Valerie's White Chicken Chili

9:47 AM | Labels: ,

This recipe comes from a good friend and faithful blog follower.  Every time I would read one of her Facebook posts about having a pot of White Chicken Chili in the crockpot and describing how wonderful it smelled … my mouth would water … so I finally asked her for her recipe and it is so so good!  And second day for leftovers … even better!!!   I made it exactly as it is written but for a lighter version you could substitute Greek Yogurt for the Sour Cream and Half-n-Half for the Heavy Cream … I’ve done this many times in other recipes and it really doesn’t change the flavor much, if at all!


Valerie's White Chicken Chili

4 - 6 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, cooked & shredded
3 cans Great Northern Beans, drained
2 cans Navy Beans, undrained
2 cans Chicken Broth
1-4 oz can of Diced Chiles
2 tsp Salt
2 tsp Cumin Powder
2 tsp Oregano
1 tsp Pepper
1/4 tsp Ground Red Pepper
1 tsp Onion Powder
1 tsp Garlic
16 oz Sour Cream
8 oz Heavy Whipping Cream

After you cook your chicken mix everything together in slow cooker (or in a pot on the stove).  If cooking in a crockpot, put temp on low and let cook all day.  Stove top … I let mine cook slowly (simmer) for a couple hours.


Serve with Shredded Cheese, Chopped Green Onions, Sour Cream or Crushed Tortilla Chips.


  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS
Read User's Comments0
Posted by Unknown

Fresh Homemade Salsa

12:37 PM | Labels: ,



I don't think I know one single person who doesn't love Chips and Salsa.  There are some really good store bought Salsas out there ... I have one particular favorite that I love when my hands are not up to dicing and chopping BUT my most favorite of all is my own Fresh Homemade Salsa.  This is MY recipe …one that I’ve been making for years and one that I came up with TOTALLY on my own so if it looks similar to or the same as any other recipe out there … total coincidence. 

The basic recipe is mild but let me tell you ... every time I've made it it is all eaten up ... every last drop!  Even my Latino DIL loves it!!!  Sometimes I add a couple spoonfuls of canned black beans (drained and rinsed) and sometimes I even divide it, keeping half of it mild and making the other half medium-hot.  It’s awesome just as it is without the chilling/marinating in the fridge BUT the marinating of the flavors makes it even more incredible!!!  Now normally I make it without measuring a single thing so when I guesstimated the measures to write up and share my recipe, I decided to try it as I've guessed the measurements in my recipe just to make sure it still came out just right and YEP sure enough I guessed perfectly!!!  Hope ya’ll love it as much as we do!!! 


Fresh Homemade Salsa
(Makes About 2 Cups)

2 cans Diced Tomatoes, drained and finely chopped
1/2 small Onion, finely chopped
1/4 Green Bell Pepper, finely chopped
10-12 stalks Fresh Cilantro, finely chopped
1 Tblsp Lime Juice
Splash Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tsp Dried Celery Flakes
1 Tblsp Sugar
1 tsp Ground Cumin
2 Garlic Cloves, minced
Sea Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper, to taste

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and gently stir it all together until well mixed.  Let marinate in fridge for a couple hours before serving to let flavors mingle.

For a hotter salsa add finely chopped fresh Jalapeño Pepper or some ground Cayenne Pepper, to taste.


Love this kitchen tool!  Not sure what it is called ... its a scraper/chopper.
Its pretty sharp and could definitely cut you if you are not careful ...
but not as sharp as a good kitchen knife.  Perfect for chopping the
diced tomatoes into even smaller bits.

And its perfect for chopping the
Cilantro very finely!!!
Storage Idea: I put my Salsa in a Mason jar and refrigerate for up to a week or so.  Because it has a touch of vinegar in it … it will keep that long!

Here's another cool kitchen gadget ... a wide
mouth funnel which is usually used for canning.
Perfect for placing, in this case, Salsa into a Mason Jar!

And there you have it ... finished product!
Ready to marinate in the fridge, pour and eat or store.





















  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS
Read User's Comments0
Posted by Unknown

Baked Maple and Pecan Brie

3:05 PM | Labels: ,


I found this recipe on Pinterest (imagine that LOL) and it originates from marthastewart.com.  Now I AM NOT a Martha Stewart fan, in fact, I have admittedly tried several of her recipes prior to this one and they did not pass my taste test at all BUT this one is a definite winner!!!  Thank you Martha!  And ya'll ... I didn't change a thing!!!  I made it for our Family Christmas Eve gathering and it was a hit ... someone even requested it again for our New Year's Eve gathering though I didn't make it a second time ... I just wasn't up to fighting the crowds in the grocery store ... AGAIN.  But let me tell ya ... this recipe is a definite do again and again and again!!!  Love it!!!

Baked Maple and Pecan Brie

1 small Wheel of Brie
1/2 cup Pecan Halves
3 Tblsps Light Brown Sugar
3 Tblsps Pure Maple Syrup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place Brie on a rimmed baking pan. Bake until softened - about 15-20 minutes.  Let cool for about 20 minutes.

While Brie is cooling, place Pecans on a baking sheet and toast for about 7-10 minutes.  Sprinkle Pecans over Baked Brie.

In a small saucepan, combine Sugar and Maple Syrup and cook until Sugar dissolves and mixture becomes foamy, 1-2 minutes.


Drizzle warm Sauce over Brie and serve with Crackers or slices of a Baguette.

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS
Read User's Comments0
Posted by Unknown

Feta Veggie Dip

2:15 PM | Labels: ,


I was looking for an alternative to the same old Ranch Dip recipe for fresh veggies and came across this (though I changed it a tiny bit) on Pinterest.  Delicious!  If you love Feta Cheese, as I do, then you will absolutely love this alternative Fresh Veggie Dip ... better than Ranch, to me!

Feta Veggie Dip

6 oz Feta Cheese
4 oz Cream Cheese, softened
4 Tblsps Milk or Half-n-Half
1 clove Garlic (minced)
1/8 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1/4 tsp Dried Thyme
1/4 tsp Dried Parsley
1/4 tsp Dried Oregano
1/4 tsp Sea Salt
1/4 tsp Black Pepper

Combine all ingredients and blend together using a food processor, until smooth.  Serve chilled with fresh veggies.

Adapted from food.com 


  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS
Read User's Comments0
Posted by Unknown

Refrigerator Gone Black

1:58 PM | Labels:


Lovely huh?  LOL

See how the paint on the handles would wear off?
 
Pulled it out so you could see sides ... this did not show.
Back 10 years ago (OMG I cannot believe its been that long ago) when we were getting ready to build the house we are in now, I had all white appliances.  Well we knew we were leaving most of the appliances in that home when we sold it BUT because our main refrigerator (we have almost always had 2 ... one in the kitchen and one in the garage ... I don't know how anyone lives with only ONE fridge) ... anyway, we planned to take it with us since it was only 4 years old my hubby wouldn't let me have a new one.  Nevermind the fact that we had chosen all stainless steel/black appliances for the new house ... oh no ... we would take the almost new side by side to the new house.  I was NOT happy about that!!! 

There was no way I was putting a stark white side by side fridge in my new kitchen ... in my new house .... along side all the stainless steel and black soooooo ... I decided to paint it.  "Yep they make appliance paint now" I thought so dangit I was gonna have me a black refrigerator.  At the time the only appliance paint available in home improvement stores was the spray paint kind ... NOW (of course) there is all kinds including paint on with a brush kind!!!!

"Hmmmm" I thought "how am I gonna paint it when it is full of refrigerator and freezer stuff?" Well I couldn't see moving it out of the kitchen and into the garage just to paint it ... way too much trouble.  So what did I do?

While Scott's away on a business trip I run to the home improvement store (Home Depot, of course) and buy black appliance spray paint, blue painters tape and heavy duty plastic sheeting.  Doggone it ... I would paint it right there in my kitchen!!!

I carefully tape up the plastic sheeting all around the fridge leaving an opening to get in and out, of course, well duh!!!  I even taped it up to the ceiling cause duh I knew the spray paint would float up there ... didn't want a black ceiling ya'll. And then I carefully placed painters tape all over the parts of the fridge that couldn't be painted (the tiny stainless steel name plate "Amana" and the ice/water dispenser buttons on the door) ... I was careful ... I had it all planned out perfectly!!!   Ya'll can see where this is going right?

I get on my old painting clothes and remain barefoot ... I like painting barefoot ... don't ask me why LOL and climb up underneath the plastic sheeting and begin painting my stark white side by side fridge ... "oh this is gonna be so pretty" ... I was so proud of myself taking on this project!!!

Well guess what I forgot?  The aspirator thingy ... I forgot I had to breathe while spray painting underneath all that plastic sheeting ... I did, however, poke my head out once in a while to breathe.  BUT heck I didn't even have on a face mask .... STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!!!  So halfway through, I take a quick bathroom break, check myself out in the mirror and OMG my face is black, my hair is black and I have black paint all up my nose (thank goodness for nose hair or else my brain would have been painted black as well) ... even my feet were black and blackest yet on the bottom (remember, I'm barefoot)!!!

Well ya'll that was the least of my worries!  As I finish up with all the paint, realizing I need more, I decide to stop for the day, clean up and make a run to Home Depot.  I come out from underneath all that plastic sheeting and find .... OMG the freaking linoleum floor, which used to be white, is now BLACK ... my white countertops ... BLACK  ... thankfully its just the horizontal surfaces ... but hell ... they are supposed to be WHITE. 

Lord ya'll I'm thinking "OMG what am I gonna do ... Scott is gonna kill me".  You see we were getting the house ready to go on the market and we really didn't want to put more money into it ... we'd already finished the basement and found out finishing a basement does not add value to your home ... just incentive for a prospective buyer to buy ... so no more money needed to go into this home!!!

About this time, Alayna gets home from school and finds me in complete meltdown mode ... tears tears tears!!!!  She's like "oh Mom we can clean this up ... I'll help" so we proceed to try wiping up the floor and counter tops ... nothing is working ...nothing ya'll!!!  The whole time I'm crying saying to Alayna "Dad is gonna kill me we gotta get this up before he gets home".  Finally I try Soft Scrub with Bleach ... and oh yes it works ... along with a Scotch Brite sponge (the rough side) and I'm down on my hands and knees scrubbing and scrubbing with Alayna at my side scrubbing and scrubbing ... YES ... we manage to get it all cleaned up ... floors and counter tops are all white again ... can't even tell I'd had a disaster!!!!  Thank goodness!!!!

Okay so back to my project ... even though I didn't have enough paint to finish painting the sides ... I did have the doors and top completely covered so I take down the plastic sheeting to get a good look at my work.  You know the rubber thingys on the doors that make the refrigerator stay completely air tight while closed ... you know, those accordion looking thingys?  Well those I couldn't paint those so they had been covered with painter's tape so I pull it off along with the painter's tape from the ice/water dispenser ... it looks ridiculous ....like a stark white side by side that's been painted black by an ametuer!!!!  Hideous!!!  What have I done????  Oh and the handles ... well they're plastic and they didn't take the paint well ... by the next day, when I thought it was safe to touch the damn thing again ... just touching the handles caused paint to come off onto your hands!  Oh yes!  I have a HUGE mess on my hands ... literally!!!!

I'm thinking "maybe hubby will get us a new fridge since I ruined this one" ... yeah right!  When he got home and found what I had done he was like ... "you still ain't getting a new one this is only 4 years old"!!!!! 

So long story short (I know it was a long read) I've had to live with this refrigerator and Scott and the kids all telling the story of my painting project gone wrong for a long time now ... its been the ONLY project of mine that EVERYONE seems to want to talk about ... the one that went way wrong!!!!

Yes we are still using that ugly assed refrigerator in our beautiful stainless steel appliance, granite counter top, mahogany finished custom cabinets and hardwood floors chef's kitchen!!!!  Yea we still have partially white handles on it BUT on the bright side ... we have discovered that black Sharpies do a great job of covering up the black chipped off paint spots LOL ... much better than the black refrigerator touch up paint ... heck I even noticed on a recent trip to Home Depot that Sharpie actually makes a fat touch up marker for just such projects LOL ... seriously!!!!

Ya'll I've been hoping for years and years ... that the dangum thing would just DIE!!!  No such luck ...


BUT ... 10 years later ... ya'll guess what I got for Christmas ... and I am tickled to death ... yep, over a fridge!!!!  


  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS
Read User's Comments0
Posted by Unknown

Homemade Caramel Sauce

11:23 AM | Labels: , ,


Start with a heavy pan
Organic Sugar in the pan
As Sugar breaksdown it will look crumbly ... this is normal to the process of caramelizing
See how it is starting to liquify but yet still has clumps ... keep cooking, be patient
Sugar has completely liquified and caramelized
Adding Butter will make it bubble up bigtime ... make sure not to burn it ... adjust heat if necessary
Adding the Milk will make it bubble up even more ... turn down heat to low
Remove from pan and transfer to a heat resistent container
After cooling for a couple minutes, whisk it really good to get a smooothe consistency
There ya go ... Homemade Caramel Sauce ... NO HFCS or other gunk in it ... all natural
Caramel Sauce

1/2 cup Organic Sugar
3 Tblsps Organic Butter
1/2 cup Evaporated Milk (or Organic Heavy Cream)

NOTE: The Evaporated Milk was what I had on hand left over from a recipe.  If you want to make it totally Organic (and richer in flavor) then use 1/2 cup Organic Heavy Cream in place of the Evaporated Milk.

Place sugar in a heavy pan (I use cast iron cause it heats up most uniformly).  Cook on medium low heat until sugar has completed dissolved and become a liquid and caramelized.  It takes a while but be patient.

Add Butter but turn heat down a bit ... it will bubble up like crazy.  Stir until Butter is melted.

Next turn heat completely down as low as possible and add Milk ... cook for a couple more minutes stirring constantly.

Remove from pan into a cooler container (make sure it is a heat proof container) ... I used a Pyrex measuring cup.  Let stand for a minute or two to cool then whip it with a whisk for about 20-30 seconds. 

Sauce will thicken as it cools.  You can refrigerate any unused portions and just zap it in the microwave for a few seconds, stir and enjoy again!

Here's how I used mine but its also great for dipping apples, pears or other fruit in
or pouring over your favorite ice cream or dessert



  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS
Read User's Comments0
Posted by Unknown

Empty Nesters ~ A Reality

3:00 PM | Labels:

Photo of beautiful ‘Empty Nest’ painting courtesy of marygregorystudio.blogspot.com


Growing up and then raising my own three children I always wanted it to be like it is in the show “Parenthood” … kids are grown but all living nearby raising their own families, entire family gathering once a week and always on holidays, siblings supporting each other during good times and difficult times, the entire family showing up during a crisis or celebrations … just always there for each other.  Heck that’s even why we bought this big ole house when our kids were just about grown … plenty of room to have them all here visiting at the same time … course we were assuming they would ALL be able to visit at the same time and maybe even a few times a year AT THE SAME TIME.  It’s been almost 4 years since we’ve had them all here AT THE SAME TIME.  Heck, we have even tried planning a ONCE a year family vacation, all paid for by us, and that hasn’t worked out either.  The term ‘Empty Nesters’ is just that, for us, our nest is empty and its never ever gonna be full again … not even briefly.

My hubby and I have recently come to accept that our three kids and their families will never all live close to us … we will never be like “Parenthood” and even have found the bright side to that … hey it doesn’t matter WHERE we live as HOME to our kids is wherever we happen to live so we can pretty much live wherever we want, right?  What a wonderful bright side, huh?  NOT!  When HOME is never ever full of the entire family … well it just ain’t really a HOME.

Now that the holidays are soon upon us and once again we will be alone for Thanksgiving and possibly Christmas too … I’m very very sad.  The last couple years I had a hard time with “should I or shouldn’t I drag out all the Thanksgiving décor and then the Christmas décor and decorate” but I did.  This year … I just ain’t doing it.  Hubby and I will still give thanks on Thanksgiving whether or not there are Pilgrims and Indians and fall décor on our table … there is ALWAYS something to be thankful for.  AND we will still celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ whether or not there are wreaths on our windows and doors, a tree decorated in the hall and family room or my Santa collection displayed or even the Manger Scene set up to remind us of what Christmas is all about … we will remember and Christmas will still come and we will still celebrate … décor or not!!!


This is our reality now … WE ARE EMPTY NESTERS!!!

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS
Read User's Comments0
Posted by Unknown
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)