Recipe Week Day 3: Spicy Peanut Sauce

I love peanut sauce, and I've tried many different recipes for it. This one has been my favorite time and time again. Plus, it's super easy to make! I usually serve it with chicken skewers or grilled chicken breast as a dipping sauce.

Adapted from Ellie Krieger on Foodnetwork.

Time: about 10 min. Serves 4

Ingredients:
1/2 C peanut butter (chunky or smooth works)
1/4 C chicken broth (I make sure mine is gluten-free as well)
3 tbsp soy sauce (Tamari wheat-free if you're gluten-free)
1-1/2 tbsp brown sugar
1-1/2 tbsp minced fresh ginger (or 3/4 tbsp ground dried ginger)
2 tbsp lime or lemon juice
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp chili flakes (or to taste)
3-4 tbsp onion, roughly chopped

Mix all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Will keep well in the fridge for a few days. Sometimes I freeze in ice cube trays so I have individual portion sizes ready to defrost.

View Past Recipes:
Day1: Crockpot Turkey Chili
Day 2: Crockpot BBQ Beef
Bonus: Stovetop Turkey Chili

Recipe Week Day 2: Crockpot BBQ Beef

I'm going to go ahead and start off my Recipe Week with both of my Crockpot recipes. But who am I kidding....I'm really posting them for my own selfish reasons. I can't find them on Allrecipes.com anymore and I already had a scare that I lost my only copies of my 2 favorite Crockpot recipes! I really only have 2 that I go to on a regular basis. Now I have a record of them online :)

(This fabulous BBQ beef recipe was submitted by Corwynn on Allrecipes.com...love that site! I altered it a bit, though.)

Prep time: 20 min. Cook time: 8-10 hrs.

• 1-1/2 cups ketchup
• 1/4 C packed brown sugar
• 1/4 C red wine vigegar
• 2 tbsp dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1 4-lb boneless chuck roast

1. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients (except roast).

2. Place chuck roast in Crockpot and pour ketchup mixture over it. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hrs.

3. Remove chuck roast from Crockpot, shred with a fork, and return to Crockpot. Stir meat to evenly coat with sauce. (The recipe says to continue cooking another hour, but I never do and it is still yummy!)

View Past Recipes:
Day1: Crockpot Turkey Chili
Bonus: Stovetop Turkey Chili

Recipe Week Day 1: Crockpot Turkey Chili

I love cooking and trying new recipes, so I decided that this next week is recipe week on my blog. I'm going to post a new recipe each day. Since I'm gluten-intolerant, any of you out there who have the same issue, rest-assured all my recipes are gluten-free!

Since I gave you my recipe for stove top chili in my last post, I decided it's only fair to give you my crockpot chili recipe. It's SO yummy....I've gotten rave reviews! But I have to give credit to LauraKE on Allrecipes.com :)

Prep time: 15 min. Cook time: 4 hrs (on high)

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 lb ground turkey
2 cans (10.75 oz) low sodium tomato soup
2 (15 oz) cans kidney beans, drained
1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tbsp garlic powder
1/2 tbsp ground cumin
1 dash ground black pepper
1 dash allspice
salt to taste

1. Brown the ground turkey, drain.

2. Spray Crockpot w/ cooking spray and mix in all ingredients.

3. Cover and cook 4 hrs on high or 8 hrs on low.

4. Enjoy!

Serves probably about 4-6. (Hard to tell because my husband eats more than the average Joe!)

Feel free to change up the beans...I use whatever is on-hand. I hope you try it...you won't be let down!

For my stove top chili recipe, click here.

Back in the Swing of Things - Stovetop Chili

I just created a blog for my sister so that she can post pictures and give updates about Madison and baby #2 once he/she arrives! So I thought I should probably start updating my own blog more often :) I have my craft blog though, which I do update regularly.

I'll start off with a great recipe for chili that I made last night. I have 2 chili recipes...once is for the crock pot and one is for stove top. This is for the stove top:

I adapted this recipe from Sam the Cooking Guy.

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground turkey, browned and seasoned with a little kosher salt, garlic powder, and chili powder (or Lawry's season salt)
• 4 sm cans of beans, your choice (I used white kidney beans and black beans...but I usually change it up depending on what's in the pantry)
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (More or less depending on your preference. I usually use a dash.)
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 2 cups chicken stock

In a stock pot, melt the butter and saute the onions and garlic until onions are translucent. Toss all ingredients into the pot, let simmer for about half an hour to let all the flavors marry, and enjoy!

Easy peasy! Serves about 4.

I choose to live

John is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!"

He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation. Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?"

He replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or ... you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or... I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life."

"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.

"Yes, it is," he said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life."

I reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it. Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.

I saw him about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins...Wanna see my scars?" I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place.

"The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter," he replied. "Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or...I could choose to die. I chose to live."

He continued, "...the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man'. I knew I needed to take action."

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said John. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. 'Yes', I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Gravity'! Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.'"

He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:34. After all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.