Sweet Chili

As promised, here you go!!
Enjoy a pot of this simmering on the stove, I think it's going to be the perfect weekend for it! 

Ingredients ::

(1) lb ground turkey (or beef)
(1) cup chopped onion
(3/4) cup chopped green pepper
(1) lb can of chopped tomatoes
(1) lb can of dark red kidney beans (drained) *you can also substitute white cannelloni beans
(1) lb can of baked beans
(1) 8oz can tomato sauce (or paste, makes it a bit thicker)
(1) tsp salt
chili powder (desired amount)
secret ingredient ** BROWN SUGAR** (desired amount)
(1) box of shell noodles or Fritos
shredded cheese (any kind you like)
sour cream

Directions :: 

-brown your ground turkey on the stovetop
-dump all other ingredients (aside from noodles, cheese and sour cream) into either a large pot or crock pot; add ground turkey
-let simmer until nice and warm
-serve with remaining (3) ingredients

cute chili bar via pinterest

Happy Friday!

Halloween Recap

Has everyone recovered from their sugar high yet??

Our Halloween fun began this past Sunday at our neighborhood parade!
Here's a little recap of (unedited) pictures from that!

 :: she wanted no part in pre-parade pictures ::

 :: but then she came around ::

:: yes, daddy had to wear his hideous wig and glasses ::

:: lills with her friends emma and stokes ::

:: we had about a two second window for this shot before another meltdown ::

:: had to come back for a photo shoot with the pupster ::

Last night we had an entertaining Halloween night as usual, this year that entertainment was brought to you by a banana, a ladybug, an indian princess, a bunny rabbit and Cinderella!!

OH- and how can I forget about the hot dog...

Do not ask me why but I love Halloween! Always have! My mom use to have parties at our house for my friends...we would dress up, bob for apples, set up haunted houses and trick-or-treats...it was ghouls of fun!! 

And while I always complain that we never have many trick-or-treaters, this year was a different story because I actually ran out of candy. We officially became "that house" that had to resort to peanut butter crackers and juice boxes. It was embarrassing, yet hysterical because we had a couple kids that opted for nothing when they heard we had no candy. Seriously?!

(disclaimer : I may or may not have eaten half of the candy over the past week contributing to this unfortunate situation. I'm not even going to deny that I've hit my 6 month pregnancy mark and well those that have been there know what that means!)

I whipped up my usual "Sweet Chili" recipe that is a classic of my mother's, who so kindly showed me how to make it years ago when we started this tradition. I'm going to be honest, it's delicious!! I'm not shy about sharing the recipe because it really is THAT good thanks to this one secret special ingredient. 

However, I thought I shared it here before to link up, but now can't locate it, so will post later on when I have more time. 

I also fixed this delicious Fall Crunch Mix (sadly there is a little bit left today, which I'm sure will be gone tomorrow!), The Great White Pumpkin Ball, Chili served with noodles & scoops and Pumpkin Bread with chocolate chips to top it all off!!! 

*I'm drooling again just thinking about it all

** 2011 Halloween / Chili + Chimnea Night

Smokey Corn + Black Bean Pizza

I fixed this easy and quick meal last week and it was a hit!! Never would have thought the barbecue sauce would have mixed well with this combo, but it was tasty!! I served it with a side of yellow rice. 

Enjoy! 

Smokey Corn + Black Bean Pizza

Ingredients :

1 plum tomato, diced

1 cup canned black beans, rinsed

1 cup fresh corn kernels (about 2 ears)...I used canned corn

2 tablespoons cornmeal

1 pound prepared whole-wheat pizza dough...I bought pre-made 

1/3 cup barbecue sauce

1 cup shredded mozzarella, preferably smoked mozzarella

Directions : 

1) Preheat grill to medium (to save on time, we baked pizza in the oven)

2) Combine tomato, beans and corn in medium bowl. Sprinkle cornmeal onto large baking sheet. Stretch the dough into about a 12-inch circle and lay it on top of the cornmeal, coating the entire underside of the dough.

3) Transfer the crust from the baking sheet to the grill. Close the lid and cook until the crust is puffed and lightly browned on the bottom, 4-5 minutes. 

4) Using a large spatula, flip the crust. Spread barbecue sauce on it and quickly sprinkle with the tomato mixture and cheese. Close the lid; grill until the cheese is melted and the bottom of the crust is browned, 4-5 minutes. 

My new friend, Kale

I'm part of a dinner club on Monday nights, and while I can't make it every week, I do try for at least once a month. 

Usually we part ways for the summer and meet up again in the fall, but we're going to try and stay connected with a few special get togethers...each hosted with a theme.

This past Monday was "Veggies and Vino" night and we had a great time! Everyone's dishes were amazing! And I'm pretty sure I consumed enough greens to carry me over for a couple of weeks.

I don't have any pictures from our evening, but I did manage to take a quick snapshot of what I decided to bring...

One Pot Kale & Quinoa Pilaf

This was a super easy recipe to whip up in no time and I love that I had almost all of the ingredients on hand.

Do check out this recipe because I'm pretty sure it will become part of your dinner rotation...I know it has here! 

2011 Cookie Exchange

I like to call mine...

Santa Surprise! 

These little guys looked so cute when I first spotted them. That was however until I got him dressed. 

Lucky for me I requested the hubs for help to assist in speeding up the process. Cutting up those darn little marshmallows were a pain in the butt! Otherwise, a cute little baking day could sure be had with the kiddos. 

Directions:

INGREDIENTS

red food color

1 1/4 cups vanilla frosting

12 (2 1/2") graham crackers

1 cup mini marshmallows, halved crosswise

6 small red gumdrops, halved crosswise

24 red cinnamon candies 

**side note :: i went to TWO different stores and was unsuccessful finding red hots and red gumdrops, so we got what we could find at target in the $1 section that looked like it would do the trick**

DIRECTIONS

(1)  Line cookie sheet with wax paper. In small bowl, stir 1/4 teaspoon red food color into 1/4 cup frosting; blend well. In separate bowl, stir 1 drop red food coloring into remaining 1 cup frosting; blend well.

(2)  For each cookie, frost 1 inch of one corner of cracker with dark red frosting for Santa's hat.

Place 1 marshmallow piece in corner of pom-pom.

(3)  Frost remainder of cracker with pink frosting. Place marshmallow piece on pink frosting around 2 sides for beard. Add gumdrop (or whatever you find) for nose and cinnamon candies (or whatever you find) for eyes.

{all ready for the party}

{cookie exchange final selection!} 

Unfortunately mine did not win the competition, but all of the cookies were super tasty!!

Fortunately though, my baking cap is being put away for a while!

I couldn't be happier!

**by the way- i think i mentioned a little something about baking cookies for the hubs work accounts. yep this nice wifey over here baked 82 to be exact. i should have attached my business card instead of his!** ;)

Just call me...

Betty Crocker!

HA!

Yesterday I decided to put my baking cap on and get to work! 

*We started with Sausage Balls! I had no reason to make them other than the fact that they sounded good, and I couldn't go through the holidays without having some. And well per usual, they did not disappoint. 

This year we got fancy and spiced them up with some cream cheese. The second I saw this recipe with those words, I knew they were for me. Little fun (or possibly gross) fact about me....I could literally eat scoops of the cream cheese. It's just that good. 

Try these bad boys out and let me know what ya think! I must say that the "cc" added a little somethin' good to them.

{my not so favorite part...mixing that by hand}

{baking}

{ready to be devoured}

*Next, we baked some cookies. Today was baby girls last day at Mommy's Morning Out until January, so I wanted to take her sweet teachers something as a little thank you for taking such good care of my of my missy britches!! 

When in doubt, you can always rely on Mrs. Paula Deen for something wonderful, and these cookies are definitely somethin' wonderful! Hubs likes to refer to them as crack and wanted to throw all the left overs out because he can't keep his hands off of them. I quickly nipped that idea in the bud, but I guess as a non-baker, I'll take that as a compliment. 

Looks like now I've been voted to make another 2-3 batches for all of his work accounts. 

I know where I'll be most of the day on Saturday. 

You can find this recipe HERE. I'll spare you the directions, it's super easy to follow along with her and there's nothing unexpected that popped up that I feel necessary to share with you. 

I suggest you hurry up and go make yourself some. 

I mean they have a whole stick of butter whipped up in there, so what's not to like? 

{whipping up stages}

{after being rolled in confectioners sugar}

{first batch is done and yum}

{all wrapped up and ready to hand over. a friend told me about these cute baskets in the $1 section at Target, so we scooped up a few}

I'll be back next week with more baking fun, as the annual cookie exchange I go to is on Sunday. It's the one party every holiday season I really look forward to....chatting, wine & cookies! 

Ole Ole

While in Orlando back in June (yes I have had this post sitting as a "draft" for almost that long!), I snagged this delicious recipe from my friend Brittany. It's on her weekly dinner rotation, and now I see why. It's an easy throw it together meal especially if your in a rush.

Beef Enchilada Casserole

Ingredients: 

Ground Turkey (or Beef)

1 can red enchilada sauce

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can Rotel tomatoes, drained

1 can of black beans, rinse

1 can of corn, drained 

cumin, to taste

flour tortillas

2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese

1 :: Brown Meat

2 :: Add the next 5 ingredients and mix all together

3 :: Stir & let simmer

4 :: Layer bottom of 9x13 pan with tortillas, spread 1/3 of beef mixture, layer on 1/3 cheese. Add 2 more layers of tortillas, beef mixture and cheese.

5 :: Bake at  375 for 3-40 mins.

You can serve it with some yellow rice or tortilla chips!

Enjoy