Yesterday's Chili...

I always make way too much food for dinner.

I know that there are starving children in Africa, but seriously people, is there anything better than leftovers for lunch?!

Since there are only two of us and our giant crock pot is big enough to feed a family of 4, I always have left overs, especially on chili nights.  We love chili, or at least we love my watered down "Mexican" version of chili, but eating it for a week solid because, once again, Stephanie made too much is just not ok (anymore...it has happened one too many times...oops.).

So in order to keep my hubby happy, I have come up with some creative ways to reuse left over chili.  Enjoy.

Mexican Lasagna
Left over Mexican chili
Small flour Tortilla shells (or large ones, depending on the size of your dish - use whatever will fit best!)
Grated cheese (whatever kind you and your family like best)
Salsa - fresh or jarred whatever works for you.

Spray a round Corelle baking dish with olive oil spray. I think ours is 6 or 8" could easily feed a family of 4.
Layer it with the following:

Tortilla
Chili
Tortilla
Salsa & Cheese
Tortilla
Chili....etc

Mix up the layers however you like, and keep going until there is <1" left in the dish.  Make sure the top layer is chili (If you use a tortilla, it will burn.  Learned that one the hard way.)  Sprinkle grated cheese on top.  Bake at 350 for around 45 minutes or until the cheese is fully melted (and crispy if you like it like that!).  Maybe more or less depending on your oven.  Serve with a dollop of sour cream.

This is great to make and freeze.  Take it out the night before you want to cook it, leave it on the counter and by 5pm the next day it's ready to pop in the oven.  Easy!

Grilled Chili Tortillas
This is only for chili that you have thickened - if it's watery, it will be VERY messy!!

Reheated chili
10" Tortillas
Cheese
Lettuce
Salsa
Sour cream

Wrap whatever ingredients you like into a 10" tortilla wrap.  Wrap it up tightly on both ends so that none of the deliciousness can escape.  Using a panini press, George Forman grill, BBQ, grill pan or frying pan and a plate, heat one side, then the other leaving grill marks.  Warning:  Although this is delish, it's also a bit messy.  Be warned!

Hot Chili Dip
Put chili into a large ramekin.  Grate cheese over top.  Heat in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes, or until chili is fully heated.  Garnish with a dollop of sour cream, chives or green onions.  Serve with nachos, pita crisps or toasty cracker things.

That's a total crock!

People are excited about going back to school for so many reasons...

I like going back to school because it means it's crock pot season. (and, being a contract teacher, I get paid again.  But that's a whole other story.)

What's my fascination with the crock pot?  Growing up, my mum used her crock pot at least 3 times a week so I guess part of it is nostalgia - especially since, according to her, "Canada has two seasons.  BBQ and Crock Pot".  The other part is that, like everyone else in this world, I'm too busy to make a proper dinner every night.  Housewife of the year...I am not. But using my crock pot makes people think I am, which is almost as good.

To me, crock pots are meant for cold weather foods like stew and roasts and my favourite - chili which is exactly what I came home and whipped up at lunch.  Best part? It was done at 5 when my hubby had to go to work, and was still hot when I got home at 6.

Here's the recipe I created - I don't do kidney beans, though I'm sure they'd be fine to add.  It's been a crowd pleaser around here for the last few years!

Enjoy!


Mexican Chili

Brown 2 lbs of ground beef, drain and rinse to remove as much fat as possible
1 can of lentils, drained & rinsed
1 can of black beans, drained & rinsed
1 can of mushrooms, drained & rinsed
1 can of peaches & cream (or sweet) corn, drained & rinsed
1 can of diced tomatoes (they actually have chili spiced tomatoes, they're good too)
2 packages of chili or taco seasoning (Old ElPaso makes a reduced salt version)
A hand full of fresh cilantro, finely chopped (if you have it, if not, leave it out)

Throw it all into a crock pot / slow cooker on low all day, or on high if you start it after lunch.

I like my chili to stick to my ribs.  I will make a thickener of corn starch and water mixed together (usually <1/2 will do it) to thicken the whole thing up.  Pour it in a little at a time and stir.  It will thicken pretty quick, so add it slowly so you don't get chili you can stand on.

Serve in a bowl garnished with shredded cheese, a dollop of sour cream and a few nacho chips.  It's delish!

For ideas on how to use leftovers...check out "Yesterday's Chili..."

It's the end of the world as we know it...

I am obsessed with utopian/dystopian fiction - and if it's post apocolyptic, all the better.

I can't explain it...books like that scare the pants off me, and I like it.

My husband has learned to deal with the strange dreams and the inevitable elbows, knees and mindless chatter that follows any particularly scary book.  It's just another one of the quirks that makes me so special "special".

I made a list the other day of all of the books I've read in the last year or so that fit into this very specific niche genre...


I am clearly obsessed.

But recently, my obsession has made me question the world at large.

There is a new phenomenon emerging from modern writers - one where teen characters are placed in worlds on the brink of destruction; worlds where the teenage protagonists are placed in situations where, against the odds (often at the mercy of malevolent, authoritarian governments) they must fight to save their lives, and the lives of the people they love.  In the last few books I've read, this has been through blood sport - usually resulting in more than one gory, graphic death.  These books are violent, gruesome and utterly frightening - even more so when you remember, most characters are under 16 and the intended audiences are teenagers (and let's face it, pre-teens - that damn Twilight Saga was clearly not meant for an 11 year olds eyes...and a little too much like crack to boot.)

All that being said, the books I have read from this emerging genre are amazing.  They have complex plots, characters and language.  They make the reader question things in the book's world, but also their own, and I can honestly say for the most part, you have no idea what is going to happen next because just when you think you've read the most horrific thing you have ever read in your entire life, you read the next chapter and the author has found a new way to mind fuck you. It's all a little insane.

While reading these books, I keep thinking to myself:  I'm not sure which is scarier - that a 12 year old is going to read this book or that some adult created this elaborate, crazy-ass world and thought, "Geeze!  I know who should read this!  A 12 year old!"


Which leads me to the question of why?

Why are books about the end of society as we know it becoming so popular?  Why can teens relate to a girl who takes her sister's place in a state mandated game where 26 kids between the ages of 12 and 17 fight to the death à la Thunder Dome? (The Hunger Games, Catching Fire & Mocking Jay by Suzanne Collins) Or a 16 year old boy who is part of some elaborate state funded program to weed out the smartest of the smart in a maze filled with crazy robo-octopus-cat things that kill everything in their path and are kept out of the middle of the maze (where the 60 mice boys live) by 200' high walls made of concrete that open and close every day...until some girl who gets dropped on them marks the end of both the maze and the beginning of a whole new kind of hell. (The Maze Runner by James Dashner.)

Seriously - what the fuck is this world coming to?!

As a teacher, I am genuinely worried for the future of the human race.

As a reader, all I can say is...

It's the end of the world as we know it...and I feel fine.