Homemade Chili

With all the cool weather sweeping in through the south, I've really started to crave comfort foods. Well yesterday I wanted chili, but didnt have a chili season pack on hand. So I found a recipe, but tweaked it to my liking! ;-) I also froze about 6 cups of it for later use as chili & cheese baked potatoes or for chili dogs, so I may take a picture of it then if I remember. But enough of my talking, here is the recipe. Hope you enjoy as much as we did!! :-)


Chili

2lbs ground lean turkey, chicken or beef cooked and drained of all grease
29oz can tomato sauce
2-14.5oz cans kidney beans, undrained
2-14.5 oz cans pinto beans, undrained
1/2 cup sweet frozen corn kernals - *optional*
1 med onion, diced & cooked along with ground turkey
1-3oz can diced green chilies
1/4 green bell pepper, diced & cooked along with ground turkey
1/4 cup celery, diced & cooked along with ground turkey
1-28oz can petite diced tomatoes
3tsp cumin powder
3tbsp chili powder
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp table salt
1/2 cup water

First you cook your ground turkey, onion, bell pepper, and celery together using non-stick olive oil spray or regular olive oil. After your meat mixture is done, drain(sometimes I even rinse it off with warm water just to make sure all the grease is out if I'm using ground beef)and then add to a large pot along with all of the other ingredients. Stir to mix everything together and then simmer on low for 30min to 1 hour. Enjoy!!

I like to serve mine with a side of sweet cornbread or saltines. Yummmm

Semi-Homemade Freezer Salsa

Since I have discovered that you can freeze salsa, I have been doing this recipe for about half a year now. I use a package called Mrs. Wages and it has everything that a salsa should have, minus the tomatoes. The recipe calls for 6-14.5 oz cans of petite diced tomatoes and 1/2 cup of white vinegar. I have never doubled the recipe, but I'm sure that it would be no problem doing so. The pictures below are of my salsa. I used Ball 8oz freezer containers and got 12 1/2 cups of salsa after it was done.

New Dominican Hair Care Products

I just wanted to do a quick review on a new product products that I have been using. I am Jamaican-American as I'm sure most of you didn't know and I have been searching high & low for new products that will help grow my hair. I do relax my hair every 6-8 weeks because I have very coarse hair, but I was wanting to extend the time between relaxers. After searching I found a product called "CrecePelo" by Boe.

The image above is from Amazon.com, but I DID NOT puchase my items from there. The products are made in the Dominican Republic and work wonderful!! And they also smell great!! :-) I purchased the 4pc set which includes 16oz shampoo, 16oz treatment, 16oz rinse & a 16oz leave-in-conditioner. I have noticed a complete difference in my hair since the first time I used it. My hair is now very smooth, silky and easy to comb. I last relaxed my hair a month ago today and it still looks fresh as if I just got it relaxed. I usually just keep my hair wrapped and if I go out I comb it pull it back in a pony and I'm out the door. I have not noticed any significant hair growth as of yet, my hair is a little past my shoulders. So I will have to update in a few months to let you guys know if I noticed any.



*HAIR CARE UPDATE* 12/12/11

Alright folks, I am back again with a hair care update since this last post. I just got a perm/relaxer on 12/1/11, so I went I believe 10 weeks without a relaxer and my hair was really kinky!! I did wash my hair every other week and flat iron it, but a couple hours after, it would be very frizzy and start to kink back up. I did notice some shedding, but I am not sure if it was because of the product I was using, or because I went so long without a relaxer/perm. I had about 2" of new growth, so that was good for me.

Being Hospitable

Lately I have been talking to my child about his behavior and trying to instill character in him. We have been using the Duggar Character Quality chart as part of our bible study for homeschool. Well, yesterday we had a visitor come by our home and she was there for a couple hours and as she was playing a game with my son he says"_____, would you like a glass of water". She tells him yes and how nice he is for offering her water. He then goes on to tell her that "well my mom says that if someone poor comes to our home we are to offer them things". We got a good laugh out of it, but then corrected him and told him that when you have visitors come by for a visit you should make them as comfortable as possible and share with them what God has blessed you with. I really do suggest using the Duggar Character Quality chart as part of your homeschool, family devotion, sunday school, etc.