Recipe of the Week ~ The Best Vegetarian Chili in the World

When I made this chili, I didn't expect there to be so much! I also didn't expect it to be so yummy! It's a little spicy, so if you don't like spice too much, I would lay off the jalapeno peppers, or maybe even cut it down to 1 pepper.

I found the recipe and photo here.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon salt
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 green bell peppers, chopped
2 jalapeno peppers, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 (4 ounce) cans chopped green chile peppers, drained
2 (12 ounce) packages vegetarian burger crumbles
3 (28 ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes, crushed
1/4 cup chili powder
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained
1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
1 (15 ounce) can black beans
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn

Directions:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion, and season with bay leaves, cumin, oregano, and salt. Cook and stir until onion is tender, then mix in the celery, green bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, garlic, and green chile peppers. When vegetables are heated through, mix in the vegetarian burger crumbles. Reduce heat to low, cover pot, and simmer 5 minutes.

2. Mix the tomatoes into the pot. Season chili with chili powder and pepper. Stir in the kidney beans, garbanzo beans, and black beans. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 45 minutes. Stir in the corn, and continue cooking 5 minutes before serving.

Prep Time: 15 MinCook Time: 1 Hr Ready In: 1 Hr 15 Min
Servings: 8
Calories per Serving: 342
Total Fat per Serving: 7.7 g
Cholesterol per Serving: 0 mg

My Notes:

- I wasn't able to find Garbanzo beans so I got a can of mixed beans. That worked out really well.

- I couldn't find chili peppers either, so I put in some chili flakes.

- Warning: this chili is a little spicy!

- Some of the ingredients can be purchased fresh instead of canned (recommended). Just be aware of the additonal prep time.

- When reheating, you may need to add a tiny amount of water. Add to desired consistency.

- I used TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein). I'm not sure if it the same as the Vegetarian Burger Crumbles mentioned in the recipe, but it works amazingly well. My dinner guest thought he was eating chili with ground beef!

- I served this with garlic bread (toasted with olive mixed with crushed garlic). It can also be served with crackers, but the bread was extra yummy.

Clarisonic Competition?

No doubt, the Clarisonic gets mostly rave reviews. This product claims to cleanse the skin so well that it will help skin to look & feel younger as well as to absorb skin products a lot quicker. Of course, it comes at a hefty cost (there are several packages, most in the $200.00 range).

Photo from here

Being on a more modest budget, I opted for something that has a similar concept but costs much less:

Round Handle Facial Brush from The Body Shop. Total cost: $3.00 CND (I actually bought mine on sale for $2.50).

When I first tried this brush, I immediately noticed smoother, softer skin. I use a cream cleanser in the morning and an apricot scrub in the evening. My skin also does seem to absorb cleansers more. It takes just a minute to cleanse your entire face with this brush. When finished, rinse & store. The brush has a plastic cap so that it doesnt have to sit directly on any other surface (to prevent bacteria). I never completely snap the cap back on so as to allow the rinse water to evaporate from the brush.

I imagine that this brush brings very similar results to the skin as the clarisonic. For about $200.00 less, I'll take this one!

I would love to recieve comments or questions from anyone! It would be really motivating to know I have readers :) Thanks!

Mini Haul ~ Foundation

Yesterday I went by the mall & stopped in Sephora to see if they had any Brush Guards, introduced in this video by Michelle Phan. The brush guards were nowhere in sight, but I remembered my recent split with an old bottle of MAC foundation. I was previously using MAC's SPF Cream Foundation in NW20. Probably due to age, the foundation was beginning to look really streaky. I sadly had to throw it out with 1/4 foundation remaining (anyone who knows me knows how hard it is for me to throw things out!).

Since I've heard so much about Smashbox & Make Up For Ever, I took a look at their cream foundations. I ended up with the following:

1. Smashbox Photo Finish, Oil-Free, Foundation Primer: $44.00 CDN

2. Make Up For Ever, High Definition Foundation: $46.00 CDN

3. Make Up For Ever, High Definition Powder: $34.00 CDN

Total Cost: A whopping $119.10 CDN

I can justify this because when the associate helped me to find some products, she put them on my face and proved that these are great products. I haven't used them on my own yet but I'm pretty excited! I'll do a review after I get more experience with them.

Do you use foundation? If so, which products are your favourite?

Vision Board ~ Always in Progress!

Ah! I just finished about 99% of my post and it was deleted! Back to the drawing board!

Many people have heard of the concept of the "Vision Board", which gained popularity by the movie "The Secret".

I not only remember creating a variation of a Vision Board in high school, but I still have it in my old bedroom at my parent's house! There is something so very personal about it that inspires me to hold onto it forever. However, many of my goals have changed since that class in a stuffy portable.

Shortly after I moved into my new home, I was sitting at my desk and looked at the barren white wall beside me. I thought, I'm not going to paint this place for awhile, so I might as well cover it with something else for now. Aha! I'll make a Vision Board.

It started as a small collection of pictures cut out from magazines and junk mail ads, but has quickly grown and is ever-evolving. It has costed me nothing aside from the cost of tape (very little tape required!), and is extraordinarily fun to work on. I didn't paste onto any kind of backing simply because I originally believed this would be temporary, however it is really growing on me. I often find myself sitting back and looking at this beautiful collage, processing what I'm seeing even if not consciously thinking about what each picture means.

This is what it looks like as of now:

To the right is a 4-month wall calendar, also useful!

As I know from experience, there are many benefits to having a vision board:

- Inspirational
- On bad days, just look at some of those dreamy pictures of beaches and sunshine, and you'll feel better
- Helps to prioritize tasks in every day life
- Quicker movement toward reaching goals
- Filters into the subconscious mind after looking at them without a second thought
- Fun to find, cut out and place pictures
- Can be done with others & as a family

Note that vision boards are very personal and often very private. If you want your vision board to be for youre eyes only, do not paste the pictures directly on the wall! I chose to do so because I wanted to make it unavoidable to look at. I also wanted to be proud enough of my goals so that anyone could look at it. However, if you know anyone who likes to shoot down your ideas, it's good to either keep them away from the vision board room or to have a mobile board that you can hide during particular visits.

Do you have a vision board? If not, would you ever consider having one?