I couldn’t stop listening to this song yesterday!

The song is great, the video is great, and now it’s now out of my head…which is great!

The blahs

This week has not been a good food week for me.  I haven’t eaten as well as I usually eat.  By well, I mean healthy.  I’ve eaten out, salty and greasy foods that are making me feel like shit.  And speaking of shit, well you know what eating lots of beige, salty, greasy food does to your poop schedule.

And nobody messes with my pooping.

I’ve been getting headaches all week as well.  I can’t tell if it’s because of allergies or because of my contacts.  I have decided to wear glasses for the next couple of days to see how that goes.  I sincerely think that I wore my contacts for too long.  I can’t remember when I opened this packet of contacts.  I hate when I do that. I’ve also had a twitch in my left eye for a couple of days that disappears once I remove my contacts.  A call to the eye doctor probably isn’t a bad idea either.  Better safe than sorry.

I did an hour of yoga today.  The class was about pressure and it was just what I needed.  I’ also ate better today…lots of fruit, veggies, unsalted nuts, grains, and water.  I had one of my favorite salads tonight.  Isn’t it pretty?

It’s just spring mix, chopped walnuts, red grapes, dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, feta, and red onions.  I just use red wine vinegar as dressing because vinegar is crazy good for you and I don’t like a lot of dressings.  It went perfect with this…

And after dinner, I did treat myself to one of these…

…with milk of course.

Now, I’m off to a relaxing bath and then sleep.

Obsessed………still.

I’ve been obsessed with Florence + the Machine for about 2 years now. There isn’t a song that I don’t love. I think her voice is magic. I’ve seen her live and she’s brilliant. This is her second single off of her upcoming album, and I’m in love with it just as I was with the first single and all of her other songs.  Enjoy!

Favorite Things–Mosaic Effects top coat

I love nail polish and I really love Avon nail polish.  I know that people think O.P.I. is the best, but I really don’t think so.  Avon’s Nailwear Pro is awesome.  And now there’s a product to make it even more awesome.  It’s a crackle top coat called Mosaic Effects.

It totally works.  Check out how cool my nails look.  I love the orange and black for Halloween. And please forgive the dry cuticles…I know they’re gross.

Chili

Chili, to me, is as American as the burger and apple pie.  It’s about the Western migration, the Gold Rush, cowboys, and the heat of the Southwest.  I know that I’m a dork, but that’s how I feel.

Autumn is chili season.  I must make it 3-5 times, which is a lot for me because I live alone and you can’t make just a little bit of chili.  I was so excited that the weather permitted me to make this today.  It was just what I needed to get into the spirit of the season.

Here is the recipe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I make my chili in a crock pot. Here’s a close-up of this yumminess.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chili Recipe

1 cup of uncooked black beans
1 cup of uncooked small red beans
2 cups of bean liquid
1 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
1 large white onion, diced
1 large bell pepper, diced
2 jalapeno peppers, diced
8 cloves of garlic, minced
1 lb. of ground turkey
1/2 cup of chopped cilantro
1 tsp of dried Italian seasonings
2 packets of Sazon
2 tbsp of chili powder
2 tbsp of cumin powder
1 tbsp of unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp of cayenne pepper powder
2 cups of diced butternut squash
4 bay leaves
Salt and pepper to taste

The night before, put uncooked beans in a pot with 2 bay leaves. Fill the pot with very hot water. Make sure you use enough water because the beans will absorb the water and expand.

The morning of, turn crock pot on high and dump in the crushed tomatoes and 2 bay leaves. While that is heating up, brown ground turkey in a pan with some olive oil. Once the turkey is cooked, add it to the tomatoes in the crock pot. In the same pan, saute onions, peppers, and garlic. While the vegetables are cooking, drain the beans reserving 2 cups of the bean water. Place beans and reserved water in the crock pot. Once the vegetables are soft, add in chopped cilantro and spices including the cocoa powder and cook for 2 minutes. Add the cooked vegetables and butternut squash to the crock pot. Cook for 4-5 hours, stirring occasionally.

I also make some corn bread muffins to go with it. I just use the Jiffy muffin mixture. It’s cheap and super easy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Serve with sour cream, cheese, and whatever else you like with it. It makes a lot and I usually end up freezing half. Oh, and wine is always good with it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s a close-up of this beautiful dinner. YUM!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bon appetite.

Welcome to the Debbiedoodledoo Zoo!

Life is good.  The weather is appropriately chilly for October and, appropriately, I have chili cooking on the stove and cornbread cooling on the counter.  Recipes to follow later this week.

Since this is the inaugural post on this blog, I want to welcome you all here.  To the new readers, welcome and I hope you find this space to be interesting.  To my beloved readers from my previous blogs, thank you for following me here and I hope you continue to do so.

I’m doing something different on this blog.  It’s not anonymous.  This is a huge step for me because of drama in the past, but I find it exhausting to keep my anonymity.  That being said, however; any post that I find to be damning will be password protected.  Click on the Password tap to request the password.

Do you like the background doodles?  I drew them.  I’m not that artistically gifted, so I’m crazy excited about how good it turned out.  I wanted color and that’s what I got.  And purple is my favorite color, so I’m loving the sidebar color.

What can you expect here?  Stories about my life, articles about health and health tips, recipes, photography, book/TV/movie reviews, contributors, humor, banality,podcasts, and more.  The first podcast will be posted later today.

Love,
Debbie