Oh, Beans!

Holy cow - we had more snow last week. But, it's kind of starting to feel like old hat, you know? Admittedly, I could get use to all these snow days ;)

Anyway, this time around, I decided to make some warm, yummy comfort food while I weathered our latest storm. The Pioneer Woman and her absolutely fabulous cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks, provided the perfect recipe: beans and cornbread.

As much as I love beans, I've only ever eaten them from the can. But, after cooking them from raw, I may never go back. It's certainly more economical (I halved her recipe, which called for 4 cups of beans, and still have plenty to freeze), and it's super simple. In a nutshell, you boil the water and beans, then lower the heat, cover the pot, and forget about them for 3 hours. Season to taste, and done. Fabulous!

Wait, let me back up. Did I forget to mention that the recipe calls for bacon? Yes ma'am! One of my favorite things about The Pioneer Woman Cooks, is her unashamed love of bacon. All you need to do is cut up the raw bacon and add it to the beans before boiling. Of course, I had to fry up the rest. You know, just to make sure it would taste ok.

And here is my glorious pot full of beans. Just scoop those suckers into a bowl, add some shredded cheese and sour cream, serve with cornbread, and you have the perfect, simple, comfort meal. Yum!

For the Love of Produce

It's time to admit to my love affair... with vegetables.

Recently, I have found that I have been craving vegetables the way I usually crave chocolate. Ask Daniel... I practically shed a tear on the nights when we are out of delicious greens and then force grocery shopping upon him.

I have never been so preoccupied with vegetables before. It makes me wonder if my body is trying to tell me something? Am I lacking in iron or fiber? Or maybe the craving is so strong this week because of the unhealthy (yet oh-so delicious) things I stuffed into it during the Christmas break?

Currently, I am sitting here waiting for Daniel to pick me up, and lamenting the fact that I ate my entire bag of baby carrots yesterday. I wish I had saved a few so I could snack my chipotle hummus.

If this trend keeps up my goal of eating healthy will be a cinch. Especially since I've walked past the chocolate and caramel pretzel sandwiches in the kitchen at work at least a dozen times today and didn't even bat an eye-lash at them. Instead, I have been daydreaming about vegetable stir-fry and big plates of roasted broccoli all day.

I think, at least for me, broccoli could be the new chocolate.

(I also never thought the day would come when any food could replace chocolate in my heart!)

<3 Brittany