Test Recipe - Slow Cooked Tex Mex Chicken

Wow!! I have been away from the blogosphere for a while now. I promised myself to get back to blogging because I really do love it. However, something always seems to get in the way. But here I go getting back up on the bike. :) I will start my "back to blogging" with a recipe that I tried this week. I like to try to introduce at least one new test recipe to my family each week and see if it will be a hit or a miss. This recipe was a hit. It was easy and inexpensive to prepare. However, it does have some spice to it, which my family loves, but if yours is sensitive to spicy heat, cut down on the chilis and use a mild salsa. And true to form, I forgot to take photos, but I'll get back into the swing of that too. Enjoy!

Slow Cooked Tex Mex Chicken
Serves 4

1 cup dried pinto beans, rinsed
1 jar (11 oz) mild or medium salsa (1 1/2 cups)
2 T chopped canned chipolte chilis in adobo sauce (mexican food isle)
2 T all-purpose flour
1 cup water
1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 8)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
Sour cream and fresh cilantro for serving (optional)

Directions: In a 5-6 quart slow cooker, stir together beans, salsa, chilis, flour and 1 cup water. Season chicken with salt and pepper; arrange on top of bean mixture. Scatter onion and bell pepper on top of chicken. Cover and cook on low heat for 8 hours (do not open lid or stir). Remove chicken from stew; shred into large pieces and return to stew. Serve topped with sour cream and cilantro.

Health Quest

As with each new year, I vow to get myself healthy and....well, I don't. But I am tired of aching backs and roly polying off the couch and getting winded walking to the mailbox. So here goes again. I have literally tried every diet known to man without any lasting success. Shoot, I think diets are set up to make you fail to keep the industry alive and well. In addition to being failure inducing, these fad diets usually come with a price tag too. Sooooo....I have vowed to diet no more!! No more diet cookies, weighing in at meetings, fake food or cabbage soup (thank the good Lord in Heaven). Instead I am just going to eat what I like in moderation, concentrate on more whole foods and less processed, and try to make one wise food decision after the other until it adds up to success. Plus I need to get my patootie in gear and get some exercise! Work, work, work, makes Kimmy a dull girl and a little bit squishy too! Little Chief said last night while sitting on the loveseat and resting his precious angel head on my arm, "Mama, I am so glad you don't work out because your arm is like a comfy pillow". Then I whacked him and told him to get off me! I found a FREE community that I have used this week to keep me on track. Check it out if you are interested. It is really cool!! Here is a blurb from the website:

"SparkPeople is growing into one of the largest free diet and health-related sites in the world.
SparkPeople has received media coverage from: Fox TV, The New York Times, and ABC TV.
SparkPeople was voted best online health site in Business Week's 2006, 2007 and 2008 "Best of the Web" awards."

Here is the addy: www.sparkpeople.com

Tell me about your goals for the New Year, I'd love to hear from y'all!

Book List 2009

Hello There! Knock, knock, anybody home? I have obviously been neglecting my blog for a very long time. I guess that is what happens when you work too much. But I have resolved to treat myself better this year and do more of what I enjoy instead of just doing things I am obligated to do. What do you think about that? I hope I can do it. So first on my list was to get back to blogging. I love it. It is a form of creative expression, you meet so many wonderful folks, you learn something almost every day, I mean what's not to love!! I looking forward to chatting YOU up. So to start with I think I'll list the books I read this year. I did not read near as many as I would have liked to (a baker's dozen)...again with the work schedule. So here it is for your literaray pleasure:

Veronika Decides to Die (Oehello)
The Hunger Games (Collins)
The Twentieth Wife (Sundaresan)
The Sari Shop (Raj Bawa)
Vanishing Acts (Piccoult)
Julie/Julia (Powell)
The Tortilla Curtain (Boyle)
Darjeeling (Kirchnea)
Revolutionary Road (Yates)
New Moon (Meyers) (Read out loud to Little Chief, my 2nd time to read it)
The Wizard of Oz (Read out loud to Little Chief)
The Road (McCarthy)
Handling Sin (Malone)

Have you read any of the above titles? Did you especially enjoy any books this year? I am always looking for titles to add to my TBR (To Be Read) pile, although the TBR pile is taking up two book cases in my house right now! I am currently reading "The Help" and I can barely put it down. It grabs a hold in a powerful way. Have you read it? Come on now, let's set a spell and talk books...or anything else you'd like to. It's been way to long, honey!

Wordless Wednesday: Baseball Begins!

Wordless Wednesday: Little Chief's Birthday Party

Have you met Ruby?

Ruby is a show on the Style Network that has me hooked. Ruby is on a quest to lose weight. She has weighed over 550 lbs and has recently lost nearly 100 lbs. The show follows her stuggles to lose weight and it truly inspires me. The thing I love about Ruby is she is not wallowing in self pity. She is funny, free-spirited and adorable. The show is set in her hometown of Savannah, Georgia. She is surrounded by family and friends that love her the way she is, but want to see her healthy and happy. Please go check it out. Just click on her name at the beginning of this paragraph and that should link you up to her website. I promise she will make you smile.

Are you a Ruby fan? If you are honey, sit right down and tell me about your favorite episode.

BBQ Rib Bonanza!

Yesterday my youngest (and last) baby boy turned 8 years old! Talk about hard to believe!! My son LOVES ribs and a local restaurant has "all-you-can-eat" ribs on Thursday nights, sooooo, Little Chief went and ate some scrumptious ribs for his birthday dinner with mom and dad. I ate salad, again.....total bummer!

In this pic he is getting impatient because Chief is taking too long to snap the photo and he just wants to dig in. He is giving daddy a warning look with those tight lips and bug eyes - he totally got that expression from me!

Wet wipes to the rescue!

And of course no birthday dinner is ever complete without a little sweet treat!

Happy Birthday, Pumpkin! Stay tuned, the party is on Saturday!