This weekend I made White Chicken Chili for the first time. Chili is always a challenge for me to keep “recipes” on because it’s never the same from one time to the next. A lot of it depends on what I have stocked and what’s been on sale recently. Leftovers are usually saved in pint or quart freezer bags and frozen flat for easy thawing. I’m usually more of a ground-turkey taco chili fan, but I needed a change of pace and had a few recipes for chicken and turkey chili pinned. They all looked way too involved, so I improvised. Here’s what I came up with
1.5 pounds of boneless skinless chicken
3 chicken bouillon cubes
1 can cannellini (white) beans
1 cup frozen corn
1 packet McCormick White Chicken Chili mix
2 Tablespoons half and half
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
some minced onion
Cook the chicken in the slow cooker with 1 cup of broth (made with 1 of the cubes) until done. Then add the rest of the ingredients on low for 2-4 hours depending on your slow cooker temperature. Easy! Makes about 8 servings for about 210 calories and 4 grams of fat per servings.
In starting this blog, I feel I have to make a necessary “who I am, where I’ve been” post. People talk a lot about the “journey” I’ve had with bariatric surgery. If you don’t want to read on about said journey, you can watch my video here and there’s also a few supplemental videos here and here.
I’m not sure about the whole journey concept. People ask me to tell them my journey, and it feels weird because while I recognize I’ve accomplished some great things, it still feels like I have a pretty boring, normal life. It’s difficult managing wanting to showcase my accomplishments but knowing I need to stay humble. Sometimes I brag, and I’m aware of it, but considering where I’ve come from I have to occasionally let it slide.
Let’s talk about where I’ve come from. First off, I spent 5 years in high school because I failed almost all my classes freshman year (there was some crazy life events going on) and summer school wasn’t an option. So aside from being a size 22 teenager, I had the joy of all my classmates likely thinking I was an idiot and feeling like the world in general expected very little of me. I had a bout of depression in my early 20s, used to self-mutilate, and dropped out of community college to get myself straightened out. My weight fluctuated a lot, I was a yo-yo dieter and went anywhere from a size 18 to a 32 throughout my adult life.
On the left – pregnant. On the right – in follow up for plastic surgery
Eventually I went back to college for a medical coding certificate, got married, had a kid, had gastric sleeve surgery, lost a ton of weight, had plastic surgery, and got divorced. Now I look great, have a healthy lifestyle, and work in a leadership role making a very comfortable salary. I have a few published articles, have spoken at local and national business conferences, and have appeared on the cover of a magazine. All totally normal, boring stuff.
I’m also one of those obnoxious people that’s always taking photos of my food — particularly my packed lunches. I used to watch a completely obsessive amount of anime, so I know a little bit about Japanese culture (I have the kanji “yume” tattooed on my back) and always loved Japanese bento boxes. Through Pinterest I learned about making different cute little bento-esque lunches and started posting them on Facebook along with a menagerie of other things I prepared. A lot of people asked me for recipes or where I got my ideas. So I’ve finally caved and started a blog.
Being that I’m from Berks County, I thought that in addition to the normal healthy eating/lifestyle posts I could also include a local flare with PA Dutch recipe swaps, survival guides for establishments in northeastern PA, and some of my local favorite food items. That and more to come! I’m going to try and keep this as easy and budget-friendly as I can, so get you coupon scissors ready.
Bariatric Berks 