The Best Slow Cooker Chili Recipe Ever

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best chili recipe ever

I hate to cook and the reason is simple.  It’s the same reason that I don’t like to clean.  I dislike putting a ton of work and effort into something that doesn’t last.  At least with greeting cards, I put effort into something that has permanence; that’s my goal at least.  
I’ve had people tell me that my cards are too beautiful to mail.  I have never had anyone say that my food is too delicious to eat, or that my house is too clean to visit.  However, I do have one recipe for slow cooker chili that I would enter into a chili cook-off any day.

Once again, just like the delicious green smoothie recipe, I can’t take credit for this one, either.  It’s the recipe that was in the scrawny little cookbook that came with the crock pot that we bought ages ago. 

I have misplaced the cookbook so many times until one day I figured out that the best

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thing to do was to store the dilapidated little thing inside the crock pot itself.  That way, whenever I want to make chili, I know where to find the book.  (I should have it memorized by now, after all these years).

Here goes. 

Ingredients:

  • 2 – 16oz cans of dark red kidney beans
  • 2 – 14.5oz cans of seasoned diced tomatoes
  • 1-1/2 lbs. of ground turkey meat or ground chuck, browned and drained
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves of crushed garlic
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons of chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon of pepper
  • 1 teaspoon of ground cumin
  • salt to taste

Process:
Brown and drain the meat, then throw everything in the crock pot.  Cook on high for four hours or low for six to eight hours.

Variations:

  • use as a topping for baked potatoes
  • add cheese or sour cream to the top
  • serve with warm corn muffins

This is one recipe I don’t mind making because it always tastes great and I can put it all in the pot and forget about it.  I don’t feel like I have spent too much time in the kitchen.  Whenever I make this chili, I always feel like it has been the kind of day where I can say, “Today, I was a good mom.”

Try it and tell me if it isn’t the best pot of chunky deliciousness you have ever eaten.

I Don’t Know How Mommy Bloggers Do It

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I really don’t know how mommy bloggers do it.  They must be neglecting their kids.  I am a SAHM with one child in college and one who is a senior in high school.  I barely have a minute to write a blog entry to tell you that I am too busy to write a blog entry, let alone write a blog entry that has any depth or meaning to it.  I don’t know how they do it when they have little kids at home who need their attention 24/7.  Something has to be suffering somewhere.  Thoughts?  Anyone?  What do you sacrifice in order to be a professional blogger?

photo:  HERE

Time is (Not) on My Side…

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We’re all familiar with that Rolling Stones song, “Time is on My Side, Yes it is,” right?  It surely doesn’t feel that way to me!  I have been trying since the beginning of December to list some of my greeting card packages on Etsy.  The way things are going, I won’t be getting around to doing that until July.  I have also decided to listen to the suggestion of a few people and apply to be on Shark Tank.  (I have never watched the show.)
   
Next month this time, both of my babies will have graduated:  one from high school and one from college. It’s been crazy around here!  Applying for jobs, accepting jobs, finding an apartment, applying for scholarships, trying to figure out why teachers are still piling on the homework, making graduation announcements, planning parties, planning celebrations…not to mention our 27th wedding anniversary is tomorrow and it is also my parent’s 55th anniversary.

Let me say it’s all good!  I am so thrilled to have my plate full of these wonderful things.  (Remember THIS?)  It’s all a blessing and I know that.

Just promise me you won’t buy a yucky, over-priced greeting card from a big box store in the meantime, will ya?  Please?

Special Savings from eWillow.com Just in Time

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Hi Friends!

Just in time for Teacher Appreciation Day and Mother’s Day, I am running a special on eWillow.com.  You can read more about the special pricing HERE.  Give a gift that keeps on giving to the most important people in your life.  You won’t regret it!  They will love you forever!

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Why My Panties are in a Twist

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I don’t like playing games when I don’t know the rules.  Heck, the game I’ve been playing for nearly five years has an invisible leader and rules that change every five minutes. I am climbing an invisible ladder.  My panties are in a twist and I have no idea how to remove the wedgie. 

There is just no way to keep up and I am spinning my wheels.  I could choose to not play, but that is not an option.  I started the game without knowing it even existed, so I refuse to let it get the best of me.  But it has, and I don’t know what to do about it.

When I started eWillow.com, I just wanted a place to sell my greeting cards and post tutorials about DIY paper craft projects.  I did not know that my success was going to be measured by how many followers I had.  You can’t get anywhere without followers, but you won’t get followers if you aren’t out there.  Catch-22. 

Social media is a vicious beast.  There are rules and tips and tricks coming at me every minute of every day.  “Do this.” Don’t do that.” “Pin to Pinterest, but do it this way or you will turn people off.”  “Make sure your link is a ‘no-follow’ link in your blog post, or Google will penalize you.”  Huh?  Can’t I just go on Pinterest and pin the things I like without having an ulterior motive?  Can’t I just write a DIY blog post and forget about it?  No.  I have to share it on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram.  I have to share it on Pinterest and Stumbleupon and Google Plus. It takes so much time to “get it out there” that I don’t have time anymore to create.  I don’t know how I got pulled into this rat race.  I never knew it existed when I started eWillow.com, but now I am a hamster on a wheel and I don’t know how to get off.  I never even wanted to get on.

P.S.  While I’m on the subject, will you please follow me?  Just click on the buttons that you see on the top of my blog’s picture.  Oh, and you can share my posts, too, by clicking on the little buttons below.  🙂
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