It started with a bean called the mortgage lifter....

Mortgage Lifter & Cranberry Beans

Ham Bone added essence of ham

On Saturday I got up early to go get our Bountiful Basket. I was waiting for J-man to get up so I decided to plan dinner. I looked in the cupboard and my eyes came upon a bag of beans we bought a few weeks ago at Honeyville Grain. They are called the Mortgage Lifter. Huge dry beans. I also had some beans called Cranberry beans. I put some in a bowl, covered with water and let them soak. When we got home from our rapidly forming ritual of running errands after getting the basket I decided to get a soup together in the crock pot. Since Jackson and I began Eat to Live we consume almost 0 dairy. We do have meat occasionally but it is now a small part of the meal instead of the main course. We had a ton of leftover Ham from the holidays in the freezer. I put broth and the soaked beans in the crock pot and added a large ham bone and some bay leaves and pepper. After a couple of hours I took out the ham bone. It had given the soup a wonderful flavor and had left behind only very small pieces of ham. That way we would be getting the essence of a ham and bean soup but without so much ham. I added some chopped butter potatoes (got them in the basket and they are delish!), onions and some spices and we had ourselves a meal. The Mortgage Lifter beans are pretty damn awesome. I am a big fan of all kinds of legumes. The bigger the better. And you don't get a lot bigger than the Mortgage Lifter!

Motivation

More Motivation

 Jackson and I had a fun and kick ass workout session. He tried on clothes to see what still fits. He is going to take a lot of his shirts to a tailor to see if they can take them in. It would be a lot cheaper than trying to replace some of his favorite shirts. I tried on clothes too. I got rid of three bags of "fat clothes" and I am now fitting into pants and shirts I have never been able to wear. I don't try on clothes and because of that I have lots with tags on that my fat gut prevented me from wearing. That fat gut is shrinking now allowing me to be able to get into the pants. There are two pairs in particular that I can't wait to wear. I am about two inches away from buttoning them now. I can't wait to be able to wear them. One I bought a few years ago. The other we bought before we were married at the outlet malls and I could never even get them up over my ass. Ha ha. 

Love steamer bags!

Yum!

We finished our Saturday with a yummy and healthy dessert. I steamed apples with cinnamon, a little bit of agave nectar and added some diced dates and topped with dairy free ice cream. It was like eating apple pie al a mode without guilt! So awesome!