No Fail AMAZING White Bean Chili

I make this as soon as the cool weather start to blow in around October and then again when it starts to leave us in May. It's a family favorite!

Original recipe by Danine Imboden

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
1 medium onion
4 celery stalks, chopped
1 pound chicken breast, cubed or shredded
2 cloves minced garlic
2 cups chicken broth
3 15 oz cans Northern White Beans, drained and rinsed
1 8 oz can diced green chilies
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp cumin
3-4 tsp dried or fresh cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Sauté onion, celery, garlic and chicken in oil over medium heat. I use flavored olive oil instead if vegetable oil. Add salt and pepper if desired and cook until chicken is done. Transfer to a crock pot and add remaining ingredients. Cook on high heat setting or 30 minutes and then reduce heat and cook in low for 30-60 minutes. Serve, top with cheese, tortilla chips and sour cream!

No one can eat just one bowl so I double the recipe!

Favorite Sugar Cookies

This recipe gets requested more than any other cookie recipe I have!

Original by recipe by Jill Saunders

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups butter softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).

2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Yummy yummy yummy

Live in the moment

I haven't had the chance to write about this weekends fun events with three of our granddaughters. There are so many good times and I feel compelled to record everything with my camera and keyboard. Tonight I want to remember taking the time to relax with Halle and watch tv. I am not in any sort of a rush to put her in her crib now that she is asleep. Her heavy breathing calms my ever anxious nerves and reminds me to "be present wherever I am at".

Food Friday

I love Food Friday!  It's the day I clean the house, plan the meals for the next week and see a movie and go out to dinner with my sweetie.  Having a new baby could be a problem when seeing a movie but as of last week Halle has seen 11 movies.  She is incredibly pleasant and sits or sleeps most of the time.  I enjoy the early showing and prefer to go when the movie has been out for a week or two, there by avoiding any crowds. 

Since I am shifting my creative energy into other avenues this week, I am going to refer to the archives for  ideas on meals this week. Having one meal each day at the table with all of us has been a priority of mine and by planning meals each week, we have pretty good success!

A family of seven is in many ways easier to cook for than a family of 3.  If I make cheeseburgers for dinner with all of the toppings- bacon, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, onions and pickles- it can cost around $30 to get everything from the supermarket.  We can pick up a burger, fries and drinks for around $18 for all of us and I don't have a mess to clean up.  However that same $30 can feed 8 people but a night out for burgers with the same size family can be well over $45.  I don't think I will have many ways to save money by using coupons on this blog or "healthy cooking at home" tips.  I will leave that to the experts.  I have been cooking for as long as I can remember beginning with grilled cheese sandwiches, bean and bacon soup and cans of raviolli.  I like real potatoes, butter and whole milk in moderation.  I will eat almost anything except raw oinions and peppers.  So will my guys.  They are pretty good about eating anything I cook.  It hasn't always been that way. 

My sweet loving son has the best manners when it comes to eating.  I don't mean his physical manners.  D has spilt his drink at almost every meal since he gave up his sippy cup.  It doesn't matter if it was at home or a four star restaurant.  If there is anything that is a sauce or a dip it will land on D's shirt and almost inevitably he wipes his hands on his pants.  But as uncordinated and messy as he is, he overcompensates in compliments.  There have been numerous times when he has come home from havng a dinner at a friends house only too excited to share with me how she made the BEST cheesy potatoes, or it was the BEST ranch dressing or her chilli dogs were AMAZING.  I am always pleased that he is not a picky eater and can imagine how good the mom must feel to have someone other than family enjoy her time and efforts spent in cooking a meal.  Secretly, I am burning with the desire to google a better recipe so he will never say that again.  Just once I want to hear, "Tammie's grilled  cheese was good mom, but nothing like your's."

I have a few meals I cook regularly and all of the kids request them when they come to visit.  Biscuits and Gravy, recipe compliments of my Aunt Nancy.  Shepards Pie from my mother, ham fried rice, courtesy of Dave's mom and Chicken Enchiladas, my own personal creation.  About a week ago, my nephew, Mason,  asked my to make enchiladas. I was flattered and nervous at the same time.  His mother, my sister, is the "cook" of the family.  Everything she makes is savory and well prepared. There are never any left-overs. I have on several occasions been able to get my kids to try something new if I tell them it's Aunt T's recipe. I got a list of ingredients from Aunt T and google and proceeded to make the beef enchiladas.  I always make chicken so this was new for me, Dave and D.  They looked beautiful, but as I served them to the family, I could see the uncertainty from my guys that this was not our traditonal enchiladas.  They only took small portions and smothered them in sour cream and guacamole.  I could not deny it any longer, "What's wrong?" I asked.  Dallen as cute as can be, "these look different, "  "I know they're beef, not chicken."  Mason as innocent as ever  said "don't worry, she got the recipe from my mom."  No left-overs. 

Gramma Baby's Blog

Intro

That's me in the white t-shirt with my oldest and youngest daughters. With 21 years separating them, they share a 14 year old brother. I was just 3 months shy of my 42nd birthday when this precious miracle was born into our crazy multi-functional lives. The motivation for blogging came from my dear sister "T". She thinks I am funny, insightful and the devil's advocate. Instead of bugging her everyday with my many cooking questions, parenting advice, and relationship stories of woes and bliss, Aunt T, is hoping I will get it  all out in this blog and she can read it at her leisure. I suspect she will be the only one to read it, except for my mother. My mother will have the time and unconditionally supports whatever I am plunging myself into at the moment.

Gramma Baby

Three years ago my beautiful, intelligent, funny, free spirited, wild and crazy daughter was in a terrible accident where she lost part of her leg. Miraculously she did recover with her abilities to walk but the pain and scar tissue are with her every day. She was confined to home and had to rely on friends and family for everything she needed and wanted. Six months later she announced to us that she was having a baby. With mixed emotions of happiness and fear we spent the next several months planning for our fourth grandchild. (I have three granddaughters from my step-daughter. I am sure to have many stories about them to share!)

That sweet little toddler in the above pictures is the amazing angel that Ale brought into our family. Even with every ounce of uncertainty, I was over joyed to have another person in our home. I knew it would be hard for her to be a young, single mom, but I couldn't deny my own selfish desire to have another baby and the dissapointment I had felt for years because I had not had one more child. Fender is now two and his vocabulary is coming on strong. We live 960 miles away from them and I am always worried that he will forget me. I think most grandparents worry about that if they live too far away to see their grandchildren grow up on a daily or even weekly basis. Fortunately communication lines are readily available through cell phones, Facebook, Skype and many others to keep our lives an open book to everyone and I do mean everyone.

Ale called several months ago saying Fender really missed us and she knew for sure it was her dad and I and not Fender's other grandparents. He had gotten up in his usual energetic, jovial mood and asked, " go see gramma today?" Having come home from Grandma Stephanie's the day before, Ale said, "no, staying home with Mommie, today." Being persistant as a two year old is, Fender replied with, "Gramma Baby, Gramma Baby? see Gramma Baby?" She knew it was me. I'm the grandmother with the new baby.  She showed him pictures on her phone of Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle D in Nebraska. The giggling and stammering was all the confirmation that was needed to show that he knew who we were. We became Grammababy and Grampa D!

Why Blog?

I get many questions like "how is it starting all over with a new baby?" or "was it hard to have this baby in your 40's compared to having one in your 20's?" I must admit I was a little timid during my pregnancy to discuss my physical or emotional feelings with anyone. It took several discussions with women and men who I did not know, but were generous about sharing their experience with me, to see I was now part of an elite group of woman and men who felt incredibly blessed to have the remarkable gift of birthing a child later in life.

Check out this article on Baby Center

http://www.babycenter.com/0_age-and-fertility-getting-pregnant-in-your-40s_1494699.bc

I was enrolled in school, helping with my grandson, so my daughter could go to school and still raising a teenager. I was not in a position to have another child, however from the moment I found out I was pregnant I was in a state of eupohoria. My reality had become surreal. It was a nine year wish that had come true. My constant drive to record history and share information has come from my dear father, Bob. He has his Phd. in history and is currently working on his third book. I am doing some artwork for him and feel priviledged to be included in this project. I sincerely hope that my "Gramma Baby Blog" will be a platform to record some inspirational experiences from parents who are still raising children and have grandchildren as well. If anything, it will be something that my children can reference, (if they get to a point in their life), when they are interested in Gramma Baby's point of view!