Chili Cook-Off - 1st Place

Note - This is not a picture of my chili but it looks pretty darn close!

I just won my second chili cook off! I am beyond excited! The first time I won was at my oldest daughter's school (2009). And today I won my work's cook off! YIPPEE!!

I've never shared my recipe before but I thought I would today since it marks the second time this chili has won me first place. So here goes...

1lb maple sausage (I use Jimmy Dean)
1lb Italian sausage (you can use zesty or regular, I use Purnell Old Folks)
1lb regular sausage (I use Jimmy Dean)
1 - large onion - large dice
3 - cloves of garlic - fine dice
2 - 15oz cans of chili ready tomatoes
1 - 28oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 - 8oz can of tomato sauce
1 - 28 oz can of Chili beans - Red beans in mild sauce (I use Bush's)
1/2 t - garlic powder
1/2 t - onion powder
4 (heaping) T chili powder (I prefer Mexene brand)
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1/2 t ground cumin
1 t - red pepper flakes (crush in your palm to release flavor)
1 t - dried oregano (again crushed)
salt and pepper (I'd guesstimate that I use about 1 t of each)

1 - box of chicken stock (one with a flip top works best)

First, I brown all the meat in the order listed above, one at a time. While I'm browning my meat, I throw all of my remaining ingredients in my crockpot, except for the chicken stock. Once all of my meat has been browned, I add it all to the crock pot. The chili will be pretty thick at this point, and that's where I add in my chicken stock to thin it out a bit. Then I just cook it low and slow. Cook on low until the onions and garlic are soft.

And that's it! It always tastes even better the next day after the flavors have had time to hang out together. I'm a Southern girl so I fix spaghetti with mine. I don't put it in my chili pot but I do put some at the bottom of a bowl, spoon my chili on top and spinkle on some shredded cheddar cheese and Frank's Hot Sauce. YUM!


I honestly think the maple sausage is what makes it a winner. I was feeling adventurous one day and thought I would try maple to bring a hint of sweetness, and lucky for me it worked! This chili is on the spicy side but my girl can eat it so it's not too hot.

Let me know if you try it and how it turned out!

Happy Halloween!

I used to be a huge Halloween fan but as I get older, I'm more into the family orientented holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas. However, I still decided to "dress up" this year. Basically, I just slapped some make up on my face and called myself a zombie/dead pin up girl. haha...

I think I nailed the dead eyes look.

My shoes!

Have a great Halloween and be safe!

Adventures in Make Up

Make-Up is one of my most favorite things to shop for (outside of shoes, perfume, books and food...). Normally, I head to Sephora because you aren't limited to one specific brand and it's fun to browse and try out different things. However, not too long ago, I went back to MAC. Before we got a Sephora in our mall (now we have 3 I think), I used to go to MAC, but sometimes they are just a little too pricey for me.

So here's what I picked up:

Eyeshadow in Vanilla (for the brow bone)

Paint Pot in Constructivist for the lid and the lash line.

Eyeshadow - Dark Indulgence from their Semi-Precious Collection (it's no longer on their website, sad face) for the crease.

And here was the result

It probably wouldn't have killed me to clean up under my eyes a little but at this point, it had been a few hours.

I also put a little of the Constructivist on my eyebrows to darken them to my hair color. Don't go too crazy or you'll end looking a little too much like Groucho Marx.

Braids, Braids, Braids

Little known fact - I used to be a hairstylist. I graduated from hair school in 2004, got my cosmetology license...then moved to NY. My KY license expired and I never re-newed it. Sometimes I think of going back into it but for now, I'm content with doing my own hair and looking at pictures of hair I want. :) Braids have been a huge trend lately and like many other women, I love them! They are quick, easy and are more exciting than a plain ponytail.

Loving this! It's easy to hide mistakes in this kind of updo.



Her make up is gorgeous!



I thought for sure these were fake braids but nope! This is all her own hair (It's very long and seemingly has no layers)
Find the tutorial on Maiden Braids here: Maiden Braid Tutorial

This is cute and different from your average braid. Definitely will be trying this one out on the girls!

And of course one of the biggest braid trends right now - fishtail braid (A lot of people assume the fishtali braid is complicated - not so! Very simple to do!)

Now I just want to go home and play with my hair all day! :)

Weight Loss Tips

I found this article this morning that actually has a lot of clever tricks to help with healthy eating and a better diet.

10 Weight Loss Tips

I'm always on the look out for any tip or trick that will help me or encourage me. You never know what will work for you!

Weight Matters

Overhauling your entire life is not easy. In fact, it's very hard and it really sucks. If you've read my earlier posts, you know that I am in the process of trying to lose weight and eat healthier. It's an everyday battle. I have eaten horribly for the last 27 years and it's not going to be an overnight change.

I've lost another pound since my last weight loss post. That encourages me to keep it up. I have a tendency to only look at the big picture (which for most things in life, is a good thing - with weight loss, not always so good) - And it overwhelms me. I need to lose about 60 more pounds. To me, that is a daunting number. So today, I decided I need to start thinking smaller. Focus on the next 8 pounds, instead of the next 60. Think of today, and today only. You can do anything for one day. Can I eat good for one day? Yes. Can I get in some kind of activity that gets my body moving? Yes! If I can just think like this everyday, I am confident that my weight will be gone before I know it.

Pinterest Challenge

One of the websites I follow religiously is http://www.younghouselove.com/. This is by far and away my absolute favorite DIY website. They recently issued a "Pinterest Challenge". We all get on Pinterest and pin 234932 things but never (at least I don't) actually attempt to do any of it. They are challenging everyone to do something that you have pinned on pinterest whether it's home decor or food or whatever else you've pinned. I decided to take the challenge with one of the food recipes that I pinned.

I was really craving strawberries last night so I decided to try my hand at the Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries (see recipe here: http://www.thesweetslife.com/2011/08/cheesecake-stuffed-strawberries.html).

All in all, they turned out pretty good! The strawberries were almost unbearably tart. In hindsight, I should have tasted them first and maybe sprinkled them with some sugar before stuffing them. I also didn't have any graham crackers to crumble and put on top so I had to omit that. I think I would fix these again with some less tart strawberries (talk about jaw tinges!) and make sure that next time I have graham crackers on hand!

Next, I think we will be trying our hand at re-doing a flea market chandelier for the girls rooms. We have big ideas!

Cute Overdose

Sometimes, on days like today, I just need to look at cute animals.

I feel better now, don't you?

Smell Ya Later!

Many people may not give this a second thought but laundry, or more specifically, nice smelling laundry is very important to me. I will go off-brand for most everything except for two things – toilet paper (Scott only!) and laundry detergent. I will spend 20 minutes in the laundry aisle at the grocery opening and smelling every new scent that has come out since I was last there.  I used to be a die-hard Tide girl. My husband used Tide while he was at boot camp and during his training, and the smell of Tide always brought good memories to mind. However, lately, I’ve switched to this:

Yep, baby detergent. It’s gentle on skin and again, the scent brings wonderful memories to mind. It smells like a newborn baby. And what’s better than newborn baby smell?! Not many things, my friend.

So in conjunction with that, I also use this:

Purex Crystals in Fresh Spring Waters scent. It is a fantastic fabric softener that you just pour right into the wash along with your laundry detergent. I used to be a strict Downy in the Downy ball girl, but no more! The Dreft and Purex scents combine to a clean, comforting scent that lasts all day (or longer, like on my work sweaters that I wear for a few days before washing again).

But wait! That’s not all! I have one more piece to my laundry puzzle. I also add in about a ½ cup of….

Baking soda! Baking soda is a wonder product. It has tons of everyday uses and it really works! And it's super cheap. Always a plus!

Here’s a little bit of why baking soda works: Give your laundry a boost by adding 1/2 cup of baking soda to your laundry to make liquid detergent work harder. A better balance of pH in the wash gets clothes cleaner, fresher, and brighter.

Check out this link to find more uses for baking soda - http://green.yahoo.com/blog/care2/4/40-fantastic-uses-for-baking-soda.html

Back to laundry - A lot of people only use either fabric softener or dryer sheets but not both. I use both. I have found that no matter what time of the year, if I don’t use dryer sheets, our clothes get a lot of static. So I use two different dryer sheets. Sometimes I use Woolite (which often times, the dollar store has for, yep, a dollar.), other times I will use Downy in Lavender scent.

So that’s my laundry regiment, interesting stuff I know!

And here’s an interesting fact and smell and memory - A smell can bring on a flood of memories, influence people's moods and even affect their work performance. Because the olfactory bulb is part of the brain's limbic system, an area so closely associated with memory and feeling it's sometimes called the "emotional brain," smell can call up memories and powerful responses almost instantaneously. We make most of our olfactory memories as children!



Sconce Upon a Time...

One thing I got really interested in while my husband was gone is decorating. I've always loved home decor and watching HGTV but I was more of a dreamer than a doer.

I did a few things around the house (including making my own curtains!) while he was gone and since he's been back he's gotten into trying to find things for the house. We hit up one of our local thrift shops, Unique Thrift, and came upon these gems.

They were ugly in color but there was something about them that we liked. Possibly the price tag.

We didn't notice until we were home, that while they are a matching set, they were different prices, $1.81 for one, $2.42 for the other. An example of the left not knowing what the right is doing. Who knows!

We imagined them hanging on either side of our bed. We immediately knew we would be painting them as 1980's gold is not our thing. I was seeing a bright teal, while Ryan saw white. He went out and bought white spray paint. I then went out and bought teal spray paint...and proceeded to spray paint them while he was out of the house (and therefore couldn't tell me no! ;)

I took them outside and laid them on a flattened cardboard box. I gave them 5 very thin layers of paint, waiting about 3-5 minutes between each coat. 

Ready for their makeover!

First coat, looks like nothing is going on, but wait!

By the 5th coat, they were looking pretty good!

Close up. I had to go in and touch up a few spots.

And finally one of the (almost) finished products hanging on the wall in our bedroom. It started to rain and I had to bring them inside before I got to touch up everything. Once I get them all finished up and hung in their (probably) forever home (in the photo it's just hanging where a mirror normally is, I just wanted to see it on the wall), I will take more pictures in daylight. The flash of my crappy camera doesn't quite capture its (or our walls) true color.

So that's it for our first thrift store makeover. I have lots of ideas and more home improvement projects coming up VERY soon, including a basement bar make over! Stay tuned!

Nail Art - Stripes!

I decided to try my hand at DIY nail art today.

Here are my supplies:

The colors I went with are Sally Hansen's HARD as NAILS Xtreme Wear in Hot Magenta, Nicole OPI in Iceberg Lotus and Nicole OPI in Prized Possession Purple. I decided to use Hot Magenta as my base color.

Ignore the crappy paint job, it will come off my skin when I wash my hands next. :)

Next, I cut strips of scotch tape and applied them diagonally to my nails. I applied the Prized Possession Purple to the top and Iceburg Lotus to the bottom. I put about three coats of each color and while still tacky I removed the tape, leaving nice, clean lines. Once completely dried, I added one coat of clear nail polish to seal the deal. 

And the finished product:

Ignore my stubby hand.

The stripes were different sizes but I think it turned out pretty good for my first try! My girls love them! Again, the color around the nails on my skin and cuticle will come off during a shower. I'm not the most patient at painting my nails. :/ 

Kinda cool, huh?

Some Days Are Not Without Struggle

This is how I feel today. I'm wanting to eat every bad thing in sight....cake sounds so good right now! But I won't!!

Fit or Fat?

Right now, I'm definitely more on the "fat" side. My husband just returned from his second deployment with the Army and I was bound and determined to lose weight and get in shape while he was gone. Unfortunately, the stress of a full-time job, two kids, a house and a puppy made me find solace in food, food and more food. I was eating anything I wanted. Will power was out the door and every fatty, high calorie food I could find was in. I was drinking anywhere from 5-8 bottles of coke a day. Pizza, cheeseburgers, chips and fries were everyday foods instead of sometimes foods. Overall, I ended up gaining about 35lbs while he was gone, putting me closer and closer to 200lbs. I felt so disgusted and ashamed of myself. How was he going to love me now? Rationally, I knew that he loves me no matter what I weigh but as a woman, I wanted to be sexy and attractive, not just for him, but for myself. My clothes weren't fitting, I had to buy a size up in pants. I was just miserable.

I have tried literally every diet out there. Atkins, South Beach, Master Cleanse, eating only soup, eating only cereal, not eating, injecting myself with HCG (and spending $900 to do it, YIKES!), you name it, I have tried it. My problem was that I was wanting a quick fix. I wanted to drop massive amounts of weight in very little time. I finally realized that I didn't put this weight on overnight and I can't lose it overnight. And if any of those "quick" fixes would have worked, I would have just put the weight right back on once I started eating normally again. No bueno.

So about a week ago, I cut out drinking cokes. I stopped eating fast food (and after reading articles and seeing photos from the documentary Food, Inc, I DON'T WANT FAST FOOD EVER AGAIN!!!), and I started eating healthier foods. Whole grains and low carbs are a good start. I haven't denied myself a few things here and there but I'm also not letting myself have every thing I want. I've found that I DON'T NEED IT! Is it really worth it? No! I am the first to tell you that I am weak when it comes to denying myself things so if I can do it, YOU CAN DO IT! I'm following the 80/20 method. Eat good 80% of the time and indulge 20%.

I also started taking the supplement OxyELITE Pro. I had heard nothing but good things about it and thought I would try it while changing my food habits. Already, I'm a fan. It has cut my appetite in half. I have no jitters, or side effects of any kind. The caffeine didn't bother me because I drink so much caffeine every day. With the changes I made in my diet and taking OxyELITE Pro, I have dropped 7lbs.

I'm excited because I'm seeing results and that pushes me to keep it up. I'm not getting any younger and I'm sick of watching life pass me by. There are so many things I won't do because of my weight. No more! I am determined to get in the best shape of my life. And I know this time I will do it. Will it be easy? No. Will it be fun? Not really. Will it be worth it? Definitely! I need to set good examples for my girls and me going around calling myself fat and disgusting is NOT the way to raise two young, impressionable girls. I also know that by doing it the slow and steady way will insure that I keep it off.

Are you trying to lose weight? What works best for you? I'd love to hear from anyone in my same boat. We can do it together!

And now for some inspiration!

Turkey Meatballs & Whole Grain Pasta - 500 Calorie Meal

Tonight for dinner, I made turkey meatballs with whole grain pasta. I love cooking and I will never share a recipe that I have not made myself. In fact, this recipe is something I just kind of came up with on the fly.

Let's take a look at our ingredients.

I forgot the cheese in the first picture! Oops.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees!

Grocery List:

• 1lb 93/7 Ground Turkey
• Whole Grain Pasta
• 1/2 c of Pasta Sauce (I used Barilla Marinara Traditional)
• 3/4 c Panko Bread Crumbs (I use unflavored, Japanese style)
• 1 small-medium onion (diced finely)
• 1 egg
• 2 T ketchup
• 1/2 c Italian blend cheese
• Spices (I used onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, salt and pepper - you can use whatever seasonings you like!)

In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients. For the spices, I just eyeball everything. But if you are of the anal-retentive variety - I probably used about 1/2 t of each. 

*Tip: When using dried oregano, crush it in your palm before adding to the mix. It releases some of the oils.*

Here is where we are once the ingredients have been combined. 

Combine well, but don't overwork the meat, you will make it tough if you handle it too much. You should be able to make about 12-13 fairly good sized meatballs. Place them in a baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray so that your meatballs don't stick!

Place them on the middle rack in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the insides are no longer pink!

Once your meatballs are in the oven, you can start your pasta water. Once mine starts to boil I add a palm full of sea salt and a splash of olive oil. Not sure if it makes any difference but that's how my mama always did it so that's how I do it! :)

One serving of whole grain pasta is 2oz. I am delusional when it comes to knowing portion sizes - so I pulled out my handy dandy food scale. 

This is what 2oz of pasta looks like. I also counted them and it comes to 78 sticks of pasta. I know no one will count them after they cook but I thought it was interesting any way! Since I was cooking for more than just myself, I measured out three 2oz servings and just eyeballed it after the pasta was cooked by visually dividing it into thirds. It's not exact science but it's the best I have!

My meatballs and pasta finished about the same time. Here is our finished meatballs.

You can see the one I cut to make sure it was finished.

AND viola! Our finished product!

So there you have it! A delicious and healthful meal that is really simple to make. 

Here is the nutritional breakdown.

Turkey Meatballs - 81-88 calories per meatball

2oz of pasta - 210 calories

1/2 c pasta sauce - 90 calories

I eat two meatballs with my meal, which with the pasta, ends up being roughly 476 calories. The meatballs provide about 8.2 grams of protein per meatball. You could also add a salad to round out the meal. 

I hope you enjoyed my first recipe post! I know the pictures are kind of cruddy but my camera kind of sucks! Let me know if you try it out and any variations you made!