Cooking This Week and My New Deal!

Ths week I am really pleased because I started a new deal with my nephew, who is 20 years old. He and I are going to be diet-and-exercise buddies, long distance. Both of us agree that we need to lose weight and simply become healthier in 2012, so we're pairing off.

This week: Start and keep a food and exercise diary. Then we'll talk by phone and make specific plans for healthier diets and cookery, more exercise, and hopefully weight loss. No goals set yet, just observing our regular habits (hint: mine were terrible during this first week of classes! Stress played its part, as did poor planning.)

I did cook this week, however:

• Southwest Chicken with Black Beans (in the slow cooker)
• White Bean and Sausage Soup (also in slow cooker)

In both cases, the main ingredients came completely out of my pantry and freezer. In the chicken recipe, I used dried black beans (after overnight soaking), two chicken breasts, and a jar of salsa (locally-made, too). With nothing more than a little homemade chicken stock, oregano, and cumin, this was a really easy mix, left to cook on low for 7-8 hours.

For the soup, I used dried white beans (again, after overnight soaking), homemade chicken stock, and two chicken-and-apple sausages (organic, made locally). A can of diced tomatoes, a splash of white wine, bay leaf, and chopped onion: mix it all together, cook on low for 5 hours. In this case, I didn't have the 5 cups of chicken stock, so used about 3 cups water: tasted a little weak, but fine in terms of seasonings.

The great news is that everything came from stuff I had on hand, which is always my plan. Here's a great site for slow cooker recipes that are also healthy--not always the same thing, unfortunately.