Food Sense 5- Four-bean Vegetarian Chili

When August rolls around, things get hectic. School starts, and that means lots of effort at the college getting things up to speed. Throw in a couple of new staff members, and things really get hectic. Having said that, here’s a recipe with my own twist based on one from a web site I stumbled upon called ProfHacker. What made the original recipe great (and in my opinion, my own version better) is the simplicity. This is literally a “dump it in and walk away” recipe.

Four-bean Vegetarian Chili

Ingredients:
2 15oz cans dark red kidney beans
2 15oz cans black beans
2 15oz cans Great Northern or cannellini beans
2 15oz cans pinto beans
2 15oz cans diced tomatoes
1 cup frozen corn
1 medium onion, diced
1 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp black pepper
Salt to taste
Hot sauce to taste

Directions
1. Dump the beans and tomatoes (including all of the liquor in the cans) into a large crock pot. Reserve the frozen corn.
2. Add the onions.
3. Stir in the spices (Note: be careful with the salt; most canned beans have some salt in them).
4. Turn the crock pot on low, and cook until the beans are at the desired consistency. Add the frozen corn 20 minutes before serving.

Nutritional information:
Serving Size 232 g.(one cup) Per Serving: Calories, 74; Calories from Fat, 4; Total Fat, 0.4g; Cholesterol, 0mg; Sodium, 14mg; Total Carbohydrates, 16.9g; Dietary Fiber, 6.8g; Sugars, 4.3g; Protein, 3.9g

Food Sense 1- Eating out

On Sunday Beth and I went out to do what people do, putzing around the shopping area about 15 miles from where we live. We decided to stop for lunch.

Now, being on a healthy eating kick for some reason, I flipped to the "Guiltless Grill" section of a mid-priced family place. Emblazoned across the top of the section was copy that screamed "...All items are under 750 calories, 25 grams of fat and 8 grams of saturated fat...". I have a love of vegetables, so of course I locked on to the black bean burger with a side of seasonal vegetables. It was good.

When I got home, I added it to my food log: Surprise! The black bean burger was the most calorie-dense main-course selection in that section of the menu, with more than three times the calorie load of the least calorie-dense menu entry (609 calories for my choice, versus 199 for the other).

Lesson: When you're on your way to correcting a lifetime of bad habits to mitigate coronary artery disease, do your homework before eating out. It's hard enough!