Chickenlady’s Super Simple Chili

Serving Size: 6

-= Ingredients =-
1 pound ground beef
3/4 tablespoon onion powder ; (or 1 onion, chopped)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder ; (or 2 cloves, minced)
1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
1 can (15.5 oz) pinto or kidney beans ; (with the liquid)
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

-= Instructions =-
Brown ground beef over medium heat until no pink remains. Drain fat.

Either stir in 1 chopped onion and 2 cloves minced garlic, or add garlic powder and onion powder instead. Add 1 can tomato sauce, 1 can kidney or pinto beans with liquid, chili powder, salt and pepper.

Cover and simmer over low heat 30 minutes to an hour.  The longer the simmer, the more the flavor improves.

** This recipe can be pasted into BigOven without retyping.     **
** Easy recipe software.  Try it free at: http://www.bigoven.com **

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www.abebooks.com has free shipping with no minimum purchase required!

http://www.abebooks.com/books/free-shipping/

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I’m baking pumpkin pie today. I did cheat and use frozen pie shells though.

This is absolutely the best tasting pumpkin pie ever!  I’ve made it several time but I can’t take credit for the recipe. It is the Libby’s Pumpkin Pie recipe which uses plain canned pumpkin instead of canned pumpkin pie filling.

Libby’s Famous Pumpkin Pie
-= Ingredients =-
2 Unbaked 9″ deep dish pie shell ; deep dish
1 1/2 cups Granulated sugar
1 teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoons Ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon Ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon Ground cloves
4 Eggs
2 cans (12 oz) Evaporated milk ; (3 cups)

-= Instructions =-
Combine sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in medium bowl.  Beat eggs lightly in large bowl.  Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture.  Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into pie shells.

Bake in preheated 425 degree oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees; bake for 40 to 50  minutes more or until knife inserted near center comes out clean.

Cool on wire rack for 2 hours.  Serve immediately or chill (do not freeze).

Makes 2 deep dish pies.

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Old cashmere sweaters make cute and cuddly critters 

Those old cashmere sweaters may no longer be fit to wear in public, but don’t throw away that silky softness–it could be warming arms, necks or even hearts.

Treehugger.com discovered that Haute Goat Cashmere is giving luxury a second chance with their recycled cashmere stuffed animals, and scarves. They use only 100% cashmere that has had a previous life as a sweater.

But think what a fantastic gift it would be to recycle someone’s much-loved sweater into a cuddly friend, or warm scarf. And it doesn’t have to stop with sweaters—I can imagine some really cute critters made from recycled flannel pajamas or even old baby blankets. Let your creativity flow! 

(If you don’t want to make your own, critters and scarves can be purchased from Haute Goat’s Etsy Shop or many brick and mortar boutiques, like Cog & Pearl in Brooklyn, New York, and Stella on 21st in Portland, Oregon.)

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Today I unpacked my cow collection which has been boxed up for 10 years. I’d forgotten how cute they are!

The far left is a bell, behind is a milk bottle, in front is a measuring spoon holder with red spoons. In the middle are two creamers, then front are salt and pepper shakers with a stuffed cow behind. Then comes a tooth brush holder and farthest right is a piggy (cow) bank.

.

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Use Old CDs as Driveway Reflectors

from LifeHacker.Com

If you have a long, winding driveway, it can be pretty difficult (and dangerous) for you and others to drive through it at night. To make it safer, nail a few old CDs to posts or trees as light reflectors.

Whether you have CDs that are beyond saving or just no longer necessary, you can post a few of them up as light reflectors to help you and your guests navigate your driveway. Hit the link below to read up on 44 more great uses for old and broken CDs, and share your own favorite uses in the comments.

44 Fanciful Uses for Dud Discs [Instructables]

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I’m cooking today, literally!  I went shopping yesterday after dropping Jesse a school so I was at the store at 8:00 a.m.  Never having shopped that early I was surprised to find different kinds of meat on sale because they were almost at the expiration (use or freeze before …) date.  I found a beef rump roast, large package of cube steaks, and 5 lbs of ground beef all of them from $2 to $4 off the normal price. I am excited to have gotten such good deals, but now I’ve got to cook them all, ASAP.

I’ve never cooked a rump roast before so I searched out recipes online. I found a luscious recipe with the rather in-elegant name of “Roast Beef in Crockpot.”  (See below.) This morning the house smelled so good from the meat cooking all night. When I got up, I just poured it all into a large bowl, let it cool, and put it in the refrigerator for dinner tonight.

This morning I cut up half the cube steaks to use in “English Beef Pot Pie.” (Recipe below.) It’s cooking in the crock pot right now. This will be tomorrow’s dinner. I’ve still got half the cube steaks to do something with. I’m not sure what yet…

Finally, I have to deal with the 5 lbs of ground beef. I’ll use half for meatloaf (see “Seasoned Ground Beef” recipe below), and fry some up to freeze in Ziploc bags to be ready for any recipe calling for cooked ground beef, and make some into meatballs.

That’s enough cooking for a while!

                        Roast Beef in Crockpot

-= Ingredients =-
3 medium potatoes
2 large carrots
1 onion ; sliced (or chopped)             (I omitted this)
1 (2-3 lb.) boneless beef rump roast
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 can cream of mushroom soup

-= Instructions =-
Put vegetables in bottom of stoneware. 

Salt & pepper meat, then place in pot on top of vegetables. 

Add liquid. 

Cover and cook on LOW 10-12 hours. (HIGH: 5-6 hours.)

                         English Beef Pot Pie

-= Ingredients =-
2 pounds beef round steak ; cut into 1" cubes
3 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
2 medium carrots ; pared, sliced
3 medium potatoes ; peeled, sliced
1 large onion ; thinly sliced
1 can whole tomatoes - (16 oz)

 
~~ === BISCUIT TOPPING === ~~
2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup shortening
1 teaspoon salt
3 cup milk

-= Instructions =-
Place steak cubes in crock pot.  Combine flour, salt, and pepper; toss with steak to coat thoroughly.  Stir in remaining ingredients except Biscuit Topping and mix thoroughly.  Cover and cook on LOW setting for 8 to 10 hours.

One hour before serving, remove meat and vegetables from crock pot and pour into shallow 2 1/2-quart baking dish.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Cover meat mixture with Biscuit Topping.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Biscuit Topping:  Mix dry ingredients.  Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.  Add milk all at one time; stir well.  Pat out on floured board; roll out to cover baking dish.

                         Seasoned Ground Beef

Recipe By: Betty Crocker Cookbook c1986 (modified)

-= Ingredients =-
5 pounds ground beef
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs
2 egg
1 1/2 cups milk
3 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
3 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
3/4 teaspoon pepper
3/4 teaspoon sage
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

-= Instructions =-
This will prepare enough for a few different meals. Mix all the ingredients in a very large bowl.

For meatloaf, spread 1/3  the meat mixture in a loaf pan. Spoon the ketchup over the top. Bake uncovered in 350 degree oven for 1 to 1-1/2 hours. Remove from pan, wrap in foil, label, and freeze until needed.

For meatballs, add spaghetti sauce if desired; shape 1/3 of the mixture into meatballs; place on cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Cook until done (It will depend on the size of the meatballs.). Let cool. Freeze for 2 hours on cookie sheet. Place the meatballs in Ziploc bags and freeze until needed.

For hamburgers, shape 1/3 of the mixture into patties. Place on cookie sheet, not touching each other and freeze for 2 hours.  Wrap patties individually in plastic wrap or foil and place in ziplock bag. Freeze until needed.

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Sorry for my absence, y’all. My life has caved in, literally!  How can you be living the good life and develop high blood pressure from stress??? From doing it wrong, I guess. When you are living voluntarily poor, it doesn’t take much to knock you down, and getting knocked down too much causes stress.

A couple of weeks ago, I thought I might be having a heart attack so I went to my doctor. $413 and lots of tests later, the doctor told me my heart seems fine but my blood pressure was 180/110! (I didn’t know that was bad until I looked it up online—see the info I’ve added below.) I’m still in shock really. I’ve always had low blood pressure, always. I’m mean, it is usually around 95/75. The chest pains, the doctor said, are from stress. He got very serious as he looked me in the eye and said I needed to exercise and lose weight. Did he think that was news to me, or something?  Did he think I’d only been waiting for someone to tell me that, and then I’d be able to go out and lose it all?  (Besides, I thought, my blood pressure was fine only a few months ago and I’m the same size and in the same shape as I’ve been for years.)

I left with some sample bottles of high blood pressure meds, and a prescription for an anxiety reliever (Xanax). I went home instead of to the pharmacy, though, to do some internet research first. Now, if you are like me, you don’t know the dangers from blood pressure that high. I read online that it can eventually cause damage to your organs if not treated. I also read in a couple of places that blood pressure varies a lot so you shouldn’t necessarily start medications until you checked it over a few days. Aha! There you go! I don’t need more medicines, and I don’t need to panic. My blood pressure just suddenly got high, so, I thought, once I ease the stress it would go back to normal. (Though, of course, the reason things cause stress is precisely because you can’t control them.)

Still, I know better than to put too much trust in sources on the Internet. So the next day, I asked the Walgreens pharmacist what she thought. She said one big danger of blood pressure that high is that it is “stroke level.”  She said once it is high, it doesn’t just drop back to normal. (WHY?? That makes no sense to me.) She said I needed to take the high blood pressure medicine immediately and continue until I saw the doctor again and he said I could stop. She also said I needed to exercise and lose weight. Ack! They must all be in league with each other. . .

What is High Blood Pressure?

Hypertension is the term used to describe high blood pressure.

Blood pressure readings are measured in millimeters of mercury (mmHg) and usually given as two numbers. For example, 120 over 80 (written as 120/80 mmHg).

• The top number is your systolic pressure, the pressure created when your heart beats. It is considered high if it is consistently over 140.
• The bottom number is your diastolic pressure, the pressure inside blood vessels when the heart is at rest. It is considered high if it is consistently over 90.

Either or both of these numbers may be too high.

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I love cookie cutters. Over the years I’ve collected quite a few including a roller skate, a musical note, and an umbrella.

Today we’re making Halloween sugar cookies. I didn’t want to wait while the dough chilled, and I didn’t have any shortening either, so I tried a different recipe. I like this recipe because it is simple, but the cookies did come out dry. They definitely need frosting, but Jesse didn’t want to wait and is gobbling them down.

Sugar Cookies - Wilton Recipe

With no chilling time necessary, these cookies can be made quickly.

-= Ingredients =-
1 cup Butter ; room temperature
1 cup Sugar
—————————–
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 ea Egg
—————————–
3 cups Flour ; sifted
2 teaspoon Baking powder

-= Instructions =-
Preheat oven to 400.  In a large mixer bowl, cream butter and sugar until well combined.  Beat in vanilla and egg.

Sift flour and baking soda together.  Add to creamed mixture, one cup at a time, mixing after each addition.

Dough will be very stiff.

DO NOT CHILL DOUGH!

Divide dough in half.  On floured surface, roll dough about  to 1/8 thick.  Dip cutters in flour before each use.  Bake cookies on ungreased cookie sheet on top rack of oven for 6-7 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Makes 2-3 dozen cookies.

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Today I found 2 pints of blueberries that had apparently gotten lost in the refrigerator for more than 2 weeks. They looked a little shriveled but they tasted ok so I thought I’d try them in a new muffin recipe and see what happens.

The muffins are delicious! I love blueberry muffins and this is the first recipe I’ve found that I’d say is good. Yum!

                  Blueberry Muffins (Betty Crocker)

-= Ingredients =-

1 3/4 cups Flour
1/4 cup Sugar
2 tablespoons Sugar
2 teaspoons Baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 Egg; beaten
3/4 cup Milk
1/3 cup Cooking oil
3/4 cup Fresh or frozen blueberries

-= Instructions =-

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.   

In a large mixing bowl stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and  salt. Make a well in the center.

Combine egg, milk, and oil. Add egg  mixture all at once to flour mixture.

Add blueberries and stir just till  moistened; batter should be lumpy.

Grease muffin cups or line with paper  bake cups; fill 2/3 full.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or till golden. Remove  from pans; serve warm.

Makes 10-12 muffins

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