Quick Lunch: Sweet Salad and Soup

Salad nutritional breakdown

Today was another snow day which is crazy. It's not supposed to stick around until tomorrow, but it was nice having another work from home in my pajamas day. It's always dangerous to hang around the house all day though because there's the temptation to snack on things laying around the house. I did really well today and landed under 1300 calories with the help of my delicious lunch! I hunted for things I had around the house (including some of Wendy's pomegranate vinaigrette that I need to find in a store or online somewhere so I don't have to keep the leftover packets like a hoarder). I came up with two cups of organic baby greens, half a granny smith apple, 1/8 cup of craisins, 1/8 cup of goat cheese crumbles, and that packet of pomegranate vinaigrette. I ate it with a cup of jarred tomato basil soup and it was fantastic.

I also have to give a shout out to La Madeleine. Not only do I love their fat free Caesar dressing, they just came out with a low fat version of their tomato basil soup. That soup is pretty much the only reason I ever go to La Madeleine, but with the regular version, a cup has 340 calories and 32 grams of fat, so I would definitely have to save it for a special treat. The low fat version that they also sell in jars is 150 calories and 11 grams of fat for a cup, so I am thrilled. The best part? It tastes just as good as the regular fat version! They sell them online, and if you order some, you might as well pick up some of the Caesar dressing as well.

The Best Recipe Ever: 5 Ingredient Taco Chili

I can't believe it's taken me this long to write a post about one of my favorite recipes ever: my five ingredient slow cooker taco chili. I think it took me longer to type the name of it than it did to make it this morning.

Yield: 4 servings (The pictures are from my mini-crockpot, so I just halved the recipe, I put the half cans of beans in the freezer to use next time I want some yummy chili!)

Ingredients:
1 bag of frozen Morningstar Farms Meal Starter Crumbles, 12 oz (or if you want to use a pound of beef or turkey, that's fine, just brown it first)
2 cans diced tomatoes, you can use the ones with chiles or green peppers, but do not use Rotel
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can chili/red kidney beans with gravy
1 packet of taco seasoning mix

Preparation:
1. Dump everything in your crockpot, give it a stir, and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours. That's it!

You can top this with cheese, low fat sour cream, tortilla strips, fritos, put it over a baked potato...pretty much whatever you want. You can also add other canned veggies, like a can of corn or some chopped onions and bell peppers, even some jalapeños. Like I said: Best. Recipe. Ever.