Recipe: Slowcooker Chili

I made this chili a few weekends ago, when the weather was just a tad too warm for a giant vat of chili.  With the temperatures way below normal this week, I am aching for a steaming bowl of yummy chili- I may just need to whip up a batch, it's SUPER easy!!  (Note, you don't need to make this in a slowcooker, it works just as well on the stove, I was just feeling super lazy and had a day of errands planned!)

First, chop 3 green peppers, a purple onion & a yellow onion- colors are totally optional and interchangeable here!!  The grocery had a sale on a pre-wrapped pack of 3 green peppers, so I got those instead of a green, yellow & red which is what I usually do.  And I had a purple onion that had been hanging around for a while, so I used that along with the yellow onion.  So just use what you have & like.

Since there was so much veg to chop, I used this handy little chopper.  My brother, the chef, calls this lazy, but I had a perfect dice in less than five minutes.  I call that smart.

Add all the veg to a saute pan with a little oil (I use coconut oil for all my cooking), along with a pound (or two, I would have used two but I only had one on hand) of ground meat and lots of chopped garlic and cook until the meat is no longer pink and the peppers & onions are nice and soft.  I used ground chicken for the first time (I usually use ground turkey) and LOVED the results!

Ooooh, steamy!!

Meanwhile, dump 4 cans of diced tomatoes and 4 cans of beans into a slowcooker.  I used 2 cans of chili style tomatoes, 2 cans of fire roasted tomatoes, and a can each of: great northern beans, black beans, chili beans, and kidney beans.  Use whatever you like, and whatever you have on hand.  I also usually add some tomato paste, but I didn't have any in the pantry, and honestly I didn't miss it.

Once the meat & veg mix is cooked through, add it to the tomato & bean mix and stir well.  At this point I added 2 tbsp of chili powder and 2 tbsp of brown sugar.   Since babygirl was (theoretically) sharing the chili with us, I didn't add any cayenne or red pepper flakes, but both would have been tasty additions.  It turns out babygirl didn't love chili, so I could have added them, but honestly between the chili tomatoes, chili beans & chili powder, there was plenty of zip!

Now just let the chili bubble away for a few hours until you're ready to eat!!

And here's a yummy bowl topped with some sharp cheddar and crushed tortilla chips.  And before you ask, this was day two of chili and the cheese shredder was in the dishwasher.  LOL.  Sliced cheese is just as delish as its shredded counterpart though!!

Window Shopping: A Classy Flea

I'm not sure if these window shopping posts are a good idea- I'm giving away all my secret shopping spots!!  It's okay though, turnover at my fave spots is constant, which is a good thing because there's always something new to drool over.  Not good though if you're like me and wish later that you had made a purchase.  Here are a few of my favorite things on my last trip to A Classy Flea.  Sorry, I didn't write down prices, but the prices at this place are ALWAYS reasonable!

I love this table.  I'm always on the lookout for a cool LARGE dining table.  Although it rarely happens, in my dreams we host big raucous dinner parties and we all squeeze around a generous-sized table.  This one is a cool mix of industrial and farm, but it's not totally practical- the folks at the heads of the table would have no place for their legs/feet.  Must.keep.looking.

I've told you before of my love for vintage pull-down maps, and this was a pretty neat one.  I like the colors.  It's not a functional pull-down anymore though, which is kind of a bummer.

 I love this little loveseat!  It's a great compact size and I adore the color and lines.  I could see it in a cozy den or at the foot of a bed.  All it needs is a wooly plaid throw!

This was an interesting piece.  I'm not sure of it's original purpose, but it caught my eye.  What do you think it was used for?  It's definitely a candle holder, but why the spikes on the bottom?

I ADORE feather wreaths!!  We actually have one on our front door now (oops, I've yet to share the little bit of fall sprucing up I did around here!!).  I really like the colors in this one.

It's so hard to see because it's covered in stuff, but this was a very interesting orange chaise lounge.  It was super cheap, but I couldn't think of ONE place to put it in our home.  Sad day!

I love rocking chairs and am always on the hunt for cheap ones for our front porch.  I liked how these were a little more squat than your average rocker.

These were striking candle holders in a pretty bronze color.  They're a little too fussy for my taste, but I did stop to admire them.

It was kind of bright, but I liked this funky pink metal flower.  It reminded me of the amazing feather Juju hats that cost a zillion dollars.  I could see it on the gallery wall in babygirl's nursery.

I've mentioned before that I adore quirky pillows.  I especially like quirky needlepoint pillows!!  This cute owl fit the bill on both accounts.  Sadly, I left him behind (one of those times when I kick myself later- do you see the price on that little cutie?!  Boohooo).

These fabric pumpkins were interesting!  I hadn't seen anything like them before, but just this week I noticed them popping up on a few blogs.  Guess I'm behind the times!!  I still really like them, and think they'd be easy to recreate myself.

Not quite sure what caught my eye in this pic.  Maybe the bench?  Lots of eye candy!

More feather wreaths!  But I was actually trying to snap a shot of the pull-down map behind the wreaths.  It was newer, so the colors weren't as muted & pretty, but still a fun map.

I snapped this pic because I liked what the dealer did to make her spot a little more interesting.  Just some wooden curtain rings + burlap=  instant ambiance!

 

On our way out we spotted these great patio chairs.  Nothing special, but they were a great price and could be customized with cool cushions or even a nice bright spray paint.

And I showed you this little guy a few weeks back.  Still a little sorry I passed him up.  Oh well!!

So what do you think?  Would any of those treasures have gone home with you??

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween from the hubs & I, and of course our lil' ladybug!!

Tutorial: DIY Calendar

Oh goodness, where did the last week go??  Yeah, I don't know either!  We have lots of catching up to do, but before that, here's a lil' somethin I've been up to...

I've been looking for a way to get better organized and keep track of upcoming dates & events.  The hubs & I have a shared Google calendar which is on my laptop & phone, but I tend not to use it for the little things that babygirl & I are up to daily.  I also wanted a place to plan out blog posts.  I'd seen so many of the dry-erase picture frame calendars on Pinterest (like this or this) and I knew I wanted to do something similar, but on a LARGE scale.  I've been keeping an eye out for large picture frames while out thrifting, and lookie what I found this past weekend (at G-Dub for $9.99)!!

Sorry the picture is at a weird angle- it's on my kitchen counter, aka workspace, cuz I could hardly wait to get started!!  I instantly LOVED the bamboo-look frame:

But not really digging the gold.  So I made quick work of taking the back off, removing the poster & glass...

And slapping on a (few) coats of my fave black paint.

At first I was thinking of using different background colors for each week, but then it felt like that might be too busy.  So I decided to raid my fabric stash and see what I could find.  Pattern would be fun, but might compete too much with whatever I am writing.  So....I settled on this funky gold velvet croc print remnant I picked up ages ago.  I decided to just "upholster" the original poster because it was a nice heavy cardboard.  Here is the fabric laid underneath it:

I used black electrical/duct tape to secure the fabric...

And here's my upholstered poster...

Instead of taping grid lines on the glass, I knew I wanted to use ribbon under the glass so I'd have a seamless surface to write on.  So I tested a few colors of ribbon to see what I preferred.  I decided to keep it nice & neutral with the cream ribbon.

Testing the whole look, and I'm LOVING it.  Except I grabbed the MATTE black paint instead of glossy- oops!  Easily remedied with a few light coats of clear gloss spray paint!!

This was THE MOST TIME-CONSUMING part of this project- measuring out the grid lines.  Whew!  If I'd thought it out, I'd have made the top, bottom & sides a tad bigger than the rest since they'll be partially covered by the frame.  But that's called hindsight, and no way was I going to change everything once the thought came to me!!

I popped the glass back into the frame, and then the upholstered poster.  Unfortunately quite a few of the little metal tabs that help to hold the goods into the frame had been lost, so I used the ones that were intact, and then placed another heavy cardboard that had been in the original picture behind my upholstered piece, and went a little nuts with the tape to make sure it was secure.

I moved the hanging brackets so I could hang the picture horizontally:

And here's the finished product!!

And after adding days, dates, etc.  I'm going to have to play around with markers to find colorful ones that ALSO show up well, tho it IS actually much more visible in person!

But oh-my-goodness I couldn't be happier!!  Now I just need to re-arrange the study and get a new desk in there so I can hang this baby and put it to use!!

Weekend Update

Happy Monday!!

We had lovely weekend over here- beautiful weather, along with a good balance of work, play and helping out a neighbor.  Couldn't get much better if you ask me!!

Friday afternoon babygirl and I quickly hit up one of my favorite thrift shops in hopes of finding a cheap Halloween costume.  No luck, but I did score these cool looking vintage patterns for .10¢ each!  I haven't opened them yet, but hoping they'll be a fun sewing project.

Later Friday evening we were driving thru a neighborhood near our house when we spotted a bunch of cabinets on the curb.  We pulled over, got super excited about what we saw, and loaded up 2 cabinets in our car.  We got home, took measurements, and got even more excited when we realized the cabinets would fit above our laundry room sink- score!!  I'll post a full tutorial this week, but here's what a good chunk of our Saturday was spent doing:

It wasn't quite cool enough to make chili, but I did anyway, and it was deelish!  Recipe to come...

I also did a little fall decorating.  Not too much, but I love fall colors and it just made me smile.  I'm trying to get my hands on some brown bandanas to use for my Thanksgiving tablescape- wouldn't that be adorable?!

 
 Today the hubs helped a neighbor pick up a new fridge and move it in.  By the time he got home there wasn't much daylight left, but I was determined to visit one of my favorite shopping centers with a great antique store, Goodwill & Big Lots- talk about a trifecta!!!  I've got lots of pics of some of my favorite things to share with you later this week, but I can't get this guy out of my head, and can't help feeling like I passed over something pretty darn special.  I really hate when that happens...

What do you think?  Did I pass up a cool piece?  And just to rub salt in my wound, the price was a mere $14.95, marked down from $45. Booohoooooo......

I'll cheer you (and me) up with a pic of our cutie from a trip to Lowe's this weekend.  Have a great week!!