It’s was Chili Today!

Like my little pun?

Happy Friday Everyone! I hope you all have some great weekend plans up your sleeves! Burrrr, it was a bit chilly today in South Louisiana. Temperatures were in the 30’s and 40’s for most of the day. I’ve been living in Louisiana for almost 29 years and the weather here still amazes me. It’ll be 30 degrees today, yet in a week the high will be in the 70’s. To be honest, I’m not very fond of the colder months, unless I’m sitting warm near a fire all bundled up. I tend to lose my blood circulation quickly in my fingers and toes and it’s very uncomfortable, so for that very reason, I don’t care for the cold. Brett, on the other hand, loves the cold. He’s loves the wilderness and often talks about how he could survive in the wild. I don’t mind sitting out in the duck blind with him every once in a while during the winter, but I’d much rather take a morning fishing trip in the summer.

I knew it would be a bit colder today, so earlier in the week I decided to prepare a chili for us to reheat tonight. I followed PeanutButter Fingers’ recipe, but added two extra steps. I added mushrooms to my mix of vegetables and also added a small glass of water while the chili was simmering.

First, I chopped one onion, one zucchini squash, and about 6 button mushrooms. I added a tablespoon of olive oil and sautéed for about 5 minutes, until the onions turned opaque.
I then added a pound of lean ground beef and used my chop stir to break apart the meat. I
cooked until brown and then drained the excess fat. I then added a can of diced tomatoes (no salt added) and reduced sodium kidney beans. Many people don’t realize how much salt is packed into canned goods, I always try to buy the brands that offer lower sodium or no salt at all.

I added the spices and then let simmer for 45 minutes.

Lean Chili

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
6 button mushrooms, chopped
1 pound lean ground beef
1 can low sodium kidney beans, drained
1 can diced tomatoes
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
1 1/2 tablespoons cumin
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 small glass of water

Directions

Pour olive oil into a large pot on medium heat and add onion, zucchini squash and mushrooms. Allow vegetables to sauté until onion becomes opaque, about 5 minutes. Add ground beef to vegetables and stir until meat is browned. Drain any excess fat from pan before adding remaining ingredients. Add small glass of water. Allow to simmer on low for approximately 45 minutes. Enjoy topped with shredded cheese, plain Greek yogurt, sour cream or simply as is.

Recent Flea Market Finds

Brett had the day off today and he decided to swing by Pinhook Flea Market today to see if he could find anything interesting. He’s been looking for a small dresser to place in his closet, so that he can store all of his t-shirts and shorts. He found this little dresser, but wasn’t sure if it would be too high for the closet.
We ended up having lunch together and he asked me to go take a look at it afterwards. I thought it was precious and thought he could always refinish and resell. As we continued browsing, we came across another piece that we could use as our media center.

I had a couple concerns about the piece, but Brett assured me he would make it pretty. He was going to build this piece for us originally, but getting this piece already made would save him loads of time. He ended up purchasing both pieces. I’ll post his step-by-step process as he works on the new pieces. We are very excited to see the end results, and hope that you are too.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

I apologize if the layout of this post is messed up. It’s very difficult to produce a blog through an iPad.