I Heart Chili When It's Chilly

Several years ago, Rodney and I discovered our favorite chili recipe. However, it takes about 24 hours to make and it requires ordering a kit from the internet. So, needless to say, we only make it for special occasions.

I'm happy to say I recently discovered/altered a recipe we love. While I have a few original recipe credits to my name, it's not my specialty. My specialty is taking existing recipes and changing things here and there to suit our tastes.

If you're looking for an easy, healthy, delicious chili recipe, you're in luck. I have one...and I'm sharing it. The original recipe came out of a Cooking Light cookbook, so it is quite healthy. But I may have counteracted that with the biscuits I made to go with it and the cheese and sour cream I covered the top with. :-/

Chipotle Red and White Bean Chili

- 2 small yellow onions, chopped

- 1 - 1.5 lbs. lean ground beef

- 2 red bell peppers, chopped

- 1 Taco Seasoning pkg. (1.25 oz.)

- 1 can Mexican style Rotel

- 1 can tomato sauce (8 oz.)

- 1 can light red kidney beans (15 oz.), rinsed and drained

- 1 can cannellini beans (19 oz.), rinsed and drained

- 1 c. frozen sweet corn

- 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped

- 2 t. adobo sauce from peppers

- fresh cilantro, chopped

Cook onion, beef and peppers in a non-stick pot over medium-high heat until beef is browned and veggies are tender. Drain beef mixture, and return to pot.

Add taco seasoning mix and add next 7 ingredients.

Bring mixture to a boil; cover and simmer 5 minutes. (I also added about 1/2 c. water and 1/2 c. beef broth just because we like ours with a little more juice.)

When serving top with chopped cilantro, grated cheese of choice, and sour cream.

Mmmmm.

(To control the heat leave out the chipotle peppers. You can also use regular diced tomatoes instead of Rotel. For more heat, add more chipotle peppers.)

I also made mine the day before while Clinton was at school and put it in the fridge until we were ready to eat dinner tonight. All I had to do was throw it on the stove and heat it up...so easy and so good.

I had planned on making cornbread, but discovered my cornmeal was 3 YEARS past it's expiration date!?! I must admit, I'm a Jiffy girl, but since I had none on hand I was going to try to make it from scratch. Instead, I found a recipe for biscuits that I had all the ingredients for and they were delicious.

Drop Biscuits Supreme

3 c. all-purpose flour

1 T. baking powder

1 T. sugar

1 t. salt

3/4 t cream of tartar

3/4 c. butter (or 1/2 c. butter and 1/4 c. shortening)

1 1/4c. milk

Preheat oven to 450.

In large bowl combine all but the milk. Blend together with a pastry blender or your hands until butter mixture resembles coarse crumbs. (The key is just to incorporate the butter/shortening into the flour mixture as best as possible.)

Make a well in the center of the mixture and add milk all at once. Stir with a fork until mixture is moistened.

Using a large spoon, drop dough into 12 mounds onto a greased baking sheet. Bake for 10-14 minutes or until golden.

Keepin' it hot even when it's not,

Looking for Bargain Blogs?

As I mentioned in my last post, there are coupon/bargain sites based on geographical areas. Here's a website that will help you find some in your area. This is just a starting point, though, because I know there are tons more. Check it out here.

My New Way to Shop

It started out slowly, but as I've gotten the hang of things my receipts have began to show some enormous benefit.

Take a look.

Spent $84.08 Saved $38.07 (31% Savings)

Spent $111.55 Saved $53.12 (32% Savings)

Spent $132.18 Saved $60.77 (32% Savings)

Spent $97.24 Saved $60.88 (39% Savings)

Spent $103.53 Saved $76.53 (43% Savings)

Spent $94.90 Saved $91.92 (49% Savings!!!!)

Spent $148.77 Saved $116.92 (44% Savings)

It should also be noted that the savings would probably be greater, but I'm still purchasing big ticket items like diapers and formula.

So how did I save so much? Well, first I studied up on the art of couponing. I did this by checking out these two particular websites-- Southern Savers and Faithful Provisions. These are both targeted to the Southeastern part of the country, but both have tons of links to other websites and you're sure to be able to find a site or two that is for your geographical area.

Then I studied up on my store's coupon policies. I found out they double ALL manufacturers coupons $.50 and under. They accept ALL competitor store coupons. And you can stack a store/competitor coupon with a manufacturers coupon. Wow.

Then I started collecting and printing coupons. My MIL and my dad both get Sunday papers. So they pull their coupons for me. I also occasionally pick up my own Sunday paper. I also pull coupons as I see them in the in-store dispensers. (I save them until that item goes on sale then take them back!) I sign up for any coupon booklet mentioned on one of my go-to sites. And I scan the rack at the front of the store for any in-store flyers that contain coupons.

I also started scanning the weekly flyer and comparing my coupons to the current sales and specials. This is how you get the best price. I love my store's BOGO section. Check out some of the awesome deals I scored this week.

Aveen0 Baby Wash

Regular Price $4.99

Sales Price $3.79

Mfg Coupon $2.00 off

Target Coupon $1.00 off

Total Price $0.79 (84% Savings)

Al Freco All Natural Chicken Sausage

Regular Price $5.49

BOGO Deal $2.75

Mfg Coupon $1.50 off

Total Price $1.25 (77% Savings)

ROTEL

Regular Price $1.09

Store Coupon $.75 off of 2

Mfg Coupon $.55 off of 2

Total Price $.88/$.44 each (40% Savings)

Emerald Trail Mix

Regular Price $1.99

BOGO Deal $1.99/2

Mfg Coupon $1.00 off of 2

Total Price $.99/$.49 each (75% Savings)

I'm also being more aware of what type of produce is in season because it's both cheaper and tastier. (Why have I been so stupid about his before???)

Let me just say, this definitely takes some time. I spend a couple of hours/week getting my list and coupons organized. But as a SAHM, I'm finding it's worth it to do so. It's almost like getting paid for that time. And I'm always looking for ways to contribute to our household. Ever since quitting my job to take care of my kiddos I have felt somewhat guilty of the things we can no longer do because we lack the extra income. However, things like this are allowing me to free up some money to do some extra things here and there.

I'm pretty competitive by nature, so this has given me an outlet for that. Every week I try to do better than the week before while still only purchasing things we would use. (However, if I can get things we don't use for very cheap/free, then I purchase them and put them in my "Food Bank Donation" stash.

Of course, shopping like this limits your ability to walk into the store and buy whatever you want for whatever meals you feel like preparing. It requires menu planning based on what you have and what you can get. I'm still working on this, but definitely enjoying the challenge. Faithful Provisions blogs weekly about her menu and how she is able to feed a family of 4 on $40/week + formula. While I'm still not able to do this at $40/week, I've made it a goal and striving for it.

I challenge anyone looking for a way to cut back on the budget to try this out. Once you get going it's a bit addictive. If you have any questions about what I'm doing, you know where to find me!

Clip-clip,

Just Call Me Martha

I did some more cooking this weekend, and it was quite yummy...believe me, no one was more surprised than Rodney! Of course, last night I caved and ordered pizza and wings!

I've been getting these Everyday Food catalogs for like two years and the only thing I had ever made from them was a really delicious Chicken Pot Pie. However, I'm discovering they're full of lots of other yummy things, too.

Unfortunately, Martha doesn't have all the recipes up on her site that I used, but next time I talk to her I will mention it.

So this weekend I was able to muster up the energy to create these two dinners:

Night 1
Spicy Orange Chicken Stir Fry (so yummy and so not on the website, but it's in the March 2008 edition if you have it)
Sweet and Sour Cabbage (again, can't find the recipe and I'm scared of Martha should I just post her recipes up here!)

Night 2
Mini Honey Mustard Meat Loaves w/Roasted Potatoes (Rodney liked these better than the meat loaf I normally make)
I just added cucumbers to the salad and dried rosemary to the potatoes, I also cooked some frozen peas

Looking forward to this week's menus,

Favorite Things Friday - Frozen Juice Cans

We've been drinking a lot of juice in our house...and by we, I mean me and the babe in the belly. I'm addicted. Seeing as I have a barely there pantry, storing jugs of juice takes up a lot of room that I don't have. So, I got to thinking. I wonder if they still make the frozen juice concentrate that my mom used to make. While at my FABULOUS SuperTarget, I headed over the frozen section and found an amazing selection of 100% Juice Concentrates...including my favorite, Pineapple-Orange. Not only do they take up a lot less space, they are significantly cheaper. So, I stock up to make sure we are always prepared for a juice craving!

Using these also allows me to use the cute glass "pitcher" things I picked up at the grocery. It's so much cuter than the jugs.



...and yes, that's fresh parsley there...I told you, I've been back in the kitchen!

Hello Kitchen, I've Missed You...

For the past few weeks (possibly, months), I have not been doing much cooking--which is truly one of my favorite things to do. My sweet husband has either been whipping something up, or more often going to retrieve take-out. After an overdose of Chinese last weekend and some way-to-greasy Captain D's, I decided to head back into the kitchen. I started digging through my Everday Food magazines and have whipped up three pretty yummy meals this week that were quick and super easy.

I had hoped this was going to be a great post where you could click on the link to each recipe, but it seems Martha has already pulled some of these off of her website. However, if you get a chance to try to Southern Pulled-Pork Sandwiches, they are really yummy. Even though there aren't links to the others, I still wanted to pat myself on the back...so here was this week's menu...

Tuesday night we had:
-Quick Crispy Chicken
-Snow Peas w/Dill Butter
-Brown-Sugar Glazed Carrots

Wednesday night we had:
-Spinach & Brie Chicken w/Tomato Orzo
-Sauteed Cabbage and Onions (no real recipe-just sliced up a small green cabbage and a small sweet onion, sauteed with butter over low til cooked through)

and last night we had:
-Southern Pulled-Pork Sandwiches (rather than following the recipe exactly, I used all the ingredients, but then I threw it all in the slow cooker on low for 8 hours)
-Cucumber & Sweet Onion Salad
Boiled Potatoes (again--no real recipe, just chopped up some Yukon gold potatoes, boiled, drained and tossed with butter and fresh parsley--and as always, salt and pepper to taste!)

Favorite Things Friday - Method Air Fresheners

I'm a big fan of Method cleaning products, but I also love their air fresheners. I use the plug in ones and the discs. It took me a long time standing in the aisle at Target to decide which scent I wanted for my home, but I finally settled on Vanilla-Apple (the same as my sister!). Every person who has come in my house since I started using these has commented on how good my house smells. I use two of the plug ins in the great room area and some of the discs in certain rooms--Clinton's in particular. Occasionally, I get a candle for my kitchen as well--although, I'm in need of one of those at the moment.

If you're looking for the perfect scent for your home, check out these...they're yummy!