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Two Recipes and a Sale

Get it? Like Four Weddings and a Funeral? Ok, I’m a nerd.

Let’s get to it, shall we?

First of all, a big huge welcome goes out to all my new readers! Thanks for stopping by and reading! Feel free to de-lurk and leave comments so that I may follow your blog as well (if you have one). I don’t bite! Those of you coming over from Peas and Thank You, you’ll find that while my blog isn’t vegetarian or vegan, I usually give modifications to my recipes to make them such. Thanks again for stopping by!

Next, I have another chili recipe for you… see, I have this “thing” with trying to make the perfect pot of chili, and I’m getting there, but I’m not quite there yet. This last recipe was well, meaty. VERY meaty. Like, almost 3 lbs. of meat meaty. But it was delicious (do I ever say that something wasn’t delicious?) and could easily be halved and part of the meat could be cut out.

My recipe is based off this recipe for Paleo Chili found here.

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Very Meaty Paleo Chili

Ingredients
1.5 lb. lean ground beef (90%)
1.5 lb. lean stew meat
1 medium onion, diced
1 large can crushed tomatoes
1 can ro-tel (or other tomatoes with jalapeños)
1 can salsa verde (I used Herdez brand)
2 c. beef stock
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. minced garlic
2 Tbsp. ground cumin
4-5 Tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. garlic powder.

Directions
Heat the oil in a large pot. Add the stew meat a bit at a time to brown the outside. Don’t worry about cooking it through, as you’ll add it back in. Remove the stew meat, then add the onion and cook until translucent. Then, add the beef stock, bring to a boil and reduce by half. Add the ground beef, return the stew meat to the pot, and add the remaining ingredients and stir well. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer a few hours.

Adam added some beans to his chili, and I gotta say, I really did miss them in this dish. He said it was great though! My bowl had no beans.

Tonight, I opted for a more veggie-friendly meal with a bit of chicken stir fried with spinach, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, sriracha, and a bit of teriyaki sauce. I also roasted some brussels sprouts and red pepper strips. Ok, so that wasn’t really a recipe, but I’m going to call it one for now!

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Last but not least, something I think you’ll ALL be interested in: cheap and gorgeous kitchen gadgets! For this week and this week only (until 3/9) I’m offering this beautiful oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper set from my OpenSky shop for 50% off!

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See, the two carafes are for oil and vinegar (the larger for vinegar, I’d say) and the carved wooden base doubles as a pinch bowl for cracked pepper and salt, perfect for dressing a salad in style. Just visit this special sale link or click on the picture of the oil and vinegar set above, and enter your email address, and you’ll be emailed the coupon good for use in my OpenSky shop. Feel free to check out the other great stuff I have there as well, including the multi-tasking EnviTote.

Happy shopping!

Have a wonderful Wednesday, I’m off to watch Biggest Loser and eat some dark chocolate. Oh the irony…




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Smoky and Roasty

Happy Wednesday!

I’ve come to really enjoy Wednesday evenings because I know that there are only two more wake-ups until the weekend! I hate that Adam has class so late, but I get to watch garbage TV for a few hours, read quietly, or cook stuff I’m not sure he’ll like. Usually, that ends up being something like the stuffed kabochas from last week, or something with an inordinate amount of vegetables and mushrooms.

Today’s dinner though, I thought might be a risk since it’s pretty tomato-y, but there’s no doubt that the leftovers will be consumed soon.

I had no idea how this would turn out. I had some idea in my head of what I wanted it to be, but I didn’t know if it would work…

Oh did it work!

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Smoky Chili Chicken
Serves 3

Ingredients
3 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
4 strips bacon, cut into small pieces
1 large can whole tomatoes
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. red chili flakes

Directions
Heat a saucepan and add the bacon. Allow it to cook until crispy, then add the chicken and stir well. Then, add the spices, stirring to coat the chicken. Let the spices sear onto the chicken a little, then add the can of tomatoes and stir well. Cover and simmer about 45 minutes, then uncovered for about 15 minutes to allow it to thicken.

HO-LY-GOODNESS this was delicious. I seriously almost typed “Serves 1″ in the recipe because I want to go eat the rest of it. The bacon lent a smokey flavor to the chili powder and tomatoes, which almost tasted like chiles in adobo. I topped my bowl with some aged white cheddar, sour cream, and half an avocado… oh I want more now! I’m really glad I need to type recipes out for you all, because otherwise, I don’t know that I’d remember what I did! Like the recipe? Don’t forget to Spring It!

I also made some roasted asparagus that were apparently alive on their little plate because EVERY picture was blurry. This was the best I got:

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See? They were moving, I swear!!

They were delicious though… moving or not.

Make sure you enter the SkinMD Natural Giveaway! It runs until Friday and as of right now, your chances are pretty good!

Also, I just want to give a special shout out to my OpenSky fairy, Lindsay… HI LINDSAY!
Look for more OpenSky posts in the next couple days!!

Have a great rest of your night, and a fabulous Thursday!

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Just Call Me HEAB…

Apparently, this is what happens. First come the combinations with the squash and coconut milk. Then come almond flour pancakes for breakfast, then comes this:

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What the heck is that? Apparently I’m taking after HEABy! Well, the toppings are obvious: homemade guacamole and sour cream. Under that, there’s some chili-lime chicken. Then, a little cheddar cheese. All of this is sitting on a warm spinach, mushroom, and tomato salsa. Where the heck did this idea come from??? Honestly, I have no idea. I really have no recipe for any of this stuff, but more of a procedure for each of the parts.

Part 1: Guacamole Mash 3-4 avocados in a bowl, add 1/4 c. chopped red onion, one chopped jalapeño, one chopped tomato, some cilantro (I used a bit of dried because the fresh stuff got gross), a little garlic powder, and the juice of two limes. Stir well, and add the pits of the avocados to prevent browning.

Part 2: Chili-Lime Chicken Chop 3 chicken breasts into bite sized pieces. Add the juice of 3 limes, about 1 Tbsp. chili powder, a bit of garlic powder, and 1 Tbsp. olive oil. Then stir in one coarsely chopped jalapeño and allow to marinate about 20 minutes. Add chicken to a hot pan, lightly sear all sides, then add 1/2 c. water, lower the heat, and cover. Cook 10 minutes.

Part 3: Warm Mushroom Spinach Salsa Heat another frying pan. Add a bit of olive oil, then about 6 or 7 small white mushrooms, sliced. Cook a few minutes, then add 2 diced roma tomatoes. Cook a couple minutes until juices are released from the mushrooms. Add 2 big handfuls of spinach. Cook until wilted, then add hot sauce to your taste. Stir well and serve.

I liked the layering action happening in this bowl, but of course my favorite part was the guacamole. I could’ve eaten the entire 3-avocado bowl of it, but I want to try to save some for you know, another meal.

Thank you all so much for the compliments on the new ‘do! I’m loving it, and its definitely taking some getting used to. I actually walked past a mirror today and didn’t recognize myself.

I got another anonymous question today! Someone asked:

Are you still following Weight Watchers?

In a word: no. Last spring, I found myself getting obsessive about counting Points, far too emotionally attached to the number on the scale, and would end up crying most Saturday mornings after my meetings. I’d been stuck at the same weight for a long time (almost 3 years). In June or so, we decided to not re-up our Weight Watchers membership and save the $80 a month. Between then and now, I’ve gained back about 15 or 20 lbs depending on the day, and I’m not ok with it. This is why the eats have been looking a bit different.

With the support of my good friend at work as well as our favorite Almond Butter Lover, I’m following the plan touted by Mark’s Daily Apple and others known as the Paleo diet. It’s a higher protein, high vegetables, low-dairy, no-grain, and as-natural-as-possible eating plan. I’ve been following it for almost a week, and am feeling better than I have in quite some time! I’m hoping that eventually, I’ll actually start losing weight again. I always scoffed at the “low carb” eating plans, but I’m starting to think it may be a good thing for me. I’m less hungry now than I was when I was eating tons of grains and starches. Feeling good is almost enough… but I’d like to lose some weight again too without being obsessed about numbers in any way.

Who’s got another one for me??

Don’t forget to vote for Jenn and Bobby in the Crate and Barrel Ultimate Wedding Contest!

Finally Friday tomorrow!!!!


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Gadget Week: Rice Cooker

I’m unofficially dubbing this week “Gadget Week”, in which I will introduce myself and you to some of the lovely and fancy kitchen gadgets we received for our wedding, hopefully concluding with the behemoth that is our 5.5 qt. artisan KitchenAid mixer.

Yesterday I introduced you to our lovely (yet sort of intimidating) mandoline. The mandoline was something that always fascinated me, but I never thought I’d be “enough of a cook” to own, let alone use one. Today’s gadget is one that I have always wanted, but never could justify. Why have a rice cooker? Uncle Ben’s makes completely passable “quick rice” and boil-in-bag is just a convenience I had to indulge many a time in bouts of laziness or well…laziness. When I started my last adventure into losing weight, I was introduced to many different grains, all of which could be cooked either on the stove top, in the microwave, or in a rice cooker.

Wait, what? You mean I can make my steel-cut oats in the rice cooker? And quinoa? Those dopey little balls don’t have to go all over the kitchen? Yes, other grains could be cooked in the rice cooker! Then my wanting started. It took years of messy microwaves, burned and ruined pans, and finally the prospect of a wedding registry that got me truly thinking about getting one. It was one of those things we registered for but never in a million years thought we’d get. My amazing coworkers pooled together for our work wedding shower and, among other things, got us the rice cooker! It sat in the box until last week, and when I removed it, I was amazed at how pretty it is… just look:


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It’s stainless steel. It has a non-stick insert. It has a steaming basket to set on top of the insert to steam veggies and/or meat while cooking rice. It senses when the rice is done and (this is key for me) TURNS OFF and enters “warm” mode. I was in love.
Last week, I copied Iowa Girl and made some homemade burrito bowls with her recipe for cilantro-lime rice and after one failed attempt in the rice cooker, made some decent rice. Today though? The rice was perfect. It was fluffy, perfectly cooked, and made…yep, another burrito bowl dinner.

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Can you see the grainy goodness? See how they’re separated and not sticky? See how they’re not burned?! THAT is the wonder that is our rice cooker.

In other news, my finger injury from last week also seems to be healing well, and I can now get away without having a fluorescent purple band-aid on it. And I ran the spelling bee today. The winning word was “brigadier”, and not one student there knew what that was.

So my question for you: what’s your most coveted, in your dream kitchen, must-have-someday kitchen gadget? I have just about all of mine now… all I need now is my dream kitchen!

Have a great Wednesday!


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A Warmed House

Happy Sunday!
Normally, I’m in end-of-weekend bummed out mode, but we have a day off tomorrow for Martin Luther King Jr. day, and I’m still in full-out weekend mode!

Adam and I spent some of the afternoon at my friend Kristin’s housewarming party at her new condo in Chicago, and after many phone calls helping her with recipes and food ideas, I was thrilled to find that the lighting in her place was perfect for some food photography!

Her spread was fantastic, and I’ll be sure to get the actual recipes from her soon, but here’s a glimpse at what we had:

Mini pizza-type bruschetta with garlic tomato sauce, basil, and parmesan cheese

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Delicious cookies and other sweet snacks:

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Meatballs cooked in the crockpot with chili sauce and apple butter:

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A taco salad with taco meat, tomatoes, black olives, lettuce, crunched up Doritos, and a side of shredded cheese. The whole thing was then tossed with French dressing… SO GOOD!

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black bean, corn, tomato, onion, and red pepper salad:

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My weakness: guac and chips

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There was also an unpictured plate of tater tots, and a delicious chipotle ranch dip. I had a nice variety of everything pictured, and am just now, at 7 p.m., getting my appetite for dinner, so we’ll be indulging in some leftovers.

Have a great evening and Monday!

Do you have tomorrow off? Any big plans? I think we’ll be spending a good portion of the day finishing wedding thank you notes and cleaning house…not anything exciting, but it’s gotta get done!


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Adam’s 4 a.m. Carnitas

Thank you for all my finger well-wishes yesterday! As of today, it’s a lot less gory, less sore, but still pretty gross… I hope it heals quickly! Typing is so hard with a bandage…

Since I had this lovely injury, I wanted to avoid contact with anything that could possibly make it hurt more. Last night, I asked Adam to cut the limes for the rice and chicken marinade. I had plans to make a crockpot pork meal for tonight, but last night I was in no place to chop more stuff up, so I asked Adam to help me out. He said he’d throw together dinner and put it in the crock pot for me to start in the morning.

Little did I know, Adam had assembled the ingredients in the crock of the crock pot at 4 a.m. just in time for me to start the pot at 6! Apparently, he also went to the grocery store at 11 p.m… he’s quite the nocturnal guy! It was wonderful to not only have dinner finished when I got home, but even better that Adam put it together!

Carnitas are typically a slow-cooked spicy pork dish served in tortillas. This non-recipe recipe was pretty slow cooked, and while it had a bit too much liquid in it, I thoroughly enjoyed it! Next time, less liquid for sure! Probably no broth is needed at all! I ate one open-faced sandwich on a bread thin, and then another small helping with some fat free sour cream… YUM! Thanks Adam!


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Crock Pot Carnitas
Ingredients
1.5 lb. trimmed pork loin, cut into large chunks
1 large can diced tomatoes, drained
1 green pepper, cut into pieces
2 red peppers, cut into pieces
1 poblano pepper, cut into pieces
1.5 small cans red enchilada sauce
1.5 c. beef stock
1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Directions
Add all ingredients to slow cooker. Cook on low 8-10 hours or on high 4-6. Enjoy!

What’s on tap for tonight? Watching some TV and getting to bed early… it’s already been a long week, and it’s only Wednesday! Have a great night!



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Knockoff

I had a rough morning. During one of my first classes of the day, the long-arm stapler I had in my room jammed. The first 3 times it happened, no problem… I unjammed it and the kids stapled their projects. The 4th time though, no such luck. The spring or something ricocheted the top of the stapler open which then smushed my left index finger.

It hurt, but I didn’t realize how badly it was cut until a student said “Um… Mrs. R? (I still can’t get used to that) You’re bleeding, like, a lot.” CRAP! I was! There’s about a 1 cm chunk of skin thats super damaged and gross, and a bruise a-forming. I kept saying all day I had a fight with the stapler and I lost. Since my left index finger is messed up, and I type properly, please excuse any type-os. I would’ve rather it been a red Swingline stapler…

In any case, tonight’s planned dinner was inspired by one of my favorite bloggers, Iowa Girl Eats (who, as a matter of fact, is giving away Amy’s Organics products) when she made her homemade Chipotle bowl. I love Chipotle, and as a matter of fact, a Chipotle post was one of my first posts ever! I’ve attempted a few times to make Chipotle knockoffs, but it always ended up tasting super “healthy”. I put together a few recipes into this glorious bowl:

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Recipe 1: Cilantro Lime Rice (a la Iowa Girl Eats)
Cook rice (I made 2 cups of uncooked rice for 4 cooked cups of rice. HOORAY leftovers!). Add 1/3 c. chopped cilantro, the juice of one and a half limes, and 1 Tbsp. butter. Mix well, keep warm.

Recipe 2: Chili-Lime Chicken
Marinate boneless skinless chicken breasts in the juice of 3 limes, 2 Tbsp. chili powder, 1 Tbsp. olive oil, 1/2 Tbsp. garlic powder. Cook thoroughly and chop into bite-sized pieces.

Recipe 3: Spicy Black Beans
Heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil in a small pot. Add 1/2 an onion, diced small. Add one can of drained black beans, 1 Tbsp. chili powder, and 1/2 tsp. red chili flakes. Simmer a minute, then add 1 c. broth. Simmer another few minutes. Keep warm.

In my grandma’s surprise bowl, I assembled: 3/4 c. cilantro lime rice, one chopped chicken breast, 1/2 c. black beans, 1/4 c. fresh salsa from the local market, 2 Tbsp. reduced fat cheese, 2 Tbsp. fat free sour cream, 1/2 chopped avocado

I was so sad when this was gone…it was even better than the last Chipotle bowl I had, and I knew that all the ingredients were fresh and healthy! I have a smaller one packed for lunch tomorrow, and Adam definitely enjoyed it as well.

I rounded out my meal with a small treat of 1/2 c. of reduced fat pumpkin ice cream with a few chocolate chips in my tiny CaliBowl:

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I’m on a bit of a delay with Biggest Loser tonight, and looking forward to getting to bed early! Have a great night!

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Slot Machine

Sometimes I have no idea what’s for dinner. Seriously, none. I’ll go to the grocery store and sometimes something new will pop out at me, and some days I’m reminded of an old favorite. Today was one of those “pop out at me” kind of days… and I LOVE when that happens!

I braved Valli Produce this afternoon (and when I say braved, I mean it. People get MEAN with their carts!) and perused the interesting vegetables. I wasn’t feeling quite that adventurous. Then I saw that a favorite fall ingredient was on sale: garnet yams. Then, like a slot machine, the ingredients lined up in my head:

  • yams
  • black beans
  • tortillas
  • chicken
  • tomato paste
  • hot pepper
  • chili powder
  • chicken broth
  • cheese

Any guesses?

Well, if you saw my Tweet, you know that it was Chicken, Sweet Potato, and Black Bean Enchiladas! I’m so pleased with how these came out, and I’m glad I took the time to cook the potatoes the way I’d envisioned rather than rushing it in the microwave.

Ingredients

Filling

  • 1 lb. chicken breasts, trimmed and diced
  • 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
  • 1 Tbsp. minced garlic
  • 1 small can black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 jalapeño, diced
  • 1/4 tsp. oregano
  • 1 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 1/2 c. chicken broth

Sauce

  • 1 box chicken broth
  • 1 small can tomato paste
  • 1 tsp. minced garlic
  • 2 Tbsp. chili powder
  • slurry of cornstarch and water

Other ingredients

  • 12 corn tortillas
  • shredded cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 350*. In a large frying pan, heat the olive oil and garlic. Add the sweet potatoes and lightly brown on each side. Add the chicken broth and spices, and simmer until potatoes are softened. Add the chicken and jalapeño and cook until chicken is done. Add the black beans and stir well. Remove from heat. To make the sauce: heat garlic and chicken broth in a small pot. Add tomato paste and simmer until reduced by about 1/4. Add the slurry and cook until thickened. Pour about 1/4 of the sauce into the bottom of a baking dish. Put about 2 Tbsp of the mixture into each corn tortilla and lay, seam side down, in the pan with the enchilada sauce.


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Top with the remaining sauce and shredded cheese (I used chihuahua cheese). Bake about 15 minutes or until sauce is bubbling and cheese is melted:


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Serve with sour cream and/or guacamole and enjoy!


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These were sweet and spicy, savory and delicious. I actually had to use two pans, because all 12 didn’t fit in one…and there are plenty left for lunch tomorrow! Next time, I don’t think I’m even going to bother with the chicken. While delicious, I think it was extraneous.

A couple other things before I sign out for the night:

Tomorrow is Friday the 13th… people always say it’s bad luck, but I tend to disagree! Tomorrow marks 15 days until our wedding! Then, Saturday is my Bachelorette Party!!!!

Have a great Friday all!


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Pretty Easy Being Green

First of all, have you entered my Blogiversary Giveaway yet?? It’s a still-being-added-on-to Favorite Things care package! Just comment to enter, and link back and/or tweet for additional entries!

For dinner today, I wanted to make something that I could potentially bring for lunches for the week. There’s been this one recipe floating in the back of my mind that my friend Anne posted, and I decided tonight was the night to try it.

The backstory is that Anne’s son ate this Green Chile Pork Stew at the Omni Hotel in Austin, TX and fell in love. They proceeded to get the recipe, which makes approximately 4 gallons, and before Anne would cook the recipe for her family, her son had to do the math to scale the recipe down to a more manageable size.

Thank goodness he did, because this recipe is FANTASTIC! Thanks so much Anne! This recipe was easy and just took a little patience. I’m so happy to have it for lunches for the rest of the week!

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Pork and Green Chile Stew
From the Omni Hotel, Austin TX

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
2# diced pork
1# white onion, julienned
1 clove garlic, chopped
2/3 cup diced green chiles (about 2 cans, drained)
3 quarts chicken stock
4 teaspoons cumin
3 teaspoons chile powder
salt, to taste
1 pound potatoes, diced
1 roasted jalapeno
1 stick butter (4 oz)
1/2 c. flour

Directions
In a deep pan add oil and heat until smoking. Add pork and cook for 30 minutes or until pork is nicely browned and has released all its juices. Add garlic and onions and caramelize. Add chilies. Deglaze with chicken stock. Simmer for 40 minutes, or until pork is tender. Add cumin and chile powder. Add potatoes and jalapeno and simmer for 15 minutes.

Make a roux with the butter and flour, cook until “blonde” and add to stew to thicken.

It’s not exactly green, as I thought it would be… but wow, amazing!

I have a TON of product reviews to get to, which I’ll be doing with my dinner post tomorrow… it’s a big day tomorrow! My wedding dress fitting is after school!!! I’m so excited!!!!!!! (can you tell?)

I’m off to veg out… have a great night!




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Birds of a Feather

About a month ago, I got an email from Christina who writes the fantastic blog Dinner at Christina’s about having a Chicagoland blogger potluck sometime in September, and I of course jumped at the chance! I love meeting other bloggers, and I also love cooking for other people, so it was the kind of event that just appeals to me.

We agreed on the date, and set out arranging carpools and what we were bringing. I decided to bring a crockpot full of my Chicken Chili Blanco as well as buffalo chicken dip. I packed up the car with my hot crockpot and ingredients for the dip, and set out to pick up Michelle from Lucky Taste Buds. We then hit the road to Christina’s house where we met up with her and Biz from Biggest Diabetic Loser.

We of course immediately started setting up our dishes…and the spread was AMAZING!! I put together my dip, which does not photograph well:

DSCN4740Christina had made a pitcher of delicious sangria, as well as a pitcher of water with fresh lemon. I had plenty of both!

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She also made some of the Pioneer Woman’s jalapeno poppers with bacon, and a croissant wrapped baked brie… again, i had plenty of both :)

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There was a gorgeous veggie tray:

DSCN4745Michelle made a delicious Asian-inspired whole wheat pasta salad with a sesame-miso dressing, a recipe I’ll be stealing very soon!

DSCN4746Biz made a delicious pizza with homemade crust, red peppers, pepperoni, her amazing homemade sauce, and a mixture of goat cheese and mozzarella, and then a topping of fresh basil:

DSCN4748Then, Christina brought out the zucchini pie, a recipe that’s apparently so secret, she had to delete the email that included it!

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I was so full at this point that I didn’t even have a bowl of my chili! In case you forgot what it looked like, here’s a recycled picture:

dscn2457I feel terrible that I didn’t bring anything for the other women because I left with so many foodie goodies! Michelle had made us all goodie bags, Biz gave us each a jar of her tomato sauce, and Christina not only opened her house to us, but gave us a huge store of the homemade sausage she made with her dad. I can’t wait to try it all!

Thank you SO much for an amazingly fun day ladies! We’ll have to do something again soon!

Oh… I’m forgetting something, aren’t I? The winner of the HUGE cheese giveaway! I used random.org to determine a winner, using only the comments on the post. There were a whopping 191 entries to win the cheese tasting party!! I’m so thrilled that there was so much interest for my little contest, and a HUGE thank you to Alouette Cheese for the opportunity.

What, you want to know who won? Funny thing: the first number that came up was my own pingback to my post…and since I can’t win my own contest, the winner is:

KRISTIN FROM IOWA GIRL EATS!!! Ill send you an email to get your information and I’ll forward it to the company. Congratulations!!!

I’m off to enjoy some of Michelle’s banana cashew bread with some Turtle Mountain coconut milk ice cream…

Have a great Monday!

 

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