Year of Saying Yes

I decided this summer that the next 12 months were going to be the Year of Saying Yes. If someone asked me to join a team or a club, if I got invited to a concert (or WANTED to go to a concert, movie, game, etc) I was just going to say yes. I have promised my sister that I wouldn't say yes to anything illegal, but other than that, all bets are off.

The last six months have been kind of all over the place for me, with a lot of highs, some lows, and some scary health stuff that turned out to be not scary. (The best phone calls involve the word 'benign' by the way). All I have to say is that my support team is amazing and there is nothing that can't be fixed with drinks on the patio of The Mucky Duck. I re-established my Wine Club With Books that I had started when I first moved to town three years ago, I started a new job that I'm loving, and I am working on breaking patterns, sharing recipes, and learning cool new stuff. Just this week, I decided to learn to kayak, which makes sense, because it's October and we're probably mere weeks away from below freezing temps and river ice. But bring it on, because it's the Year of Saying Yes!  Like last weekend...had the opportunity to go to a Vikings game, so I went! And it was beautiful weather! And we WON! It was a Christmas Miracle!

We won! And we had great seats!

This week's recipe is Kim's Amazing Chili.  It got COLD this weekend, which means it was time for chili. You can't have chili when it's warm. That is a rule. I checked. Feel free to modify as always. I do a mix of ground meat because ground beef is expensive and ground turkey is not, but I don't like the chili just with ground turkey. So again...modify as needed! Also, you might look through the ingredients and go 'shredded carrots?' and 'pumpkin?!?' and I'll explain. I was raised in a house where my mom snuck shredded carrots and/or shredded zucchini into everything for extra nutritional value, and so that's how I cook still. And the pumpkin helps thicken the chili since my chili can't have beans in it. 

Kim's Amazing Chili

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey

1/2 lb ground beef 

3 15 oz cans diced tomatoes

1 24 oz can crushed tomatoes

1 can pureed pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie)

1 jar jalepenos (I use medium because I like my chili spicy)

1 c shredded carrots (or more or less-I don't really measure-I shred about 4-5 carrots and throw it in)

1 T cumin

2-3 T chili powder (or more...I always add way more)

Directions:

1. Brown ground turkey and ground beef

2. While that is browning, throw everything else into a slow cooker. Stir it up and set the slow cooker to low. 

3. Drain the meat and stir into the mixture. 

4. Cook the chili on low for 6-8 hours. 

Enjoy!

Now, you can enjoy your chili with tortilla chips and [fake] cheese, and be done with it. This makes a huge amount, so I freeze most of it in individual containers and then take out as needed. I made this on Sunday, which everyone knows is football watching day, so I decided to pretend I was like the rest of the world, and made some chili cheese fries 'my style' by baking some waffle fries in the oven, sprinkling some shredded fake mozzarella, pouring some chili on top, and then sprinkling with MORE mozzarella. And it. Was. Awesome. 

And today, when I was home for lunch, I made some gluten free pasta, reheated some chili, and mixed together for a delicious and fast meal. Chili Pasta: It's real, and it's spectacular. 

I really like the gluten free Barilla pasta.
It tastes great and is wallet friendly

Any good book recommendations for Wine Club with Books? Send them my way!