25 Days of Christmas...Day Two

Christmas Lights and Chili

Tonight, Rick and I experienced another "first" as a couple...hanging Christmas lights together. Usually our whole street is lit up like crazy by this time. Our house, sadly has always been..."blah." But not this Christmas!

*UPDATE*

We got the first portion of the house finished, however, we started a little too late and Rick will finish up tomorrow night. Finished pictures to come!

I also wanted to share a really good recipe for chili. My sweet mom bought me this crockpot cookbook by Stephanie Odea last time we were in Barnes and Noble together. It is called Make it Fast, Cook it Slow and I highly recommend it. She also has a blog: A Year of Slow Cooking.

Here is the recipe: (We ate it tonight....so yummy!)

Basic Chili

1 lb ground turkey

4 cans of kidney beans (drain and rinse well)

2 whole jalepeno peppers

1 diced onion
8 garlic cloves, minced
1 29oz can diced tomatoes

1 15oz can tomato sauce
3T chili powder
2t cumin
1t black pepper
1t salt
1T tobasco sauce

Instructions:
Brown turkey meat; drain and place in slow cooker. Add in onion, garlic, beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce, chili powder, cumin, salt, and pepper. Mix well. Place jalepeno peppers on top of mixture to add a smoky flavor. Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours or on high for 4 to 6 hours. Serve alone or over rice. Yummy!

And lastly...the organizational tip of the day from Michelle, at Keep it Together is:

25 days 'til Christmas Organizing tip #3- Have a holiday music collection? Find a nice container to keep them all together or you can load them on an MP3 player or IPOD, then you can clear out the clutter and pass those CDs onto someone else.