Yesterday was a good but busy day, we had our first snow fall of the season so we were sure happy to stay home yesterday. i mentioned that it was the first day that Master and i had been spend time at home. Master's brother had been here with his family and that meant taking Master's Mom out of the nursing home every day and having her at their house. While it was nice for her to be able to see her children and a couple of her grandchildren it was sort of an intense few days.
Once Master's brother packed up and went home Master and i had to take His Mom out of town to a doctor appointment and that turned into an all day ordeal. i'm happy we went, we got some much needed questions answered so it was a good day. The bad thing about being on the go with activities that aren't in your normal schedule is that the things you typically do are completely tossed to the way-side and chaos ensues. So while Master and i had the day to ourselves yesterday, it seemed as though we wanted to do everything all at once. At least that's how i felt and i think He must have had some of that too because we both worked like little elves trying to get ready for Christmas.
Master and i spent nearly the entire day in the kitchen. We started around 10:30am and i think we finally headed downstairs with supper at 8pm. Each one of us may have taken 10 minutes or so here and there to sit but we pretty much cooked/baked non-stop the entire day. Master was in charge of the projects yesterday as they were all His ideas, i was just Santa's helper. =)
The first thing on the menus was supper and that was all Master! The more i've been working, the more Master is trying His hand at meal planning. He's really been wanting to try this new chili out and it seems like each new meal He tries, i love it and He is only "so-so" about it! Well last night's chili was incredible. It was called Chicken and Corn Chili. It's a crock pot recipe and it was flippin' amazing seriously!
As we all know, Master's Mom isn't going to be doing any of her regular baking this year so we're missing her sugar cookies! Well, instead of missing them, we're going to make them ourselves! =) i have to admit the memory is a crazy thing. When i was in the shower thinking about baking the cookies and knowing i've never actually made them myself, i was able to recall the actual recipe on my own. i of course didn't know the amounts, but i knew every single ingredient as well as every step along the way. For me, who scarcely remembers to shut the water off when getting out of the shower, i was glad to know that there are some things that never leave you. Again, Master was mainly in charge of the mixing and such, i was just the little gopher. i sort of steered Him in the right direction on one occasion or two. Once we were all mixed up, the dough went into the fridge and we're all set today to do our baking. We don't have quite as many cut outs as i wish we did, but we'll make do! =)
The last thing on the agenda were homemade pizza rolls that we made using egg roll wrappers. Now you can get as creative as you want with these wrappers but because we just wanted to get them done and in the freezer, we were quick about it this time. In the first batch He used turkey pepperoni, chopped. About 2/3 of a can of black olives, chopped. Tomato sauce that He doctored up Himself to taste like a better than store bought pizza sauce and small amount of mozzarella cheese. The only thing that takes any time at all is wrapping these little suckers up. Once you've got the hang of it, they go pretty fast. You can literally put anything at all inside of them. The next one we did was just some elbow macaroni and spaghetti sauce with a little bit of cheese, Master added some Italian seasoning to that too and it was pretty incredible. Once we had them finished, we tossed them in a container with waxed paper between them to let them freeze up. Now that they are totally frozen, i'll steal my container back and just put them in freezer bags, label them and we'll have them for appetizers, snacks or a meal if we like.
Once we were finished in the kitchen and i was nearly about to pass out, it was time to eat that wonderful smelling chili that had been tempting me all day. It was perfectly done and although it was called chili many people said they were eating it with chips, so that's what we did! i loved it! =)
Here's the recipe:
4 Skinless boneless chicken
breast halves
1 16 oz jar salsa
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
salt and pepper to taste
11 oz can mexican corn
15 oz can pinto beans
Now here's where Master's took some liberties: He added about 1/3 a can of sliced ripe olives, one 15oz can of black beans (because we like them!).
Directions:
1. Place chicken and salsa in the slow cooker the night before you want to eat this chili. Season with garlic powder,, cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper. Cook 6-8 hours on low setting.
2. About 3-4 hours before you want to eat, shred the chicken with 2 forks. Return the meat to the pot and continue cooking.
3. Stir the corn and the pinto beans into the slow cooker. Simmer until ready to serve.
Enjoy!
Peace to you and yours,
MD's treasure