Tasty Tuesday - Cheezy Chili

I know I've been on a Tasty Tuesday hiatus, but it's back... and with pictures! Please note, I am not a "food" photographer (or any type of photographer for that matter) so the pictures are not very good. In fact, after looking back at them, I may not even need to post them because it may turn you off of the recipe... but, what the heck! I'll post them and just promise you that the recipe is really good (and easy - bonus)!

This is a remix of a "White Chili" recipe I found on Allrecipes.com. I changed it up a good bit and once it was done, it didn't look like "white chili" so I renamed it to Cheezy Chili - due to all the cheese that's in it! I LOVE cheese! (Shout out to Beth!)

So here's what ya need...

Ingredients:

1 - 1 1/2 pounds of Ground Something... (turkey, beef, deer, etc.) I actually used Deer... now, don't turn up your noses... deer is pretty good if you know how to "de-game" it.

1/2 Onion diced

Some minced garlic (didn't measure, but maybe enough for a couple of cloves)

1 1/2 cups meduim salsa - runny, chunky... doesn't matter! I used "runny" because the hubby doesn't like the "chunks"

1 can of Whole Kernal Corn

1 cup of Water

2 14 oz cans of Great Northern Beans rinsed and drained (I think mine may have been 15.6 oz... same difference)

1/2 package (4 oz) of Jalepeno Jack cheese cubed

1/2 pacakge (4 oz) of Cheddar Cheese cubed (you can use Sharp, Medium, Mild... whatever your preference

Cumin, Pepper, and Salt (I didn't measure, but you can't go wrong with these)

Directions

1) Brown meat with diced onion and garlic (since I used deer, I also added the salt, pepper and cumin during this step - or you can wait until it's all mixed together)

2) Combine meat mixture with salsa, corn, beans, cheese and water. A note about the water: I used the whole cup, but I also had 1 1/2 pounds of meat... depending on how "soupy" you want your chili, you may want to add a little now, and then simmer and add a little more later to get the consistency you want.

3) Stir together and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes (or 2 hours like I did - or you can even put it in a crock pot and let it sit all day on low. Yum!)

I told ya the picture might turn you off - it's really good... I promise!

I then got all fancy and served it garnished with Chili Cheese Fritos, Chopped Onions and Tomatoes! Ole'!

AND... We're Off!

Somebody has become very mobile (and moves pretty quickly, I may add). He hasn't gotten the official crawling down, but is content with his modified "army crawl".



Please excuse his outfit... or lack there of. We had "Naked Redneck Baby Day" the other day :)! Also, please excuse the background noise... there was a "Little Miss Perfect" marathon on this weekend that Baby Clay and I HAD to watch!

Now that he's mobile, it's hard for me to leave the room for even a few seconds... so we have introduced "Baby Jail"!


But don't feel too bad for him... he has a great time in there pressing his face up against the side and making funny faces!

Someone is Feeling MUCH Better Today!

Looks like we may have beaten the flu! Actually, I think we may have prevented a bad case of the flu by getting on the Tamiflu so quick! I had about a day and a half of feeling horrible and Clay had a couple of days. Mark actually got the worst of it, but is doing much better! We still get tired easily so we have to continue to take it easy, but I think the worst is past us and we are on the road to a quick recovery! Thanks to all of you who have said some prayers for us! I can't imagine what would have happened had we had the "full-blown" flu that I've heard nightmare stories about!

Not-So-Fun Flu Friday

We've been on quarantine around here at the Marshall household... we've all got the FLU!!! Mark came down with it first on Tuesday. He went to the doctor Wednesday and they confirmed it was the flu. He came home armed with some Tamiflu and other good drugs. I didn't feel bad at all and have NEVER had the flu, so I thought I was going to get out of it! Not so much... last night I started getting achy all over and felt heat radiating from my face. I took my temp and it was pushing 102. I never get fevers!

Yesterday we had a bit of a scare... Mark passed out... not once, but twice! It was scary! The first time he managed to catch himself so he didn't hit the floor too hard. I got him to sit down on the side of the tub to get his bearings and I proceeded to put on my makeup. I turned around just in time to see him falling face first towards the tile floor. I ran over and managed to somewhat catch him and ease him to the floor (I didn't realize how "dead weight" someone passing out is!). I ran to get the phone to call 911 because there was no way I could get my 6 foot 2 husband in the car to take him to the hospital. He came to and insisted that he was ok. He called his dr and he thinks that it was a combination of dehydration and low blood pressure. He hasn't passed out since... Thank Goodness!!!

I had been hoping and praying that little Clay would not get the flu, but knew it was inevitable when he was having trouble sleeping last night. I was up with him 3 or 4 times last night and he just seemed "uncomfortable". I took his temp this morning when he got up and it was 100.3. His temp hasn't gone over that, but he's still not himself. I called the dr and they told me there's really nothing they can do for a baby. I am on Tamiflu, so they said he will get a little of that in his system through nursing, so hopefully it will help! We've been lazy and laid on the couch all day!

I'm actually feeling a tad bit better. I haven't had much of a fever today so I'm thinking that because I got on the Tamiflu right away, I may have gone through the worst of it. Hopefully we'll be able to get some good rest over the weekend and be ready to start the new week nice and healthy!

And, of course, I had to document this with pictures :). My poor little baby looked so pitiful! He did finally give me a smile!

Jump Around!

This is Baby Clay's first music video debut! Looks like the little man already has some good rhythm - notice how he's jumping with the music - he gets that from his momma, of course ;) !

And look at those chubby legs! You'd think with all that jumping he does, they'd be slightly slimmer :)!

Viva Las Vegas!!!

Well, I didn't win the millions I had hoped to win in Vegas so that I could quit my job and become a professional blog writer, but I do still have my house (or almost a house), my car, my shirt on my back... and memories that will last a lifetime... Awwwwwwww! Ha! Enough of the cheesiness... onto the good stuff!

We got to Vegas last Thursday around 1:30 Vegas time. The first stop we made was our traditional lunch at Margaritaville. Actually... I lied... our first stop was to Wild Bill's for some 99 cent margaritas. After the 99 cent margarita stop we made it over to Margaritaville... where we had a Perfect Margarita (not 99 cents... more like $9, but well worth it), oh yeah, and lunch! After Margaritaville, we headed down to a place called Carnival Court which is an outdoor area that has a big stage and a lot of fun bands! We danced the night (or afternoon) away until we were hungry and ready to call it a night - a little early I might add... that time change really messes you up the first night! I won't even go into the horrible experience at Fatburger... let's just say... we won't be going there AGAIN!

Friday, us girls spent the day relaxing by the pool on the roof of the place we stayed (Polo Towers, to be exact). We had to prepare for a busy night - we were going to the Price is Right!! No, not the "real" Price is Right that is filmed in California and on every morning at 10:00 AM, but the Vegas version of Price is Right. We ate at PF Chang's before the show... it was yummy! All day I was suffering severe anxiety because I did not want my name called (I don't like getting up in front of people) so every time they called a name to "Come on Down"... I would hold my breath and hope it wasn't my name. Thankfully it was never called to come up in front of everyone, but I did win 2500 casino credits - which sounds exciting, but it's only $25 for stuff in the casino gift shop, or food, or credit to a room.

Saturday we got roped into taking a tour of the place we stayed at and had to listen to their spill about why we need to buy into their "vacation" life. Well, we didn't fall for their sales pitch, but were $200 dollars richer (there had to be a good excuse why we sat through it!)! We used this money to pay for our Criss Angel tickets. If you haven't seen Criss Angel or know who he is, he's an "illusionist" that performs all kinds of whacked out illusions. He's got that show "Mindfreak" and let me tell ya, it's freaky! He's in Vegas doing a Cirque du Soleil show called Believe. All I can say is "HOLY COW"!!! That was some wicked stuff he was doing. The show was typical "cirque du soleil" weirdness, but combined with his illusions, it was amazing! I highly recommend you go if you are ever in Vegas! Don't ask the husbands about this show, though. They have something against Cirque du Soleil shows and were expecting "Mindfreak"... and it's not anything like Mindfreak.

Then Sunday, our last day, rolled around and we were starting to wear down. We didn't have a whole lot of plans except to do a little shopping, eat at Joe's and relax while watching the Nora Robert's Lifetime movie (while eating ice cream, of course!). Dinner at Joe's was very yummy!! It's a steak and seafood place in Caesar's Palace. I got the Fish and Chips and Mark had the Seafood Platter... it was all so good!! I would definitely go eat there again!

We had to wake up extremely early to catch our 7:30 AM flight back home. I was sad that our vacation had come to an end, but ecstatic to go home and see my Baby Clay! This was the longest I had left him and I could not get home fast enough to see him! My mother in law came over to our house to watch him and he was spoiled rotten... which is fine with me! She even got him going to bed at 8:00 PM! Fabulous!

I know you're tired of reading, so here are some pictures!!

The Girls at Carnival Court - Me, Beth and Emily

The guys - Tommy, Mark, and Jeremy
Me and Beth lounging around at Margaritaville with our Perfect's
The girls outside of M&M World

Dinner at House of Blues before the Criss Angel show

The gang minus me (I'm obviously taking the pic) at Carnival Court

My hubby kissing up on another girl! :)

1st Grocery Trip to the Wally World

Since Clay has been sitting up on his own really well, I decided it was time to venture out and actually take him grocery shopping. Now... he's been to Target, the mall and restaurants, but he's been in the comfort of his baby bucket and is usually asleep. I got this really cute shopping cart cover that I was itching to use and decided yesterday was the day! I was a little nervous... I was afraid he'd have a meltdown in the middle of the shopping and I'd have to leave a whole cart of groceries behind, but... he did great! In fact, he LOVED it! There was so much for him to look at (he's obviously going to be a people watcher like his mommy - and at our Super Wally World - there's a LOT of good people watching). I was there for probably an hour... and he had a good ole' time smiling at everyone and laughing at his mommy being silly! It was fun! Here are a couple of pictures from our outing (I apologize for the bad quality. I only had the camera phone with me - again).

Shopping at the Wally World (Can't you just see the excitement on his face? I was trying to be inconspicuous when taking this because I didn't want the other Wally Worlders to think I was some crazy mom taking pictures of her kid at the grocery store.)

Pooped after the BIG trip to the grocery store (and he slept for another 2 hours once I got him home! He may be going with me every time!)

6 Month Well Check

Just a quick post to let you know how his 6 month well check with the doctor went yesterday...

Here are the stats:

Weight: 21 lbs 9 oz
Height: 28 1/4 inches
Percentile: 95th on EVERYTHING!!! He's huge!

I did ask the doctor if he was too big and she said he was perfect! Just as long as the percentiles are close, he can be as big as he wants right now.

While checking him over, she did see that he still has a horrible ear infection in the left ear. The right ear has cleared up, though. She's prescribed him some stronger antibiotics and hopefully these will knock it out! He had to have 3 shots and took them like a pro. He teared up and started to cry, but when she was finished, I picked him up and he was back to his normal, happy self. He gets to start eating level 2 foods... chicken and rice, here we come! (There's just something about pureed chicken and rice that doesn't sit well with me.) He can also have those "puff" finger foods that disolve in his mouth - this oughta be fun! His next well check isn't until he's 9 months, but he does have to go back once he finishes the antibiotics to make sure he ear has cleared up.

And on another note... I just noticed this is my 100th post! Yay, me!!! I can't believe I've come up with enough stuff to write about for that many posts! Hopefully I can keep it going! You all have a fab day and get out and enjoy this sunshine (if it's sunny where you live)!