White Chicken Chili

In honor of the last cold snap of spring (hopefully) I'm making White Chicken Chili for supper tonight. And I'm posting it this morning so you will have enough time to run to the store just in case you wanted to make White Chicken Chili for supper tonight!

This is actually my sister's recipe and I have no idea where she got it. But it is wonderfully delicious!

Here are the ingredients.

The first thing is to brown and cut up the chicken into bite size pieces. I like to cook the chicken in my non-stick skillet with just a little bit of canola oil to brown it up a bit.

Set the chicken aside. In the same skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of Smart Balance or butter and saute the chopped onion.

Melt the remaining 6 tablespoons of Smart Balance (or butter) over moderately low heat in a 6 - 8 quart heavy pot.

Then whisk in 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour. If you like your chili thicker, you can add 1/2 cup. Cook the roux, whisking constantly for 3 minutes.

Stir in the onion and gradually add 3/4 cup chicken broth and 2 cups half-and-half, whisking constantly.

Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Stir in 1 tsp of Green Tabasco sauce, 1 1/2 tsp of chili powder, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp of pepper.

Add 3 cans of White Northern Beans, 2 (4 oz) cans of mild green chilies - chopped and drained, and the chicken. Add 1 1/2 cups of grated Monterey Jack Cheese (6 oz) or a blend of Mexican Cheese and cook mixture over moderately low heat, stirring, for 20 minutes.
The last thing is to stir in 1/2 cup of sour cream. I use the Light Sour Cream but whatever you do, PLEASE do not use the Fat Free sour cream. It's just not worth it. Trust me.

I serve it with Frito's. This is one of our favorites when it is cold outside. Enjoy!

White Chicken Chili

3 cans of White Northern Beans
1 large onion, chopped
1 stick of butter or 1/2 cup of Smart Balance
1/4 cup all-purpose flour (you will need more if you want to make it thick)
3/4 cup chicken broth
2 cups half-and-half
1 tsp Tabasco sauce
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 (4 oz) cans mild green chilies - chopped and drained
5 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 2 lbs) cooked, fat cut off and cut into bite size pieces
1 1/2 cups grated Monterey Jack Cheese (6 oz)
1/2 cup sour cream

Brown and cut up chicken. In a skillet saute chopped onion in 2 Tablespoons Smart Balance (or butter) until softened.

In a 6 - 8 quart heavy pot, melt remaining 6 Tablespoons butter over moderately low heat and whisk in flour. Cook, whisking constantly, for 3 minutes. Stir in onion and gradually add broth and half-and -half, whisking constantly. Bring mixture to a boil and simmer, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. Stir in Tabasco, chili powder, cumin, salt, and pepper. Add beans, chilies, chicken, and Monterey Jack cheese and cook over moderately low heat, stirring, for 20 minutes. Stir sour cream into chili.

Serves 4 - 6 people. I double it if we have company or if I am taking a meal to someone.

Not. Going. According. To Plan.

My favorite part of the A-Team was when Hannibal used to , "I love it when a plan comes together".

My problem is that mine is not.

The plan: eradicate and relocate the murdering vermin who sabotaged my attempts to have beautiful flowers growing in my yard. They reduced my pansies and various other blooming plants from this......

To This........

Plan A: While my parents were visiting, my dad built a rabbit trap with the help of the kids. Or maybe in spite of the kids.

The day after my parents left, the kids ran in screaming, "WE CAUGHT A RABBIT, WE CAUGHT A RABBIT!!!!!!".

They said they were playing in the backyard when they heard the door slam shut. So I went out to check. I stood the rabbit trap on it's end and with 3 excited children surrounding me, I carefully pulled open the door.

No rabbit.

We tried to use different baits but we never caught one. The kids really wanted to pull up some of my pansies as they felt this would be a sure-fire way to lure the rabbit in. Unfortunately, most of the pansies had been eaten to the ground by this point.

Plan B: The rabbits really aren't that fast. Somehow, natural selection has overlooked our neighborhood because of the apparent lack of predators. There are literally several rabbits per house. They all come out in the evenings. My kids really thought they had a chance to catch one. So they spent all their free time with their butterfly nets trapping rabbits in bushes, only to have them narrowly escape.

The Problem: They ran in last week screaming "WE CAUGHT A RABBIT, WE CAUGHT A RABBIT, GET A BOX, GET A BOX!!!!!" They actually did catch a rabbit. The only problem was it was a baby rabbit. And the problem with that is that where there is one baby rabbit.... there are sure to be more.

I was contemplating my options when the informative neighbor kid said, "Don't give him to the humane society... they'll kill him! And don't take him and turn him loose in the park, the coyotes or a hawk will eat him! He'll be safest right here in your backyard".

Great.

Thankyouverymuch for that.

By that time, my daughter was smitten by the pansy-eater. She asked if she could keep him as a pet and let him live in her room. (and yes, she is sitting in a dump truck)

We let the kids keep him in a box and look at him until after supper. We really wanted to send him on his merry way but decided that he really was too young to be separated from his mother.

Who was apparently still living in our yard.

With her brood.

So we let him go.

They have since caught 3 other baby rabbits which have all been released back into their natural habitat. (which would be our yard)

But I am still in a quandary because I DON'T WANT RABBITS IN MY YARD! The kids have so much fun chasing them that I actually wouldn't mind their presence if they didn't eat all my flowers and kill the grass wherever they left their pellets.

I'm considering ordering some fox urine powder or maybe even trying moth balls. I was also planning on having a garden this year and using fox urine around my vegetables is just not that appealing. There are several products out there to try but I hate to spend money on something that doesn't work.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Or brilliant ideas?

Because this is me, needing some brilliant suggestions.

And no, a dog is not an option at this point. But thanks for asking.

Thankful Thursday

1. Thankful for good health. I've actually been having some health problems over the past several weeks. I've spent quality time with specialists and struggled to keep up with daily life. I'm finally feeling better and I must say that there is nothing like feeling bad for awhile to make you appreciate feeling good!

2. Thankful for flannel sheets. When it is cold, I adore my flannel sheets. And it's been cold!

3. Thankful for helpful children. There were several days when I wasn't feeling well that I spent most of the day laying down. My 7 year old made breakfast and lunch for everyone on those day. The kids also helped with extra chores around the house. It was truly a blessing.

4. Thankful for a helpful husband. I truly appreciate how helpful around the house my husband is. He jumps right in and helps me with the laundry, or the dishes or whatever else I'm behind on. He is such a servant and I am very grateful for him.

5. Thankful for a good vehicle. Between running the kids to swim lessons and violin lessons and going to Dr.s appointments I've spent a lot of time in the car the last few weeks. I'm thankful that it runs well, has a working heater, and that we don't have to walk or take the bus!

6. Thankful for good swim instructors. The kids have been taking swimming lessons and we have been so pleased with their instructors. They are very patient but also very thorough in what they teach. That has not always been the case in our experience with swim lessons.

7. Thankful for the rain. We've had lots of rain this week in Dallas. It's been cold, but we really needed the rain.

8. Thankful for Spring. I love spring. It makes me happy. I love the daffodils and tulips and my irises are getting ready to bloom. I think Spring is my favorite time of year.

That's all I've got for now. I hope you have a Thankful Thursday!

The Tea Party

No, I'm not talking about the New American Tea Party, but the Daddy/Daughter Tea Party they had at our church.

It was last Sunday afternoon and MY was our girl excited. She wanted her fingernails painted and her hair curled in ringlets with a big bow on top so she would look beautiful for her daddy. She tried on several dresses and finally decided to go with her pink one with a white sweater.

The played bingo and had cookies, cakes and tea. Based on the fact that she was not hungry for supper at all, I think she probably had her fair share of cookies. She got to bring home the little tea cups and they gave her a pink furry purse in which she kept the stickers she won.

He took the camera and was instructed to take pictures. Granted, this is just about the cutest picture, I mean, could they be any cuter? But what I really wanted was the money shot. A picture of them drinking tea together. Unfortunately, I didn't think to mention this until they got home.

They had fun and made some wonderful memories.

Tea Party. It's a good thing.

The Derby

Today was the big day.
Our first ever AWANAs Pinewood Derby.
If you aren't familiar with Pinewood Derbys, what you do is buy a $3.00 kit that has a rectangular block of wood, some wheels and some axles (which are just nails). You then can fashion this block into any shape or size you want. You mess up on the shape then you buy another kit and start again. So after 6 kits, 3 cans of spray paint, graphite wheel lube all over everyone's hands, extra weights for the cars, and lots of band-aids for wounds during the construction we had our cars.
There are 3 categories one can win in.
The fastest car, the car that looks most like a car, and the novelty category which is something that looks like something other than a car (like a baseball bat or a watermelon).

The kids all decided they wanted to try to make the fastest car and they all wanted their cars to actually look like race cars.
They all drew the shape on the block of wood that they wanted Daddy to cut out. They all drew out the designs they wanted on their cars. They helped sand and paint the cars and the boys both put their own decals on the cars and helped glue on all the metal pieces.

The other goal (we found out) is to get your car to weigh exactly 5.0oz. So we added all sorts of weights. It was crazy.

The night before the race we put on the axles and the wheels. We figured out we had problems when we realized that not all the wheels were touching on the cars and that several of them didn't even spin. We were just a little stressed and just hoping the next day that they would at least cross the finish line.

Here are the finished cars on the day of the race.



The track was pretty cool. Each division ran several heats and each car took a turn in a different lane for each heat.


This was her car. She specifically wanted a pink race car with red stripes. She also was very specific about where she wanted her weights. She's a thinker that one!

We were pretty excited when we figured out there were only 4 cars racing in the Cubbies division because we knew they had at least that many trophies.


She ended up winning 3 out of 4 heats and she won the First Place Trophy! She was so excited!

He wanted an orange race car with a firebird on the hood and a spoiler. Next year we are going to add the weights before we paint the cars. He ended up coming in 5th or 6th for speed but won a First Place trophy in the automotive division because his looked most like a car.

He wanted a very flat, black race car with flames. We were actually afraid it was too thin and had a hard time getting it exactly 5.0 oz. His actually came in first on every race he was in. We were shocked! But very excited. I don't think he even cared that he won for speed, but just that he got a first place trophy. He actually kissed the trophy when they presented it to him. And I totally did not get it on film!

Here is the competition. The boys were both in the same division.
The boys' cars coming in first and second.

Here they are with their their trophies. I think boy #2 is trying to look tough and the girl has her "just another day in the life of a superhero" look (although this was the first trophy she has ever had and she was pretty excited about it). We were pleased that all the kids in the whole competition went home with a trophy or a medal.
We ran a final race at the end with our cars just for the fun of it. It was pretty close.

We really had a good time but honestly spent more time and energy and lost more stomach lining than we had planned on. But the kids had a great time so I guess we will probably try again next year. My oldest already has plans to enter the novelty category with a car that looks like a candy bar.

Thankful Thursday

1. Thankful for dear friends.
2. Thankful for my wonderfully thoughtful husband.
3. Thankful that he has a job.
4. Thankful that even though his hours aren't always the best, we have a house to live in and food to eat.
5. Thankful for sweet and patient violin and piano teachers.
6. Thankful that Pottery Barn catalogs are free.
7. Thankful that the weather is nice in Texas today.
8. Thankful that my nephew from Ethiopia is settling in well with his new mom and dad (my brother and sister-in-law) and that we are going to see them this weekend.
9. Thankful that my sister and nieces are coming down for a visit. Can't wait to see them either.
10. Thankful for the new running shoes my husband surprised me with. They are very comfy.
11. Thankful for the public library.
12. Thankful for all the friends I've recently gotten back in touch with through Facebook. Seriously. Who woulda thought?

That's all I've got for today. Have a Thankful Thursday! And Happy 5th Day of Valentine's!

Friends

When we first found out we were moving to Texas, Mrs. Troop told me some of their friends from church moved to Texas. She gave me their contact information and not only did they live in Texas, they lived 1.5 miles from the house we were moving to in Texas! The second day we were moving in they came by to bring us snacks and welcome us to the area. That next weekend they invited us over for supper and swimming. It was such a blessing to have friends when we moved here. Our kids had a great time together.

They even came to our OU party. They were the only ones. (It's hard to find dedicated Sooner fans south of the Red River for some reason)

Just recently they found a way to move back to Oklahoma. The land that they love. So for the past two days we had the kids over while the movers came to pack them up and move them out.

Here are the younger girls.

And the bigger kids.

We are really going to miss them. My daughter is especially going to miss their daughter. They were connected at the hip every time they got together.

They would even swing together in sync so they could talk. About what, I have no idea.

Yesterday when they left, my daughter turned to me and said, "I gave her my word." I've never heard her use that phrase before so I was a little confused. "What do you mean exactly?", I said. She replied, "I gave her my word. It was goodbye. That was my word."

So there you have it. Her word was goodbye.

And we will miss them.

Happy 2nd Day of Valentine's

So, when I first started dating my husband, I started this thing called the 14 days of Valentine's.

Actually for our first Valentine's we were in a Friendship Contract and could not give each other any gifts other than what we were giving our same gender friends. So that year, my husband gave his roommate a little plant and gave me a huge bouquet of plants. It was quite impressed by his creativeness.

The next year, I started the 14 Days of Valentine's. It was actually my cousin's idea. She started doing it for her husband and I thought it sounded like lots of fun. The basic idea is just to get your sweetheart something for the 1st through the 14th of February. Sometimes it is a homemade card, some new socks, a book he has wanted, homemade goodies, a fishing lure or anything else that he might really enjoy.

He was so excited every day with his little gifts that I decided to make it a tradition.

We are now in our 13th year of the 14 Days of Valentine's! There were some years that were more difficult than others. The year I had a 2 month old and a 20 month old was a little tough, but I still pulled it off. There were other years that I just didn't think I was going to make it to the 14th day. But I've gotten in the habit of picking little things up here and there during the year that I know he really wants and then hiding them in my secret Valentine's stash. It makes it a little easier to come up with 14 days in a row of thoughtful gifts. One year I made a t-shirt that said " I Love (with his name)". I still wear it. He loves it.

I'm doing pretty well this year. I've got 10 days covered so far. And I'm a resourceful gal and pretty sure I can come up with 4 more days.

And my husband knows that I am still madly in love with him. Enough to devote 14 days of love just for him.

Happy 2nd Day of Valentine's!

And while I'm at it, let me just add that I've not been posting because I have been seriously amusing myself at two new blogs I've found. Cake Wrecks cracks me up! I've spent way too much time reading this blog. No eternal value what-so-ever, but seriously funny! Or maybe I'm just easily amused. And my other favorite is Bakerella. LOVE this blog! She has some great cake ideas. I am SO going to try her cake pops when I get a chance.

Exquisite Joy

Hello blog.

It's been awhile.

I know you've missed me.

But I've been busy.

My New Year's goals included walking 45 minutes a day for 4 - 5 days a week and also reading through my Bible in a year. They both eat into my free time (so actually there wasn't that much "free time" to begin with) and you just didn't make it on the priority list.

But last weekend I went to a women's retreat and have some needtoknow information.

So here I am.

At the retreat we watched videos from the True Woman '08 Conference. I must say, they were challenging. Some of them changed my whole view of marriage and my view of feminism. My favorite was the one from John Piper.

You can see it HERE. Go and watch it. It is 45 minutes long and will be worth your time. I promise. He talks about the Ultimate Meaning of True Womanhood.

I must admit, I thought it was a little curious that they were having a MAN talk about true WOMANHOOD.

But he did a more than a complete job. I was challenged, humbled, amazed, and excited once he was done speaking.

His first big statement was "Wimpy theology make wimpy women".

"Wimpy theology does not give a woman a god big enough, strong enough, wise enough, good enough to handle the realities of life in a way that enables her to magnify Him and His Son all the time. He's not big enough. "

"Wimpy theology doesn't have a granite foundation of God's sovereignty underneath. It doesn't have the steel structure of a great God-centered purpose for all of human existence, including the worst of it."

Yeah, just go ahead and chew on those statements for a little bit.

So what was the granite foundation of the purpose of the Universe?

" To display the glory of God's grace in its highest expression as the Son of God dies to make a rebellious people His bride. "

I've had to watch it a couple time and re-read all my notes to fully digest all that John Piper said and all it's implications.

It gets better. He talks about how manhood and womanhood belong at the center of God's ultimate purpose.

"True womanhood is a distinctive calling of God to display the glory of His Son in ways that would not be displayed if there were no womanhood. "

I was a little confused at this point but really curious to know how the glory of God is displayed through womanhood.

He went on to define the roles of men and women in marriage.

"Headship is the divine calling of a husband to take primary responsibility for Christ-like servant leadership, protection, and provision in the home. "

"Submission is the divine calling of a wife to honor and affirm her husband's leadership and help carry it through according to her gifts."

"The point is that these two, headship and submission, correspond to true manhood and true womanhood in marriage. They're not the same, and these differences are absolutely essential, by God's design, so that marriage will display more fully the glory of the sacrificial love of Christ for His bride and the beauty of the lavished reverence and admiration of the bride for her Husband."

At which point I felt like I had been gut-punched. Not that I have ever been gut-punched. But if I had, this is that feeling I would imagine to have had. Ugh. I have never heard marriage defined in this way before. So essentially, my role as a wife is to reflect how the church should love Christ by how I reverence and admire my husband. Eeish!

And then he brought it all home for me with this.

"your true womanhood ultimately means that your distinctive role in marriage is meant to magnify the glory of God's grace supremely expressed in the covenant-keeping love between Christ and His church"

"It's not a small thing to believe that true womanhood is meant to display the glory of God's grace in the sacrifice of the Son of God in the purchase and purification of His bride who then lives her everlasting life in exquisite joy in His presence, standing in awe of Him, and reverencing Him and honoring Him. "

I really feel like I do a decent job (yet again) with my relationship with Christ. But I don't know that I would use these exact words to describe how my relationship with my husband displays that glory of God's grace.

So that statement right there totally restructured my marriage scale. In general I feel like on a scale of 1 to 10 in loving and honoring my husband, I usually am between a 7 to 9. But this statement totally changes that. I can't say that I have been loving and honoring him in exquisite joy.

But that is something that I want to do.

I want to live my everlasting life in exquisite joy honoring and loving and reverencing my husband.

My desire is that my marriage and my realtionship to my husband will reflect what the relationship of the church should be to Christ.

So, I committed last weekend that I was going to do just that. In fact, I came home and told my husband I was going to do just that. He was so curious about what John Piper had to say that we watched it online together on Sunday. We are also going to order the dvd.

I'm telling you, these are life-changing ideas, marriage-changing ideas and I'm excited to see how God is going to work in our lives and our marriages as we strive to submit more fully to his plan for true manhood and womanhood.

Even though you just got the Lori-recap, go ahead and watch it.

It's that good!

Boys, Boys, Boys

We're so excited!

My cousin and her husband just had a baby boy!

My sister and my brother-in-law just found out they are having a baby boy!

And my brother and my sister-in-law just brought home their baby boy!

We are so excited for them all!

O Christmas Tree

Every year I can remember, my Grandparents have had a live Christmas tree.

This year, Grandpa let us go with him to find the perfect one.

The kids got all bundled up.

And loaded up in the pick-up truck with my Grandpa.

We finally found a place that looked promising so we started our search for the perfect tree.



There were some that suggested very tall trees... and some that suggested very small trees....

And finally we found the perfect one.
Check out that saw! And my Grandpa with some of his Great-Grandkids.

We (I use the term "we" very loosely here) put lights on, decorated it and then vacuumed several times.

And there it is.

In all it's glory!

Makes me want to start singing.... 'O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree......

Merry Christmas!!!!

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!!!

Gingerbread Houses

Okay, so they were actually Graham Cracker Houses. But we applied the same principles.

I saw the idea at Smockity Frocks and thought it was brilliant.

I made up the houses a couple hours before we started so the royal icing would dry and the structures would be solid enough for the kids to decorate.

We had a selection of yummy Christmas candies to decorate with along with several selections of icing for the glue.

And we all had fun and I think they turned out pretty cute. The kids really had a great time with them and they were not that hard to assemble.
Her goal was to get as much candy on the roof as possible. It was quite a site to behold.His goal was to do enough to make a presentable house without having to add any more candy than necessary.
His goal was symmetry. It was all about perfection.

I think this is one new tradition that we really liked and will try again next year.

And if you happen to live in my area and want to try these tonight or tomorrow, I've got half of all the decorating supplies left and you are more than welcome to them, just let me know! We surely don't need all the extra candy around here!

Merry Christmas!