Super Bowl Chili ~ Not just for game day

During my last stint working we made a conscious effort to continue to cook at home for as many meals as possible. See, we had a glimpse of how much $$ we spent eating out when I was home and did not have that luxury. So during that time we wanted to keep as many of the good habits we had formed that helped us live the less luxurious life in style, like eating good meals at home.

Just like most families out there we ate out because of time constraints. But with a little planning and easy recipes we managed to eat at home most of the time. One of our go to meals was Chili. It was quick, easily adaptable to what we had on hand, and was always made in the Crock Pot.

I recently had a mommy and me gathering at my house. It was supposed to be a mid morning gathering with snacks and coffee. But due to weather the schools in our area started late that day. This pushed back the time for our get together. Which for me meant changing my plans from coffee and donuts to serving a light lunch, on short notice.

So I went with a no fail easy chili for adults and hot dogs for the kids. The bonus was there was leftovers for dinner.

8 oz - Black Beans or Kidney Bean (or 4 cans of beans)
2 14 oz cans of chili seasoned tomatios
1 can of corn
2 Diced Carrots
1 medium sweet onion
1 pack or chili seasoning
1 tsp Cummin
Meat of Choice (I use left over baked chicken)

Place the above ingredients in your crock pot and cook on LOW for 6 hours, or High for 3.

In the summer I still cook chili, but add squash, zucchini, yellow peppers, and orange peppers . My husband says that it isn't chili with all that stuff in it, but I say if you add chili seasoning it's chili.

I hope this works for you

There she blows!!! We Rod husband extraordinaire got it all set up and put together on a very cold and windy Sunday afternoon. Right where I asked him to, never mind that we moved it a few times until I was satified (not really I just gave in).

We chose the back corner because while our yard is not very big, we have big plans. We want to expand the patio off the back of the house. Put a tree in the back corner behind the swing set. And complete the section for our garden.  We finished the rain barrel last summer.  I wanted just enough room at the end of the slide so we could put a blow up pool there for the kids to slide into during the summer. I always thought that looked like fun.

You can see the future garden area from the end of the slide. The plan is to put in a small fence to keep little hands at bay.

I'll say it again, we WON!!!! The swing set was a gift from the Craigslist GOD'S.