I won the chili cookoff?

The only chili I know how to make is from my friend, Carla. In her honor, I made her yummy chili for the MOMS Club Annual Chili Cookoff today and won by a 'landslide.' I was embarrassed and felt a little guilty, too. Afterall, I'm not a good cook. I just know a good recipe when I see it.

So, here are two more recipes that got rave reviews at the cookoff and have been added to my recipe repertoire. Eat up!

Carla Carlson's White Bean Chicken Chili

32 oz. box of Swanson’s Chicken broth
1 – 16 oz. jar of Sadie’s Salsa: “Not as Hot” flavor
2- 16 oz. cans of Great Northern beans
1- 16 oz. can of Navy Beans
1- 16 oz. can of White Kidney Beans
3 chicken breasts
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 cups shredded Colby Jack cheese
sour cream
green onions

Directions:
-salt and pepper pounded chicken breasts, grill, and then shred with two forks
-Drain and rinse all beans
-Set crock pot to high and add broth, salsa, all beans, chicken, chili seasoning and cream of tartar. Stir occasionally.
-After an hour (or when ingredients start to bubble) set crock pot to low
-If chili looks watery, remove lid for a short time (20-30 minutes)
-Cook all day or even overnight
-An hour or so before serving, add cheese into crock pot and let melt
-Add sour cream and onions to taste at serving time

NOTE: original recipe called for only ONE can of Great Northern Beans, BOILED chicken breasts, PACE instead of Sadie’s salsa, Cumin instead of Chili powder, and 1 cup each of Colby and Monterey Jack cheeses instead of Colby Jack combo. It seems to be a “winner” either way!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins
Cooks.com

1 2/3 cups all purpose flour*
¾ cup sugar
1 tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup pumpkin
½ cup butter, melted
1 cup chocolate chips

In a large bowl, thoroughly mix the flour, sugar, pie spice, soda, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, pumpkin and butter; whisk until blended. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour over dry ingredients and fold in with spatula until moistened. Spoon batter into greased muffin cups. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until puffed and springy to touch. Turn out onto rack and cool. Makes 12-14 muffins.

*Gluten free flour or baking mix can be substituted with yummy results!

I'm not a good cook.

I'm really not. I have good intentions, just not that intuitiveness that is key to consistently good meals. However, I DO have a few tried and true recipes that ALWAYS get me into trouble at parties: they give the impression that I'm a good cook. I just know a good recipe when I see one. So, I wanted to share two that we use at this time of year.

*Beware, if you make one of these, people will think you're a good cook, too!

*Ginger-Cranberry Chutney

1 package (12 oz.) cranberries
1 large tart apple, peeled, cored & diced
3/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup unsweetened apple juice concentrate
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 Tbls. grated orange peel
1 ts. ground allspice
1-1/2 ts. ground ginger
1/4 ts. ground cloves
1/4 ts. cayenne pepper
3 packages (8 oz.) cream cheese
Crackers

In a saucepan, combine cranberries, apple, sugar, apple juice, raisins, lemon juice, orange peel & spices. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered for 25 minutes or until thickened. Cool. Serve 1 cup of chutney over each package of cream cheese. Spread on crackers.

*Sweet Potato Bake

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes
Ready In: 1 hour 5 minutes
Yields: 7 servings

Ingredients:
(Main):
3 ½ cups mashed sweet potatoes
¼ cup milk
¼ cup orange juice
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup white sugar
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter, softened
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
(Topping):
¼ cup butter, softened
¾ cup packed light brown sugar
½ cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup chopped pecans

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease one 2-quart casserole dish.
2. In a large bowl, blend together the sweet potatoes, milk, orange juice, eggs, vanilla, sugar, salt, butter, nutmeg and cinnamon.Pour into prepared casserole dish.
3. Mix together the ¼ cup butter, brown sugar, flour and pecans; sprinkle over sweet potatoe mixture.
4.Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes.

From Allrecipes.com

I saw the sweetest thing today...

...ICE CREAM. My three kids were sharing it. That's right. SHARING. Without encouragement from me. Granted, it WAS ice cream. They each had a different flavor and all eagerly wanted to try them all out. However, they were negotiating and licking and tasting without a referee. It was really SWEET!

Halloween

I'm going for a record number of entries since I started blogging 18 months ago. I swear this is because the days are going by more quickly as my kids get older. The more activities we have to write about, the more quickly the time passes!

Tonight I asked my friend, Wendy, "How do you make yourself sit and enjoy yourself without getting mad or stressed--without even taking pictures? Even then you are watching through a lens and you're not really enjoying yourself. She assured me I'd be able to do that when my kids are older. I could only think that by then they won't want me to watch them, let alone take pictures of them!

So tonight, I tried to sit and watch the kids play their games, pass out candy and interact with the other kids at the ward trunk or treat. I don't do that enough. In the kids' classrooms this year I didn't sign up to run a booth or do anything other than provide supplies and be there to watch. I actually had fun, had time to hug them both and laugh at their antics. It was a good feeling to just watch and see what they enjoy. I still had to take pictures, though!

Old mommy saw too many farms...

Well, not really, but I think I'm done visiting farms for the year. It's just too cold. Like 60 degrees. Only in Phoenix, Arizona, would 60 degrees and some wind be considered legitimate excuses to suffer on a field trip and cancel baseball practice. I even thought to myself when considering whether to leave my jacket on the bus today, "It's 60 degrees, how wonderful! Enjoy it!" So I headed out with 100 first graders and had to get a sub for my group as I headed right back to the bus for my jacket. I guess a 30 degree swing in temperature in two days can do that to a girl. I did survive, though, and came out ahead with 6 radishes, 2 cucumbers, a zucchini, 1 pumpkin and the delight of my 7 year old who still thinks it's great that his mom is riding on the bus with him and his friends. Priceless.

From Collages

On Friday we celebrated Matt's 42nd with a visit to Schnepf Farm in Queen Creek, AZ. Quite a little jaunt, but well worth the drive and the $12 each (Stewart is still endearlingly free). After arriving at 2 p.m., we hit the hayride, Whitney had her face painted, we checked out the Arizona mushy pumpkin patch and overall enjoyed the beautiful farm and wide open spaces and mature trees. Eight hours later, the kids still didn't want to go home. Because we started in the day, they were able to ride all the rides without a wait. Stewart LOVED the roller coaster and swings. Unbeknownst to us, he rode well under the height requirement. That night, we paid the price when his passage was denied for a repeat. Whitney even 'tried' the roller coaster, something we've been practicing, and she decided she probably didn't like it. I was proud of her for trying. We rode the train at dusk, the perfect time to ride before the 'spooks' turned scary. Then we ended the night by roasting marshmallows and listening to some blue grass music. I loved the carousel, the gocarts, and the numerous playyards, treehouses, trains and places for the kids to run. We'll definitely return. Next year.

From Collages

A Halloween craft?

OK, so I've never posted a craft on my blog, but I love reading other people's blogs for craft ideas. This one turned out so cute, I just had to share it. The idea came from a MOMS Club activity that we weren't able to attend. I was excited when a friend made them at her daughter's birthday party, where we made the kids' t-shirts. From there, we made dad a shirt for his birthday.

The kids' upside down footprint made the perfect ghost. Their hands (minus the thumb) overlapping at the palm made a scary spider, even fuzzy around the edges. I thought it especially clever to add my OWN hand print spider right on his shoulder. :) Regular acrylic paint worked just great and washing the shirts beforehand prepares the surface better to absorb the paint. We used fabric paint for the eyes.

It took 3 tries to get the transfer to work right, but it was pretty easy once I followed the directions on the package. I didn't know about the mirror image feature in Word/Publisher, but it worked just like it said it would to rotate the text and pictures before printing them on the transfer paper. This feature can be found under the 'Arrange' button, then select, 'Flip horizontally.'

TIPS: Use a paper plate under the prints when using black paint so the color doesn't bleed through to the other side. Have a bucket of water handy to rinse off the paint.

MOMS: Make a shirt for you, too!

Dear Santa

Dear Santa,

This is my last list. I really want a real telescope and a Bakugan set and Magic Tree House Books 31-100 and one baby sister. Can you give me a list of where the reindeer go?

a maid
a motorhome
I will get a kite [for the reindeer]

from Casper
10-21-2009