Snow and Comfort Food

Thank goodness for the snowblower, but I am still sore from clearing our driveway yesterday! It is hard to bring my arms forward, or raise them. Seriously, I have to think about whether it's really worth trying to brush my hair! Jeff bashed out around 5:30am to go to work, before there was any real traffic on the messy roads. Most of the driveway was easy for me to clear with the snowblower. However, later on, the plow trucks went by and filled in the end of our driveway a bit over my knees, except for about a 1/3 of it that ended up having a chest high snowbank!! There was no way Jeff was going to get in through all that! So, I was out there clearing for quite some time working to undermine the deep snowbank with the snow blower. Eventually I had to shovel some of the really wet, heavy and grotty stuff from right along the road. I have been tolerant of the snow, but this past storm broke me! I'm so over it.

It is definitely a day to turn to comfort food. I decided to try Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Chili with a side of Everyday Food Magazine (issue #79) Cabbage Slaw. The chili serves 6, so I was able to freeze 2 containers to have for dinners in the next week or so. Likewise, the slaw recipe makes a pretty big batch, so we have some leftovers to go with a spicy chicken recipe I've planned ahead for tomorrow (and will post about if it is good!).

We like spice, so I am starting to experiment with some different chili powders beyond the generic grocery store kind. This time, I used a mildly warming, Ancho Chili powder.

We splashed each bowlful with a little Chipotle Cholula after I took the picture and that went really well! I would recommend this chili recipe. I like that it has carrots in it. The sweetness of carrots goes great with a little warmth from the chili powder.

The slaw can be enjoyed without any twinge of guilt as 1/8th of the huge amount is apparently less than 70 calories (hooray for low fat Greek yogurt!). It fulfills my winter cravings for ruffage.