Posted on January 2, 2010 - by Ashley Jackson

Victory Dinner

I napped the nap of the extremely worn-out yesterday…I didn’t wake up until 7 or 8PM!

I started planning what I was going to have for dinner the evening of my 5K a week ago. I decided on nachos–real, good nachos, made with ground beef instead of ground turkey.

And not just ground beef, ground beef from the farmers market. I picked up a pound of ground beef on Wednesday specifically for this purpose! It came from Wheeler Ranch in Louisburg, NC.

The Wheeler Ranch is a small, family operated farm located in Louisburg, NC that raises all natural, Angus beef and pastured poultry for both meat and eggs. All of our animals are treated humanely and raised without added hormones or routine antibiotics. We use a grazing system that is both conservation-minded and provides a natural environment for the livestock and poultry. Cattle are always on pasture and are supplemented with locally grown grain in the finishing phase.

I went ahead and cooked the entire pound so I could season it all at once and then portion it off for future meals.

It even looked better when it was cooking than normal ground beef! Before I seasoned it, I took a taste and it was awesome. I don’t know if it’s the actual meat or some psychological effect that comes from feeling better about eating something that was humanely raised, but all the meat I’ve had from the farmers market has been extremely tasty.

Nachos were assembled…

And eaten with relish. They were fantastic. I had another smaller plate afterward. Because it was a victory dinner!

I’ve lived in my apartment for a little over two years and this is my third winter here, but I’ve never had a fire in my fireplace! I stopped on the way back from the 5K and grabbed a six-pack of firelogs, and lit one after dinner.

The blur on the lower left is not a ghost, it’s a dog shaking his head.

I watched Public Enemies–half-watched, really, because it wasn’t that good–and midway through decided that my movie in front of the fireplace needed cocoa and chocolate peanut butter cups.

I made the cocoa with almond milk left over from making the peanut butter cups. It tasted different…not bad, just different.

I woke up a little while ago and made myself a little bowl of grapes…

…and some pumpkin pancakes using a mix from Trader Joe’s.

These totally make up for the fact that Trader Joe’s didn’t have pumkin bread mix anymore!

No plans for the rest of the day, just chilling out…