Weight Watchers changed their plan on December 3rd, so this was my second weigh in after the change. Last week I had a moderate week but this week was great! I lost 3.6 pounds for a total of 84.4! I am now 1.6 pounds away from my new year goal of 200 pounds! It’s so exciting! I really had no idea if I would be successful when I started this journey at the end of February, and so far it has been much better than I ever dreamed! I just have 2 weeks of hard work in front of me to make that goal for the year. Not that I’ll be finished, but it will make me feel good to know that I made that goal.
Speaking of Weight Watchers, part of the changes to their new plan was to add beans and lentils to the list of 0 point foods. I was so excited, because I’ve been craving chili, and with the cold snap we had here last week it was just the right time to make some.
The recipe I used is from Weight Watchers, and you can find it here (even if you aren’t a member). I had to recalculate my points because my canned tomatoes were Italian style and they had more points than the ones in the recipe, but my total was still only 2 points per serving. I also used my crock pot so that I could just turn it on in the morning and have dinner ready by the end of the day (which turned out to be a good plan because I ended up having to run to the office for part of the day).
So other changes I made. I did not cook my lentils before adding them, and I did not saute any of my veggies since they were going into the slow cooker. I just added everything into the crock pot. Since I didn’t precook the lentils, I added a couple of cups or so of chicken stock. It was just enough that the chili wasn’t to dry, but it wasn’t super juicy either. If you wanted it a little more saucy, you could add more broth for cooking. And although I bought cilantro specifically for this recipe, I forgot to add it.
I added the lentils to the crock pot, measured out my spices, and chopped up some red onion, and red pepper.
I added the black beans and tomatoes to the crock pot. Added the onion, red pepper, and spices and gave it a stir, although I did not stir up the lentils from the bottom, because I wanted them to be immersed in liquid during cooking. Then I added the chicken broth and turned it on.
At the end of the day I had a delicious pot of chili, which I served with a dollop of plain, Greek yogurt.
I will warn you, this makes a huge pot of chili. I think I actually got more than the 8 servings it says in the recipe. I ate it for size straight meals (well except for breakfast) before finally getting so sick of it I couldn’t face it for another day. I ended up tossing the remainder into the freezer, so maybe I’ll pull it out in another week or so.
I will definitely make this again, but I will probably halve the recipe. I had to use two smaller cans of black beans anyway, because I couldn’t find a big tin here, so that would work out well for me.
Life, Tea, and Everything 
Did you try freezing any? We still make our regular sized batch of chile, but freeze it so we have one or two meals later. You are doing such a good job with eating healthy, what a wonderful Christmas gift to yourself!
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I did freeze a little but I just have the crappy little freezer in my apartment sized fridge so space is pretty tight, lol.
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OH I didn’t even think of that, sorry! My folks bought me a small chest freezer when I went to college, so I totally forget that having one is not normal! Oops!
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I want to get a small upright freezer but I need to get rid of a few things to make space for it first.
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Congratulations on being so close to your goal weight! I can only imagine how excited you must feel! Also, I have been craving chilli. I think I will make your version soon. Thanks for sharing!!!
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Thank you! I still have about 50 pounds to go to my ultimate goal, but I’m hoping to cross that 200 lb mark before the end of the year, that will make me very happy!
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You will get there! I wanted to be 200 by the of the year as well. I am 210 now, so it looks like it might happen AFTER the new year but that is okay. We will get to our ultimate goal weight very soon!
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You are so close! You will get there soon…I only set that goal once I knew I could reach it, I didn’t want to put too much pressure on myself.
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Awesome job Kate! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
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Congratulations on your big loss this week, Kate. That is awesome!
I laughed when I saw your comment about forgetting the cilantro, thinking about the sad, wilted little bunch of it lying pitifully in my fridge this morning. I bought it to make pico de gallo for a Tex-Mex meal last weekend, but we were late getting home from the movies and it never happened. Maybe next time. 🙂
Keep up the great work and you’ll surely hit your end-of-year goal!
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Thanks!
I am forever forgetting to put something into a recipe, so I’m glad to know it’s not just me who does that!
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First of all, congratulations on your hard work of losing more than 80 pounds. That is really amazing. Second of all, congratulations on setting realistic goals for yourself. 200 is in your reach and you really deserve to feel all accomplished when you attain that goal. Third, this chili recipe may be on the Weight Watchers web site, but if it is, Weight Watchers scanned my brain one night when I was sleeping or stayed at the same lodging I did a few months back. A few months ago I stayed at a B&B in Holland and they served me this chili for dinner with rice (surprisingly, Dutch people seem to eat a lot of rice). I went home and copied it from memory. So, just FYI, this chili tastes really wonderful with white rice, brown rice, whole-grain rice, all the rice. I’ve tried it with many kinds of rice and it’s the bomb. You can also mix it up and switch out the lentils for red kidney beans, you just have to prepare the recipe differently. I’ve also switched out the black beans for great northern beans or cannelini beans. Use any beans you like. I put more garlic in mine, too. 🙂 Instead of cooking slow, why not cook fast? Used canned legumes and you can get this done in about 30 minutes or a little less.
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It doesn’t surprise me that you’ve had a recipe identical or nearly so..it’s pretty basic chili I think. I do cook fast sometimes, but I love to be able to throw the ingredients in the crockpot in the morning so that all I have to do is dish it up at supper time. Especially when I’m working late days trying to get some things caught up. I often make chili woth kidney neans, but not this particular recipe. I will have to try some of your other suggestions sometime!
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I hope you do. I have mutated this one so many times depending on my mood. For some reason, though, I can’t have it without the rice! The Dutch bug.
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Woohoo! Way to go! 🙂
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That chilli sounds good!
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It really was!
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