Comfy Cozy

I can’t think of a better way to describe our weekend!  I had off work on Friday and was so excited to spend the wet and stormy day in the kitchen cooking and watching movies.  I set off to the grocery store in the morning with my menu in hand: homemade chili, garlic mashed potatoes and a gluten free vanilla cake.  My day consisted of chopping, stirring, mashing, baking and watching movie after movie.  It was heavenly!  And the chili was DELISH!!  I  was so pleased with how everything turned out, and I think Hubsy was just as excited to spend our evening chowing down on comfort food as I was.  I love that he loves to eat whatever I cook.  I am by no means a great chef, but I sure do love trying!  We nestled ourselves onto the couch and spent the night watching Australia, drinking vino and munching endlessly.  It was coziness at its finest!

Chili:

I chopped up a whole white onion and browned it in a pan with a little bit of ground beef (I like to use the juices from a little bit of the ground beef to brown the onion instead of oil).  Normally I would use ground turkey, but I wanted to make a hearty, true Southern chili.  The ground beef was the perfect ingredient!

Next I added the rest of the ground beef, tomato sauce, a can of salsa, a can of dark red kidney beans and a can of light red kidney beans, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, salt, pepper – and pretty much anything else that came to mind. I kept adding more chili powder and cumin until I thought it was the perfect spicy-ness.  Then I turned the burner to low and let the chili simmer for about an hour.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes:

I peeled four russet potatoes, chopped them and put them in a pan of boiling water.  I let them boil for about twenty minutes until the potatoes were soft but still a little firm.

Next I added Smart Balance butter, low fat cream cheese, a little bit of parmesan cheese, salt, and roasted garlic I had just baked in the oven.  I used a whole clove of garlic that I peeled and chopped the ends off of, then I wrapped the garlic in aluminum foil and baked it at 375F for about 25 minutes.  Mmmmm, the smell was heavenly.  I mashed the garlic and the potatoes until the consistency was just right.  I had never made home made mashed potatoes before!  Hubsy said he liked them, and I believed him.  :o)

Cake, Betty Crocker Style:

Originally I wanted to make a homemade gluten free cake, but when I heard Ms. Betty Crocker came out with a new line of gluten free products, I had to try her vanilla cake mix.  I thought it was pretty good!  I frosted it with a butter cream chocolate icing.  I definitely think it tastes much yummier to those of us who are missing out on gluten!  Hubsy was a really good sport and enjoyed the cake with me, but I know he would prefer the “real” stuff next time.  Over all, dinner was a success!  And the chili and mashed potatoes were even yummier the next day.  Mmmm, I love comfort food.

Storm rolling in!

Last night Hubsy was out in the back grilling when he yelled for me to come quickly look at the sky. I couldn’t believe what I saw!  I grabbed my camera and snapped away.  The photos below contain ZERO photo editing.  The colors were this vibrant and BEAUTIFUL!

 

And if that sky wasn’t a more perfect ending to a cozy, rainy weekend guess what movie was on TV last night.  It featured Ms. Allie and Mr. Noah.

Le sigh.  Perfect.

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend!  I’m off to NYC tomorrow for work and am so excited.  I’ll be back soon!  Enjoy your week – only a few more days until Labor Day weekend! YAYYYYYYY!!

Blessings/XOXO