They’re Back!

Well, it's been a month and people are starting to wonder . . . yes, I will be blogging. I'd even like stick with my original plan of twice a week. Here's what's been going on with me.

I mentioned in my sidebar that I have psoriatic arthritis. It's like RA in that it's a degenerative auto-immune type of arthritis. Over the past 6 to 8 weeks, the disease process has been very active and my hands and wrists have been most affected. Simply put, I haven't been blogging because it hurts to type! I've started on a new drug and it seems to be helping some, so I'll be putting some short entries out here and trying to get back in the swing.

To help me get started, a friend and tender reader sent me the following guaranteed-tasty recipe. She found it on the Weight Watchers website.

Three Bean and Pork Slow Cooker Chili

(Serves 10)

1 medium onion, chopped

2 medium garlic cloves, minced

1 c. chopped carrot

1 T. chili powder, medium hot

1 t. dried oregano, crushed

1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped (don't handle the seeds with your bare hands!) OR 1 canned chipotle pepper in adobo, chopped

½ t. table salt

½ t. freshly ground black pepper

2 lbs. lean pork tenderloin, trimmed of fat and cut into 1" chunks

15 oz. canned black beans, drained and rinsed

15 oz. canned kidney beans, drained and rinsed

15 oz. canned pinto beans, drained and rinsed

1 c. canned tomato puree

29 oz. canned diced tomatoes, with green pepper, celery and onion, undrained

6 oz. tomato paste

Combine ingredients up through the pepper in (at least) a 5-quart slow cooker and stir. Add the remaining ingredients and stir again. Cover and cook on HIGH setting for 6 to 8 hours. Yields about 1 cup per serving.

As the weather gets nippy, I gravitate towards hearty one-pot meals, so this sounds heavenly to me. Not having to brown and drain the meat before putting it in the crockpot is another big plus! And let's not even mention being able to use my Magic Bullet to chop the onion, garlic and carrot! Finally, it just sounds like it tastes good! I can't wait until the next televised Mizzou Tigers game (be it football OR basketball) to try it out. Thanks!