Showing posts with label home. Show all posts
Showing posts with label home. Show all posts

Saturday, February 7, 2015

How she cleaned it up - White Chicken Chili

How She Cleaned It Up

* I have been asked many times if I eat solely Organic, to which I respond: "I like to eat clean". This is something that I am very passionate about, and it is coming up more often in my day to day life. I recently got someone to switch over a few things and start their journey, which inspired me to start this series. I want to share some tips, tricks, & any knowledge I come across with you. Like with any of my posts, all of this is said in love and concern for the greater good. However, that being said, I find more and more ridiculous things the further I dig!


 I am saddened by what is happening to children, sometimes without their parents knowledge. I was not educated on any of this for a long while. When I did learn some of these things, I was outraged, I had been feeding my growing babies things I wish I hadn't! I want to help people make a change, but some people HONESTLY think you are borderline elitist if you tell them you eat organic! What is most important in life? Health? Don't get me wrong, we are not necessarily eating "healthy". We are eating  just how my grandmother use to eat when she was young, and she loved her sugar! 


First thing I changed was milk, eggs, & bread. These are the things that we go through the most in our home, and it wasn't a huge challenge to my budget. As I grew and changed more, I am not going to lie, my grocery bill did go up. It was not the money that I was spending the most on, rather the "time spending" that was most difficult for me personally. The more difficult thing for my family, however, was not wasting food. My humble opinion is that we waste a lot of food in today's culture. If we spent more on what we actually eat, throw less away, our grocery bill doesn't have to sky-rocket. Overall, I believe that we need to get back to simpler times in more ways than one (waste, chemicals & pesticides, waiting to have dinners around the table with family)... Like I said, all said in love & no offense meant. Now back to your regular scheduled post:


White Bean Chili

I started off by finding this recipe, and gathered all my ingredients. Knowing that I wanted to make white bean chili, I had soaked beans the night before and pre-cooked them according to the bag instructions. I then put them into a glass jar I previously had. I try not to use canned anything overall. (key word is try) 


As you can see I then used organic chicken broth, I usually like to use "better than bouillon" paste mixed with water. (yes, they have organic as well) This boxed broth was on sale at Sprouts, so I went with it instead. Yes, you caught me, I am using canned chiles... I am not familiar enough with this product to know my other options.


We, as a family, just don't care about having a ton of meat "in" our stuff. Sometimes we just crave a steak, but overall recipes that call for meat get halved. I have noticed a lot of recipes call for two pounds of ground beef... you just don't need that much! So I halved the chicken breast to two and cut them into chunks instead of pulling it apart.

I loved this chili, my oldest did as well. My youngest, well she just doesn't want anything to have any "spiciness" to it, so she did not want it. Let me know what you think!

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Giving warms the heart

If you're like me, you want to give and give and give some more around Christmas. I give till I get myself in trouble. I like to shop anyway, and then I continue to see things that "remind me" of this person or that... I have to let them know that I was thinking about them, right?!

Well to keep myself out of trouble, in more than one way, I stay at home one weekend in December and bake & make candies. My munchkins and I have a blast, create memories, & mama spends less dough. {pun intended}



Creating these treats helps me to give baskets to people that I love and think about without breaking the bank. On this occasion, however, I found myself without enough actual baskets to pack in. So here was my innovative solution! Remember the boxes that cuties come in? Yes! I wrapped that sucker in some gift wrap and viola! Instant Christmas basket!

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Tis the season.. for Baking

There is no time more than the holidays, that I love to bake! Unfortunately this year my mixer is in storage... I've been hunting recipes on Pinterest that do not require a mixer. If you have anything for me, please comment, I would love to know what "works" for you, & of course, what tastes delish.



In the mean time I found a site that shows how to cream butter and sugar, but I am now debating how the rest of the process would work?!


I may just look into some pre-made, do they make that in organic dough? :) I'll let you know what I decide, but in the mean time.. enjoy my trip down memory lane with these most adorable pictures.

Monday, December 8, 2014

No place like home for the holidays

Let me start off by saying, overall, we have been adjusting quite nicely here in CO. I have loved the weather thus far, one day it might be 27º F, but not to worry, the next is 72ºF... not lying. We are in an apartment at the moment, and as a mother and wife I can appreciate how little space I have to clean. I can in fact attest to the fact that we are "closer" by living in an apartment in fact. I kinda like it :)

In the midst of the Holiday season, I am starting to miss my house however. I miss my huge tree, my picture windows with snow outside, and most of all my mantle. So today, I am sharing this nostalgia with you. Is it not beautiful? *sigh*

Life is give and take right?! <3 font="">


Wednesday, October 15, 2014

A home travels


Do you remember quite a bit ago I poured my heart out to you about "home" over here...
It's amazing how you don't appreciate things till they have slipped into the past.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Home.

When I was a young teenager I remember telling everyone who would listen: ‘Once I am an adult I am moving out of poe-dunk USA Midwest, I am going to the city’. Now although I have not moved to the city, I did move about Three Hundred miles away. I also remember my father telling me upon hearing this: ‘One day you will appreciate your hometown and grow to love it.’ Then he made a comment about me missing it if I really did go to a city. Now that I am no longer that mouthy teenager, I am beginning to realize that Father Indeed Knows Best!

Now like I said, I am not a city girl, and I am still surrounded by farm land 360, but I do…

long for my hometown,

miss my home county,

When I drive that long 300 miles, I am transported back in time. I see the things that hold such strong memories for me. In fact, now that I have a decent camera, I want to pull over every few miles, to capture every. single. one. of. those. memories.

Here are a few:

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Sometimes just looking at a picture can open the flood gates on memories, guess that is why they say a picture is worth a thousand words.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Having girls

Can I just take a minute to express how much I love having two little girls?! I love the fact that they get excited to watch “Cupcake Wars” with me… I love that my little one asks when “Sweet Genius” is going to be on. I just love the fact that I have prissy little girls that love to get excited about the same things that excite me!

Monday, May 20, 2013

This Tree!

I hyper colored this picture to give you my view point of this tree!

I am in. love. with. this. tree!

Can someone out there in the blog world tell me what kind of tree it is? I seriously want one for my yard.

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Friday, May 17, 2013

Shrimp Tacos!

A couple days back, I was tootilin’ about my garden, & picked just a few pieces of lettuce. As I was walking back into the house, I spotted my cilantro, and picked a bit of that as well.

Thinking, thinking, thinking… what’s for super? hmmm Opened the freezer, and the shrimp smacked me in the face. This got me thinking about a post the other day from a friend, Cheesecake Factory: Shrimp Tacos!

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Absolutely. I found what sounded close enough for me over here. I had all the ingredients listed, besides limes, but I did have lime juice, so I dove in.

They tasted wonderful, especially knowing that my shrimp were from Whole Foods, and not farm raised. It was also satisfying that the greens were from my garden.

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I believe that the only thing that would have made them taste any better? A margarita would have finished it off, of course!

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

More baby arrivals

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Here are the centerpieces for the other baby shower I went to. I really wish I would have taken pictures of all the diaper cakes. Every single one of them were different. The one I was sitting in front of, there were two ‘NUK’ food-mesh-spoons crisscrossed on the top. Again, wish I would have taken pictures. I was running around visiting with family, and didn’t have the camera enough. But, the point is, all of them were very cute.

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Sunday, May 12, 2013

Mother’s Day 2013

Did everyone have a wonderful Mother’s Day?

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I believe every year with my girls gets better and better! Being a mom is so wonderful, but it seems as they get older it gets better. <3

We went to Whole Foods for a free coffee, flower, & mini pastries. It was lovely, and while we walked about, they had beautiful bouquets in Mason jars, & I had to have one! So I came home, pulled out one of my Mason jars, and started to walk the perimeter of my house. I feel like I came up with a good combo, don’t you? I wanted to put a yellow tiger lilly in there too, but held back. My husband came home later and brought me some white roses too. I love it!

Monday, May 6, 2013

Getting my hands dirty

Bet you’d never guess what I been doing all weekend?!

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I know I mentioned that I might not be doing a garden this year because of Europe… but I’m crazy like that I guess.

My thinking is that if I promise someone my harvest for that three weeks, they will come water for that time. What do you think? Even enough trade?

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Daydreaming the Day Away

When I was a little girl, I had it in my head that it would just be amazing if I had a window seat. I am not sure what triggered this want/need in my young self, but it was merely a wish. When I was nine-ish we moved to an older home that had windows that nearly touched the floors, and my room was upstairs, facing the street. When it was nearing, but not quite summer, we changed our clocks so it was still dusk at bedtime. I would sit in front of those windows and watch the older kids play in the street for another half hour or so. This was as close as I came to stargazing from my totally awesome but not real window seat.

Fast forward about 20 plus –ish years…my older daughter was upstairs for quite the while the other day, I called up “what ya doin punkin?” She replied “Oh just lookin out the window.” A big smile passed my lips. Then she said “Did you know there was a bird in my tree?”

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You see this is what she gets to look out her window to see.. her bed just ends at the window. A flood of memories raced to me as I took this picture on her faux-window seat.

Friday, April 26, 2013

Cinnamons

I got my Food Network magazine last Wednesday, and when my oldest caught a glimpse of the cover it was on!

“Mommy, please can you make those cinnamon rolls for breakfast?”

Without a thought in my my head I made the biggest mistake a mother can make while having a convo with her children…

“Maybe this weekend honey”

oops! I will blame it on my 1200 calorie diet I’ve been trying to keep up for 2 months now. My brain hasn’t had enough nutrition lately!

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Fast forward to Friday evening, when I came home from work. I mixed and mixed, and turned and buttered and wrapped. In the fridge till morning!

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This is the point where it was starting to pay off for me. The house smelled delish, and my family was super happy as I pulled it out of the oven.

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I snapped one last picture for you, and threw my “not-gonna-be-fat-in-Europe-diet” out the window. I was super pumped at this point: iced coffee & cinnamon rolls.

First bite was eh… yes all that work and eh. If I was going to put all that time in, I really should have stuck with the Cinnabon knockoff that is splashed all over the internet.

It does make for pretty pictures though, right?!

Monday, April 22, 2013

Garden of 2013 has begun

Here it is the end-ish of April and it is snowy/rain mix outside my windows, so I am focusing on the positive!

Here are the pictures I took of my garden this weekend. It is now in bloom, although I pray it’s not all getting frost bit as I type :/

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Thursday, April 11, 2013

My Dream Garden

I normally do not like to use pictures that are not mine, or that I can not give photo credits to, but I am in LOVE with this garden!

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Would anyone out there like to dig my backyard for me? I can’t believe how amazing the detail is on this garden! I think I have a section that I could recreate something similar, but how do I keep those darn bunnies away from something like this?! I also have been contemplating how much I want to do in my garden this year. If I am going to Europe for three weeks, how much attention is a garden going to get? hmmmm…

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Slow as a snail, but…

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I can feel spring in the air, and it is coming slowly but surely… This lovely little rose as made her appearance! Do you think she would like to be planted outside soon? I sure do.. amongst the “bugs” in my perennial garden.

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Wednesday, April 3, 2013

And so I made cupcakes…

Since I couldn’t have sampita for my birthday treat, I scoured Pinterest for ideas.

I found these Tres Leches cupcakes. I did not, however use the recipe for the icing that goes on them. I found a different one that used a box o’ cream cheese & whipping cream. I know it doesn’t look as pretty, but tasted light & airy, so as not to take away from the amazing cupcakes themselves.

My brother also has a birthday close to mine, two days before actually. He came up to visit, and chocolate is his fav, so chocolate cupcakes of course. I had my best friend on the phone at the time, and I also know that chocolate cake is one of her favs as well. She too likes to use her Kitchen Aid, so I ask what was the best recipe to use. She suggested the one on the back of the Hershey’s cocoa container, pretty good I’ll say. I also have to let you in on the fact that I do not like chocolate cake. *gasp* Love chocolate, but not so much chocolate flavored things.

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I have been munching on these Tres Leches cupcakes since Saturday, & still can’t get enough of them. I had one minor hang up: once I got to the ‘use a meat injector for the milk’ I was lost for a moment, then, rummaged through my utensil drawer…. SCORE! I surprise myself some times. I used a children’s medicine dispenser, worked like a charm ;)

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Sampita 2 vs. Katrina 0

I originally thought that I could never make sampita because I did not have a stand alone mixer. I attempted it once, with my husband’s help (okay instruction), but it didn’t work out too well.

So, this being the case, I began to dream about a Kitchen Aid, and dream, and dream… I would read several recipes needing a mixer. I would watch Food Network, and tell myself some day.

As you know some day came! First mission was Sampita…

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And here you are, 10 egg yolks (for the crust) & 10 egg whites for my dreamy, fluffy, cloud-like delishesnesses. Well, FAIL! what a waste of 10 eggs. The crust turned out lovely, and tasted good, but the meringue is just not gonna happen.

I guess I will have to find a baka (OLD Bosnian grandma) to help me :/

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One nice thing happen out of the mess. I learnt how to make my own vanilla sugar. One teaspoon of vanilla to a 1/2 cup of sugar. You need this to make my favorite Bosnian treat, you can buy packets at the “Euro-supermarket”. I thought I had some in my cupboard, but did not on close inspection. So, that being said, I guess I am a domestic Goddess for being able to mix sugar and vanilla, right? LOL

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

My Birthday gift!

Easter Sunday just also happens to be my birthday this year, yeap! I feel kinda special. There is something else that I am feeling the most special about though. Wanna take a guess? Well, Finally got an extra special gift I’ve been eye-bawling for a few years now.

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*drum roll please*

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She’s like the retro Cadillac of Amazingnesses! Can you tell I am super excited? First moment we will be having together will be Sampita. Here is your mission: comment below your first moment together with your KitchenAid/your favorite recipes that involve the KitchenAid mixer. I need some wonderful things to try!

<3