Recipe Reblog: Sweet Potato Chili

Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Chili: A crockpot chili chock full of veggies including sweet potatoes? Count me in! I found this recipe online at Can You Stay For Dinner and thought it sounded tremendous. I have several chili recipes that I like but you can never go wrong with chili, am I right? However, there was some unfortunateness with this recipe. If your crockpot is smaller than 5 quarts, you will not, I repeat, WILL NOT, be able to fit in all the ingredients. We fully intended to add ground turkey but after throwing in everything else, there was no room. The turkey (or beef) was listed as optional so my sous chef and I decided that we’d go vegetarian for this chili. This was a mistake, and we were supposed to eat this for 3 nights. Gulp. While I found it overly tomato-y, yet tolerable, John ate his bowl with the worst look on his first and proclaimed he did “NOT LIKE” this recipe. Emphatic, to say the least. I made an executive chef decision and we added turkey for the 2 subsequent evenings. That helped tremendously. So, my advice on this is to make sure it’s meaty. And one more thing, the wildcard ingredient, sweet potato, didn’t pay off like I thought it would. I think there’s a reason no other chili I've had has potatoes in it. Even a tuber as lovely as a sweet potato. I did not appreciate the potato texture juxtaposed with the beans and turkey. Odd.

I suppose what I am trying to say is, cook at your own risk.

One Last Pumpkin Beer

I know that it's November and if you've been to the store lately, all the Christmas beers are coming out already, including the oft-coveted Great Lakes Christmas Ale. John snapped up the first 6 of the season last Friday on that one. And don't you worry your pretty beer-drinking heads because we'll get to those in good time.

BUT! Pumpkins are a Thanksgiving thing too. So, if you can find this one, you're in for a treat.

The Great'ER Pumpkin comes from Heavy Seas Brewing Co. There is a Great Pumpkin version but this is the Great'ER Pumpkin because it's aged an extra three weeks in bourbon barrels. That's right, folks. You better believe my bourbon-loving husband couldn't pass this one by. It's an Imperial Ale at 8.5% ABV so it's sold only in 22 oz. bottles for about $7.99.

From the site: "Great Pumpkin draws much of its flavor from a mixture of spices: nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, and allspice. Dark brown sugar adds color and some dryness to the spicy, malt-forward ale. The addition of the spices and pumpkin in the kettle makes this brew opaque. A warming pumpkin aroma and a slightly sweet taste characterize our special fall seasonal. The bourbon barrel-aged version of this beer, Great’ER Pumpkin, spends three weeks in barrels from Virginia’s A. Smith Bowman Distillery."

They don't have a separate description for the bourbon version but there was a LOT going on here. All the spices, great pumpkin flavor and of course, the bourbon was right in there too. If you can find this one, and I haven't seen it since we bought it, you are in for a real treat. Give it a taste!



P.S. GO VOTE! Yes, I know it's a pain to go to the polling place that is really close to your house. And the weather may or may not be so great where you are. You already get up so early that you don't want to go before work and after work you're beat. I get it. But, it's important stuff, people. And you know what? After today, no more political ads on TV or Pandora. Hooray!

Thoughts on a Monday

• I started watching The Walking Dead on AMC this season. If you're not watching this, you are missing out. If you think you won't be into it because it's about zombies and zombies are like, so dumb? You are mistaken. The problem with Walking Dead is that now I dream about zombies and having to fight them. John started this show in its second season and would tell me all the time that he dreamed about zombies. Foolishly, I laughed at him. People, this is a real affliction. Killing zombies in your dreams is no joke. But, I feel pretty confident in my skills should we ever find ourselves in a zombie-pocalypse.
  
• This past summer I bought a Groupon for hot yoga, something I've always wanted to try. This was a STEAL at less than $4/class.  I love sweating! If you're unfamiliar, hot yoga is yoga practiced in a room that is cranked up to 100 degrees. I finally went to my first class last week and had to sit down twice because my vision was spotty and I thought I would pass out. That's a pretty intense work out. But, after that feeling passed, I kept on going -- which they encourage. The teacher said even if you have to rest for 20 minutes, just do it. I have never sweat so much from so little movement in my entire life. I sweat out over 2 lbs in the 90 minute class. I have 9 more classes to go and I'm hoping this will help me detox through the holidays and keep those Christmas cookie pounds at bay. It will also give me an excuse to spend mass quantities of money on new Lululemon yoga gear. If you're looking for Christmas gift ideas for me, just go to the Lulu website and buy anything.
• I am on a quest to make my anything-but-curly hair much curlier. I have been attempting this hair curling technique using a flat iron. I can get about 3 perfect curls and then the rest of them go wonky on me. I don't get it. I think I need a new flat iron (also on my Christmas list.) One day, I will post a picture of my Shirley Temple hair in triumph. Just you wait.....
• I have been a knitting fool these days (more on that when projects near completion). Step aside fabric, yarn has become my new drug. Like, my former drug dealer (Joann's) also pushes my new product. Boy, do they ever. It takes all my strength not to buy skein after skein to knit yet anything scarf or cowl for myself. I mean, really. How many cowls can one girl wear at the same time? I'll tell you. The answer is one. One at a time or else you look like a crazy person.

That's all I got, friends. Get out and vote tomorrow! Only one more day of enduring political ads........

Recipe Reblog: Meatloaf

I have been on the hunt for a new meatloaf recipe. When I was younger, I proclaimed that I didn't want anything in my loaf but meat. No carrots, peppers, celery, what have you. No, sir. Now that I am a wise 29 year old, I know better.

Meatloaf: This is a Paula Deen recipe with nary a stitch of butter in the mix. It does, however, have peppers, onions, and diced tomatoes. The binder is oatmeal instead of bread crumbs which I had never done before but I liked the texture it gave. While I liked the taste here, the diced tomatoes and their liquid made the loaf pretty squishy, even when fully cooked. Next time, I would drain some of that juice and it might help it set up better. I think I can find a better recipe than this. Sorry, Paula. I'll keep looking.......

October Running Round-Up

This was a big month in running for me. I feel like my resolution to run 500 miles in 2012 culminated in my half marathon. My numbers tapered off this month since I took a whole week off post-race but I still hit my 50 miles. Check it out!

Oct 2: 4.5 mi TM in 40:11

Oct 6: 3 mi OT in 29min

Oct 7: 12 mi (9out, 3tm) 2:02, not incl water breaks 

Oct 9: 4 mi OT in 40ish mins, side cramp and foot pain

Oct 10: 3 mi TM in 27:27

0ct 11: 2 mi OT in 19:00, cramp

Oct 14: 13.1 mi in 2:17 - Race

Oct 23: 3.25 mi TM in 29:54, tough post race run

Oct 25: 2.8 TM in 28 min, side cramp, knee pops

Oct 28: 3 mi RM in 25:36, shorter due to yoga back pain

Total: 50.65 miles

With the weather turning much colder outside, it's time to transition back to the treadmill. I love the treadmill but I was getting more used to running outside where I don't have anything pacing me. For these next cold months, I'm going to work on speed and hills. It's easy to get in a rut on the treadmill and I'd like to keep pushing myself as much as possible. Stay tuned!

Happy Halloween!

This year, Sadie decided she wanted to be a penguin for Halloween. Then, when I bought her costume at Petsmart and brought it home after she begged and begged, she didn't want to wear it.  I put it on her and she just sat there giving me the stink eye. But, this is what you wanted, I said to her, you were very specific. She didn't care. Is this what it's like to have a fickle toddler? Sheesh.

I plied her with hot dog pieces (also a toddler trick?) and she complied with the briefest of photo shoots. I also tried to shoot a video so you could see her in all her glory but when I started rolling film, she just sat there. I mean, honestly. Have you ever heard of a more uncooperative dog?

She was quite interested in the trick-or-treaters. Our city held it as scheduled and the poor kids had coats and mittens on over their costumes

Somebody out there?

If you stay away, I get first crack at the leftover candy.

We probably only had about 20 kids, unfortunately. And the mixed bag of candy we bought had an inordinate amount of Whoppers. Curses!

OK, I sat still for you.

Happy Halloween!

Can I take this off now?

The Passage

Source

I'm not sure what prompted my reading of The Passage by Justin Cronin as it's not typical of what I choose. However, I'm glad I borrowed this one from the library, even if it is 700+ Pages.

Good Reads' Synopsis: "First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear—of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.

As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he’s done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. He is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors. But for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey—spanning miles and decades—towards the time and place where she must finish what should never have begun."

What I Thought: Well, this was quite a story. And not a short one as it spans more than 100 years in the history of the US. I wasn't sure where it was headed at the beginning and just when I was really getting into things, the timeline jumped far forward. I caught on though and really started getting involved with the plot. I had to find out what happened and why. I'm not sure what is up with the post-apocalyptic theme in my reading lately (and in TV) but I like the departure. If you are not a sci-fi fan, that's okay as this isn't really sci-fi. While it was a longer read, I really liked it. And bonus, a second book has been released, which is good because I didn't want this one to end. You know I love a good series!


Rating: * * * *