That was a text I got from my gal pal the other day. She was probably wondering why I wasn’t pestering her with a deluge of snarky texts. We do love our banter! The answer is I was struck with a horrible case of Eustachian tube dysfunction caused by seasonal allergies. The whole thing was beyond weird, I had no symptoms of my allergies except for an earache which promptly turned into intense throbbing and a trip to urgent care. A pile of allergy medication and pain pills later, I had to endure 4 days of horrible pain and stabbing ear popping once the medication finally started to work. I was not a fine companion, I will admit. It wasn’t as bad as labor, I had twins without pain medication, but at least with labor you’re working towards something. In the end you will have cute, crying, slimy babies to hug. With a throbbing ear, not so much. Luckily, the ear is on the mend and the pain has finally gone away. I was skeptical believing my doctors that it would go away with our antibiotics, but of course they were right as they calmed me over the phone when I was worried when my ear was leaking.
Mmm, pile of medication.
So the crazy ear thing is my excuse for not getting too much done over the past ten days. I did get a few minor things done. I read the entire Little House on the Prairie books, it’s been a long time! I made some coffee cake muffins the other day using Ina Garten’s sour cream coffee cake recipe, I replaced the sour cream with some fat free plain greek yogurt and they turned out delicious. I don’t have pictorial proof of said muffins, however, because I over filled the muffin cups and they looked…well…not so good. Lesson learned, don’t over fill muffin cups. They served their purpose though by making the house smell nice and yummy when the assessor came. No funky house here!
The girl’s and I also went to Oaks Park for preschool day, we met their cousins and had a nice time going on some rides.
See aren’t they cute?
The girls are also getting ready to go to school (insert angels singing OOOOOOOOooooo) which will leave me with some unaccustomed free time. I’m hoping to fill it with going to the gym, sewing and generally getting my s*&% done without constant interruption. I decided to make little bags for school. I used a wonderful free pattern for a poochie bag by the Happy Zombie, you can find it here. It’s a great little bag that only takes 3 fat quarters to make! I used a coated cotton for the liner, so the girls can use it for a wet bag if they have any accidents at school. I also used flannel, which looked cute, but made for a bulky bag. Next time I would opt for something a little thinner.
One done and one in progress!
Done and packed!
I got my machine back from the shop, they could find nothing wrong with it and when they tried it the seams looked straight. What the heck? I jumped right into this project and it was working fine for me. My next project is the Amy Butler Weekender bag I mentioned a couple of posts ago. Except when I was working on the piping last night, what came back but that wonky stitching. Gah! I am currently waiting for my sister in law to deliver my mom’s extra machine, yeah! Hopefully it will see me through the holiday sewing season and perhaps I can save up enough to get an upgrade.
In my last post I promised a chili recipe that finally satisfied my husbands picky palette. I’ve fiddled with it a little bit and think it’s a winner. It’s made with ground turkey which lightens it up a bit and has a lovely rich quality from cocoa powder and molasses.
Turkey and Bean Chili adapted from Everyday Food makes 8 servings
- 4 strips bacon cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 2 pounds ground turkey (7% fat)
- 3 large onions, chopped
- 1/2 cup minced garlic cloves
- 1 medium fresh jalapeno, seeded and minced. Use two if you like it spicy
- 3 T chili powder
- 3 T cocoa powder, unsweetenend
- 4 t ground cumin
- 2 cans whole tomatoes in puree (28 oz each)
- 2 T unsulfered molasses
- coarse salt
- 3 cans pinto beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained
- toppings of your choice; cheddar cheese, sour cream, chips, crumbled cornbread, cilantro etc.
Use a big pot, 5 quarts! Heat over medium heat, add bacon and cook until crisp and brown. Raise heat to high and add turkey, cook, breaking up the meat, until now longer pink.
Add onion, garlic and jalapenos; cook until soft, stirring often. Stir in chili powder, cocoa powder and cumin. Cook, stirring until fragrant.
Break up tomatoes with your hand and stir them in, along with the puree. Be careful here, I sprayed tomato all over myself! Add molasses, 1 cup of water and 4 teaspoons of salt; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer; cook, partially covered 30 minutes.
Add beans and continue to cook until meat and beans are tender and chili has thickened. About 30 minutes. Serve with toppings of your choice. This is a yummy one and it tastes even better as leftovers! Enjoy!
The sewing machine is here, let’s hope it works! Hopefully my next post will have a picture of my new weekender bag!
wholalahoots 