Good Morning! Happy Monday! I don’t know how happy it is being back at work. Maybe it is for some of you. I hope you all had a great weekend! Mine was pretty good! As you noticed, I’ve been trying to blog more on the weekends. I missed blogging during the weekends so I decided to take some time out and blog. It relaxes me and I enjoy writing about my life and my daily experiences. What did you do this weekend? Anything fun?
Yesterday after blogging, I finally got ready for my day. I picked up Melissa and my mom but before we left I glanced at my wedding dress! I haven’t looked at it since I put in my mom’s closet. I’m happy that it is still perfect. 
After looking at my dress, we finally went to pick apples! We went to Terhune Orchards in Princeton, NJ. It’s a favorite place of Melissa and I. This is the second year in a row we have picked apples from there. Since it’s so late in the apple picking season, there were only two choices of apples to pick. There were Granny Smith which most of them were on the ground and not too great looking and Staymen Winesap. We definitely ended up getting a lot of Staymen Winesap. So if you have any good apple recipes, send them my way! I have almost 7 pounds of apples to get through. It was so much fun spending time with Melissa and my mom. I don’t think I ever picked apples with my mom. If I did, I don’t remember. It was fun though!
After picking apples, we went to Kohl’s, Trader Joe’s, and ShopRite. It was a fun trip. I ended up getting some really great deals! I love that the ShopRite in Princeton actually doubles the coupons to full value! For example if you have a 75 cent off coupon they will double .75 + .75 = $1.50! Instead some other coupons will only double a .75 cent coupon to a $1. So that made for some really amazing deals! I only ended up spending $39 on a ton of food. I was happy that I didn’t go over my budget!
I was excited for dinner because I had it cooking away in the crockpot. It smelled absolutely heavenly! A few weeks ago, I noticed a really great recipe for Easy Chili posted on Courtney from Sweet Tooth Sweet Life’s Blog. The recipe looked easy and sounded delicious. So I had to try it!
Easy Chili (from Courtney’s blog)
Ingredients:
1lb ground beef (**I used 95% lean)
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 (29 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (14.5 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 (16 ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 (16 ounce) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 can Bush’s chili starter (don’t drain)
Shredded cheddar cheese
Directions:
Brown meat in large skillet. Add onion and green pepper halfway through the browning process. Drain grease. Pour into slow cooker.
Stir in all remaining ingredients except for the cheddar cheese.
Cover. Cook on high 3 hours or low 7-8 hours.
Serve in bowls topped with cheddar cheese.
Ingredients
Ground Beef, Peppers and Onions cooking
Beef, Peppers, and Onions in the crockpot
We also made our favorite Chi Chi’s cornbread to go along with the chili.
Chi Chi's Cornbread
Cornbread
Of course I needed some extra vegetables. So I roasted some in the oven with cooking spray, pepper and garlic salt. The squash you will see is a Delicata squash. I never had one before and saw it at the store so I decided to try it. It’s really good! What is your favorite type of squash to eat?
Roasted Veggies
Easy Chili
Roasted veggies on the side
This chili was really good! It had a lot of flavor but the only thing that was missing was the spice! I like my chili a little bit spicy but still it was good. I made a mistake, when I went to put in a can of one of the beans, I didn’t rinse or drain it. I think that made for a little bit souper chili. Instead of it being thick. I think it will thicken up in the fridge overnight. It made so much that we have leftovers for tonight which I am very happy about! Do you like chili? What is your favorite kind of slow cooked soup/stew?
Alright, well I should probably get back to work now. I’m going to try to be brave and discuss how I am feeling with my supervisor today. I’m hoping things will get better. On a happier note, 10 Months from today I will be walking down the aisle saying I do to my soulmate. Have a good Monday.
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I love white chicken chili! I miss Chi Chi’s… i used to eat at that place all the time, but all the ones around me closed
White chicken chili is really good! Me too!!!! It was my favorite restaurant ever!!! The one by one closed too. I wish they would reopen! It was the best!
Good luck today!! Keeping my fingers crossed that the talk goes well
Thank you so much
It was a very stressful day!
I love chili, especially over cheese hot dogs.
I sometimes make queso dip by combining about a can-size worth of chili with half a jar of the Tostitos queso in the crockpot. Perfect for football games!
Me too. I’ve never had a cheese hot dog before! I must try it. Queso dip is so good! mm
I saw that recipe and I really want to try it out. I love chili!
My favorite thing to do with apples is apple crisp. I could eat the whole pan all by myself.
I had a laid-back weekend with nothing really exciting, but sometimes it’s nice to just do nothing.
Hope everything is going well at work!
Me too! Chili is one of the best comfort foods.
Mmm..that is a good idea! Have a good recipe for me to try?
I totally hear ya. A relaxing weekend sounds perfect to me.
Thank you
Chili is one of my favorite fall/winter crockpot meals- so easy and so delicious! And I like what you’re doing there with the crockpot liners
Me too. I’d like to find a recipe next time that is a lot thicker. This one was too soupy. Haha, I’ve been using crockpot liners for such a long time now. I don’t know how people ever managed without them. They make cleanup so much easier
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