Chili Cook-Off

Earlier this week a friend of mine asked me if I would enter a recipe in a chili cook-off that he was organizing.  I don't know why, but I agreed to do it even though I can't make chili to save my life.  I don't know why it's so difficult for me, but I feel like I can't ever get the recipe right - too many beans, too many tomatoes, noodles, no noodles, too spicy - you get the picture. 

Now that I agreed to enter chili in this cook-off, I had to find a recipe that I could actually make and one that actually tasted good.  I would normally give in and go directly to panic mode, but I was calm, cool, and collected as I remembered that there was a chili recipe in the new cookbook that I recently purchased (lucky me).  If you read my blog, you may remember that I posted last week about Pioneer Woman.  I bought her new cookbook (which is wonderful) earlier in the week and decided to use her Simple, Perfect Chili recipe.  Pioneer Woman has some of the best recipes that don't seem extremely difficult or use funky, not-so-normal ingredients, plus she is really funny and takes great pictures. 

Anyway, I made the chili (yes, the first time I made it was the entry into the cook-off) and my husband and boys really liked it.  Here are the pictures from the evening and to find out how I fared, you will have to read the entire post.  Come on, just humor me a little please :)

This is the finished product ready for Carl to test before we left to deliver the goods.

There were 11 mild entries and 4 spicy entries, plus garlic bread, hot dogs and chips, desserts, and drinks. 

Rachel and Andy love chili and drove all the way over to have some good food.  As you can see, Rachel takes her taste-testing very seriously.  She had a sample from every chili entry. 

I think Andy went more for the spicy samples.  (He did tell me that he liked my recipe the best - 1 vote.)

The taste-testing was done, desserts were gobbled up and it was time to vote.  Just thinking about all of that food makes me want to put on a very stretchy pair of pj's and lounge on the couch.

Carl is thinking really hard about which recipe he should vote for.  Sweetheart, can I just say one thing?  Think really hard about your vote if you don't want to be eating bologna sandwiches for the next year....

Santa even made an appearance at the cook-off.  This is my youngest son, Ryan.  What do you think - was he naughty or nice this year?

Drum roll please...........

You really want to know what place I came in?

For real!?

I came in second out of four spicy entries.  Not bad for making the recipe for the first time.  The boy (yes boy - 7th grade boy) that won this year also won last year with the same recipe.  I do have to say that I had fun and we had a nice evening out visiting with friends.  On the recommendation of my oldest son, I'm planning on entering again so watch out 7th grade boy - I'll be seeing you next year.

And I would like to add a very big thank you to Pioneer Woman!!

Life and Caramel Marshmallows

Wow - can you believe that Christmas is two weeks from today!!!  I seriously need to take an inventory of presents that we already have and ones that we still need to buy.  My hope was to go shopping with my husband and then have a nice dinner with him (or at least a Starbucks), but I think that we will have to wait a few more days.  Kyle had a basketball game last night (yea - South won!) and now he wants to go to the high school game tonight, so because he is showing interest in something (not typical for this 14 y/o), we have decided to change our plans and cheer South to victory.

I need to pretend I'm Martha Stewart or some other baking whiz and start my Christmas cookies this weekend, plus my mother is coming in next week and I want to get some small projects finished so the house looks nice for her arrival.  I have to tell you that my sisters and I really surprised her with her birthday gifts yesterday.  If you remember from a few posts back, I mentioned that I was going to visit two of my sisters and my niece and we were going to work on my mom's birthday gift.  Well, she thought we were working on this scrapbook that was started many, many moons ago, but we all made a quilt square for her.  (Now I can't post a picture yet because my mom wont get her gift until she arrives next week, but I will post a picture after that.)  I enjoyed making my quilt square so much that I want to take a quilting class after the holidays (put it on the list....).

Friends of mine talked me into entering a chili cook-off on Saturday and that's also on my list of things to do this weekend.  I'm doing this a little backwards and the recipe that I'm making for the cook-off is a brand new recipe that I haven't tried yet.  So, since there are people in town that read my blog and may be entering also, I'm not giving away any secrets yet so that post will have to come later.

I work at a college and finals are next week then Christmas break.  We still work over break and have a few days off around the holidays.  This time of the year is always welcomed because everything is quiet and it's a great time to catch up on projects, etc.

Now for one of the caramel marshmallows that I talked about in a previous post.  This recipe came from my grandmother and all of us just love these things.  They are little messy, but definitely worth it.  I would have to say that this is a holiday family tradition for me and my sisters.  I'm also going to visit Colleen's blog to see what other great recipes are there and maybe I can find a new tradition to start.  What traditions do you or your family have?  Are you wanting to try something new this year, or not continue something?  Whatever your plans are, I hope your holiday season is happy and healthy. 
 
Caramel Marshmallows
1/2 c. butter
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1 bag caramels
large box of Rice Krispie Treats
1 bag of large marshmallows

In double boiler melt butter, milk, and caramels. 

Dip marshmallows in caramel and then roll in Rice Krispies.

From my experience in making this recipe, the dipping and rolling works so much better if the caramel mixture can cool slightly.

Pioneer Woman Rocks!

I absolutely have to tell you about Pioneer Woman.  If you've heard about her, have you been to her blog?  If not, you must - and I mean must - check it out.  I laughed so hard last night reading some of her posts.  She cooks, is a great writer, she takes awesome pictures, she channels Ethel Merman and Lucille Ball, and she is hilariously funny - Pioneer Woman rocks!  The bookstore at work has her new cookbook and I broke down and bought it.  It is a great book full of recipes (of course), some of her pictures, great stories.  Pioneer Woman also has another blog - Tasty Kitchen.  Its similar to allrecipes.com, but I just like hers better.  Ok, I know I need to calm down because I sound like I'm stalking her or her blog, but she is really, really funny. 

While we are on the topic of baking and cooking blogs, have you been over to Bakerella.com?  She has a great website/blog full of really interesting, cute, fun recipes.  I plan on visiting her site and trying to find a new recipe or two for Christmas.  I do know that I plan on making rice krispie covered marshmallows this year.  It is a family favorite that my grandmother found on the back of a rice krispie box (I think).  For the recipe, come back on Friday when I post it and link to Colleen's blog.  Speaking of Colleen (who I don't know, but I really like her blog), she has some great tutorials for crafts and those are more things that I would like to make this Christmas season. 

Do you have a favorite cooking blog or website?  How about a favorite holiday recipe? Maybe a new one that you would like to try?  Drop a note here - I would love hear about it.

Reason #253

Reason #253 why my husband wants to move to Florida. I've been on the road for 1 hour trying to get to work and traffic is at a standstill, and I haven't even made it to the big booming metropolis where I work.

Assembly Complete!!

Assembly complete! I repeat: ASSEMBLY COMPLETE!!

Princess Leia, C-3PO, and R2-D2 are on a vital mission for the Rebel Alliance and they need Ryan's help!  Actually, Ryan received an early Christmas present from Grandma Peggy and Papa John and he needed help putting it together.  It was an intense assembly, but one that has been attempted before, so these two dare devils knew what was in store for them. If there are any lego-loving little boys out there (or big boys for that matter), here is what the completed set looks like:

Ryan with the completed Star Wars Lego Tantive IV blockade runner.

The front pod with Captain Antilles and a Rebel Trooper.

Princess Leia even has her own desk on the blockade runner.

Escape pods are always a must when you are trying to battle the bad guys and save the galaxy.

Here is a cargo transport if you want to take a Sunday drive around the galaxy.

And these babies can catapult any ship into light speed in a nano second. 

This is a little thing that Ryan built to go with the Star Wars battleship. 

He calls it a front line destroyer.  It's big, it's bad, and I wouldn't want to be in it's way.

Well, Ryan is one lucky boy to have his dad (and mom, brother, and Grandpa) help him put together his lego sets and I'm sure it wont be the last one he ever receives.  Even though these sets have a million, bajillion pieces and are enough to drive a person crazy, the real joy comes when we see the smile on his face after everything is put together.   So, as long as there are battles to be fought and galaxies to be saved, we will  regroup, focus, and draw straws to see who helps with the sets Santa will be bringing in 19 days.