snack some evenings. Very delicious. But you only get five of those, not fifty 🙂
That phone call is crazy. It must feel really good to be away from there.
LOVE the Rainforest Alliance! Every little bit does indeed help!!!! Have a good weekend Lori.
My computer and yours are not syncing very well. Half the time I’ll check your blog, and the latest entry has disappeared, and only the previous one is visible. And I left a comment on this entry, and its not here. Anyway, I just said your recipe sounded good, with the real beef 🙂 Oh, and I said I’ve been enjoying the flattened dark chocolate covered pretzels for snacks occasionally. But you only get 5 of them in one serving.
My sisters son is vegetarian, and the “non-meat” products are so expensive, and you are right, most are soy based. Was that stuff expensive? Not sure if she’s tried that product before – might work great on their taco night for Mark.
I need to find those pretzels!!! Happy Sunday!
I can’t remember the cost of those crumbles, but I think they were maybe a little bit more expensive than the morningstar brand.