Turkey Chili

All right, here is Day 2 of my canning weekend! We love this Turkey Chili recipe so I thought I'd try canning some! Here is the recipe:

1 lb. ground turkey
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
28 oz. diced tomatoes
12 oz. tomato sauce
15 oz. kidney or pinto beans
2 tsp chili powder
salt and pepper

Brown turkey in olive oil. Spoon off fat. Add onion and garlic and saute until soft, approximately 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and simmer.

We have done this in the past and just eaten it right away....I let it simmer for about 30 minutes or so and it's delish. We like a few more beans in ours, so I always use one can of red and one can of white beans. To can it, I made a change and used some canned turkey from Thanksgiving. I have used canned turkey in this recipe before and loved it, HOWEVER, I wonder if it wasn't the best for canning it. Some of my canned turkey was darker meat which is a bit greasier than white meat, or ground turkey. I'm not sure if that contributed, but for some reason, three of my jars didn't seal....I've NEVER had jars not seal like that so I wonder if the added grease was to blame. Anyway, I quadrupled this recipe and got 7 quarts, plus I have enough left over to probably do another 3-4. After the issue with jars not sealing, I think I will probably just freeze the rest.

I'm canning my beans right now, and hoping to can some vegetable beef soup tomorrow!

Southwest Chicken Chili

This is a yummy recipe I've done before, but last time I sectioned it out into freezer bags and popped the extra in the freezer. When I was ready to thaw some, I just popped the frozen chili in the crock pot, put it on Low and walked away....it worked beautifully! Since we are so low on freezer space right now, I decided to try canning it this time around. Here is the recipe:

3 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
1/2 cup chopped onion
4 oz. can diced green chiles
2 cans white kidney beans
1/2 tsp cilantro
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 cloves garlic-crushed
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp ground red pepper
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Chop onion and garlic. Heat oil and saute garlic and onions. Add cubed chicken and brown.

Whether you'll be freezing some extra or canning it, I just sauteed my onions and garlic in a big stock pot. Once you have added your chicken, add the remaining ingredients to the pot and stir well. I let it simmer nicely for about 30 minutes while I was getting the canner and jars ready. If you'll be freezing it, skip the simmering since you probably don't want to put hot chili in a freezer bag. Add the cheese to the bag on top of the chili and seal it up once all the air is out. If you'll be canning it, once your canner is ready, fill heated jars with chili leaving 1 inch headspace. Place your lid and ring on and place in the canner. I pressure cooked these quarts for 90 minutes at 12-13 pounds pressure (since we are at higher altitude). For my canned chili, I will just add the cheese to it as I'm preparing to serve it.

A couple of other changes I made....I used chicken I had canned in January, so rather than cubed chicken mine is more shredded. It works great though! I was also able to use the liquid from my canned chicken for the broth rather than purchased chicken broth. I am a HUGE fan of cilantro, so I actually chop an entire bunch of cilantro for each recipe. Totally to each person's taste though! I quadrupled the above recipe, and my yield was 7 quarts of chili, with just enough left over for me to eat for dinner tomorrow. Yum, yum.....this will be perfect when the winter chill sets in!

Yay for Summer!

It seems like it has taken a REALLY long time, but I think summer is finally here! This year has been so much fun already. The kids spend the majority of every day outside riding bikes, scooters, little cars, etc. They love to take walks and bike rides together....love to go visiting the neighbors (especially if those neighbors have a play set in the backyard!). Despite the lack of sun over the last month, all three have managed to get a nice base tan going...they all look so cute! Today we finished a fabulous day outside with a treat....sno cones from the sno cone truck! It was the perfect end to the day-relaxing in the shade with a cool treat. Love these summer days!!!

Historic....

What an incredible night....I was upstairs clipping coupons when Emma came upstairs to tell me that Osama bin Laden had been killed. Amazing that my daughter, who was born two weeks to the day after 9/11 delivered that news to me. I remember so clearly how it felt to be two weeks away from delivering my first child...watching the horror of the Trade Center attacks unfold on TV. Wondering if we were crazy to bring an innocent child into a world that could be so violent. Now, nine and a half years later, a small piece of justice was served.

It is after one in the morning on the east coast, but there are people out in the streets in DC and New York....singing, waving the flag, and celebrating. It is crazy! It's so nice to see people unified again though, the way we were united after the attacks on 9/11. Hopefully the feeling of unity will last!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! We had an amazing day....it was just about perfect! We had an incredible speaker in Church, Nathan did awesome on his first-ever talk in Primary, the kiddos looked positively breath-taking in their new clothes, everyone got naps, and we finished it off with a delicious meal and a fun pinata at Nana & Papa's. The only way we could have improved on the day would be to have ALL of our family together, but hopefully we can make that happen soon.

Seriously......does it get any cuter?

The kiddos "helped" us make a pinata for family night last week, and we decided to take it over to Easter dinner for the cousins to share. It definitely wasn't pretty, and it certainly didn't last long, but the kids had so much fun! Matthew only gave it a one-hand effort.....
Nathan got right in the action and did some good damage!
After Nathan, Garret and Dallin put the beating on, so Emma just got to finish that poor pinata off once it was on the ground. Then the mad scramble began!

We decided not to do Easter baskets today, and tried to focus on the reason for Easter and really help the kids understand the importance of it. The kids are excited to search for Easter baskets tomorrow morning (Emma is out of school for Spring Break) and we'll finish by decorating eggs for family night. Fabulous Easter weekend!

New Glasses

Our cute little Emma just got new glasses, and I just had to show them off! Her previous frames kept getting loose, and falling off her face. I was taking them in every month to be adjusted and I just got tired of it. These frames are thicker, and hopefully will be more sturdy. She's still trying to get used to the thicker frames....she says she feels like a racoon or a burgler! : ) Cute as ever though....that's for sure!

More stitches....

Always expect the unexpected....feels like the story of my life lately! Today was just like any other Friday...get Emma off to school, get the boys settled in with their breakfast, and then I got to work finishing up the weekly box-up of signs. I bring everything out into the living room and just do my thing. I had just finished taping up a box, and set my tape dispenser down like I always do. Nathan and Matthew came running through the living room, and the next thing I know, Nathan is crying hysterically. I quickly realized that he must have stepped on something as he ran through, so I sat him down to take a quick look at his feet. I took one look, and ran him into the bathroom right away because the blood was flowing. Dang it.....I figured out he must have sliced his toe on the dispenser blade somehow. I tried washing it off in the sink but took a different approach when I realized how badly it was bleeding. I just wrapped it, and held it....and then I called Darrin. Long story short, we ended up heading in and were fortunate enough to have Bishop Harper stitch up Nathan's cute little toe. Just two...so we got out pretty easy....this time. How many times have I had my tape sitting on the floor? Every single week for the past two and a half years! How many times will I leave it out in the future? Not a one.