Healthy Chili Tex Mex Style

I love me a good hot bowl of chili.  The way that I make chili is very healthy.  Well, at least I think so.  It's also rather delicious, so I thought I would share my recipe.  It's so simple.

1/2 lb ground turkey (you can use a whole pound if you like)
2 cans of pinto beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can of black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can of Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes and Green Chili's (I have only found this in the Great Value or Walmart Brand of Tomatoes, but if you can't find this, Rotel will do just fine)
1 can of tomato sauce (6 oz.)
2 tbsp Chili Powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp minced garlic (I love garlic so I tend to add more than that)
1 bundle of fresh cilantro
1 lime
1 bundle of green scallions.
Cheese

The best way to make this chili I find, is to bring all the ingredients together on the stove then dump into a crock-pot to simmer all day.  So good.  Anyway.  Here is how I do things.

First brown your meat.  Once your meat is browned add the Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes and Green chilis and tomato sauce.  While that is heating up with the meat drain and rinse your canned beans.  After they are thoroughly rinsed dump them in the pot with the tomatoes and meat.  Begin to add your spices; chili powder, cumin, salt, garlic.  Add a cup or 2 of water.  Bring to a boil.  Now  you can either put a lid on this and let it simmer for 30 minutes, or if you have planned for it to cook all day, dump the contents of the pot into a crock-pot and let cook on Low or Medium Low setting until you are ready to eat it.

While the chili is cooking mince up your cilantro, slice your lime into wedges, and chop up your scallions.  Set them aside in seprate bowls.

When serving the chili, it should be topped with shredded cheese (unless you are lactose intolerant like my husband), cilantro to your liking, and green scallions to your liking.  Squeeze the lime on top of all this and you have a delicious blend of flavors that hopefully will have you saying mmmmm with every bite.

We also like to eat our chili with tortilla chips.  We either use Baked Tostitos or some all natural ones.

The Best Valentines Day EVER!

Well.  We did it!  We went and got Waffles.  It was a group thing.  We even had the kids.  It turned out to be the best place to go!  Everyone was packing into the steak houses and Italian restaurants so The Belgian Waffle and Pancake House was all ours.  After about 30 minutes we were the only people there!  It was awesome!  We laughed so hard that Liz had a hard time eating her waffle ha ha ha.  Brendan was HILARIOUS!  The restaurant gave the kids these Styrofoam cut out things and Brendan stuck his in syrup and then stuck it on Nate's shirt.  It was so funny. He also had the most hilarious things to say ALL NIGHT!

Danielle will appreciate this: At one point I asked Lindsey what Valentines Day means to her and Brendan interjected "BACON!" ha ha ha... Then a bit later he had some bacon pieces, and while moving the pieces like a mouth sang "I am bacon, I am bacon, I am bacon!" ha ha ha.

I brought my big girl camera but forgot to grab a memory card.  FAIL! ha ha ha.  Oh well.  So you are stuck with iPhone pics.  Sorry! ha.  Poor people on Instagram got a rare bombardment of photos from me this evening. Sorry.

Ok.  Here we go.  Valentine's Day in Photograph documentation.

It was funny because their waffle description says "served at room temperature with melted butter and hot syrup" ha ha ha.  I questioned this room temperature thing and the waitresses thought I was making it up or something... then I showed them and they were so confused.  The waffles were served warm for the record. ha.  Time to edit the menu?  I think so.

Meet my brother Anthony!  He is awesome.  He never gives real smiles for the camera, he has done this for as long as I can remember.  I love him though.  He has this way of making a bad day good and a good day better.  I love him for that.

This is Liz.  You may recognize her from her blog Liz Lemon.  She is such a cool person.  I met her through my brother because they are really good friends.  If you don't follow her blog you should.  She is awesome!

This is Hannah and Nate.  Hannah is fantastic and Nate is such a laid back cool guy with a huge heart.  Where these two are involved it's sure to be great times had.  Glad they shared my Waffle Valentines Day with Dave and I.

The kids.  I  love Bren's face here.  They both were having such a fun time.  It took me several shots to get a decent picture because Lindsey gets so awkward in front of the camera... maybe one trait she borrowed from my brother, ha!  Bren was seriously cracking us up all night!

Awe!  Dave and I.  :)  Thanks Hannah for snapping this.  Every time I do a self portrait of Dave and I, I chop off a portion of Dave's face. ha ha ha.  Hannah saved the day.  Love him.

My waffle.  It was sooooooooooooooooo yum.  :)

There was a small debate between Nate and Anthony over which is better.  The HTC Evo or the iPhone 4... What do you think?

Our waitress was awesome!  She talked about liking White Russians (the alcoholic beverage) which had us laughing and talked about how awesome the cooks are for like 5 minutes.  So funny, but I guess you would have had to have been there.

Anyway.  It was great times.  It will go down as one of my favorite Valentine's Days EVER! 

How was your Valentine's Day?

I Want Waffles for Valentines Day.

image source

This is what I say to Dave.  I say.  I want to eat a waffle for Valentines Day.  A Waffle.  With butter.  And Syrup.

So... this is what we will do.

I am excited about Valentines Day.  Are you? What are your Vday plans?

The Emotions of a 7 Year Old

My daughter's emotions were running high today. We were watching Wheel of Fortune, it has become a nightly thing, and she comes down and sits on the couch. She said "I think I just want to be downstairs right now." I look at her and say "ok." Not thinking anything of it. Then next thing I hear is a few little sobs. I look at her and she is crying! ha ha ha. So I ask her "Lindsey, What's wrong?" She continues to sob and blubbers out "I can't get my Tinkerbell skin to show up on my game!" (skin being a decorative wallpaper sort of thing that I added onto her game online)

We tell her to go upstairs and cry it out. She does. Then a bit later while we were watching The Biggest Loser, Bren traipses downstairs and hands me a piece of paper saying "this is for you."


I immediately had my husband read it just because I couldn't believe what I was reading! ha. It was heartbreaking and hilarious at the same time. Am I mean for thinking this? ha. I couldn't help it!

Well. I called her downstairs and had her cuddle with me for the remainder of The Biggest Loser. I think she will be ok.

P.S. I told Dave I was going to blog about this and Lindsey said "I don't think I like everyone knowing what I write" Bah ha ha ha. Sorry Lindsey. It was too good to pass up. MOMMY LOVES YOU!

The Proper Way to Eat Peanut Butter M&M's

Yes there is a right and wrong way to eat Peanut Butter M&M's and I am going to show you the right way because the wrong way should be a no-brainer.  Now.  If you have a peanut allergy, or if you hate peanut butter... this post will be very dull indeed.  However, if you are, like me, in love with the magical mixture between chocolate and peanut butter, you will want to pay very close attention.

First thing you need is a bag of Peanut Butter M&M's un-opened.  The pictured m&m's are "fun size" which is fine and good for the wee little appetite, but more than likely you will have a normal sized bag.

Second thing is to heat up said bag of Peanut Butter m&m's.  This can be achieved in a number of ways.  Here are my recommended methods of m&m heating.

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A.  Easiest and fastest is stick the unopened bag of PB m&m's in the microwave for 10 - 15 seconds.

B.  Not so easy and Not so fast but effective is to warm the delicious candy through body heat. You can do this by sandwiching the bag between your warm hands or... thighs... yes.  Thighs.  You could try sitting on them too, but I don't recommend that method.  Body heat warming can take up to 30 minutes for your m&m's to reach the desired warmness.

C.  Place unopened bag of PB m&m's on the dash board of your car on a sunny day or with the defrost on.  Now obviously this method is only effective if you are running errands or taking a road trip.

Last.  Once your m&m's are properly warmed.  Open bag.  Enjoy.  The result is ooey gooey Peanut Butter and Chocolatey goodness rather than the stiff cold not so creamy alternative when they are room temperature.  Blech.  

You're welcome.

High Royal Mess

I am not inhibited by pride.  I am not going to lie to you.  I am just going to be honest and say.  My kitchen is a literal high royal mess...

It would be nice if you tell me that your kitchen gets this way sometimes too.  Otherwise, maybe I should have a little pride and be embarrassed that I am showing you this picture.  I like to believe that I am not the only one who lets the dishes go at times.  IN MY DEFENSE!  I have been very busy with work (ie. editing photos for clients) So you see, I have time to mess them up, but not clean them.  Furthermore!  There isn't any rotting food, rotten smells, or maggots emanating from this pile of messy dishes so rest assured, it's not THAT BAD!  It's really just a big pile of dishes that need to go into that lovely little dishwasher you see to the right.  YOU SHOULD ALSO KNOW!  That as soon as I click "publish post"  I will be tackling this high royal mess and making it high royal clean.

Have a happy Wednesday all.  You will hear from me again when I have emerged conqueror of the high royal mess.

UPDATE!!!

I'm just here to show you "that sometimes the impossible can become possible. if. you're. AWESOME!" - movie quote... Bolt.

Enjoying This Time of Year

Nearly every morning I sit outside with my neighbor Tiffany, her daughter Bella, my daughter Lindsey, and son Brendan to wait for the Bus to come pick the girls up.  We usually do this with coffee in hand.  It's my favorite part of the day.

This morning, I decided to break out my favorite cider recipe that my friend Brad introduced me to.  The recipe can be found on the back of the Alpine Spiced Apple Cider mix box.  I stray from the recipe a bit...  I omit the cinnamon sticks, add more cloves, and add some brown sugar which gives it a sweet kick. I posted a blog post about this September of last year with the recipe.  If you would like the recipe please click this link AUTUMN APPLE CIDER

I also made some Pumpkin Spice Muffins.  I wish I could claim this brilliant little recipe as my own, but I can't.  I got this recipe from a friend.  She brought them to a Holiday party and I LOVED THEM, when I found out how simple they were and how LOW FAT they were, I was all about that.  Here is how you make them:

1 box of Carrot Cake mix
1 reg size can of pumpkin

Mix the two together (you will think to yourself that there is NO WAY that that one regular size can of pumpkin can moisten that whole cake mix, but it can and does, so don't worry) and then spoon into a muffin tin, bake at 350 for 17-22 mins.  Let cool.

Then top with light cool whip and garnish with cinnamon.

YOU WILL LOVE THEM... I promise.

It was a great morning. :)

Have a great Tuesday everyone