Chili day...

Today was a very "fall" day.  I have made it to nearly a full 3 weeks fully paleo.  Tonight I broke down and had some sweet potato with my chili.  I thought about taking a picture of it too late, but it was FANTASTIC.  I just roasted a sweet potato, cut it in half, put it in the bowl with some sea salt on it, then put the chili next to it.  This wasn't just any ol' chili... it was applewood smoked nitrate free bacon (like 4 pieces I think), crumbled, a pound of ground pork, and a pound of ground beef.  Then... the part that just breaks my heart, is that I used up almost the end of our crop of tomatoes to make my own crushed tomatoes.  I put about 6-7 decent sized tomatoes in the food processor and let 'er rip.  I also added a can of fire roasted tomatoes with green chiles, and a can of tomato paste.  I went a little crazy at Trader Joe's today.  I seriously love that store.  Also, I food processed three bell peppers, a red onion, and a small head of garlic.  I added all the requisite spices and voila... "paleo" chili.  Soups are by far one of the easiest things to keep paleo.  I think fall is going to be paleo-tastic.

I went to the gym today and I'm really glad I did.  Today was a day that I needed to "run it out."  The best part?  A guy walked in with a Kansas Jayhawk T-shirt and we got to talk while I was walking on the treadmill after my run.  Everything really does happen for a reason.  In the midst of the gray, drizzly day, I love to be able to connect to someone just because of geographic similarities.  A little taste of "home" today was welcomed.  I know that Kansas doesn't exactly seem like a "brag-able" birthplace, and if you're not FROM there, you couldn't possibly understand.  But there's something about calling Kansas my HOME that always feels like a big embrace.  When I left Kansas to go to college my Aunt Jan gave me a book called, "If You're Not From the Prairie".  I still have it and it's one of those books that I still look at from time to time when I get homesick.  Kansas is in my heart, and on certain days, I go to that place in my heart to remember who and what I want to be.  Even through all this "transformation," there are some things that I feel so proud that I've maintained, and I know that a lot of those things are learned from eighteen years being raised by tremendou people, with tremendous people, and in a tremendous place.

What went in my belly today?
Breakfast:  leftover vegetable and beef soup strained with fried eggs on top (sounds kinda' gross when I typed it up, but it was really good.)
Lunch:  (after the gym I wasn't super hungry) I had a banana with almond butter and some carrots
Snack:  raw hazelnuts and a little tiny honeycrisp apple
Dinner:  Delicious chili and baked sweet potato