Microwave White Chicken Chili

From Aliisa:

I had this Chili the other day at a Pampered Chef party and just had to share the recipe with you. It was truly wonderful and is on my list to make in the very near future.

Microwave White Chicken Chili
8 servings

Ingredients:
3 whole heads garlic (about 48 cloves) unpeeled
3/4 tsp salt (divided)
3 T olive oil (divided)
2 poblano peppers
1 medium onion
1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken (breast, thighs)
2 T Taco seasoning
2 cans great northern beans, drained
1 jar (16oz) salsa verde

Directions:
1. Slice about 1/4 inch off the pointed top of the garlic heads to expose cloves. Place garlic cut side up in a microwavable bowl. Sprinkle garlic with 1/4 tsp salt and drizzle with 2 T olive oil. Cover bowl and microwave on High 3 minutes or until garlic is soft. Set aside to cool.

2. Dice peppers and chop onion. Trim and finely dice chicken. Add peppers, onion, chicken, seasoning, remaining 1 T oil, and remaining 1/2 tsp salt to large microwavable bowl. Mix well. Microwave on high for 4 minutes. Stir to seperate chicken and microwave another 4-6 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

3. Gently squeeze cooled garlic from heads into bowl. Mash. Add beans and salsa to bowl and mix. Add to chicken mixture and microwave on high 5-7 minutes until chili is heated through.

Serving = 1 cup
Calories 230
Total fat 7g
saturated fat 1.5
cholesterol 70mg
carbohydrate 21g
protein 21g
sodium 750mg
fiber 4g

Im sure if you wanted to make this on the stove it would be just as easy!!

Hope you enjoy.

To check out more recipes, check out the recipe swap at the grocery cart challenge

My new cookbook

From Aliisa:

I have a box that I keep all the recipes I print out from those wonderful blogs and recipezaar.com. Everytime I need one of my recipes, I have to go sift through all of the sheets to find the one I want. This was ok, in the begining but now I have so many to look through. So I have decided to make my own cookbook. In the past, I have made cookbooks but I get tired of writing them all in...it takes so long! This time I decided to use sheet protectors and dividers and put them all in a 3 ring binder.

As you can see, I have purchased all my supplies and now all I have to do is assemble it. Im hoping to have it done next week. I like the idea of the sheet protectors because I can pull a recipe out, use it and if it gets stuff on it, I can wipe it off and place it back into the binder.

Im very excited about this idea.

My pepper purchase

From Aliisa:

Today I went to the grocery store and as I walked around I noticed a large rack of marked down veggies. I was very excited to find bags of bell peppers that were in good shape. I ended up with 30 bell peppers for $.22 cents each...now that is a bargain!!!

I diced a bunch of them to freeze and I cut alot for strips to freeze and then I gave 5 of the large ones that were in pretty good shape to my friend for stuffed peppers.

Such a pretty site...green, yellow and orange bell peppers!!

Boosting your metabolism

From Aliisa:

About a week ago, I went to a small seminar at my church given by a personal trainer. She is a member of our church and knew that not all of us could afford a personal trainer so she decided to generously give her time. A couple of the things I learned:

Boosting your metabolism:
Eat broccoli and oatmeal...its harder for the body to digest so it burns more calories.
Use cayenne pepper, its boosts the metabolism because it raises the internal body temperature and it races through the blood stream speeding up your metabolism.

Weight training will boost your metabolism (not 2-5 lbs but more than that)

The Wii games are a form of exercise.....whoohoo!!

Definately works for me!!

Giveaway

From Aliisa:

Erin over at $5dinners has 100 coupons for free cans of swanson chicken to 10 people. So head over there and register to win. She will announce the winners after the superbowl!!

And for more chances to win Mommy Snacks is giving away the same prize so head over there and register for that one too!!

Last nights dinner

From Aliisa:

Last night I made the brown rice and lentil casserole and it was really good. Even my daughter loved it!! My husband and I did decide to change the recipe a bit next time by adding either speghetti sauce or tomato sauce to it. It just seemed to need that I think.

So here is the recipe, I recommend it highly for an easy, healthy and inexpensive meal.

Brown Rice and Lentil Casserole

Serves 6-8

Ingredients
3 cups broth (chicken or vegetable)
3/4 cup lentils
1/2 cup brown rice
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (I use more)
1 cup grated cheese (cheddar or a blend is preferable)

Directions
1Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
2Mix all ingredients except the cheese in a baking dish (I use an 11 x 7).
3Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour 10 minutes.
4Then remove the foil, add the cheese, and bake for an additional 20 minutes. (I would put the foil back on, my cheese came out a little too dark)

Enjoy!!

Giveaway

From Aliisa:

Check out the grocery cart challenge for this wonderful giveaway. Gayle is giving away a Keurig single cup brewing coffee system with 4 boxes of their K-cups (coffee pods.)

So head on over there and register to win!!

My chicken experience

From Aliisa:

I recently bought bone in chicken breasts for 10lbs for $10. I spent $20 to get 20lbs. I brought it home and opened it all up. Total, I had 20 chicken breasts. I cut off the breasts and packaged them 4 breasts per bag. So just from that, I got 5 meals worth. I then dumped all the bones and rib meat into a big stock pot and boiled them for many hours adding carrots onion and celery to it for a great flavor. After I deboned it all, I had 3lbs of boiled chicken that is great for soups or any kind of casserole. So I ended up with 8 meals worth of chicken and 27 cups of wonderful chicken broth.

Needless to say, I was very happy

Menu Plan

From Aliisa:

Im going to start posting my menu plans for the week. I meant to do it yesterday but life happens. So here it is:

Monday: Baked Chicken with onions, carrots, celery and potatoes (made with one of those McCormick seasoning bags that I got at big lots for $1)

Tuesday: Brown Rice and Lentil Casserole , nice big salad and brussel sprouts

Wednesday: Broiled Fish, brown and wild rice pilaf, steamed broccoli and salad (left over from night before)

Thursday: Soft Tacos (made with ground turkey and refried beans)

Friday: Homemade Pizza

Saturday: My friend's saturday to cook (we rotate each saturday)

Sunday: Split Pea soup with pulled pork in it. Peasant Bread and salad.

Hamburger Vegetable Soup

From Aliisa:

Gayle over at the Grocery Cart Challenge always hosts a recipe swap on fridays. If you have never checked it out then its time to go.

Today Im posting a recipe for Hamburger Vegetable Soup. Its really easy and quick but nice and warm and yummy. In fact, we had this last night.

Hamburger Vegetable Soup

1 1/2 lbs ground meat (I never use more than 1 lb and its fine)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 1/2 T chili powder
1 glove garlic
1 can tomato soup - undiluted
Any vegetable that you like - as much as you like (I usually use a bag of mixed veggies but you could use fresh veggies or canned)
1 lg can tomato juice or V-8 juice (both ways are good, but we like the V-8 the best)
salt/pepper to taste

Directions:
Brown ground meat and onion. Add tomato soup and then any raw veggies/canned/or frozen veggies that you choose. Add tomato juice/V-8 juice to desired consistency (I usually use the whole can) If you use raw veggies, cook until tender. If you use canned or frozen, cook until heated all the way through.

Serve with bread and butter or cheese and crackers

Stain Treatment

From Aliisa:

My daughter has a light blue coat and I dont know what she does to it but I can never get it totally clean. The arms and around the bottom of the coat always look dirty and dingy no matter how many times I wash it or treat it and soak it and then wash it. I had just given up on it.

So last night I treated it and washed it and it was still dirty looking and then it hit me. The Fels Naptha bar of soap that I use to make my laundry soap is a pre treatment for laundry. So I got out a new bar of soap, got it wet and began rubbing it on all the dirty areas of her coat. All the stuff that I had treated before and that had been dried into the coat and then I washed it. Her coat came out looking almost brand new. I could hardly believe it!!

I am now converted. Anything that could get that coat clean is a miracle stain treatment for me!! And in my area it is only $1.29 for a large bar of it which Im sure will last a long time. What a bargain.

Designer Lunch Tote Giveaway

From Aliisa:

Erin over at 5dollardinners.com is having a great giveaway. She is giving away these adorable lunch totes from Spring Los Angeles. So head on over to her site and check out the giveaway. And while you're at it, check out the rest of her site.

Monthly Menu Plan

From Aliisa:

So I have been reading the $5 dinners blog and really enjoying it. I cant accomplish what she does but she has really given me lots of ideas. One of the things she does is to prepare a monthly menu plan and then keep her eyes open for sales during the month for those meals. I decided to take a detour from the way I usually do things and give this a try. So here is my menu plan for the month. (not in the order I will make them)

Taco Salad
burratas
tacos
chicken legs, mashed potatoes and broccoli
frito pie and salad
french fry casserole, spinach, salad
chili baked potatoes, broccoli
Chicken noodle soup, bread
goulash and salad
shepards pie, mixed veggies
lasagna and salad
speghetti and salad
Grilled chicken salad
Tuna casserole and carrots
wraps
Hobo Dinners
Chicken breast, rice pilaf, lima beans and brussel sprouts
Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn and green beans
Split pea soup and corn bread
Hamburger soup and salad
Hamburger mushroom bake, cabbage and green beans
creamed brats, rice, carrots and salad
Homemade Pizza
Homemade Pizza
Fish (whatever is on sale) over rice pilaf, veggies...(not sure yet)
Chicken stir fry
Hamburgers and oven baked french fries
Sloppy Joes with raw veggie sticks
Mexican rice casserole and salad

Yes, I realize we eat alot of salad but we really enjoy it. I use 2 types of lettuce, raw spinach, purple cabage, carrots, cucumbers if I have them, tomatoes if I have them and radishes. We also include a sprinkle of sunflower seeds on it as well.

So now, I have to figure out which of these will be for this week!!

2009 Begins

From Sundy:

Well, I finally got to make my laundry soap last night. Leave it to me to have a mini-adventure while making laundry soap. Apparently, I cannot let myself get sidetracked by anything while cooking. LOL

I was, I thought, gently heating the water to melt the soap. Either *I* put it on high heat or someone else walking through the kitchen was "helping" me, because when I next walked through the kitchen, it was to the very nice smell of the Zote, and the very nasty pink bubbly mess of soap boiling over on my stove! Wow...one of the things that I'm going to have to work on this year is to STAY IN THE KITCHEN if the stove is on.

Of course, this is much better than walking into the kitchen to find my cooking oil has caught fire and begun merrily burning my overhead cabinets. But still. Baked-on Zote is not fun to clean.

New Year's Eve was uneventful...pleasantly so. I did not drink at all. We went to our friends' house, where they had BBQ and wild-eyed children tossing fireworks, while bleary-eyed adults watched them (sorta). My stomach was upset pretty quickly watching these kids play with fireworks near a bonfire, and I asked to be taken home at 10:30. So we did, and watched the ball drop on TV, like the grandparents that we are. LOL

Fireworks freak me out. That's just the way it is. I can watch others pop them from a distance, and I can let my boys pop them with other adults, but I personally won't do it myself....and I'm always on edge the entire time. They're pretty, yes...but I'm fully aware of their unpredictability.

When I was a young adult, my sister and I and our boyfriends went to watch the beach fireworks display from a boat. A rack of fireworks fell over right after they were ignited, and without warning we had fireworks going off in the air about 10-20 feet over our heads as we cowered in the bottom of the boat. So, yeah...that's my problem.

Yes, I am a mess. Hopefully that's good for something, somewhere.