I'm in shape! Round is a shape!

My ever-blundering boyfriend pointed out to me that I'm definitely gaining some weight.  I wasn't so sure but a quick trip to the scale showed that I now weigh more than he does (although that's not hard!).  To avoid any more ribbing and to gain back a little smidgen of my self-esteem, I put our entire household on a healthy eating plan.  I'm taking my notes from the Body for Life program and low-carb diets.  As a runner I know I can't really do low-carb but I can eat healthier carbs!  A quick trip to the grocery store produced a bill that was actually cheaper than normal!  Well, well... Healthy for the body and for the wallet! 

My first adventure into healthy cooking is simmering as I type... Turkey Chili.  After Thanksgiving most people have had enough turkey to last until the next one comes around but not my family!  Oh no!  We raise 50lb mammoth turkeys that fill our freezers for months!  So I've been searching for ways to use up some of the massive supply of ground turkey I have frozen and this seemed like the answer!

First I put 2 cups of water, 1 can of crushed tomatoes, 1 can of kidney beans, 2 cloves of minced garlic, diced green bell pepper and seasonings in the pot.  Meanwhile, I browned 1 lb of ground turkey in a skillet.  Once the turkey was totally brown I added diced onion and kept it over low-medium heat for another 3-4 minutes.

Before adding the turkey and onions:

After adding the turkey and onions:

While that was simmering, I prepped food for meals and snacks for the remainder of the week.  Below is the rest of the diced green bell pepper, diced onion, tuna salad (made with fat free Miracle Whip), and hard boiled eggs (I am only going to put the whites in the tuna salad).  I also cleaned and cut-up celery stalks and sorted them into ziplock baggies for healthy snacks (great with low fat cream cheese or peanut butter).

Finally, all the cooking and prepping made me hungry so I made a quick and healthy lunch!  A Flatout Whole Grain Flatbread tortilla with leftover turkey.  Topped with a slice of fat free American cheese and 2 Tbsp of medium salsa! Yum!

I can't wait to try out tomorrow's recipe, hamburger soup!  But I'm substituting ground turkey (of, course!) for the ground meat.  Plus I will be adding whole wheat pasta instead of the refined white kind.  Check back tomorrow for a follow up to the turkey chili and the entire recipe for the turkey burger soup!