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!

One year ago today...

I know Elsa likes to sing about "the past is in the past...",

 but I have learned some life lessons from my past, so I am not going to "let it go". 

*Hey I'm cheezy like that sometimes*

A year ago today I took this picture:

While it may look like an ordinary winter picture to you, it symbolizes so much more for me.

Last year at this time, my husband was away for work.. we got to see him more than military families get to see thier loved ones. This did not make it any less difficult on our little family however. We made a choice, together, that it would be for the better of our family in the end, and it was!

Like with any good tale, there are two sides of a story...

I can not tell his, as I was not there. I know that it was not easy for him to be away from wife and kids, but I will not speak for him. I will, however, speak for myself. 

While I had an amazing support group behind me (you really do find your true friends through struggles) it was still trying at times to raise two little girls through that time. WELL, the only truly hard time was WINTER!

I mean it wasn't like Little House on the Prairie, where I had to chop wood for fire, but hey for some first world problems, I did good. As all of my friends would remind me regularly, "Of course this winter had to be one of the worst we've had in a decade".

When you are not one to regularly do push-ups (or anything else), you need to get up at 3:30 am to shovel snow, then get kids up and breakfast, and shovel snow again, then get lunches packed, then shovel snow again, and kids  re-motivated, and shovel snow again... 

you get the picture! Hence this picture above, this is one of the many pictures I took to remind myself...

You CAN do everything you put your mind to. 

You can push your Camry out of the snow by yourself with two kids inside about to be late for school. You CAN escape all the accidents by taking the country roads slow to work. The metaphors could keep rollin, but the point? You CAN make sacrifices when you know there are greater things to be had.

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!

Cabbage Rolls in the Crockpot

 * If you are here from Pinterest, Welcome! I have been asked for the recipe,

it is at the bottom in the comment section.

There are a ton of crockpot recipes flying around the internet these days & if you’re partial to Pinterest, I’m sure you’ve noticed. I also have noticed that a bunch of them are full of package mixes and lots of canned soup bases. I’m not sure about you, but I am trying to slowly get away from all of these processed things.

Cabbage rolls are like my chicken pot pie I make… it’s a big comfort food for me.

Cabbage rolls drum up a whole lot of nostalgia in my mind and heart. Every year for Thanksgiving, my cousin would come from Alaska for a mini-reunion, this was her chance to get grandma’s cabbage rolls.

As you can imagine we liked to go and do tons of stuff while she was visiting, which brings me to my point. Did you know that you can slow-cook cabbage rolls? I didn’t realize thing till my grandma told me a couple years back. I’m so happy to have learnt so much from her!

I’m sure you’ve already guessed that there is some prep-work before hand, but it is so worth it. Just pile those yummy little packages of stuffed cabbage in the crock with some kraut and tomato juice, turn on, and go. Go do some “running” as my grandma would call it. For you young pups out there, that’s code for “shopping, errands, etc.”

The best thing about this idea? When you come home, it’s all done. It’s a meal in itself, no post-prep on this meal. We like to eat them with crescent rolls and cottage cheese. Cabbage rolls are just one of those meals that warms your belly and your soul in the middle of winter.

Ice Carving Festival

If you’ve been following my blog for any amount of time, you know that I am not a big fan of winter, & really am not a big fan of snow either. There is, however, one little event that I actually like to go outside for, once a year. The Ice Festival! We’ve braved the cold for this festival just past three years now, and I am still impressed with their carving talent!

Yes it was biting cold, but even my girls didn’t mind going… might have something to do with the hot chocolate & cupcakes that await them in the sidedoor deli. It’s very nice to have a reason to walk around the plaza and get some fresh air in the dead of winter. We had awesome visuals to keep us moving, I mean just look at this talent!

   

It was exciting to see a lady carver out there as well, representing women with power tools. She was super nice, and it was lovely to have my girls see that girls can use chainsaws and such as well ;)

The girls and I had a nice time despite the cold. The mocha, hot chocolate, & cupcakes didn’t hurt either….. Like the sign says, Life is Good!

She was wishing for a rainbow…

My oldest daughter has officially gotten beyond the baby years, and now the toddler years. This year she started kindergarten, and now has turned 6. I don’t know about you moms out there, but I feel like 6 is a huge change. She’s not a baby by far, but up till five, she seemed to still felt like a toddler to me. Now she is a big girl!

Every year we have a house full of visitors for New Year’s Eve, as well as, the week leading up to it, so it is not hard to throw a nice size party for the little princess. This year, however, the weather had other plans for us.. so, they were unable to make it. In desperation, at the last minute, I called her two best friends from school. I was super lucky that their moms are so laid back, they didn’t care that I give them only a 5 day notice. :)

I did play it up on Alisa’s behalf, that we were unable to have a party this year, then proceeded to ask what she’d like to do on her special day. I was quite surprised to hear her say sledding. So Alisa, her sister, and her dad went to the lovely park down the road from us.

Is it not beautiful? Even I, a person who hates snow, don’t mind going here once in a blue moon. The “triangle” at the top of the hill has a few benches in it to sit down for a bit if your out of shape and can’t trek up that big hill. I’m not gonna lie, I’ve had to use it.

While they were gone, I decided to take on the project of décor and cake. I had told Alisa that we were going to have a couple family members over, and I do mean two people. I also told her that despite not having the party she really wanted, I had already bought the decorations, and we would still put them up. She didn’t know however that I had one big project in mind.

Have you seen this picture flying around Pinterest? It’s linked to this lady over here. Alisa expressed interest in a “rainbow” party when she still thought we were having a party, so I decided why not?! While they were out freezing their butts off, I was slaving away in a hot kitchen.

This was my first attempt at something like this, and it went quite well, for my first time. :)

Dividing into bowls, and food coloring, was the easiest part. Although I felt I had to add red about a thousand times more than the other colors. I don’t remember what website I hunted for the temp and the time, but I ended up just winging it on the time aspect. I did however use a ton of toothpicks, sticking it to make sure they were done. Once they were cooled, I quickly realized there was a side that was easier to ice, with less crumbles. The biggest mistake I made I was able to “cover up” quickly… I split one of the cakes into 3 large pieces while flipping it over. About half way through icing I decided, “never again”. While it made a wonderful cake and I was quite pleased with it, I just don’t have the patience for the icing process.

So what do you think? Worth it? I think so, even with all the cursing under my breath! Hehe

The “inside” shot.

Here are some other details of the décor as well: Lollipops were purchased at Micheal’s and the popcorn (each color a different flavor) purchased at a local deli.

When they came back from sledding, the best friends were showing up for cake, ice cream, & a movie night. It was a ton of fun and Alisa was so happy & surprised. The other moms were impressed with the rainbow cake, and I was excited to have adults to play Uno Attack with. Overall it was a successful party.

Grateful for Lil’ Helpers

I have many fond memories of baking/cooking in the kitchen with Grandma, so when my daughter asked to help, how could I say no? I hesitate a bit when she asked, I have two daughters & they fight over things (you know like sisters do). My oldest loves to be “grown-up” and she does everything very carefully and meticulously, but I still picture a big mess in my kitchen that I will need to clean up afterwards. May I also add, time is limited on “work nights”, and by the weekend, I wish to do nothing. (Sometimes I feel like a crappy mommy, not doing enough with my children) :/

Well on that note, sorry for the Debbie Downer moment, it is Christmas time! Time to bake cookies & make candies, and decorate the tree. All things that it is time for me to allow my kids to help with, and be thankful for their help as well!

She is such a good girl.. I told her to make sure her hand was behind her back the entire time so she didn’t smash her little fingers. As for the powdered sugar? less than a half a teaspoon on the counter by the time we were done! Such. A. Good. Girl! I have to give her more credit. She doesn't like messes either.

Then it was time to wrap gifts, for the “rest” of the family, of course. She once again asked to “help” and I hesitated (sucky mommy, yadda yadda). She took it upon herself to wrap the gifts that were going to her friend in the mail. Okay, I thought, I also am best-friends with the mom, & she will love the note that I will include. *Alisa wrapped all these herself* I already know the meaning of this will bring a smile to her face and a tear to her eye. Our kids are 3 weeks apart, and growing up together, no matter how many miles apart we are.

Once again she surprised me with how great she did! I need to remind myself that she has that perfectionist quality about her. Great job to both my girls: the older one for “helping” me, & the younger one for entertaining herself and not getting in her sister’s hair along her “helping” process.

First Snow has fallen

In lue of the first snow fall, I suppose I should try extra hard to get into the winter spirit. {bah-humbug} Believe me, I am the BIGGEST fan of all things Christmas.. I love to shop, I love to find “that perfect gift” with actual meaning, I love to bake cookies, I love to be in a cozy house with tons of family, but…. but? I HATE the cold! I am one of those people that wears my coat half the day @ work.. seriously.

Now it is time to flip my brain around and concentrate on all the lovely things connected with Christmas… Thanksgiving… New Years… Black Friday…

And if I am to be stuck in the house to avoid the snow? I will CRAFT!

This is what I made last year to give as gifts. What you think?