Disgusting gray weather means only one thing...

... Chicken Vegetable Chili!!! This might be the best chili on earth. It's good enough that I feel compelled to blog about it. And we all can tell that not much compels me to blog lately.

The recipe is originally one for Chili Con Carne from Weight Watchers Take-Out Tonight cookbook, which you should all get whether you care about cal counts or not. It's got great recipes for various ethnic take out faves. I'll type out the recipe as written and note the changes I made (which are many) in italics, and some with asterisks. What? I love punctuation. Here goes...

Chili Con Carne/ Chicken Veggie Chili

1 tsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 4 1/2oz can chopped mild green chiles*
2 Tbsp Cajun seasoning**
1 pound ground skinless chicken breast
1 28oz can Italian peeled tomatoes, chopped (I used a 24oz jar of crushed.)
1 cup prepared salsa***
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup chili powder
1 tsp sugar (2 Tbsp instead. Trust me)
1/2 tsp salt
2 15oz cans red kidney beans, drained/rinsed (1-1lb can chick peas instead)
1 cup frozen corn, thawed
2 big handfuls string beans, cut into 1" pieces
lots of zucchini (maybe 4 big ones), cut into bite sized pieces
about 1 1/2 cups carrots, chopped small

*I did not have these chiles and wasn't going out to buy them. I did have a jar of mild sliced pickled jalepenos, so I used 1/2c of those.
**No Cajun seasoning in the house either, so I used 1 tbsp paprika, 1 tsp granulated garlic, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp cayenne.
***Um, yeah, so I was also out of salsa. Half a cup of taco sauce and half a cup of leftover homemade tomato sauce seemed like a reasonable substitute, so that's what I used. Can you tell I didn't feel like dealing with the grocery store?

1. Heat a large non-stick pan (Dutch oven) over medium heat. Swirl in the oil, then add the onion and carrots. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 6 minutes (more like 10-15 because of the carrots). Stir in the garlic, chiles, and seasoning. Cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the chicken and cook, breaking up the chicken with a wooden spoon, until browned, about 8 minutes.

2. Add the tomatoes with their liquid, salsa, zucchini, string beans, water, chili powder, sugar, and salt; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the flavors are blended and the chili thickens slightly, about 1 hour. Stir in the beans and corn and cook until heated through. (I actually cook it for about another 45 minutes.)

Serve with your choice of chili accoutrement. White rice, shredded cheese, hot sauce, and green onion are so good with this. Also, freezes very well, which is good because the recipe makes a ridiculous amount of chili.

Here's a pic that does not even come close to capturing the deliciousness of Chicken Veggie Chili. Mmmmmm... Chicken Veggie Chili...

I am. . .

. . . a blogging failure.

That is all. I will hang my head in shame and try to pull it together.

I'm still recovering. . .

. . . from Thanksgiving. This year's festivities involved nineteen (yes, 1-9) side dishes, a full day of family fun, and a four car collision on my block. The upside of that last bit was that it really gave us all time to digest dinner before dessert, and I got to chat with all my neighbors for a while. It felt quite like an episode of Seventh Heaven. Lovely.

Anywho, been super busy.... posts to come!

Thanksgiving Is Almost Here!

In honor of Turkey Day, I was just attempting to come up with a list of 25 things I'm grateful for. It was torture and I only came up with 5. Some of them were really dumb too, like hair products. I couldn't possibly publish that crap. Maybe for New Year's I'll try to be less of a pessimist. (Now, if I had attempted to list 25 complaints, I'd have it done in under a minute. I love to bitch about stuff. This must stop.)

Anyfreakinway, if (and this is a BIG if) I'm not in a carb/ champagne hangover on Friday, I will attempt to blog about my Thanksgiving. My family's pretty crazy and the Mamma goes WAY over board with the food (her record is 21 side dishes) so something worth writing about should occur.

Follow me on Twitter for live T-Day updates. I'm hoping to have pictures of food and memorable quotes posted up throughout the night. (twitter.com/Lauren_Vanessa)

Anticipation. . . of Bedazzling

Here's a little story for anyone not versed in Bedazzling and its history:

Sometime in the 1970's someone thought, "Hey, let's mass market a tool to fasten giant plastic gemstones onto clothing." The Bedazzler was born and flourished during the 1970's and 80's, because well, it was the 70's and 80's.



Enter the nineties and the world rebounded against the Bedazzler, mainly because of looks like this one:

Now, we all know that the Bedazzled sweater is clearly not the only thing wrong with this hot mess. The giant glasses, the weird poofy hair, the gold lame leggings, the ill-fitting (or non-existent) brassiere, and the sour expression all combine to create more of an eyesore than anyone could dream up. Maybe the Bedazzler takes the heat for this kind of thing because it really elevated bad fashion to a kitsch art form for a while.

But there's hope for the redemption of the Bedazzler. Just like a bad news boyfriend or the smell of Tequila, I think that enough time has passed that we can revisit the offender without anyone getting hurt. This rekindling of the Bedazzler love will be a modified version, however. Modified how, you ask? Well, for one, by ditching the gemstones altogether in favor of studs. Yes, STUDS!

Check out the fierceness the addition of studs lends to this Nanetter Lepore coat. Beyond wicked cute, this coat is almost to die for. Would I pay the $548 that Bloomie's is asking for it? Hell to the no! Will I acquire a Bedazzler at some point this week and attempt to work some magic on a coat I already own? Um, yeah! No brainer. (If you still aren't with me on this whole "studding" thing, just check out this dress, or this one, or these jeans. All intensely perfect but heinously overpriced, no?)

So, the procrastination special over the next couple of weeks is obvs going to be centered around me revamping my wardrobe with some mayjah studdage. Hopefully this will distract me away from shopping. I think I have a problem. Anywho, if I feel ambitious enough, I will attempt to videotape some of the Bedazzling tomfoolery and vlog it. That's right, people, I said vlog. Wish me luck.

Let's Talk About Manners For a Minute. . .

. . . or rather the lack of them I have been experiencing lately. Oy. Let's just say it hasn't been pretty. I've been bombarded lately with open-mouthed chewers (and the sounds they make--ew), a shortage of pleases and thank you's, and a complete absence of excuse me's.

But what I experienced today takes the cake. Get this. Before I had even clocked in this morning, one of the new supervisors thinks going "Psssst, pssst, psssst, pssst," is a good way to get my attention and ask me to go out onto the floor with him. I comically tell him that this is a great way to call a dog but I'm a human being, thinking that he'll get the hint. It seemed he did, until a few hours later. . . (insert ominous musical overture here) he did it again!

No, I am not shitting you, he actually did it again. Not cool. I had to then school this jerk on how that type of behavior is not only degrading, but also terribly sexist, and that it can't happen again. This entire interaction made me wonder: did this fool not ever have his mother/ sister/ aunt/ grandma/ random female relative teach him what is an appropriate way to catch a woman's attention? I'm sorry, but "pssst" is never appropriate, unless of course you are calling a stray cat over for a treat. If my brother ever did that to me or my sister, he would've immediately been smacked in the head or kicked in the nuts. He turned out kind of okay, so clearly this method of teaching manners works. Maybe a nut kicking would have been in order today? Hmmm. . . something to think about.

What is my point again? Oh, yeah, manners are important. If you got this far into my blog post without rolling your eyes, you know that already. My question to you then is: what the hell is wrong with everybody else lately?

My Heartfelt Apologies. . .

. . . for not blogging much lately. Times are crazy and the stress of beginning a new semester and the loss of the last Kennedy brother were just too much for me. New blog posts before the end of the week, though! Cross my heart!