What I love about spring...

I love that it is light before I open my eyes in the morning!  I decided I need to start getting up an hour earlier so I could do my Zumba DVD  :)  Unfortunately I did not get around to the Zumba yet today.  I did get a workout though... I got to chase Tickles the baby cow around the yard.  So fun to look out the window and see her grazing on the wrong side of the fence!  Jamie you can tell Elliena that Tickles escaped.  Tickles is the name Elliena gave the poor nameless baby cow last weekend.  I'll have to do the Zumba either at lunch time or after work.  I did put the DVD on and do it yesterday. Just the mini 20 minute version and I thought I was gonna die!  Then I walked for almost two miles so I guess I wasn't really gonna die... it's just a lot of fast paced salsa flavored dancing.  Pretty fun but I'm sure I look really creepy doing it!  :)

Oh... the stats... new low for both - by the skin of my teeth... 159.5 and glucose 82.  Woo hoo!  A little at a time!

Yesterday it was so cold I just could not bring myself to eat a cold salad for dinner.  I was craving soup so that's what I made.  When I started out I was just going to make some veg/beef soup but somehow I decided to throw a can of red beans and one packet of chili seasoning mix and I came up with what I call... Chili Light.  :)  It was so good.  I just browned a pound of ground beef and threw in a bunch of veg.  Onions, red bell peppers, a couple of cups of shredded frozen zucchini from my garden last year a can of fire roasted tomatoes.  I added two cups of chicken stock (homemade - I make it then store it in the freezer) and then the red beans and chili mix.  It is just a bit thinner than my usual chili and has no tomato paste which helps keep my blood sugar down.  Only one can of beans too.  Makes it easier to live with my husband after dinner :)  I also threw in about a cup of left over frozen stuffing :)  If you make too much stuffing when ever you make a turkey just freeze it in small containers.  It makes a great addition to soup.  This is really one of those throw in whatever you feel like dishes.  I guess that would be called Cupboard Soup.  That's a name my brothers and I gave whatever meal my dad made when he cooked when we were kids.  Which was maybe twice :)  He loves to cook now.  As long as my mom chops everything up first.  :)  Anyway...when I have time I'll punch the recipe into that FatSecret website and calculate the calories.  It was very tasty though and warmed me up on such a drizzly nasty day.

I would love to have served it up with a big fat piece of corn bread but no!  The board this dish is sitting on was one that my brother Gene made.  It says, "Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread".  I love it.  It's the only thing I have that he made.  But what a tease!  I really have to limit my bread.  Really though it's not bread that I crave... it's rice and pasta.  I love pasta so much that he gave me the nick name Noodles when I was a kid.  And... that was the very last thing he said to me as I said good bye to him the night before he passed away... Noodles.  :)  Very bittersweet.  Which makes me think of chocolate... dang it!  :)

Well... have a great weekend everyone because today is FRIDAY!!!!!!!

Ciao!