A Healthier Chili

As part of my resolution, I vowed to get back into shape and to eat healthier. It's been cold and blustery in my neck of the woods, which can only mean one thing- Chili Time! I love, love, LOVE my crock pot and good thing to- so does my chili. So, bring out your crock pot, and roll up your selves 'cuz it's chili time!

What you need:
1 Large can of tomato sauce
1 large can of crushed tomatoes
Chili Powder
Garlic Powder
Salt
Pepper
Ground turkey meat
1 large can of Beans
1 large green pepper
1 large red pepper
1 onion
1 frozen bag of mixed vegetables (green beans, carrots, peas and corn mixture)

Now the fun part:

1. Brown the ground turkey in a frying pan, rinse once cooked fully and put into the crock pot.
2. Add the 1 large can of sauce. Then fill that can with water and add to the meat sauce mixture.
3. Pour in the crushed can of tomatoes.
4. Stir.
5. Add the beans and frozen bag of mixed veggies. Cut Green and red peppers and onions- hey, toss them on in too!
6. Stir.
7. Add salt, pepper, Chili and Garlic powder to taste.
8. Set on low for 8 hours or high for 6.

Want an extra kick- I always compliment mine with a (small) bed of rice and 2% low fat cheddar cheese.

Easy Ice Cream Pumpkin Pie Recipe

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I figured that I would share my favorite recipe for this time of the year. Please keep in mind that I am not a baker, and will find the easy way out of any Susie Homemaker situation (although, I do love to cook). I think I got this recipe from a "Home-ec" class I took way back in high school. I might of tweaked it a little since then- but OMG it's soooooo good!

What You Need:
1 pint Vanilla Ice Cream
Libby's Easy Pumpkin Pie Mix (Oh yes, I am that lazy!)
I box Ginger Snap Cookies- you'll probably only end up using 1/2 a box.
1 Cup Butter

Now picture saying this in you Julia Child meets Miss Piggy voice:

1. Take the pint of Vanilla Ice Cream and place in a large bowl. Set aside and let it melt a little.
2. To make the crust: Take half a bag of Ginger Snap cookies and break them into tiny pieces. I usually put them in a large bowl and use a meat tenderizer to smash them. It's a good stress reliever.
3. Melt butter and pour into Ginger Snap Cookie crumbs. Then place this crust concoction and spread it out evenly onto the bottom of a pie pan using a spatula.
4. Now the fun part! I usually take my ice cream and the Easy (Lazy) Pumpkin Pie Mix and put it into a blender and blend together. But anyway you feel comfortable mixing these two ingredients together- go for it ;-)
5. Poor the "Pumpkin Ice cream" onto the Ginger Snap Cookie crust.
6. Cover and place into the freezer over night.
7. Serve with whipped cream!

I am a visual person; once I make this yummy pie I will post a picture! I just had to share this Easy Recipe!

Kid’s Craft: Halloween Bat Cupcakes

So I am typically not a baker. I LOVE to cook, but baking is not my thing. My chitlins kept insisting that we make “bat cupcakes.” So I gave in…………………………………

Classified: Medium (Just due to the fact that it takes some time)

Materials:

1.      Whatever cupcake mix you chose. Hey if you’re a baker- go nuts and make it from scratch!

2.      Baking material: bowls, cup cake pan and whatever you need to make your cup cakes.

3.      Chocolate frosting!

4.      M&M’s, Reese’s  Pieces or some small chocolate candy that can be used as eyes

5.      Black decorating sparkles I used Wilton’s Black Cake Sparkles 

6.      Black decorating gel

7.      Chocolate melts

8.      Bowl to melt chocolate melts in microwave

9.      Wax paper

10.  Bat Template

11.  Tape

12.  Scissors

13.  Plastic bag or frosting piping bag

14.  Cookie Sheet- to make chocolate bats.

Steps

1.      Make cupcakes according to directions and allow time to cool. Pretty simple huh?

2.      Print out Bat Template. I printed 2 sheets.

3.      Tape Bat Template sheets to cookie sheet.

4.      Tear off a piece of wax paper long enough to fit your cookie sheet and tape over the bat template.

5.      Parents: Melt chocolate melts in the microwave. Please Note: Melts do not appeared “melted” until they are stirred. It should not take any longer than two minutes depending on how your microwave works. IT WILL BE HOT! PLEASE BE CAREFUL! A hurt mommy is a sad mommy!

6.      Stir chocolate melts and pour into piping bag or plastic storage bag. *** Note: If using a plastic storage bag, cut a very small corner out of the bag.*** TIP: If chocolate begins to harden in the bag, place under warm water until melted (again).

7.      Trace the templates with the chocolate, quickly placing the eyes the candy eyes before each bat dries.

8.      Repeat until all are traced. Once complete place in fridge to cool.

9.      Frost cupcakes with chocolate frosting.

10.  Sprinkle with black decorating sparkles to make the bat appear “furry.”

11.  Take chocolate bat molds out of fridge and careful remove from the wax paper. Place the bats onto the cupcake.

12.  Draw details onto bat; eyeballs, nose, inside ears and outlines on bat wings with decorating gel.

13.  Watch out- they’re yummy.

Links of the day:

Wanna see a mama who can really bake? Check out: http://lnowak.blogspot.com/

Chocolate Pumpkin Suckers

Looking for something easy and fun to do on a rainy October day with the fam? Here is a quick inexpensive, tasty idea for you to do.

All you need is a chocolate sucker mold, sucker sticks, chocolate melts (I used orange for the pumpkins), a heat resistant container (to melt the chocolate in the microwave, I used a glass measuring cup), wax paper, sucker bags and spoon.

Steps:

1.       Melt chocolate in microwave for 30-45 seconds. The melts will not melt until stirred!

2.       Poor into molds; in this case I used pumpkins.

3.       Place the sticks into the stick holders with about 1 inch into the chocolate mold.

4.       Lightly tap onto the counter to smooth out chocolate and twirl the stick so it is covered by chocolate.

5.       I stuck mine in the freezer for 5 minutes.

6.       Gentle tap onto wax paper and individually wrap.

My kids loved helping with the process and it was really, really easy!

Link of the day:

http://www.candylandcrafts.com/chocolatecandymolding.htm do's and don'ts for creating chocolate molds.