"Kimberlie's" Chili

I call this one Kimberlie's Chili so that I can distinguish it from the other chili recipes I use. I had a co-worker named Kimberlie who gave me this recipe and I alter it to whatever I have each time, but this is the gist of how the recipe goes....

5 cans of beans - today I used: 2 red, 1 black, 1 white, 1 pinto
1 1/2 lbs ground beef (you can use ground turkey, my family likes beef)
3 tomatoes, diced (I like me some tomatoes)
1 quart bottled tomatoes (I sliced these up a little more for the chili. You can use canned tomatoes but I already have the bottled ones from my garden - my suggestion would be about 2-15 oz cans or one big one)
1 onion, diced
2 Tbsp salt
1 1/2 - 2 Tbsp Chili Powder (I use 1 1/2 because of my kids)
1 Tbsp Black Pepper
1 Large bottle of V8 Juice (64 oz - I use the generic brand of vegetable juice)
1 can corn
1 green pepper, chopped

Kimberlie's recipe also said you could add the following optional items: jalapeno, cilantro, sour cream or cream cheese.

Directions: Brown meat on medium heat. Add seasoning. In a separate pan, simmer V8, tomatoes and onion. Add meat to juice, cover and simmer on low for 2 hours.

Weight Watchers for my version of the recipe: 4 points plus value

Opinion: We all love it. I've made this recipe several times and it always makes PLENTY of left overs for my family. I usually end up freezing it in Ziploc Quart bags and warming it up on nights that I don't want to cook or a night that we are having baked potatoes. It's a little runnier than canned chili, but it tastes SO MUCH BETTER!!!

Sorry, no picture at this time because it's still simmering on the stove and we're having it for dinner tonight. I just figured out the WW points plus value and wanted to share while it was fresh in my mind. But, you should just make it yourself and share your opinion with me.

Christmas - Chocolate Dipped Spoons

My boys & I did a VERY SIMPLE Christmas treat for our friends: Chocolate Dipped Spoons. We bought a box of 100 plastic spoons, 1 bag of milk chocolate chip, 1 bag of white chocolate chips and we already had red and green sprinkles.

1 - Melt the milk chocolate chips (I just did this in the microwave). I also did it in a mug because I wanted the chocolate to be easy to dip into rather than needing to scoop it from a bowl.
2 - Dip a spoon in the chocolate, shake off the excess and set it on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper.
3 - Dip and dip and dip some more spoons until the cookie sheet is covered with milk chocolate spoons.
4 - Put that tray in the freezer while you cover another tray.
5 - When the milk chocolate is hard enough, which it was for me when I was done with the second tray. Melt the white chocolate chips.
6 - Dip the milk choc. spoon part way into the white chocolate - you don't want to completely cover the brown chocolate.
7 - Set it on the wax paper again to dry. Quickly sprinkle it with red sprinkles and green sprinkles. Since the milk chocolate is already cold, you can only do 2-3 spoons (if you're fast) at a time before you need to use the sprinkles otherwise they won't stick to the hardened white chocolate.

One batch did about 45 spoons. Then we gave one spoon and one hot chocolate packet for each person within a family so they can stir their hot chocolate with a chocolate spoon. Or, they can just eat the chocolate off the spoon if they don't like hot chocolate.

It was a great treat for our many friends this year and I think it might become the traditional treat. So easy and yet very festive!

Hamburger Soup

YUMMY for us grown ups anyway....Smells delicious when you come home to this cooking when you haven't eaten all day! Sorry, no picture this time. I forgot.

Original Recipe:
Slow-Cooker Cookbook by Debbie G. Harman

2 lb ground beef
3 potatoes, peeled and chopped
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 celery ribs, sliced
1/2 onion, chopped
1 tsp celery salt
2 tsp beef bouillon
8 cups water
1 16-oz can corn
Salt & Pepper

Brown ground beef with salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste. Drain fat. Combine meat and remaining ingredients in slow-cooker. Cook on high 3-4 hours or low 6-8 hours.

My version:

1 lb ground beef (already had it cooked and in the freezer)
5 small potatoes, peeled and chopped
4 large carrots, peeled and sliced
3 celery ribs, slice
1/2 onion, chopped (already had an onion chopped and in the freezer - just added half the bag)
2 cubes beef bouillon
7 cups water (because my slow-cooker was already full)
1 16-oz can corn
salt and pepper

Didn't have Celery Salt, so I just skipped that ingredient. Also, I don't and also don't think that my family needs that much meat, so I cut it down from 2 lbs to 1 lb. 1 pound was PLENTY/Just Right. I made up for it with more vegetables :-) which I do like and believe my family can't ever have enough of.

Opinions:
Me & My husband really enjoyed it. I didn't seem to put in enough salt for this size of a soup, but we added some and ate it with saltines and we were good.

My boys didn't care for it. I'm assuming it's because when I usually make soup/stew it's with chicken or beef chunks and this was just regular hamburger. Plus, I didn't thicken the juices at all with any corn starch or flour, so it may have been runnier for their taste. I was surprised they didn't just gobble it up like they do my other soups. My one year old is also teething right now and hasn't been eating well for the past two weeks anyway.

I plan to try this one again at another time - even if I end up eating all the left overs myself. I'm okay with that because I really enjoyed it.

Weight Watchers = 2 points plus value for 1 cup (4 points for 1 1/2 cups)

Quick Ham Fried Rice

I wanted to try this because I had never made Fried Rice before and thought a "quick" version would be good for my first try. Well, the first try didn't work, but my second try did :-).

Actual Recipe:
Family Dinner Cookbook by Debby G. Harman

2 cups cooked rice (day old)
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
3 eggs, well beaten
1/2 cup ham, diced
2 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup frozen peas and carrots
1/2 tsp chicken bouillon
2 tsp soy sauce

Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a large skillet. Scramble eggs. Remove eggs from skillet and heat remaining oil. Stir-fry ham and rice (day-old rice works best because it is drier than fresh-cooked rice) until ham starts to brown. Add green onions, peas and carrots, and stir-fry until vegetables are cooked through. Sprinkle with bouillon and soy sauce. Return scrambled eggs to skillet and mix well.

My Version:
I use Canola Oil instead of Vegetable Oil. Canola oil is considered a "healthy oil" with Weight Watchers but Vegetable Oil is not. So, I switched and have never noticed a difference in any recipe.

My first attempt was with day old BROWN rice. That didn't work. While I was cooking the rice forever in order for the ham to brown up, the rice just turned harder and harder. We ended up just throwing that batch out.

My second attempt went much better. I used white rice this time and browned the ham just a little bit before throwing in the rice. That way the rice didn't have to cook as long as the ham. Worked much better.

Opinion:
I plan to use this recipe again but I had one problem with it....It had meat, rice and vegetables in it, so WHAT DO YOU EAT WITH IT?

When I do try it again, I am going to brown the meat up plenty and try brown rice again with just enough cooking to warm it up. We usually cook with brown rice in our home.

Weight Watchers = 5 points plus value per 1/2 cup (estimate)