My Lovely Simple Chili

Chili is the best when you aren't putting too much hard work into it. The point of it is to be cheap and simple, and in this household, devoured at least twice a month. Anthony believes that I make some amazing chili and here is my recipe ;) Chili 1lb Hamburger 1 Can of black beans 1 can of kidney beans 1 can of chili beans 1 can of diced tomatos 1 can of tomato sauce 2-4 tbsp of chili powder dash of cayanne and cumin 1/2 cup of spicy hot v8 Yum yum yum!!!! Don't forget to top with some cheese!

A few recipes from Sami's Kitchen!

Hello! I know I haven't posted in quite some time, but I haven't had that much time to create! I did make some Pina Colada Cupcakes a couple weeks ago that were YUMMY though =] But if you don't like coconut (which seems to be like 3/4ths of the whole human population) you won't be interested in trying them.

First, I ran out of Chili Powder in my cupboard (or we never had it...not sure which!) so I decided to make my own! Spices can be so expensive (with even a small container running to about 3 dollars while you have piles of spices in the cupboard that aren't used so much anyway).

Chili Powder
1 tsp Peprika
1 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 tsp Oregano
2 tsp Garlic Powder
2 tsp Cumin (though I like the spice..so I added extra!

Now that you have Chili Powder, now there really shouldn't be an excuse for not making Black Bean Soup!!!!

Black Bean Soup
4 Cloves of Garlic (minced)
1 TBSP of Olive Oil
1 tsp Chili Powder (you will def want to add more than this)
2 Cans of Black Beans (drained and rinsed)
2 Cans of Diced Tomatos (do NOT drain)
1 Bag of frozen Corn
1 (15 oz) Can of Chicken Broth
1 Cup of Water


In a pot, heat up olive oil on medium, add the garlic and chili powder and heat until it smells pretty good. Then combine everything in the pot, heat up, and taste and add spices until it tastes pretty wonderful. I like mine tasting nearly like chili.

Try with tortilla chips!

Now I had to make this so I could actually bring some soup back to college that didn't come from a can. But it is SUPER easy, makes a good size pot, and is done pretty fast. =]

Well...that's all for now! Enjoy!

Marshmallows

So what would be one of the best things to post on "Life is a Big Bag of Marshmallows"??

MARSHMALLOWS OF COURSE!!!!!!

So I looked up a recipe for marshmallows and they came out wonderfully <333 Not much work either to be honest with you!

• 1/2 cup (125 ml) cold water
• 3 envelopes (21 g, or about 3 Tablespoons) unflavored gelatin^[1]
• 2/3 cups (157 ml) corn syrup
• 2 cups (400 g) granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup (62 ml) water
• 1/4 teaspoon (1.5 g) salt
• 1 to 3 tablespoons (15 to 45 ml) vanilla extract or other flavorings (try amaretto, grand marnier, or almond extract)
• Corn flour (cornstarch)
• Confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar)

So first stir together the powder sugar and the corn starch. I used one cup of each and found that at the end i had a LOT left over, so i'd try maybe 3/4 of a cup of each, since you can always make more. It just needs to be equal parts. 

Oil a pan...

Then coat the pan with the sugary mixture!

Put all three packets of the gelatin in a bowl with the cold water. No need to stir, just needs to sit for at least 10 minutes, which isn't a problem. Gives you plenty of time to do the next step!

Okay! Now i SERIOUSLY recommend you get all the other ingredients together and measured out.

But now you need to put together the corn syrup, 1/4th a cup of water and the sugar into a pan and heat up. With a candy thermometer boil it until it hits 117 degrees (mine was a little hard to read the degrees so the 'soft ball' zone is where you want it at.)

Once you boiled it, dump it in with the gelatin/water and blend for about 15 minutes. Until it's really sticky i suppose. I just compared it to what liquid marshmallow looked at acted like.

^^Right out of the sauce pan^^

^^^ That's about right!

 Now add the vanilla! And if you want color, add the color now. Blend it until it's, well...blended! 

Dump into pan! Caution! Will cause sticky finger syndrome! You may cure this with hot water and/or licking the deliciousness off =P

Smooth out, put more of the sugary powder on and then wait for four hours while you catch up on the dishes! Do not toss the sugary-corn starch stuff. You will need it!

After four hours, hopefully you would have gotten more dishes done than i had. Sugar a surface, plop it out, and use a pizza cutter to chop them up! You will need to rip them apart and coat them in the sugar so they don't stick. After this i decided i wanted my marshmallows to be mini so i chopped them up smaller.

Makes for a happy boyfriend with mini marshmallows! Put them in hot chocolate or smores! Yum yum yum! And yes, they are nice and soft <33

Happy marshmallows!!!!!

Wreaths?! After Christmas?!

Soo! I decided I was going to step it up a notch and do something that actually meant creating a sculpture. I will do paintings, or make something usable, but doing a sculpture has never been my forte. First of all, it just takes so much time, space and materials. Second of all, you actually have to like how it looks. With a painting, you can restart. If it is something usable, you can think of more of the practical use. When it comes to sculptures though, usually it's a one hit wonder type thing.

Well, I just so happened to have a text book that I was attempting to sell on Amazon. For how much? $00.01....I could just say a penny, but it looks more ridiculous when they type it out like that. So I pulled it off the market, bought a few supplies, and made myself a nice wreath.

Okay, yeah, i get it. In a picture it doesn't look that awesome, but trust me on this one! It's WONDERFUL in person! My mother was shocked that it looked that good! You'd think after many years of doing my art she's believe me by now..but then again, i did just find out that she shattered my pride and joy sculpture on accident. *Siiighhh*

SORRY! Back to the wreath. Now how did i make this beautiful wonderful peice you may ask, well! First i took rubber tubing, and taped two in a circle, one small that the other to fit perfectly inside the larger one. 

Then i taped them to eachother and then wrapped them with white cloth so it was solid. I hot glued the ends of the cloth to the tubes.

Then after that, that is when the page ripping began. My mother helped me with this one. Rip pages out and determine how long you want the bristles to be. I rolled it up, flattened it, tore it in half, folded it in half again, and glued the seam. 

Turned out to be a perfect length! And the multi color pages add just a little flare to it!!!!

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!! And remember, if you ever come across some cool craft idea, send it my way!!!

Peace, Love, and Happiness!

Grabbing on the low down

For those who are unaware, my father broke both of his wrists by falling down the stairs.

You can break both wrists by falling down stairs?!

Apparently.

Thank you dad for graciously demonstrating this for us.

Now he's in physical therapy to gain the motion of both wrists back. He can drive, it's just more difficult. But he still hasn't lost his sense of humor.

I've been working a ton and when I'm not working, helping out my dad or sleeping, I spend time with Anthony. Though sometimes he's a butthead so I just ignore him and do random things on my laptop while he's playing PS3.

Merry Christmas! Happy birthday Jesus and all other holidays this wonderful season of giving (notice i said giving and not receiving ;) ) 

People at my job think i like hugs too much so my gift this year is no hugs!

...Except Greg. Greg apparently likes hugs.

I know I haven't updated in awhile and BOY! Has a bunch been going on!

Well, for those who are unaware, Anthony Flores and I are back together. After a year of separation, sometimes you are just too addicted to each other. So now we restarted and going on 4 years.

Also starting up some of my crafts. You know how I can't resist my crafts! Well, now I found this craft to do a picture transfer onto a canvas! I'm excited to see the results since it has to dry. This is a test canvas, so it's a picture of myself (which I feel like it's an awkward picture of me, but Anthony loves it.) **5:22 12/19**


So now I am nearly finished with my project and it doesn't look too bad for my first try-

Picture is thanks to Anthony, and I do think it looks pretty good. =]

More will probably be made soon. I think I should start doing tutorials for some things =P But this one is from http://deliacreates.blogspot.com/2010/03/distressed-picture-canvases.html

Let me know if anyone else gives it a shot!

One Week Done! ..How Many To Go?

First week is over and done with, and boy it seemed like it was 3! Juggling classes such as Chemistry, Speech, Orientation, Algebra, and Biology starts out easy, but then throw in a teacher conflict and you are asking for a soupy mess! Kept my cool together and ended the week on a very positive note- Rock Climbing.

There are these beautiful bluffs here in Winona. There is the Mississippi lakes and the river and bluffs all along one side. One of these bluffs has this bare rock, jutting towards the sky. Just a cylinder. I swore to my parents that i was going to climb those bluffs- and I did on friday. It was an hour walk, then we had to climb up the bluffs where obviously water run-off goes down. The water made a ditch with loose sand. Quite a workout there! But then, we got to the top, and there it was. That huge, bare cylinder shaped rock. It was like a beacon around the rest of the town. I was standing before it. Of course, it had a odd name, Sugar Loaf, but i was there! My first official school week and i was standing in front of something that most of Winona more than likely has not. I only made up about half way up the rock, but it was farther up that i expected to ever make to that rock.

I'm feeling kind of isolated here-of my own choosing- but at some point i will show people how to play Egyption Rat Screw- such as UniStar has taught me. I'm excited for this year.

Wish you were here!