Versatile Chili Recipe

One of the things that I love most about cooking is how versatile and creative you can be. If you don't have a certain ingredient, you can just leave it out and usually your recipe will turn out OK. In this post, you can take any of the ingredients from each of the categories and combine them to make any time of chili you please. I would say that a given would be to always use crushed tomatoes or tomato paste, but you can do meatless chili, or carbless chili (no filler), or vegetable-less chili. I have included some sample recipes at the bottom, and two different cooking methods (stovetop or crock pot). I love making chili because it can be relatively healthy, it's super easy to make, and it freezes really nicely. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Tomatoes
- canned crushed tomatoes or tomato paste
- canned or fresh diced tomatoes

Meat
- ground beef
- ground turkey or chicken
- none

Filler
- beans (black, kidney, red, lima)
- chick peas
- tempeh (fermented soy patty similar to tofu)
- quinoa (pre-cooked)
- rice (pre-cooked)

Vegetables
- mushrooms
- peppers (green, red, yellow, hot)
- onions (cooking)
- carrots
- celery
- eggplant
- zucchini

Spices
- salt
- pepper
- chili powder
- basil
- cumin
- bay leaf (don't eat it)
- oregano
- onion salt
- celery salt
- garlic powder
- hot sauce

How to Cook:

Stovetop Method:

1. Brown the meat with a little bit of oil in a large pot until it is fully cooked over medium heat.
2. Add the remaining ingredients and stir.
3. Simmer over medium heat until the veggies are tender (approx. 20-30 minutes).

Crock Pot Method:

1. Brown the meat with a little bit of oil in a frying pan until it is fully cooked over medium heat.
2. Add all the ingredients, including the meat, into a crock pot and stir.
3. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Sample Recipes:

Jenna's Favourite Chili
- 2 packages ground turkey or chicken
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 1 can crushed tomatoes
- 1 can black beans
- 1 package sliced mushrooms
- 1 green pepper
- 1 red pepper
- 1 onion
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 1 cup diced celery
- salt
- pepper
- chili powder
- basil
- cumin
- bay leaf
- oregano
- garlic powder

Classic Chili
- crushed tomatoes
- ground beef
- beans
- mushrooms
- onions
- chili powder

Vegetarian Chili
- crushed tomatoes
- diced tomatoes
- beans
- quinoa
- tons of veggies
- spices

Healthy Carb-Free Chili
- crushed tomatoes
- diced tomatoes
- ground turkey or chicken
- tempeh
- tons of veggies
- spices

Baby Bow Headband (Crochet)

I recently hosted a girl's night where we knitted and crocheted together, wore track pants, and ate junk food (i.e. the perfect Friday night in my books). My friend decided to make a headband for her cousin's baby and it turned out so cute that I decided to make my own! This is one of those projects that I feel kind of silly writing a pattern for because it really is so simple and easy to modify, but I know that many beginners benefit from having something to follow, and everyone benefits from some inspiration.

This pattern can be crocheted, and is a great beginner project. It is really simple, and doesn't take that long to complete. If you don't follow the pattern exactly, that is OK too. If you have slightly bigger/smaller crochet hooks, make it a bit bigger or smaller, then that is fine. Be creative with colours! Just be aware that if you use thicker yarn then you will need to make it a bit shorter. Enjoy!

Crocheted Baby Bow Headband

Materials:
Baby yarn in two colours (size 3/light yarn)
Size G/6 (4.25 mm) crochet hook
Scissors, needle

Headband:
With the colour you want for the headband, LOOSELY chain 50 stitches (*note: if you do it too tight then it won't be stretchy).

Turn, and single crochet in second chain from hook, and to the end.

**Chain one, turn, single crochet in second chain from hook, and to the end.**

Repeat from ** to ** until it is the desired width (approx. 1.5", or 6 rows)

Sew the ends together to form a headband, and weave in the yarn ends.

Bow:
With the colour you want for the bow, chain 15 stitches.

Turn, and single crochet in second chain from hook, and to the end.

**Chain one, turn, single crochet in second chain from hook, and to the end.**

Repeat from ** to ** until it is the desired width (approx. 2.5", or 10 rows)

Sew the yarn ends in.

To Assemble:
With the bow colour, sew in and out of the middle of the bow and tie the two ends together to scrunch it up. With the long end (that is attached to the ball), wrap it around the middle a bunch of times. Cut the yarn with a 6" tail, and tie the two ends together. Sew in the shorter end. With the longer end, sew the bow to the headband on top of the seam. Weave in the end to hide it. And done!

OMB Grilled Cheese (Onions, Mushrooms, Bacon)

This recipe is again inspired by soemthing I saw on Pinterest (this link). I didn't look too closely at the recipe (which is for BBQ and onion grilled cheese) when I looked at it, and I thought that the onions looked like bacon when I went grocery shopping, so I added bacon (best wife ever)! I also had some mushrooms on hand, so I added them as well. I call this recipe "OMB" Grilled Cheese because there are onions, mushrooms and bacon on it.

Jordan likes to tell everyone about the "most amazing grilled cheese he has ever had- dude you gotta try this". He no longer makes fun of Pinterest, but says that he enjoys the outcome of it. Anyways here is the recipe, hope you enjoy!

OMB Grilled Cheese

Ingredients:
-Bread
-Bacon
-Onions (cooking or red onions)
-Mushrooms
-Cheese
-Margarine or butter
-BBQ sauce
* I didn't provide quantities because it depends on how many you are making, and it doesn't really matter how much you use (sorry OCD people!)

Fry bacon on a frying pan over medium heat. Add sliced mushrooms and sliced onions and fry until cooked, flipping occasionally.

While you are waiting for it to cook, grate some mozzarella cheese. Spread margarine or butter on one side of each bread, and BBQ sauce on the other sides.

Preheat a panini press or separate frying pan on medium heat. Once the bacon and veggies are done cooking, put one piece of bread butter side down on the frying pan. Add some cheese, then the bacon/veggies, then more cheese, then another piece if bread butter side up. Fry it for a while until the cheese starts to melt. Flip it and fry the other side. Voila!

Crochet Hat Round-Up

As I mentioned in previous posts, I have been busy the past couple of months getting ready to sell my crafts at a Mom to Mom sale in Beamsville, ON. The majority of what I have made has been hats that look like things for babies and kids. I came across this pattern, and used it for the majority of the ones that I made! It is a basic pattern, but there are plenty of things that you can do with just using different colours and embellishments. I am not posting individual patterns for the embellishments for each of these hats, but hopefully the pictures will provide some inspiration! Thank you to Micah Makes for the pattern! If you don't crochet, but knit, you could use the basic pattern from my Knitted Baby Bow Hat and use different colours and embellishments, and add stitches in multiples of 4 to make it bigger.

Football Hat- Brown yarn, embroider white stripes

Minion Hat (from Despicable Me)- Yellow, with black stripe, follow the first few rounds of the hat with black and white to make the eye, and embroider the mouth, and add some tassles on top

Angry Birds Hat- Red hat, I made up how to do the eyes and nose (circles and semi-circles for eyes, triangle for nose, rectangle for eyebrows)

Bear hat- brown yarn, crocheted semi-circles for ears

Owl Hat- Light brown on top, dark brown on the bottom, follow the first few rounds in black and white for the eyes to make circles, I just crocheted triangles for the ears and beak

Mickey Mouse Hat- Black on top, red on bottom, follow first few rounds of hat to make ears, sew on yellow buttons. I also made a minnie mouse one with a bow, but forgot to take a picture!

Flower Hat- I followed the pattern without the earflaps and sewed on a crocheted flower

 

Knitted Flower Hat- I used the pattern from my baby bow hat, and sewed on a crocheted flower

Taggie Blankie Sewing Tutorial

My mom and I have finally decided to get a table at a craft show. Actually it is a mom to mom sale as a fundraiser for Great Lakes Christian High School in Beamsville, ON where I attended and my father works. I visited some friends and their baby a few weeks ago and saw that she had one of these taggie blankies, and of course my first thought was "I could totally make that". I found a tutorial on Pinterest to get me started, but here is mine anyways. I was going to make one over my reading week and thought I might as well make a few, and ended up making 14! It is pretty easy, but can be time consuming cutting and pinning all the ribbons. Hopefully it will be a big seller at the sale! These are more sensory toys than actual blankets. Babies like the different colors and textures of the ribbons to fell, look at, and suck on. I gave one to my 7 month old niece and she loves it!

You will need:
-Two pieces of fabric 16" x 16" (I used flannelette and fleece, but minky fabric and cotton would work too. If you have smaller pieces you can use that too I have seen some that are 8" x 8")
-16 pieces of ribbon 5" long, various colors, textures, widths
-Sewing machine
-Thread
-Pins
-Iron and ironing board

Directions:
1. Cut two pieces of fabric that are 16" x 16" (approx) squares.

2. Cut 16 pieces of ribbon that are 5" long. Iron them if they have creases.

3. Pin the two pieces of fabric together with just one pin in the middle, wrong side facing each other (on the inside). Pin the ribbons by folding it in half (right side facing out), and tucking it between the two pieces of fabric (edges touching). Pin 4 on each side, evenly spaced.

4. Sew along the edges using a straight stitch, leaving a gap between two of the ribbons (I place another pin between two ribbons to remind me not to sew it completely shut.) When you get to a ribbon, use your reverse button and go back over the ribbon twice to hold it in place (4 times total- 2 forward and 2 backward).

5. Take out the pins, and flip it right side out through your hole, and poke the corners out using a pencil. Iron it flat and make the edges flat.

6. Zig zag stitch around the whole edge, paying special attention to where the hole is (make sure those edges are tucked in good!

 

All done! The only thing left to do is give it to a baby!

Cabled Headband and Cabling Tutorial

I have a friend who is starting to knit and the only skill left for her to learn is to cable. I told her, as I am telling you, that cable knitting is way easier than it looks! I was afraid for a while until my mom showed me how, and I am hooked! I also put together a mini cabling tutorial at the bottom if you don't know how. I made up this pattern with a simple cable for her to learn, and I am sharing it with you! Around the university, these headbands are really popular, and are great for when your hair is in a ponytail. If you try this pattern, let me know how it went in the comments!

Note: C4F means cable 4 stitches forward. Take the next 4 stitches and slip them onto your spare needle, and leave it at the front. Knit the next 4 stitches from your main needle. Put the 4 stitches from the spare needle back onto your main needle, and knit them. You just cabled! See pictures below for more detailed instructions.

Materials
1 ball worsted weight yarn (4; I used Red Heart Super Saver)
Size 8 (5 mm) needles
Extra needle for cabling

Instructions
Cast on 20 stitches

Row 1: K3 P3 K8 P3 K3
Row 2: K1 P2 K3 P8 K3 P2 K1

Row 3: K3 P3 K8 P3 K3
Row 4: K1 P2 K3 P8 K3 P2 K1


Row 5: K3 P3 K8 P3 K3
Row 6: K1 P2 K3 P8 K3 P2 K1

Row 7: K3 P3 C4F P3 K3
Row 8: K1 P2 K3 P8 K3 P2 K1

Repeat rows 1-8 until it reaches desired length. Sew the two ends together, and weave in the ends.

Mini Cabling Tutorial

Here is a mini tutorial, with pictures of how to cable for the purposes of this hat. It's really not that hard, but I hope that the instructions/pictures make sense! When I say "main needle" I mean the yellow ones, and the spare needle is the purple one.

1. Slip 4 stitches onto a spare needle.

2. Leave the needle with the spare stitches at the front of your work. Knit the next 4 stitches from your main needle.

3. Slip the stitches from your spare needle back onto your main needle.

4. Knit the 4 stitches that you just slipped back onto the main needle, and continue knitting to the end of the row as per the pattern directions.

All done! That wasn't too hard right?

Easy Crocheted Mug Cozy

This is the perfect pattern for a beginning crocheter! I made up this pattern, but it's one of the easiest things I've ever crocheted so I don't want to take much credit. It's perfect for using up scraps of yarn too! I had just a bit left of this colour and I wanted to make a headband, but I ran out of yarn so it became a mug cozy. That being said, you could easily make this long enough to fit your head and just sew the ends together.

Use worsted weight yarn and size I/5.5mm crochet hook.

Chain 16. Double crochet into 3rd chain. Double crochet across. Chain 3. Continue to double crochet until it reaches desired length (about 9-10"). Sew the top and bottom together and weave in ends.

So easy right? You could also embellish it with felt flowers, buttons, or whatever you'd like! Try different colours, stripes, or single crochet or half double crochet. I think that one of these on a mug filled with chocolate and wrapped in cellophane would make a great gift too! These things aren't just cute too, they keep you from burning your hands on the mug and keep your drink (slightly) warmer.

Valentine's Day Yarn Wreath

Since buying a house, I have to admit that one of my favourite things is having a front door that I can make various wreaths for. My goal is to have different wreaths for each season/most holidays. You may want to check out my Ornament Wreath Tutorial, or check out the pictures at the bottom of my Halloween wreath (no tutorial blogged for that one) and additional ornament wreaths I made this year. I got inspiration for this wreath from my friend Sarah over at The Divine Secrets of Ya-Ya's Kitchen. We took a trip to Hobby Lobby in the states before going to Olive Garden for our friend's birthday a few weeks ago and that's where I got the supplies for this project. Enjoy!

Materials:
-1 wreath form
-1 ball pink yarn (Supersaver)
-1 piece each of red and pink felt
-1 ball white yarn
-tacky glue

Instructions

1. (Optional) Wrap the yarn into a ball that fits in your hand easily. This step is optional, but I found it easier/faster to wrap the yarn this way than with the whole ball.

2. Tie the end of the yarn in a knot around the wreath form (I got this one from Hobby Lobby for $3.99, made of straw and covered in plastic wrap- leave the plastic wrap on).

3. Start wrapping! Wrap the yarn around the form (on top of the tail end), keeping it somewhat tight. Try to avoid having the yarn overlap- it's not a huge deal, but I think that it makes it look nicer. This will be inevitable at some points since it is not a straight line. If you run out of yarn, wrap a new ball, and tie the ends together, continue wrapping over the tail ends.

4. Once you have gone around the wreath once, go around again to cover up any holes. I found with the straw wreath form there were some parts that seemed to poke out. The second time you go around, don't worry about criss-crossing the yarn. Pull it nice and tight and you won't be able to tell the difference. I just went around to cover the spots that you could still see the straw underneath. Tie in the final end, and tuck it into the yarn.

5. Embellish it! To make it Valentine's Day-y, I cut out some hearts from felt (the red one is even sparkly!) and glued them on using tacky glue. Then I took a long piece of white yarn, started with the middle at the back of the wreath, and criss-crossed it around to get the argyle look, then tied the ends together at the back and tucked them in. You can also use different colours of yarn, make felt flowers, letters, etc. Be creative!
 

Valentine's Day Ornament Wreath

Halloween Wreath

Christmas Ornament Wreaths

Dessert Pizza

Our wonderful neighbors invited us over for pizza the other night and I was on for dessert, so I decided to make pizza for dessert as well! I combined a couple recipes I saw on Pinterest to make my own version. It was pretty good, quick and easy, and quite sweet, but that's the point right? When I made it the icing became a little runny after a while and the colour from the m&ms started to run, so I would recommend serving it immediately or maybe putting it in the fridge would help.

Ingredients
1 can Pilsbury pizza dough
1 package strawberries, washed and sliced
1 cup icing sugar
1/2 package cream cheese
1 tbsp milk
1/4 cup m&ms
Chocolate sauce

Roll out the pizza dough onto a pan and bake according to instructions (400F for 10-15 minutes) or until the crust is fully cooked. Beat together the icing sugar, cream cheese and milk to make the icing. Spread it onto the cooled crust. Put the strawberries and m&ms on the pizza, and drizzle with chocolate sauce. Serve immediately.

Knitted Baby Bow Hat

I love Pinterest for getting craft ideas, recipes, and patterns, but one of the frustrating things about it is that some of the pictures lead to listings on Etsy or other places that don't have the pattern. But that won't stop this crafty girl! I semi-made-up this pattern by modifying a simple hat pattern I have in my stash and copying the picture. This pattern is fairly simple, and really cute! Perfect for using up scraps too :) I'm not great at knowing sizes, but I think it would fit a 0-3 month infant. To make it bigger, add stitches in multiples of 4 before casting on. You could also use the basic hat pattern and add stripes, flowers, or make it look like an animal. See my Crochet Hat Round-Up post for ideas. Be creative!

Knitted Baby Bow Hat

Materials:

2 colours worsted weight yarn (size 4)

6 mm (US 10) knitting needles

Hat:

Using main colour, cast on 44 stitches. Work knit 1 purl 1 ribbing for 1". Work 4 rows stocking stitch (knit one row, purl one row). Switch to accent colour and work 4 rows stocking stitch. Switch back to main colour and continue in stocking stitch until it measures approx. 5" from beginning.

Decrease:

Row 1: [Knit 2, knit 2 together] to end of row
Row 2: Purl
Row 3: [Knit 1, knit 2 together] to end of row
Row 4: Purl
Row 5: [Knit 2 together] to end of row
Row 6: [Purl 2 together] to end of row.

Cut yarn and pull through loops.

Bow:

Cast on 16 stitches (using accent colour yarn)
Knit in garter stitch (knit every row) until the bow measures approx. 1".
Cast off and sew in ends.

Finishing:

Sew the bow onto the coloured stripe by looping around it several times. Make sure that you sew through the bow piece at least once so it can't get pulled out. Sew in all loose ends, and sew the middle seam.

Notes:

You can easily modify this pattern to be bigger by adding stitches in multiples of 4 (i.e. add 4, 8, 12, etc. stitches), and making it a bit longer. If you want it to be stretchier, use bigger size needles. To make it tighter, you can use smaller needles for the ribbing at the bottom, and bigger needles for the main part.

If you want to make this pattern with baby weight yarn, cast on 64 stitches and use 4mm knitting needles.  

A black and white one, made a bit bigger by adding stitches

A turquoise and white one, made tighter by using smaller sized needles for the ribbing at the bottom

Christmas Cookies 2012

I have been quite the busy beaver this past week! With classes finished done, no exams, and just assignments and marking to work on, I have had lots of time to do some Christmas baking! I did 3 rounds of baking and made 7 different kinds of cookies, which I will share with you here! I tested them all, and they are delicious, so don't worry!

1) Red Velvet Cookies with Cream Cheese Icing

I found this recipe on Pinterest, and the link for it can be found here.

Makes about 4 dozen
For the cookies:
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon red food coloring

For the cream cheese frosting:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons butter, softened
4 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 325 and line a baking sheet with parchment. Whisk together the flour, salt and cocoa powder together in a medium bowl. In a large bowl beat the butter and powdered sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Add the food coloring and mix until the color is even and no streaks remain. Working in batches add the flour mixture and stir until incorporated. Roll dough into 1-inch round balls and place onto the prepared baking sheet. Make an indent into each ball using the end of a wooden spoon. Bake for 12 minutes and let cool on a rack.

To make the filling, beat all the ingredients together in a medium bowl until smooth and spreadable. Transfer to a pastry bag filled with a small round tip. Pipe the filling into the center of each cooled cookie. Feed to Santa immediately and store the rest in an airtight container.


2) Shortbread

Ingredients

2 cups flour

1 cup butter (don't substitute margarine)

¼ cup sugar

Sprinkles (optional)

Mix all ingredients until smooth. Pat into a 9x9" (approx.) cake pan, top with sprinkles, and bake at 325ºC for 30 minutes until edges just start to change colour. 

3) Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies (AKA Grinch Cookies)

I made these ones last year following the recipe that is listed on my blog here. It calls for sugar cookie mix, but I didn't feel like spending 3 dollars on it so I just added peppermint extract, green food colouring, and mint chocolate chips to the sugar cookie dough that I was making anyways. I think they were better the original way because they held their round shape, but maybe I should have just pressed them down with a fork? Still delicious though, I think these are the favourite of me and the hubby this year! 

4) Mini Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

I got this recipe from the package of mini kisses I had (found by the chocolate chips), which you can also find here. I didn't quite make them as mini as they were supposed to be, but that's OK! They still taste great :) You could also use the same recipe and make the balls a bit bigger and use full-size kisses.

Ingredients:
-1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
-3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
-1/3 cup granulated sugar
-1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
-1 egg
-3 tbsp milk
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
-1/2 tsp baking soda
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 package Chipits mini kisses

Cream together butter, peanut butter, white sugar and brown sugar. Beat in egg, milk and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually blend dry ingredients into creamed mixture. Shape dough into small (2cm) balls, and roll in extra granulated sugar. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 5-6 minutes at 350F. Remove from oven and immediately press one mini kiss into the middle. Makes about 9 dozen cookies (if you make them small enough haha).

5) Candy Cane Sugar Cookies

 

This is another repeat recipe from last year- they were so yummy and festive I just had to make them again! You can find the recipe in a previous post here.

6) Sugar Cookies

 

The classic Christmas cookie! I was so impressed by all the beautiful sugar cookies I am seeing on Pinterest that I had to make some of my own! I used the recipe in my binder, but I think that it is different from the one that is on my blog, which is much better! So use this one! I made the icing way too runny so the decorating part didn't turn out as well as I would have hoped. Thanks to my friend Felicia for coming over to make and decorate these cookies with me! 

7) Cake Batter Cookies

OK, this has to be one of the easiest recipes ever.... seen on Pinterest here. There are only 3 ingredients and you can use whatever kind of cake mix you want. I used the sprinkle/funfetti kind and they are super yummy!

Ingredients
-1 box cake mix
-2 eggs
-1/3 cup oil

Mix ingredients together, form into balls, and place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 375F for 6-8 minutes. 

Here is the final product(s)! I didn't count how many cookies I made in total, but it was quite a lot! We will see how many survive the Williams and Jones Christmases :) Enjoy!