Monthly Archives: November 2009

Mmm… Monday #1: White Chicken Chili

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Great food is like great sex.  The more you have the more you want.
~Gael Greene

I love baking but generally fall back on the “usual” things when making dinner.  So I’m always looking for “easy” recipes that I can make. Things that taste good but don’t take too long to prepare.

I’ve decided to start a “Mmm… Monday” and share with you my recipes… both cooking and baking. My hope is that some of you will start doing this as well so that we can share recipes with one another.

My first recipe is a favorite of Huzzy’s.  It’s absolutely delicious and very easy to make. And it’s perfect for those cold winter days and would be a great thing to make for those football parties and holiday bashes. I got it from BettyCrocker.com.

Crockpot White Chicken Chili

Prep time: 15 minutes
Total time: 4 hours, 35 minutes
Servings: 8

Ingredients

From BettyCrocker.com

  • 6 skinless chicken thighs (1 1/2 lb) *I use chicken breasts
  • 1 large onion, chopped (1 cup)
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 3/4 cups chicken broth
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon red pepper sauce
  • 2  cans (15 to 16 oz each) great northern beans, drained, rinsed
  • 1 can (11 oz) white shoepeg corn, drained
  • 3 tablespoons lime juice
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro *I use a fresh cilantro paste in a tube (like toothpaste) that I find at my grocery store. It works just the same and you can refrigerate it and keep it longer.

Directions

  1. Remove excess fat from chicken. In 3 1/2- to 4-quart slow cooker, mix onion, garlic, broth, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper sauce. Add chicken.
  2. Cover; cook on Low heat setting 4 to 5 hours.
  3. Remove chicken from slow cooker. Use 2 forks to remove bones and shred chicken into pieces. Discard bones; return chicken to slow cooker. Stir in beans, corn, lime juice and cilantro. Cover; cook on Low heat setting 15 to 20 minutes or until beans and corn are hot.

Notes

  • If you can’t find white shoepeg corn (I usually can’t), you can just use regular whole kernel corn.
  • If you like your chili with more of a kick, increase the red pepper sauce to 1/2 teaspoon.

If you try it, let me know how you and your family like it!

Secret Santa, Blogger Style!

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The manner of giving is worth more than the gift.
~Pierre Corneille, Le Menteur


I read on The Mrs. Trying Our Best blog that there is a blogger Secret Santa going on. Sounds like fun since Christmas will be a bit odd this year since Huzzy is deployed (Christmas will happen when he comes back) and we already got our Christmas gift from my mom (she sent us whitewater rafting in August!).

So I decided that since it’s just $10, I’ll participate. I need some fun anyway and it’s always nice to get to know more bloggers.  I declined to do Secret Santa with GreyTalk because the limit is something like $30 and that can buy a lot of stuff/toys for dogs! I don’t need more “stuff” to move but I can move $10 worth of human stuff (sorry puppies… you’ll get “stuff” next year!).

I’ll make a post in the next couple days and will tell you a really cool thing that my work is doing (I’ll admit, it was partly my idea, so I’m geeked about it). That, and some great things have been happening and I’m just hoping to not jinx them by blogging about them too much.

Thursday Thirteen #11: Welcome Home

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Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling in at night.  I miss you like hell.
~Edna St Vincent Millay

No, it’s not Huzzy’s homecoming that I’m blogging about today (I wish… but that’ll happen next year). But after yesterday’s tribute to those who have served, today’s Thursday Thirteen is about the homecomings of those Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen.  More specifically, about the homecomings to their best friends… the dogs in their life.

When Huzzy comes home, I had planned on videotaping him coming into the house (wherever the heck we are) and watching the dogs’ reactions to him.  I know it’ll be video-worthy.

It’s time for the Thursday Thirteen again. If you have a Thursday Thirteen of your own, leave your website in the comments section and I’ll try my darndest to visit it :)

So here are 13 videos (there are several in the last one, so that adds up to 13 or so). I found these at the Mental_Floss blog. Warning: you might want to grab a tissue.

1.
Gracie welcomes her daddy home from Afghanistan. The wife saying that she’s going to cry actually made the tears flow for me.

2.
Buddy welcomes his owner home after seven months. This cracks me up because the dog is so darn excited that he just can’t stand still enough for his owner to pick him up.

3.
These are the weirdest sounds I’ve heard from dogs. It sounds so incredibly human.

4. Click here for a video I’ve seen so many times, yet it’s so worth it each time (not a YouTube, so I can’t imbed it into this blog). It’s two dogs greeting their owner after 14 months in Iraq.

5.
You gotta love Basset Hounds! Reggie welcomes his person back from Afghanistan.

6.
Rocky greets his favorite Soldier.

7.
Tiny dogs greet their person after a month away for training.

8.
Boxer greets his owner. A bit timid at first, but the enthusiasm grows!

9.
Doxies greet their Sailor after an eight month deployment to Kuwait.

10. 
This soldier nearly becomes his dogs’ human hurdle!

11-13.
Tired of seeing dogs greet their owners? (yeah, neither am I, but that’s all I have!).  Check out these heartwarming reunions of our military members surprising their children with their homecoming. If you haven’t cried yet… get ready to!

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Thank a Veteran… and Their Family

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It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you.
~Dick Cheney

Today is the day to honor those who have served–and those who continue to serve–our country so that we may live in freedom.  If you see a veteran today, thank them. And thank you to all those families out there who support their veterans. Lord knows being the family of a member of the armed forces isn’t the easiest thing in the world.

Happy Veteran’s Day. And thank you for your service, sacrifice and committment.

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