So long to November

November has been a bit of a blur. I’m sitting here trying to remember what I did this month…nothing too terribly exciting I guess!

But, it is time for my traditional recap. November’s workouts:

Nov 30: Treadmill walk/run[35 mins]
Nov 29: Workout A[30 mins]
Nov 26: Treadmill walk/run[35 mins]
Nov 25: Workout B[30 mins]
Nov 24: Treadmill walk/run[45m ins]
Nov 23: Workout A[30 mins]
Nov 21: Treadmill walk/run[35 mins]
Nov 19: Nov Workout B + Treadmill walk[50 mins]
Nov 18: Treadmill walk/run[45 mins]
Nov 17: Nov Workout A[30 mins]
Nov 16: Treadmill walk/run[45 mins]
Nov 15: Nov Workout B[25 mins]
Nov 14: Treadmill walk/jog[35 mins]
Nov 12: Nov Workout A[30 mins]
** Break for Flu **
Nov 05: Treadmill walk/jog[35 mins]
Nov 04: Nov Workout B + Treadmill walk/jog[45 mins]
Nov 03: Treadmill walk/jog[35 mins]
Nov 02: Nov Workout A[30 mins]

Sad looking little list this month, but I did lose a week to having the flu. Aside from that, I’m pretty happy with what I did.

My other goal this month was to start tracking calories again. It took me a while to settle in to that – I went back to a bunch of online programs that I’d used before and tried them out, plus a couple of new ones. They all seemed to have things that irritated me, and I had a hard time settling on one. However, I finally landed on caloriecount.com which is one that I had used briefly a few years back. So far it has not irritated me too much, and I do feel like it has helped me to gain a bit of control. I’m going to stick with it for the next few weeks, but I suspect toward the end of the month it will be abandoned; at least for a while.

A Look At Today

My freezer is even more well stocked this week, thanks to some cooking on Saturday – 8 more containers of lunch (in addition to the 3 that were left) plus a container of soup that will be supper tomorrow night.

After selecting my lunch, I sat down to breakfast with one of my boys to keep me company.

And, of course, a stop at Java Moose on the way to work.

Power Lunch

For lunch, I selected Sweet Potato & Black Bean Mole, which I made on Saturday in the Slow Cooker.

Take the Crock Pot Mole with Beef and Black Beans that I made earlier in the month; remove the beef and add: sweet potato, red bell pepper and spinach. I added in some Red Quinoa when I portioned it out.

It may not look like much, but there is lots of good stuff in there! I have to say, it turned out pretty well. I also ate an apple as an afternoon snack.

Winding Down

It was dark and rainy driving home, and it made me sleepy. But, after feeding the felines, I changed and hit the treadmill. I was fully prepared to do 45 minutes of hard intervals, but…For some reason today I just wasn’t feeling it. I ended up taking it down a couple of notches and only going for 35 minutes and that wore me right out. Not sure what’s up with that. But I did get in a workout.

And fortunately supper was easy – staged to pretend we’re all classy around here…

Leftover Curried Cauliflower Soup and Grilled Cheese…Which you know I took to the couch after I finished with photos.

I think I could eat grilled cheese every day.

And as if that wasn’t enough, Pound Cake…

Before I leave for today, a few more Fabulous Feline sightings…

Here is Frank checking out the newly polished kitchen table.

Wisely, he relocated to the comfy blanket on chair location.

Meanwhile, Zappa was guarding the cake.

I’m telling ya, that stuff is like gold. 

The Return of the Slow Cooker

This morning was fun because I had intended to get up a little earlier than usual so I’d have more time to get the Slow Cooker going and then I totally slept through the alarm. I’m a sound sleeper and I sleep with ear plugs because Husband snores like you would not believe. I have a clock radio and a Dawn Simulator alarm clock. Usually the light is what wakes me up enough to hear the alarm clock but I was somehow sleeping face down with the covers over my head.

I wasn’t late getting up for a normal day, I just didn’t have the extra time that I was hoping for. Oops.

So last Saturday, when I was wandering through the grocery store in a fog, with my list of things that I needed for the party that night and also trying to figure out what we’d eat this week, I picked up a package of Deluxe Stewing Beef. I have never bought Stew Meat in my life, which is not surprising when you consider the fact that I’ve never liked stew and I’m not that crazy about beef. So why I picked it up, I’ll never know…Like I said, I was in a bit of a fog.

I had the notion of something vaguely chili-like rolling around in my brain; something done in the slow cooker. I had also been thinking about Mole ever since I saw this recipe over at Soap & Chocolate. Husband would never go for that recipe though, since it had no meat in it. I started looking around and came up with a Crock Pot Mole recipe from A Year of Slow Cooking.

And the rest is history…

I made a few changes – based on what I wanted and what I had on hand (recipe is in a separate post below). Last night I chopped my veggies. This morning I had 3 burners going on the stove – one to toast almonds, one to brown meat and then saute veggies, and one to cook oat bran for breakfast. Things were flying in the kitchen this morning, that’s for sure, and if I’m being honest I left it in a bit of a disaster.

What I was cooking, I had a glass of Bolthouse Vanilla Chai.

Okay – maybe not that full; I actually forgot to take a photo in my frenzy, so I am copying one from another day.

Once I got to work, I ate my oat bran.

My oat bran was cooked with half water, half Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze. I added a smidge of vanilla at the end, plus some coconut butter and almond butter. At work, I added about a teaspoon of maple syrup (yes, I keep a bottle in the fridge at work – don’t you?).

I really want to like oat bran – I find it to be very filling, more so than regular or even steel cut oats (as a matter of fact, I didn’t finish all of this because I was too full). But I find the consistency a bit weird. I’m trying to get used to it.

For lunch, the last of the Ma Po Tofu and rice.

I overestimated how much I had and the bowl was too full for me to stir things around. There is Ma Po Tofu stir fry under that rice.

Later in the afternoon I ate my apple (totally forgot to take a photo but you can see it in the breakfast pic).

We actually left work early which was a big Whoo-Hoo! Especially after being there an hour late yesterday. We were on our way home about a half hour early, plus supper was ready. Good day.

I had completely forgotten the experience of walking into the house after the slow cooker has been going all day. It smelled goooood!

I stirred things around since I had just tossed the chocolate on top before turning on the co0ker and dashing out the door. It was melted, it just needed to be mixed around.

I left the slow cooker going while I fed the cats, changed my clothes and then did a workout. Today was the second new Strength Circuit for November; it was an easier workout than Workout A, though made difficult by the fact that my glutes are still killing me from Monday’s workout. Good stuff.

Then, since I had time, I hopped on the treadmill for 20 minutes. And broke my “take it easy” rule. I decided I wanted to do some running and as soon as I started I knew it was a bad idea, but I kept pushing through. I did come to my senses, but by then I had to drop back to a really slow walk to finish out my 20 minutes. Must remember advice from that wise sage Han Solo – don’t get cocky.

I had a good stretch, then headed upstairs for dinner. I prepared us each a dish of raw veggies, then heated up some leftover rice and ladled on the Mole concoction.

Here is Crock Pot Mole with Beef and Black Beans:

This was freaking awesome.

When I came home it smelled really good, but to me it also smelled like something was missing (if that makes sense). As I said, I stirred it all around to get the chocolate incorporated and let it continue cooking.

Before serving, I tasted and decided it needed a bit of salt. Then I decided it could use a bit of sweetening as well, so I added some Agave Nectar. It honestly turned out perfectly.

I was actually surprised that Husband only ate one bowl, but he said it was really filling (which I see as a good thing because it’s not like he needs two helpings of supper).

There is enough left for two more meals and I’ll definitely make this again.

I did have a little dessert to end off my meal:

However, I have to say that the sugar frenzy seems to be wearing off, so I may be back to normal next week without having to do anything drastic.

Now, if you will all excuse me…I have to go clean my kitchen.

Crock Pot Mole with Beef and Black Beans

Adapted from: A Year of Slow Cooking: Crock Pot Mole Recipe

1 tbsp coconut oil
1 to 1 1/2 pounds stewing beef
1/2 cup raw slivered almonds
Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce, chopped (amount to taste - I used a lot because we like spicy)
1 can Black Beans, drained and rinsed
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 or 2 carrots (depending on size), finely diced
1 or 2 stalks celery (depending on size), finely diced
1/3 cup dried apricots, chopped
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp cumin
1 cinnamon stick
1 (14-oz) can diced tomatoes (and juice)
1 (6-oz) can tomato paste
1/4 cup Tequila
1 1/2 squares unsweetened baking chocolate
1 cup water
salt to taste
Agave Nectar to taste

Heat non-stick pan over medium heat; add coconut oil and stew meat and cook until meat is browned. Meanwhile, toast slivered almonds in a small pan over med-low heat.

Add meat and almonds to crock pot (I used a 4L slow cooker). Return pan that meat was browned in to heat and add onions, garlic, carrots & celery. Saute veggies until softened, then add tomato past and tequila.

Add veggie mixture and all other ingredients except Agave nectar to crock pot. Stir everything together and cook on low for 8 hours.

Before serving, remove cinnamon stick. Taste mixture and adjust seasonings, adding Agave nectar if desired.

Served over rice with veggies on the side:



In this photo, the Mole is garnished with Chipotle Cream (sour cream mixed with Chipotle Peppers) that we had left over from another recipe.

Husband commented that this was a filling meal, and it made enough to give us three meals.