Chilly Night Chili

 

Chilly Night Chili

2 pounds ground round beef

1 46 oz can Campbell's Tomato Juice

2 16 oz cans Bush's Chili Beans in Mild Sauce

2 10 oz cans Rotel

1 1oz pkg Williams Original Chili Seasoning

1 diced yellow onion

2-3 cloves minced garlic

1-4 Tablespoons Chili Powder (according to taste)

Salt & Pepper to taste

 

 

Brown beef with onion and garlic.  Drain meat.  In a large pot, combine meat with remaining ingredients.  Stir and simmer on low to medium heat for at least one hour, stirring frequently.  The longer it simmers the better it tastes!  Serve with Fritos, Crackers, Jiffy Cornbread Muffins, Cheddar, Sour Cream and Jalapenos.

 

Set a pretty table.  Light the Fall candles.  Throw on a sweatshirt because this my friends is a Fall dinner done right.

This recipe is my sister's.  It got published in a magazine and let me tell you, it is one of our families very favorite dinners! 

This is even better the next day.

It freezes and reheats well.

I like to use left overs to have Chili Dog & Tater Tot night.

If there is just a small amount to freeze, you can pull it out for a quick meal one night.  Top Baked Potatoes with the Chili, Cheese & Salsa-serve with a Salad.

Weigh In

The last 3 weeks have been off schedule for us.  It started with us tearing out all the tile in our house.  A week later we left for 2 weeks.  I wandered how my weight loss would handle the lack of routine and the lack of healthy food.

This morning I went for my weekly weigh-in, but before I tell you the results, I have to tell you what I've been eating the last 3 weeks (because it has been heavenly!)

• Chicken & Fries (x too many too count)
• Pizza & Caesar Salad (ditto)
• Krispy Kreme
• Chili Cheese Nachos (x4)
• Wine
• Steak and Mashed Potatoes
• White Cheddar Cheese Its
• Snicker's (fun size)
• Frozen Reese Cups
• Ice Cream
• Ice Cream
• Chili Dogs
• Fried Fish, Fries & Hushpuppies (x2)

I'm probably leaving some things out, but I have not eaten healthy the last 3 weeks.  It has been fast food and processed food.  So, did I loose weight?

My goal was to maintain what I've already lost.  I was able to maintain my weight loss and even lost another pound, bringing my grand total weight loss to...

 

15 pounds!!!

Shane and I are puzzled that we did not gain weight on vacation.  I've tried to think of how on earth I ate like I did but managed to not gain.  The biggest thing I can attribute it to is that we shared our meals (except for that last day at Disney when I was hot, tired and grumpy and looked at Shane while we were in line ordering lunch and said today I'm getting my own combo!  big butt or not i gotta do what i gotta do!)

So, our portion sizes were smaller and it was a very active trip-we walked all day every day.

When we got to Orlando we went to the grocery store.  I picked up a carton of grape tomatoes.  I never once even cracked into them.  They traveled across 5 states with me and finally last night they got eaten.

When I look at the list of food we ate on vacation, it is a huge contrast to the new normal at our house.  Last night I cooked Potato Corn Chowder and we ate Salads with it.  It was the first meal I've cooked in awhile.

Tonight-My sister's famous Chili recipe.  It is the best!  I'm going to share the recipe with you later this week!

Vacation Part I

This is where I spent the last week, at a resort on the Disney property.  It is a really neat story how it came to pass.  In April I was praying about vacation.  Shane and I had different ideas of what we wanted to do and where we wanted to go, so I decided to pray about it and ask God to lead us and guide us.

About 3 days after I prayed we received a call from a sweet couple from church.  "Hey, we booked your family a week at our timeshare in Orlando.  Here are the dates, and everything is all set."  It was such a generous blessing.

Four days before we were set to leave, my Mamaw fell and was admitted into the hospital.  It was really bad and she was not doing well at all.  We postponed our trip a little to make sure she was going to be OK.  The night before we were trying to decide whether or not to go, I opened up my Bible.  I prayed and asked God if He would show me in Scripture whether or not we should make the trip or cancel it. 

My Bible Verse that day was in John 11, so I opened up and began reading the entire chapter of John.  There was a verse that stood out above all the rest, as if God Himself highlighted it for my eyes to see.

 

"This sickness will not end in death"

Whoa Nelly.  Lord, I thought, are you really giving me such a specific confirmation?  I knew in my heart it was exactly the answer to my prayer.  So with hesitant hearts we loaded the bus and started the 15 hour journey to Orlando.  It was a hard couple of days at first emotionally, with us all being so concerned about Mamaw.

We knew that God had ordained the circumstances, all of them, but moving forward with them was difficult.

He is faithful though, even in the hard things.  He always prepares a table for us, wherever we find ourselves.  Sometimes it is hard to find the table, and sometimes we don't like what is on it, but it is always there, nonetheless.

A few days into our trip Mamaw started improving and that was a huge relief to us.  We settled in to Florida time and really had a blast.  If you know me, you know family vacations are very important to me.  We play hard, rest well, and eat goooood.  It is pretty funny because you would die if you saw our condo after we got our hands on it.  My house at home is neat as a pin (most of the time).  Well, that all goes to pot when I'm on vacation.  Flip flops and clothes on the floor, dishes in the sink, towels on the floor, Capri Sun's on on the coffee table and I don't give a rip about any of it.

You put me in a resort with my lit candle, good books and no responsibility and I go cray-cray!

The boys had a room and we had a room.  They thought it was super cool to have a TV in their room.  It was sweet how they decorated their beds with their blankets, pillows and stuffed animals from home.

This is how the condo looked before we arrived.  We gave it a more lived in look (code: Mama fell off the wagon).

I'm Baaaack

If there are still any readers of this here blog I just wanted to say hello.

We've been gone the last 2 weeks on vacation.  I couldn't say anything because I didn't want the burglars coming to steal all my spray painted yard sale treasures while we were gone.

I laugh sometimes that if a robber broke in my house they'd be seriously disappointed.  We got nothin' they'd want since I'm so anti-technology.

We had our house re-tiled while we were away.  It looks good but I've got a mess on my hands.  The washer and dryer are in the living room, I have suitcases of laundry to do, a fine layer of dust from the floors has resettled on everything my Mom and I cleaned before we left, I'm tired and overwhelmed so I'm doing nothing.

The good new is we have beautiful brown tiled floors, we had 2 weeks of rest and family fun (with a melt-down thrown in here and there for good measure), the windows are open because it is a perfectly perfect day, and I only gained a couple of pounds on my french fry fast food eating extravaganza we like to call vacation.

Shane and I celebrated our 12th Anniversary yesterday on a 15 hour ride in the car.  Krispy Kreme for breakfast number one, McDonald's for breakfast number 2, Chick-fil-A for lunch, McDonald's again for dinner.  What?  We're trying to win Boardwalk on Monopoly so we can build our dream house.

Looking forward to getting back to the ol' blog.  I've missed everyone!

Razorback Beauty

This is the most beautiful YouTube video I've seen in awhile.

The Lord has blessed me with some super amazing friends, and now I give you Aunt Liz, one of my dearest BFF's Aunt's.  Pure awesomeness is all I can say about this.

Woo Pig Sooie!

Hogs are beautiful!

Dinner Party

Tonight we have between 20-25 people coming over for dinner.

What's the state of the union on the house? 

I'd say semi-clean.  There are flip-flops on the floor, a few school papers on the table, the guest bathroom needs to be cleaned (de-tooth-pasted and other issues around the toilet thanks to life with young boys), still need to sweep, mop, feather dust and run a quick vacuum.

Oh, and did I mention I will not be here for dinner since we double booked and I have a jewelry show tonight?  Yeah, good times.

Here's the biggest thing I try to remember when company is coming.

 

The house doesn't have to be perfect, but there are a few things I can do last minute to make it seem like it is.

That can be hard to believe, but it's true.  My mom and I had a conversation a few weeks ago about cleaning.  When a person comes over, they don't know if you feather dusted, ran a quick vacuum and lit a candle, or whether you slaved away for hours cleaning.

Here's a quick run-down of what happens at my house before company comes.

• Clean my kitchen counters.  By this I mean I spray 409 on them, let it sit a minute and wash them off with a hot washcloth. 

• I always sweep and mop my white tile kitchen floor and the guest bathroom.  It shows dirt so easy and I like it to sparkle.  Plus, the smell of good lemon floor cleaner makes the house feel and smell fresh.  This takes about 15 minutes.

• Quick feather dust in the living room.  It knocks that little pesky layer of dust off and makes the wood look nice and clean.

• We vacuum.  New lines in the carpet looks fantastic.  The best part is our boys vacuum these days.

• Windex the front door and any other surface that has fingerprints.  Such a quick easy thing.  Not every single thing gets Windexed, just hit the smudgy spots in the main areas (Living Room, Kitchen, Guest Bathroom)

And of course, light a candle.  Today I picked up one of my all time favorites at Wal-Mart, Mulled Cider.  They are $5.00.  It smells like Fall in here.

If you are having a larger group over, keep the menu simple.  Tonight we are having BBQ Chicken, Baked Beans, Salad, Dinner Rolls and Sweet Tea.  Do you know how simple that is?  I bought really good BBQ sauce (Sweet Baby Ray's), it will cook in the oven, the beans are in the crock-pot, the salad is a nice Spring Mix already prepared, the Hawaiian Rolls are ready to eat straight out of the package, and Red Diamond is making the tea tonight.

Since I'm not going to be here, I had to keep it really simple, but there is nothing wrong with serving a simple dinner anytime you have friends over.

Well, that's it for today.  I'd better hop off and get a bathroom cleaned.

Mission Of Motherhood Study

Next Wednesday, September 12th, at 8:00pm we kick off the Mission Of Motherhood study at my house.  It is a 6 week study where we'll explore creating a life-giving, peace-filled home, passing on a legacy of righteousness to our children, and creative ideas on keeping your child's heart open to you and the Lord.

One thing I love about Sally's books is how the Lord uses them to give me creative ideas to bless my house and family.  I am a more gentle, intentional Mom because of the truths she has taught me in her books.

Here is a schedule of the next 6 weeks in case you want to check your calender to see if you can join us.

Sept 12th- Intro week.  Pass out books. 
Sept 19th- Part 1 Discussion (Ch 1-3)
Sept 26th- OFF
Oct 3rd- Part II Discussion (Ch 4-6)
Oct 10th- Part III Discussion (Ch 7-8)
Oct 17th- Part IV Discussion (Ch 9-11)
Oct 24th- Part V Discussion (Ch 12)

I am ordering books in the morning and they are around $10 or so.  If you'd like me to order one for you, just holler at me by late tonight.

Hugs,
Anna