Thankful for Turkey Soup - Day 38

A full thermos of hot turkey soup and a full thermos of hot tea (mint/echinacea/ginger) rode shotgun with me to work on Tuesday, and both were wonderful to enjoy for a warm lunch. I'd had pretty good news with my weigh-in - my first time to step on the scales I'd used to set my "baseline" weight in November. The accurate count, and this is following the binge of food at my husband's holiday dinner Monday night, is that I've lost 15 pounds in 38 days.

I left about 1/3 of the turkey soup for my dinner, but I didn't have a chance to eat it. I'd had two juicy apples for a late afternoon snack while attending a school inservice. Those seemed to fill me up and I was engrossed in teaching girls how to knit using a knitting loom. My dinner came late, after I returned home from my long double day. (I work the daytime on Mondays and Tuesdays at one of my assigned schools, and then I work both evenings in the bording school dormitory).

My late dinner consisted of Quick Chunky Chili, a soup I whipped together in record time after getting home at 9:30 p.m....(Did I mention I battled my way home thru a snow storm that was picking up in wind speed and starting to drift in portions of the highways).

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Soozi's Quick Chunky Chili - January 5th, 2010 version:

1 to 1 1/2 pounds of very lean ground beef
1/2 diced onion
2 stalks of celery, diced
2 cans of diced tomatoes
1-2 cans of tomato sauce
3 cans of black beans
2 cans of chili beans

Season to taste with:
Kosher salt
ground black pepper
chili powder
cumin
corriander
hot curry powder
garlic powder
brown sugar (for a touch of sweet flavor)

Brown the hamburger with the onions and celery. Put into a medium sized kettle (dutch oven). Add all the rest of the ingredients, plus a couple cans of water using one of the bean cans. Season to taste. Simmer for 30 to 45 minutes, until thickened. Serve.

(Note: adding all the beans before adding the extra water will force you to put in far less water to fill the kettle and shorten the thickening time. My slow chili is pretty much the same recipe, I just add more water and cook it for a couple hours).

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Even though eating at such a late hour is frowned upon, I'd arrived home frazzled from the drive and chilled from the bitter cold night. I wanted a nice, rich, thick, hearty meal...and chili came to mine. It was yummy. I will admit I ate two bowls, and I added some leftover rice. Looking at my food log, however, I doubt I broke 2000 calories for the day.

My husband loved the chili....all that was left was one quart jar full when all was said and done Tuesday night.