Blog Update

For those that have found my link through someone else's blog, I apologize for the complete lack of recent blog posts. We are going through some home renovations, and my goodness, are we busy. I plan on doing a complete overhaul of my Homeschool page and some other design changes in the near future. In the meantime, feel free to check out my archived posts. Hopefully, I will be up and running again in mid June to July. Thanks for stopping by!

-Kristin

Kristin's Secret Ingredient Chili

UPDATE: I just found out that my chili won first place in the contest!

My husband's work has a Chili Cook-off contest about every 6 months. I had been wanting to enter it for a while, but he kept forgetting to tell me until the last minute. (Men...) This time he actually told me with enough time to prepare! There is a $250 prize for first place and $150 for second place. I am crossing my fingers that I win. Here is the recipe for my entry.

Kristin's Secret Ingredient Chili
Yield: 1 big pot (about  8 servings)

1 zucchini, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound ground sausage

Seasoning:
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon cumin powder
4 tablespoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons steak seasoning (you can substitute a sea salt and coarse ground pepper mix)
1 tablespoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon red cayenne pepper
 2-3 cups water

2 (14.5 ounce) cans of diced tomatoes
1 can Ro-Tel (diced tomatoes with green chilies)
1 small can tomato paste
2 (15 ounce) cans of beans (black, kidney, etc.), drained and rinsed
1 (15 ounce) can sweet corn, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup ketchup

Put all of the diced vegetables and the sausage into a large pot.

Cook just until the sausage is brown stirring frequently so the sausage gets broken up.

Mix together all of the seasonings in a small bowl and mix into the pot.

Pour in the water. (For thicker chili use 2 cups instead of 3.) Let it simmer for about 10 minutes.

At this point, you can add all of the canned ingredients and ketchup. Make sure you drain and rinse the beans and corn. Simmer for around 20 minutes.

I know that the sugar and the ketchup sound a little weird. These are my "secret" ingredients. They balance out the spicy with a little sweet, and you can't taste it at all. Really. I promise.

This recipe can easily be done in a slow cooker as well. Just cook the sausage first then mix all the ingredients in the slow cooker and leave on high for 2-3 hours. Quick and easy.

Again, I have neglected to take a finished photo. I had to have the chili taken to Greg's workplace by 11:30 and I was running late. You will have to take my word for it that it looked fantastic.

All of the ingredients are from Aldi (except the cumin and cayenne pepper). I highly recommend Aldi for your grocery shopping. Good and cheap produce.

Apple Pie Oatmeal

This is a super quick and tasty breakfast recipe. Getting my 5 year old son, who is picky about everything he eats, to eat oatmeal is a chore. Adding the word "pie" to the name makes things a bit easier.

Apple Pie Oatmeal
about 2-3 servings

1 cup instant oatmeal
1/2 apple, finely diced
1 3/4 cups water
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup brown sugar

Put all ingredients into a medium sized, microwave safe bowl. Lightly stir, and nuke in the microwave for 3-4 minutes on high. It's that easy. Stir it again after you take it out and spoon into bowls. You can also add a little milk or a small handful of walnuts, pecans, or raisins if you like.

I would've posted a photo, but we were really hungry this morning.

A New Year, Hospitals, and a Pirate Birthday Party

It's been awhile since I posted here. 2012 has kicked off to a busy start. Wrapping up the holidays in and of itself was a chore. My husband's elderly and mentally ill great aunt, who we have been caring for since May of 2010, took a turn for the worse mentally, and we had to take her to the hospital. We have been working with the hospital, a local nursing home facility, and her extended family for weeks. It's been a complicated mess, but things are getting done and everything is going well.

On the bright side, my oldest, Kaleb, turned 5 years old January 26th! When I asked him what theme he wanted, he said he didn't know.
Me: Kaleb, what kind of party do you want for your birthday?
Kaleb: I want a birthday cake!
Me: I'm going to make you a birthday cake. What kind of cake do you want? What do you want on it?
Kaleb: Chocolate with lots of frosting!
Me: *sigh* Do you want Spiderman, Superman, SpongeBob? Pirates, knights? What kind of party do you want?
Kaleb: Pirates? I can have a pirate party? With swords?!
Me: I guess it's a pirate party then. *sigh* Swords.

Of course, when I set my mind to something, it almost becomes a living breathing thing. I think that I had more fun planning it than he actually had at the party. I made a pirate ship birthday cake which (pardon my ego) looked fantastic. (I will post a how to in a separate post.) For party favors, there were swords and eye-patch sets from Oriental Trading Co, bubbles, pirate treasure (coins, beads, etc.), and we did crafts as well. A paper treasure chest for gluing plastic gems on, and a pirate hat craft also from Oriental Trading Co.

Goals for 2012 (Part 2)

20 Things To Do This Coming Year:

1. Finish the tiling in the kitchen.
2. Get the living room and hallway painted and crown molding installed.
3. Get new carpet in the family room, living room, and hallway.
4. Exercise for 30 minutes everyday.
5. Get a clean house and laundry routine set in place. Be more organized.
6. Get Kaleb's homeschool routine set in place.
7.  Have Kaleb reading and writing by the end of the year.
8. Get outside more (me and the kids).
9. Reorganize the home filing system.
10. Stay on top of the bills and finances. (No more late payments.)
11. Start getting credit cards paid off.
12. Have board game nights with friends/family once a week.
13. Start planning meals and grocery lists for each week.
14. Plan and plant this year's garden.
15. Eat more vegetables.
16. Try to preserve more food from the garden (canning, drying, etc.)
17. Spend more time with the dog.
18. Help Greg get his computer repair business started.
19. Get my own design business started.
20. Be more grateful of what I have. Complain less. Be happier.

Goals for 2012 (Part 1)

This coming year will be a lot different from 2011. Many things will be changing in how I run my life and home. I just joined this neat challenge starting January 2nd from Ask Anna:

 

This seems to be the perfect thing to kick my butt into gear and get my house organized. I know that a clean home will definitely make some people happy around here (myself included).