Category — Food

1.  A good cup of coffee

2.  Cardio-Pilates at the Y

3.  A clean house

4.  Thai dinner with Mandy

5.  Listening to Ben Harper in the car (thanks, Beth for telling me about him!)

6.  Full moon and clear skies

7.  Blue Bunny Lite personals ice-cream

8.  A glass of red wine

9.  Enjoying that glass of red wine with my husband under a bright and beautiful full moon.

Yesterday was a good day.

On today’s agenda:

A very excited 8 year old boy is going to a waterpark with his Dad.  You wanna know what makes me proud?  Jared was asked to take part in a conference call with some big-time internet people he has met through networking.  He was asked to do it today and he told them he couldn’t because he was taking his son to a waterpark.  He’s a good man and we love him!

A few weeks ago, our grocery budget was really low and I was trying to use whatever I could find in the kitchen for dinner.  We had no meat and so I remembered the black beans we had in the cabinet.  Hmmmm….what to do with black beans?  Well, my friend borrowed a frozen pie crust the day before to make a quiche, so I started thinking along the lines of black bean quiche, because I had eggs and I also had a pie crust left (the pillsbury kind that rolls up).  I had some jasmine rice left over from a meal earlier in the week, and I also had some corn.  So, here’s what I came up with.  I was so proud of myself, and not only did it look pretty, it also tasted good!

Here are the ingredients for my Black Bean Quiche:

Pillsbury pie crust

Can of Rotel, drained

Can of black beans, drained (probably about 1 1/2 cans)

About 1 1/2 cups of jasmine rice, cooked

3/4 can of corn

3-4 eggs

1/2 cup of half and half (I’d probably use milk the next time, since it’s lighter)

Grated cheddar and mozzarella cheese

I mixed everything together, excluding the eggs, cheese, and half and half.  I then beat the eggs in a separate bowl and added the cheese and half and half.  Combined all of this and then poured into the pie crust.  Baked at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes.   Toward the end of baking I sprinkled the top with some cheese.

This is my first creation from scratch in the kitchen, and I was so proud of myself!

Here’s a WW recipe my friend Janie gave me.  These are so good!

Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies 

2T. Butter, softened

2T. Canola Oil

1/2 c. Brown Sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1/8 tsp. salt

1 egg white

3/4 c. flour

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 c. mini choc. chips

Preheat oven to 375

Cream together butter, oil, and brown sugar.

Add vanilla, salt, and egg white and mix thoroughly.

Mix in flour and baking soda.

Add choc. chips and stir.

Drop by 3/4 t. onto baking sheet.

Bake for 7-10 min. depending on how chewy you want them to be.

I need to check with my friend, Janie, but I think that 2 cookies equals 1 point.  But, the key is to make the cookies small.  If you make them too big, you’ll be eating more points than you’re counting.  I usually double the recipe b/c my boys love them.