The fun's over! It's time for an Easter (Sunday, March 31) Challenge!

[Patty Smyth]

Patti that sound delicious. I have a dried bean question for. Do you buy your dried beans at the grocery store or are they better from a bulk food store? I was reading in a recipe book that dried beans that have been around awhile aren't as soft when you cook them.Found this out the hard way after making a soup with navy beans fo the grocery store and they just would not soften enough, it wasn't terrible but not great either.

I buy my beans from big warehouse that supplies restaurants and other small stores so there is a big turnover. A 10kg bag of chickpeas was $14.95 I think. It lasts a few months.

I soak them for a good 24 hours then boil them for about 30 minutes. They come out very tender.

I am soaking navy beans that I bought in a store so I will see if there is a difference. I was planning on making baked beans with them so that will take about 6 hours at low temp. I may boil them for an hour first though.

[walkonby]

I had every intention of working out this a.m. I went to the basement, saw the mess in the rec room, plus the nightmare beyond that room and felt defeated. Then I innocently said " ok I'll just do this one task " , and I started sorting through heaps of clothes, shoved away some packed up Xmas decor, put groceries on the stockpile shelves, plus did an overdue vacuuming.

I managed to discover 3 new Bounce Dryer Bars that had fallen behind an unused fishtank, and a huge thing of canola Oil was on the very bottom shelf out of my eyesight! ( I thought I was all out of oil ) I gathered 2 huge bags of " fat clothes" that I really have to pass on to a drop box, and will get three hampers of things brought upstairs ( where they belong, agh!! kids and DH!!!)

So really I kind of did a work out after all, hooray me!
lol!

[ssbean]

Last night made basmati rice, had peppers (1 each of red, yellow, green, orange, ), 2 onions, mushrooms sauteed, 2 cups cooked chick peas, everyone into the pan with fine herbs, paprika, onion powder, garlic, parsley and a jar of my homemade tomatoes then added the cooked rice to it and let it simmre for a bit. Made enough for leftovers too.

Thanks for the recipe Patty. I am going to give that a try for dinner.

[Patty Smyth]

I ended up simmering the navy beans for an hour before baking them and they were already quite tender. So hopefully they will be done in 4 hours. last time I didn't do this and they went for 7 hours and were blac by the time they were done and way too sweet , I cut the molasses and brown sugar in half this time too

[thriftygranny]

Thanks for the tips patty I bought mine from a Sobeys that doesn't have a lot of traffic i think that is what the issue was. I think my only other options are Costco and bulk barn so will give them a try from there.I do used canned sometimes but I would rather do mine from dried so i can control the salt.Good luck with the weight loss this week! I have been craving baked beans I am sure a lot of people have only had canned and homemade are so good!

I ended up simmering the navy bens for an hour before baking them and they were already quite tender. So hopefully they will be done in 4 hours. last time I didn't do this and they went for 7 hours and were blac by the time they were done and way too sweet , I cut the molasses and brown sugar in half this time too

[lilo0003]

forgot to check in. I stayed the same, but was at the gym 4 timlast week so hopefully it will work better this week. We took the boys to see the Hobbit today (loved it) and I only had a water so I was pretty proud, esp cause I went to the gym 1st.

[vesper]

[Patty Smyth]

ANyone up for some mindless fun I started a Golden Globes party thread in the entertainment section.

[vesper]

[Mia001]

oh boy! i'm soooooo tired......didn't slept at all.....it's killing me...really...

[bluerose]

Fell off the wagon yesterday,but thats ok. I like this place http://www.eatingwell.com/

[hollyquaiscer]

I think everyone has to feel ok when they fall off the wagon from time to time. It's normal, and if we accept that, and let ourselves do it every now and then, we will succeed!

[hollyquaiscer]

Aha....you guys are weighing yourselves wrong, that's the problem. I've taken the liberty to show you the correct way to do it.

[hollyquaiscer]

who said you couldn't have bacon on a diet, just look at this amazing breakfast you can have if you choose bacon this morning with your breakfast...

[solosaver]

Sorry I didnt post at the end of the week....way to hectic around here!! but I did weigh in. Down 2.5 Why is it that it takes so long to come off but I know I can gain this much in a day if I have a bad day??!!
Was hoping for more as I was really good this week but that usually my problem is I give up wayy too easily so this time I am going to just be happy with my results and carry on!!