6th Annual Copperton Chili Cook-off

Well, the long-awaited event is over. Last year I slaved over my stove and crock pot for hours, and spent a bundle on all the ingredients. For years, I've had a "secret" ingredient for chili - cocoa powder. It is a truly authentic Mexican chili ingredient. I didn't win last year. Well, I decided several months ago what "recipe" I was going to cook up for this year's event: Wendy's chili. Yep. Wendy's as in the fast food chain. It took 7 large chili tubs to fill my crock pot. (Cost: about $16.) I nuked the tubs for a minute to heat 'em up before I dumped 'em in, then I put the lid on and packed it up and headed out for the Cook-off. I didn't win, but my crock-pot was empty and I had none to bring home. And Ellen Johnson, the fudge-queen of Copperton, used my secret ingredient in her chili this year, and she DID win. Go figure. Ellen is one of those people with a talent for all things chocolate. She has a fudge-making home business that is going national. The Lion's Club this last year hired her to make 600 lbs of fudge at Christmas, which they distributed to all Copperton homes. It was yummy.
While I am on the subject of chili, I have a family history story to tell. Once, back in Canyon, Texas, the little branch we were in held a social gathering. Granjo brought chili and everyone raved about it. Someone asked her for the recipe, and I can still hear her tell it: (think of her sweet Texas drawl as you read this) "Oh, gosh, take 2 cans Wolf Brand chili, put it on the stove to heat. Burn it nice and black on the bottom, then scrape out what you can into a clean pot and serve it up hot."
Maybe I'll enter her recipe next year.

So proud to be an American

I watched my big brother retire from the USAF yesterday. He honorably served our country for 30 years and 2 days. :) He was a Chief Master Sergeant in Civil Engineering, with his last post at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas. <<<*))))) Woo! Look at all those stripes and ribbons! Look at all that hair! (JK) Karen did the cool stripes decorations for the cake to represent his "journey" up through the ranks. I am proud of my big bro, and so proud to be an American.

Exurechy berstiod
These are "words" to provide verification that you are not a sciving computer trying to illegally post on a blog.
I think these cool words deserve a definition. They bring to my mind a very specific thing. Tell me what definition you come up with, and I will tell you mine. Happy wordsmithing.
I learned a new Spanish word this week: cremallera (pronounced cray-ma-yair-a). Any guesses on this one?

Do I have to put it away???

My Christmas deco is still up. Admittedly, I didn't put it up until about December 23rd, and I didn't put up much, but there it still hangs on my wall. The big problem is that there are candy canes. Heaven forbid I should toss them. What a waste of a good 99 cents! Heaven forbid I should eat them. What a waist of 4,500 calories! Papa Lee (Granjo's daddy) used to eat peppermint with apples and cheddar cheese, if I remember right. I guess I could take them to work and sneak them into the kitchen where they would be eaten by someone else. I certainly can't pack them away for next year as I have a mouse in the house and an old man kitty who is falling down on the job. I could also simply wait and do nothing, and eventually my friend who cleans my house will take them all down and pack them away. That's what she did last year. And for Halloween, too. Call me lazy, but there are thousands of things I'd rather do than clean house or put away Christmas.

Surprise! I actually posted something new!

Happy New Year to all!

I still enjoy my new job at Aetna, and better yet, RynTinTin just took a job there, so we can carpool and exercise in the mornings together at Curves.

Papa just got the 2 snow-mobiles running, and since the weather has generously dowsed us with plenty of the white slippery cold stuff, we'll be off sledding on our next day off.

Check out the mega-icicles chez-moi. All in all, Utah winters are pretty to look at but not so delightful to live in. Go on and rub it in - Arizona was 78 degrees on Christmas Day.

We spent Christmas Eve with Lollipop and her Fam; she made clam chowder from scratch for dinner. RonnieRae and SweetChari-oh got princess capes and spent their evening twirling. The CivilWarPres got a BYU blankie. We had Christmas Day dinner at RynTinTin and the Highland Laddie's house - steaks and roast potatoes! Yum!

Here is the family picture I promised for Christmas. We took this on a 4-Wheeling trip up South Willow Canyon West of Tooele in September.

Hey, Princess SaraBoo, how do you make your pictures stay put? Mine just seem to clump at the top.

Hey, Lollipop, how about posting your recipe for clam chowder?

I made cranberry coleslaw (non-fat, lo sodium, no sugar) for a holiday party. Everybody liked it. I used my food processor to chop 1/2 head of cabbage (I used green but purple would be pretty) and about 1/2 C cranberries (not enough) and about 8 baby carrots (too many). I sprinkled the salad with lemon juice and about 5 packets of sweetener (fresh-squeezed limes woulda been nice). The dressing was 1 C non-fat plain yogurt and about 1/4 tsp lemon extract and 5 packets of sweetener. I gave it a dash of salt substitute and served it on the side. When I make coleslaw, pack the leftovers in 1 C containers and take it to work with me.

Tabouleh is also nice in the lunch box - It's yummy when made with chopped cranberries and green onions and fresh tomatoes and peperoncini slices and capers. Chopped apple or celery or cucumber or bell pepper, grated banana squash or carrots or zucchini are also yummy. The more lemon or lime juice I add, the less I crave salt. Cranberries freeze nicely in their original packages, and I use them through out the year. Try them in a nice 5-bean salad.