Cheese-covered Monday

I woke up this morning feeling icky and lethargic and fatigued and achy and all I wanted was a GREEN MONSTER.  Alas, I had no spinach.  How sad.  I did get some today so I can have one tomorrow, though!  I settled for instant grits with shredded cheese for breakfast.  Do northerners/non-southerners ever eat grits?  Do y’all have them in your stores?

I spent my morning feeling ill and catching up on blogs.  After reading people’s FoodBuzz recaps, I added like 5 new blog subscriptions to my Google Reader…I gotta start paring down, yo.  I’ve got waaaaaay too many to keep up with.

I went out running errands and got Panera for lunch.  No surprise.  They left something out of my order.  No surprise.  I should learn to check the bag before I leave, but I’m so naive that I trust they’ll get it right.  I’m like Charlie Brown – each time I think that Lucy’s not going to pull the football away and that Panera will finally get my order right.  Fool me twice, shame on you.  Fool me a billion times, shame on me. 

I had a piece of white chocolate peppermint bark afterward.

It looks ginormous, but my macro’s just bangin’.

I spent the afternoon vacuuming, cleaning, getting dinner in the crockpot, and cleaning out my birdy’s cage.  I might’ve shown her off before, but here’s my Morgan.

 

She was very happy to have a nice clean house!  Later, on the way out with the dogs, I did my good deed for the day.

I saved this poor little lizard from a spider web.  He wasn’t too happy to be manhandled, but I don’t think he understood the alternative.  Back to consumables, Mom went to the grocery on her way home to pick up things I forgot, and she bought amazing whole-bean peppermint coffee…I shoved my face in this little bag and sniffed so hard I thought I’d suck beans up my nostrils.

I made some cocoa coffee to use up the ground peppermint beans we’ve already got…can’t wait to use the fresh stuff! 

Somebody got some holiday marshmallows today! 

Because it’s my blog and he’s cute, here’s one of my cats giving me the stink eye because I’m not giving him treats fast enough.

For dinner I made crockpot vegetarian bean chili – a recipe I pretty much threw together myself. 

• 1 small can tomato paste
• 1 small can tomato sauce
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can Great Northern beans
• 1 can pinto beans
• 1 can light red kidney beans
• onion
• 1Tbls diced garlic
• ~1Tbls chili powder
• dashes of curry powder, dry mustard, oregano, and paprika (I was just throwing shit in there that smelled good)
• salt and pepper

I sautéed the onions and garlic first (would’ve added green peppers but didn’t have any) and threw everything into the crock pot for a few hours on high. 

We made some corn muffins in the shape of Clemson Tiger paws from a pan we’ve never used before!

I added some cheese to my bowl…

And we each had a beer to wash it all down…

Yeah, I crumble my cornbread on top.

I was pretty darned proud of myself!  I still have yet to do my Jillian’s Shred…I waited for Mom to get home so she’d do it with me.  I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared.  I might puke beans on myself in the first 5 minutes.

Today at the store I got apples, tangerines, and spinach for GMs…I MUST eat a serving of each tomorrow.  I have GOT to get better about fruits and veggies.