I feel so stupid. I have to share with you.

Today I have worked all day on a recipe for White Bean Chili. I put a chicken in the crock pot this morning, so it would be moist and good for me to eat. I de-boned it this afternoon and I put the other ingredients in the pot after all this work. Now mind you this has taken me all day! I AM NOT A GOOD COOK and never wanted to be one. I finally understand that If I am going to make WLS work for me I am going to have to learn to cook at least a little bit.

Well.........I put everything in the pot for the final cooking stage.....reached for the last ingrediant...CHILI POWDER. What did I grab instead? CINNAMON. When I realized what I had done I tried to scrape the Cinnamon powder off the top of the concoction. I couldn't get it all out, but believe it or not, it doesn't taste all that bad. It is not wonderful, but I think it is eatable.

My friends who know me would just say "I told you never to let her cook". If it wasn't so funny and just like something I would do, I would just sit down in the middle of the floor and cry.

Dear God....please let me stick to the simple things in life. I think I'll go get me an RTD for supper. LOL

My mother puts cinnamon in her chili and with all the other spices you cn't really taste the cinnamon, but you can tell there's something different about it.  And, I have a cookbook with a recipe for Cincinatti style chili and cinnamon is one of the ingredients. 

So, you didn't actually do anything wrong!!!

Next time fforget that whole chicken business. Get som chicken breast filet and cook them in the crockpot the same way then you are ready to add the rest of your ingredients after shredding/chopping the breasts. Good luck!
H

I had no idea that there were any recipes out there that actually told you to use cinnamon.  Go figure.  Maybe I've come up with a new sourhern version of Cincinatti Chili. 

I make white chilie all the time and I use the boneless skinless chicken breasts that come in the bag in the frozen foods and I use canned white beans.  I'm not into making anything from scratch...It's super easy the way I make it, and takes about 20 minutes.

Easier still, forget the crockpot.  Purchase chopped chicken breast in a can (by the tuna fish and in a can that looks very similiar).  You can keep this on hand and make several different dishes without having to worry about the chicken going bad.  I like the white chicken chili, but have found that I like the Santa Fe soup even better and I think it has more protein per serving.  Instead of using ground turkey I have used the canned chicken instead and its really good.  I use 2 cans of chicken.

I don't like to cook either and now live alone so I'm always looking for the easiest thing that will give me the most proteiin per serving.

B

I'm not a cook either...  I tried one recipe two times! First one flopped big time!  Here are two blogs that you might find enjoyable about my recent cooking episodes:

Do you know who Betty Crocker is?  You  may know her from the cake mixes, frosting, brownies and muffins in the grocery store... She's my grandmother.  Don't we resemble one another?  Many who don't even know I am related to Ms. Crocker say that I look like someone they know...  after pondering and asking, "Where do I know you from...?" it finally hits them.  "Betty Crocker!  You look like Betty Crocker..."  And then I must explain, yes she is my grandmother, blah blah blah.

However, when it comes to baking, that is quite a different story.  Anytime I attend events, I stop off at Granny's favorite place and revenue maker - the local grocery - to purchase a pre-made by someone else treat.  I did not inherit the genes of cookery/baking from dear grams.  And lately, I have been visited in my sleep with nightmares of her.  Let me just say, she looks NOTHING like the innocent smiling woman pictured above.  Noooo...  she has a scowl on her face, long pokey pointed finger and yelling down to me, "You ought to be disowned! You are a lazy granddaughter! Why can't you even boil water?" 

So I tried to make granny Crocker proud.  I had the perfect recipe that even she would die to have, a warm pineapple cake, a comforting pudding type of yummyiness....  but now you must remember, I'm a weight loss surgery patient.  I cannot have all that sugar that granny's generation grew up on...  I have to watch my figure, cut carbs and calories whenever possible...  so I reworked the recipe, asked a few cooking pro's for their recommendations, and came up with the perfect concoction ever made.... ON PAPER, that is!

I made a few alterations... I want to see if you can pinpoint the exact place in the recipe where it went awry.  The first is what the recipe called for, the second is my substitution.

• Yellow cake mix - Dixie Diners Strawberry Cream Muffin Mix
• Heavy cream - Half & Half
• Libby's Crushed Pineapple - Libby's Tropical Fruit (Splenda Sweetened)
• And, I halfed all the ingredients cause my muffin mix was small

Now, I thought that if a warm pineapple cake was yummy, surely a warm tropical fruit cake would be just as scrumptious!  WELL THINK AGAIN!  I came home from supper out at a restaurant chomping at the bit to taste this wonderful recipe.  I was sorely disappointed!  One bite.  I would not even take another bite.  I knew that it would not take two bites, three bites, ten bites to get adjusted to the taste and try to like it.  I would not allow Tim to taste it either. 

Sorry, grandma Crocker.  I failed again. 

(Betty isn't really my grandma, in case you were wondering.  However, don't you think I do look like her?)

 

Blog#2

Granny Crocker came to visit me in my dreams last night.  She wasn't her usual scolding self...  she had a bright eyed, smiling face and patted me on the head.  Her words were the most comforting of any I have ever heard.  "My dearest Melinda, you have done me proud."  Then she lifted a golden bowl and spoon and to what before my eyes should appear?  My warm pineapple cake, version #2.  Oh my Gosh, granny!  Does this mean I passed the test?  I can now cook again?!?  The threat of being banned from the family has now been lifted.

Tim also has lifted his cooking ban.  He said last night as I was taking my cake out of the oven, "If that cake is not good, you are banned from cooking in there again!"  I was scared there for a few minutes...  if the heavenly aroma was any indication as to how the cake would taste, however, I knew that there would be many hours spent baking and cooking in my wonderful kitchen...  The moment of truth came...  and let me just say:

MY CAKE FRIGGIN ROCKED!

 

What  a hoot!  i knew that someone out there was like me in the kitchen.   I am inspired to try again after reading your 2nd blog.  It looks like things work out in the end. 

I used to laugh at my friends at work that would assume  because I was fat, I must like to cook.  Were they ever WRONG!   My husband (who is in law enforcement) once put crime scene tape on my stove with a sign that said "Caution, No Cooking Area".  I hadn't cooked in so long that he thought that would give me a hint!.  I laughed a lot but it didn't change things for him! 

Fast food helped make me fat.  I do know that I have to change my lifestyle, but I am hoping to find some really easy things to freeze that can be popped out and eaten in a pinch.  It will make my life so much easier. 

Thanks for the input.   It made me smile.

Hi Cathy ,



Now that my friend is hillarious...  Imma not gonna be able to look at a crime scene sign now, without thinking of you  



Okay, I tell ya what, I will let you come over and cook for me..  just to show that I believe in ya.. and that I am not scared

Just say it's a Moroccan chicken and white bean dish. Moroccans use cinnamon in a lot of savory dishes. So do Indians, Turks, Greeks...so you can say it's an exotic dish.


Sarah M.