Cheesy Chili Hash Brown Bake

We found this recipe in the Southern Living February 2011 magazine.  Art loved it and I thought it was ok.  It was very easy to prepare. {Recipe and picture below courtesy of Southern Living.}

Ingredients

• 1 1/2  pounds  lean ground beef or turkey
• 1  (15.5-oz.) can original sloppy joe sauce
• 1  (15-oz.) can chili with beans
• 1/2  (30-oz.) package frozen country-style shredded hash browns (about 4 cups)
• 2  cups  (8 oz.) shredded Cheddar cheese

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 425°. Brown ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring often, 7 to 10 minutes or until meat crumbles and is no longer pink. Stir in sloppy joe sauce and chili.
2. Spoon chili mixture into 8 lightly greased 10-oz. ramekins. Top with frozen hash browns.
3. Bake, covered, at 425° for 30 minutes; uncover and bake 10 more minutes or until browned and crisp. Sprinkle with cheese, and bake 5 more minutes or until cheese is melted.
Note: We tested with Manwich Original Sloppy Joe Sauce and Hormel Chili with Beans. Chili mixture can be baked in a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch baking dish as directed.

I was scrolling through HOH Share Inspire Create blog post yesterday and I noticed this picture

I thought wow someone put their shoes on the back of their closet like me....WAIT A MINUTE...those are MY shoes.  Check out this POST to see my shoes. :) 

Southwest White Chicken Chili

Art found Southwest White Chicken Chili recipe in the Southern Living magazine and asked me to make it.  I made it today for one of our meals next week.  It was a very easy recipe.  Art & I tasted it before we put it in the fridge and we both really liked it. 

Southwest White Chicken Chili

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (about 1 pound), cut into cubes

4 teaspoons chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 large onion, chopped (about 1 cup)

1 medium green pepper, chopped (about 3/4 cup)

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup (Regular or 98% Fat Free)

3/4 cup water

1 1/2 cups frozen whole kernel corn

2 cans (about 15 ounces each) white kidney beans (cannellini), rinsed and drained

2 tablespoons shredded Cheddar cheese

1.Heat the oil in a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the chicken, chili powder, cumin, onion and pepper and cook until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender, stirring often.

2.Stir the soup, water, corn and beans in the saucepan and heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle with the cheese.



Benefiber

If you are trying to eat healthier and lose weight I highly recommend Benefiber.  Benefiber has become my new best friend!!!  I bought the taste free Benefiber the other night.  It truely is a lifesaver!!!! It makes you feel full constantly, extra fiber, and the best thing is you can't taste it at all.  I have added it to coffee, tea, Vitamin Water Zero.....doesn't take away from the taste of the drink at all. 

Golden Grilled Tilapia

We bought a large amount of Tilapia.  I wasn't sure what we were going to do with ALL this fish.  Sometimes I just feel there are only so many ways to fix fish...fry, bake, fry, bake etc.

I decided to look through my Belly Fat Cure book to see if there was a recipe for Tilapia.  Yippeeee there was!!!!  We both really liked this recipe and will be trying it again.

Golden Grilled Tilapia

4 - 6oz tilapia fillets

1/3 cup white wine

1 garlic clove, minced (I used 2 medium cloves)

salt & pepper

Place the fillets in a shall bowl.  I have some food storage bags that I am trying to use up.  I put the fillets and marinate all in the bag & stick it in the fridge for about 30 minutes.  Remove the fish and discard the marinate.  Pat the fish dry with paper towels and season to taste.  I didn't add any extra salt or pepper.  Place the fillets on a hot, well oiled grilled and cook for 2-3 minutes per side. 

YELLOW!!!!

Check out these adorable YELLOW items from Etsy.  Sunday Etsy was featuring yellow items and I found some cute stuff I would really like.

I am in love with the yellow cup cozy. 

How adorable are these mittens! 

Adorable hat with yellow bow



Yellow birdy pillow

 

How cute is this damask makeup bag?  I love me some damask no matter what color, but this yellow damask is just ADORABLE!

Top Four Favorite Blogs

 Below are my 4 top favorite blogs (in no particular order) besides my family & friends.  I haven't met any of these lovely ladies, but hope one day our paths will cross.  If I see a new post from one of the following 4 blogs in my google reader these are the ones I read FIRST thing!  I scan through my list of about 100 blogs to see who has posted first thing in the morning and go to my top 5.

Shelley is the wonderful author of House of Smith's and a mother to 3 adorable little ladies. Shelley is just the sweetest person!!!! She has over 4500 followers on her blog and each time you comment she emails with a comment or a thank you. I have emailed her so many times and she always answers no matter how busy. I LOVE how she is transformering her house. I love all the white & beadboard (a girl after my own heart)! Shelley is the guilty party who got me hooked on white spraypaint (sssshhhh don't tell Art who the guilty party is). White spray paint makes EVERYTHING better!!!! I hope one day I get to actually meet her in person. Recently one of her twins hid the video camera under her bed in a shoe. Shelley was going crazy trying to find the camera to creat her first Vblog (by the way it's a super cute vblog).

A Place for Us is written by Destiny who has some of the best style for her home.  She knows how to decorate her home on a budget.  Destiny got me hooked on celery spray paint.  I love celery spray paint for our master bedroom. She has 3 adorable little kids who are dressed as cute as they are!  If you want to find some cute ideas while on a budget check out A Place for Us.

Michelle writes Three Men and a Lady and was my inspiration to paint a striped wall in my guest bedroom.  I love how clean & simple she decorates her house.  She is about ready to add another little boy her to house.  I can't wait to see how she decorates the nursery.

Natasha writes Samster Mommy.  Natasha is particially responsible for helping me pull my sewing machine out of the garage and starting my crafting bug.  I found her blog one day and thought "hey, I can do that".  Two years later I am still crafting away!  I love the fact she is real about life as a mother of 2.

 

French Onion Soup

I made homemade French Onion Soup.  It was soooo yummy!!! I found the recipe on Allrecipes.com

I cooked the onions for longer than 10 minutes.  I cooked them on medium low for about 30 minutes.  I forgot to take a picture before I added the beef broth.  The onions were golden brown & caramelized.  This recipe is super easy and delicious!!!!

French Onion Soup

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter

3 onions, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon white sugar

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

2 1/2 cups water

1/2 cup red wine

2 (10.5 ounce) cans condensed beef broth

1 French baguette

8 ounces sliced Swiss cheese

Directions

1.Melt butter or margarine in a 4 quart saucepan. Stir in sugar. Cook onions over medium heat for 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

2.Stir in flour until well blended with the onions and pan juices. Add water, wine, and beef broth; heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low. Cover soup, and simmer for 10 minutes.

3.Cut four 1 inch thick slices of bread from the loaf. Toast the bread slices at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) just until browned, about 10 minutes. Reserve the remaining bread to serve with the soup.

4.Ladle soup into four 12 ounce, oven-safe bowls. Place 1 slice toasted bread on top of the soup in each bowl. Fold Swiss cheese slices, and fit onto toasted bread slices. Place soup bowls on a cookie sheet for easier handling.

5.Bake at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for 10 minutes, or just until cheese is melted

Day 14 - Bathroom Cabinets

In my previous post I stated how we have a ton of space in our bathroom for storage.  We have storage  under each sink, a large closet, and a medicine cabinet.

In the closet I store all our extra shower gels, medicines, hair stuff, etc.  I organized all our extra things into baskets.  I had one box that I never unpacked.  The towels were folded, but not organized very well.  I think the after looks a TON better.

BEFORE

AFTER



Day 13 - Medicine Cabinet

Cleaning the medicine cabinet.  The medicine cabinet is next to Art's sink.  He has most of his stuff in there.  We are lucky to have a TON of space in our bathroom for storage. There wasn't a ton of work to do in the medicine cabinet. 

BEFORE

AFTER



think Thin

I think I have mentioned in another post that we are currently following the Belly Fat Cure.  Art has lost quit a bit of weight and I am slowly losing.  It can be a little frustrating because I stick to it 100% and Art eats more than the 15 grams of sugar alloated each day.

The other day I found think Thin bars at the grocery store.  I figured they would have the gross after taste like most diet bars. I was pleasantly surprised at how good it tasted.  think Thin bars have ZERO sugar and taste wonderful!  Try one sometime.

Guest Room Color Inspiration

Bedroom #3 aka as the Craft Room needs a MAJOR makeover!!!!  The room still has the ugly orangy color from when we first moved in.  I didn't do anything when we first moved in because I wasn't sure which color I wanted for the room.  I also had hoped to change it into a nursery.  2011 is not about stressing over a baby.  If it happens great if not then God evidently has other plans for us.

So back to the room in desperate need of a face lift. If you want a reminder of what the color looks like go HERE. Look at the color in the guest bedroom not the craft room.  The picture of the craft room makes the paint color look nice....BELIEVE me it's NOT nice. Must have been the lighting that day.

I think I have decided to paint the room GREEN.  Here are some inspirational pictures below.  I have a a lot of stuff to move out before I can get started on the painting.  Once it's painted then I need to organize all my craft stuff.  Right now it's all piled in the room & closet. The clutter is the beginning stages of hoarders and an intervention might be in order!

Sassify your Kitchen Aid!

Remember my post on Sassy Kitchen Aid Mixers found HERE?  I have wanted the subway art sassy mixer vinyl to put on my Kitchen Aid.  I decided after the first of the year I would buy one, since I forgot to put it on my Christmas list. 

My friend Krystal had mentioned how much she liked the Curley Sue vinyls. I wanted to send her something for Christmas and remembered she had mentioned she liked the KA vinyls.  She was very surprised when she received her vinyl in the mail.  Check out her KA with the Curley Sue vinyls HERE.

I am part of this wonderful group of women who all got married in April 2008.  Over the past 2.5 years a large group of us have all stayed in contact and chat daily.  These wonderful women live all over the United States.  Some I have met and others I hope to meet in person one day.  Each year at Christmas we participate in elfster.  Each person gets a secret elf they send a gift too. 

I came home one day and had a package on my door step.  I was so excited to see what my elf had bought me for Christmas.  I was COMPLETELY shocked to find the subway vinyl for my KA.  My wonderful elfster Elisa had stalked my blog to get an idea for Christmas.  I was so excited that I almost started crying that I had received a gift I wanted so much. 

This past weekend I finally cleaned my KA and added my vinyl.  I <3 it!!! I think it turned out adorable!!!! Isn't it adorable????

If you want to get your own vinyl to sassify your KA check out Wonderful Wordy HERE!  Shelley from Wonderful Wordy is one of the sweetest business women!