We had our first snow of the season yesterday.  It just barely stuck to the ground, but its just a gentle reminder that 60 degree days are long gone. 😦  But I have been listening to Christmas music on the radio! 😀  I just can’t stand that they seem to play the same songs over and over though.

I baked a bunch of potatoes over the weekend, so I made cheezy hash browns, with an egg/egg white and 2 slices of deli ham.

I really wanted to stay in my cozy office and eat my stew, but I sucked it up and went to the gym.  The problem with me is if I skip one day, it easily goes into two, three or more days and the harder it is to get back at it.  I ended up doing the elliptical, hill climb on level 10 for 45 minutes.  So glad I went! 😀

I had about 1/2 a pound of left over pork roast from Thanksgiving and I decided to make a posole, or pork and hominy stew.  Below is my version that I took from several different recipes.  While I am totally a recipe follower, soup is one dish that I just keep throwing stuff in and adjusting as I go along.

Ancho Pork and Hominy Stew (printer friendly version here)

Makes 6 servings, 1.75 cups (210 calories, 8 fat, 17 carbs, 4.5 fiber and 16.3 protein)

Ingredients

1	tablespoon chili powder
2	teaspoons oregano
1 1/2	teaspoons paprika
1	teaspoon ground cumin
1/2	teaspoon salt
8	ounces pork roast
1	tablespoon olive oil
1	green pepper
1	orange pepper
4	ounce can of green chilies
1	tablespoon minced garlic
4	cups chicken broth
3	cups hominy
2	cups diced tomatoes
2	dried ancho chilies
2	dried guajillo chilies

Directions

1. Put the dried chilies in 1 cup of hot water and let sit for 15 minutes.
2. Pour chilies and the hot water into a stock pot. Add chili powder, oregano, paprika, cumin, salt, olive oil, green pepper, orange pepper, green chile, garlic, chili broth and diced tomatoes.
3. Simmer for 30 minutes, or until peppers are soft. Puree with stick blender. Add pork and hominy and simmer for 10 more minutes.
4. Garnish with radish, cilantro and Mexican cheese.

This soup is so delicious – its got a smokey taste to it because of the dried peppers and just enough heat.  And I am really starting to love hominy 😀

I knew I was making chicken wings for dinner but remembered that I had used the last of my Buffalo Wild Wing sauce.  I had Hannah pick me up some yesterday afternoon.  I love the spicy garlic and Tony loves the Parmesan garlic.  When Hannah got there, they said if she bought one more, it would only be $2 more, so she got the Teriyaki.

You’ll have to excuse my sloppy plating – my blood sugar was 46 when I took this picture so I was a bit shaky!  Dinner:  630 calories, 1 carb, 88 protein, 31 fat and 0 fiber.

Tony said that my wings were better than Buffalo Wild Wings!  My tip is that I rinse the wings really well under cold water, and then dry them completely with paper towels before hitting the deep fryer.  They get extra crispy that way.   These took 15 minutes to cook at 350.

Stats for Wednesday

• 1521 calories, 87 carbs, 148 protein, 68 fat and 11.9 fiber
• 38% of calories from fat
• 45 minute elliptical, level 10 hill climb

Kelly from Happy Texans challenged herself to doing a 5k every day for 30 days.  She’s inspired me to challenge myself for the last month of the year.  My gym offers group classes and yet I’ve never taken advantage of them.  So I am going to do 10 group classes in December to keep me focused.  The first one I am going to do is Saturday morning – its a Zumba class, which is something I’ve always wanted to try even though I am so not coordinated.  But you burn calories laughing, right?! 😀

Question of the Day:  Are you a recipe person or do you just wing it in the kitchen?

Make it a Great Day!