Healthy Loaded Chili

December 17, 2013 by Christine Skari

Here’s a fun fact about me, I’m half Norwegian.

My father is a born-and-bred Norwegian who was raised on yup, you guessed it, a stereotypical potato farm in the rural countryside. That man can eat potatoes like no other. I kid you not when I say he would happily eat potatoes (plain potatoes) for a week straight and be as happy as a clam.

I think in his past life he was, in fact, a potato.

Anyways, I digress.

Back to my fun fact. I was born in Norway, learned Norwegian as my first language, and picked up skiing from my viking of a father. I have so many happy memories of long ski days filled with a hot drink afterwards and warm chili at restaurants at the top of mountains.

Please pin the image below if you’d like to pin the recipe! Thank you!

To me, chili is a quintessential part of any snowy day and I’m almost looking forward to delicious, meaty chili as much as our ski trip to Tahoe right after Christmas. Almost.

Until that time, I decided to satisfy my craving with a healthier (but just as delicious) lightened up version of the classic favorite!

This chili combines the best of both worlds with all the flavor and thick, chunkiness of normal chili, but with a whopping 26 grams of protein and 15 grams of fiber per serving! Hot dog!

Not only is this recipe downright delicious, it’s versatile. Vegetarian? No problem, just chop up some more veg and throw it in to the pot. Don’t like pork? Ground chicken, turkey, or lean ground beef work like magic as well.

Trust me, good things happen in that pot.

Kyle’s first impression after trying a bite was “This is so good” and my dad (the potato lovin’ fool) told me that he now likes chili thanks to this recipe.

Make a batch and have a healthy, easy to reheat lunch for the rest of the week! All the fiber and protein in the dish will keep you feeling full and energized and it’s perfect for a cozy meal by the fire.

Have some sour cream, cornbread, and shredded cheddar cheese on the side and you gave a meal made in heaven!

I’m linking up to What I Ate Wednesday to share this dish! Thanks, Jenn for hosting!

Enjoy!

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Skinny Spiced Chocolate Crackles

December 16, 2013 by Christine Skari

Some days, nothing will do but a cookie.

These cookies.

They’ve been hiding away in the family recipe book since last Christmas when I made a batch of 60 of them for a cookie exchange, but it’s about time that they resurfaced in all their delectable glory!

I can’t exactly remember from which magazine the recipe was copied down from, so if it strikes you as familiar and you remember the source, please let me know so I can credit the magazine!

Sweet, moist, and with the most tasty kick of spice and flavor, they’ll be one of the main stars on any dessert table and will be one of the most uniquely delicious cookies you’ve ever had! Describing them can be a bit hard, since they have an original flavor all their own. I’ll give it a wild go and compare them to a hybrid fudge brownie and ginger cookie with chunks of half-melted chocolate chips in every bite.

These Skinny Spicy Chocolate Crackles also come together in a flash! They couldn’t be easier to make and you literally just dump all the ingredients into a bowl and mix. While I love spending time in the kitchen, sometimes you just need to GET A COOKIE INTO YOUR MOUTH PRONTO, and I promise these babies won’t disappoint!

And the best part? With only 110 calories each, they are a great way to indulge over the holidays without going overboard! They’re jam packed full of rich chocolate flavor that will satisfy any sweet tooth.

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Hope you love them as much as I do!

Getting Organized, New Shoes, and Other Marvels!

December 15, 2013 by Christine Skari

Hello lovelies! It’s Monday, but I’m free from the copious, disgusting amount of work and studying I’ve been dong for the next month :). If that isn’t marvelous, I don’t know what is! Here are some other marvelous things happening lately:

Marvelous is becoming determined to organize the blog more!

It absolutely breaks my heart that I’m not able to keep up a consistent routine of blogging. I get such a huge sense of joy and happiness from interacting with all of you, and letting my thoughts seep out into words is therapeutic when I’m stressed out. To help myself become more organized with my blogging, I made a quick calendar! I’m still trying to figure out how to make it so you guys can click on in and print it out (it should print out as a full page, but no luck so far), so please let me know if you know how to fix this!

Marvelous is finding a groupon for a local gym!

Since I’m home for break, I was annoyed at the prospect of not having a gym to attend since I was definitely not up to starting a new membership if I was leaving so soon. Luckily, I randomly checked my Groupon account and saw that my local gym had a deal for 10 visits for $50! Compared to the usual $200 price tag, I was ecstatic! Today’s workout consisted of a sweaty 30 minutes on the elliptical, a back and bicep workout, and some abs! It felt good to move after being a stationary slug at a desk for 4 weeks straight.

Marvelous are new shoes! Being the highly educated college student that I am, I forgot one of my bags at school that contained all my makeup, a ton of clothes, and all of my shoes, including my Nike’s. While they’re still in pretty good shape, I bit the bullet and bought a new pair to tide me over. Aren’t they beauties?

Marvelous is the Farmer’s Market!

I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for Farmer’s Markets. There’s something so wonderful about the ambiance and happy people casually walking the isles and trying all the samples of bread and fresh fruit (what, just me?). While I didn’t purchase anything today, it felt so nice to be home and go to some of my favorite spots in town.

Marvelous is date night!

Tonight Kyle and I are going to see the new Lord of the Rings movie after eating a homemade meal. Hooray for date nights!

And lastly, marvelous is Christmas decorations!

Tis’ the season!

Have a great Monday!

Garlic Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts

December 6, 2013 by Christine Skari

Fabulously delicious balsamic and garlic roasted brussel sprouts! They'll turn anyone into a vegetable lover!

You know how you have that one food growing up that you just can’t stand? For me, that was without a doubt, brussels sprouts. I couldn’t stand them and made a huge point to complain whenever I was forced to eat them (I know- such a brat!).

{some words of wisdom}

However, after trying them prepared with roasting technique instead of boiling them, I’ve been completely turned into a brussels sprout fanatic! They’re delicious and so easy to make!

These are really, really good and even Kyle exclaimed “Oh, WOW” after trying them. Honestly, I think that the ‘sprouts are officially now on my list of favorite vegetables and I’m definitely going to be preparing them this way in the future!

Not only are they mouthwatering, they’re also great for your body and have a mountain of nutritional value!

Here are some facts about their benefits:

Their high fiber content helps to reduce cholesterol.
They may have unique benefits in DNA protection by improving the stability of the DNA inside of our white blood cells.
They help fight and prevent cancer.
They contain a host of antioxidants.

{Source}

The garlic gives the recipe such wonderful flavor and the balsamic vinegar adds the most perfect amount of tang and zest! Trust me on this one, this recipe won’t disappoint!

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Let me know how you like them!

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Catching Up & Future Blog Post Ideas

December 2, 2013 by Christine Skari

Well howdy all you beautiful people!

I hope you had a relaxing and family-filled Thanksgiving and that life is treating you well :). With finals coming up in a week, I’ve been a bit stressed for time, but wanted to pop in with an update!

I’ve been studying…

Nonstop, all the time. This year has been an extremely difficult one so far for me academically (blame it on the physics, organic chemistry, and biology classes along with labs- yuck), and I cannot wait for the quarter to be over and to have a few weeks of rest during the holidays.

I went shopping…

While I was home for Thanksgiving, I stopped by one of our nearby shopping malls for some much needed shopping therapy. I scooped up three new dresses, a new top, some workout clothes (as if I don’t have enough already), and two pairs of earrings. Success!

I’ve been cooking…

I have a GREAT recipe for brussels sprouts that will hopefully be up soon! With it getting dark so early, I don’t have much time to snap decent photos and am hoping that my housemmates and Kyle don’t gobble them up before I can set my camera to them tomorrow! They’re that good!

And I’ve been eating…

Thanksgiving food and homemade biscuits and gravy made by his 93 (!) year old great grandma. They are out-of-this-world delicious!

I’ve been working on getting more organized with blogging…

Something I’ve realized over the past few months is that I really, really need to plan out a blogging schedule. I don’t like being so inconsistent with my posts and would prefer to update the blog 4-6 times a week, which obviously hasn’t been happening. I have a couple of posts in mind, such as:

Increasing your blog traffic through Pinterest (I can’t stress how many fabulous visitors I get through the site by using a few tricks)
Healthy recipes for the holidays
Getting accepted to sites like Foodgawker and Tastespotting (invaluable for traffic as well!)

So let me know if any of those strike a chord with you!

And now, back to the grind!