Christmas revelries and microbes who hate me

Hey there.  You may have been wondering, "Hey, what happened to Laurie?", or most likely you have not.  In any case, I've had a whirlwind holiday season, and got home a couple days ago.  Andy and I traveled back to our home state of Michigan to celebrate the holidays with our families.  We had a great time with everyone, and consumed WAY too much food.  Considering both Andy and I have been trying to eat healthier lately, this was a hard blow to our diets.  Here's a "sampler" of what we ate (hahaha, get it?  SAMPLER?!):

Chipotle - Ok, this isn't THAT bad is it?
Pizza - YUM
Mozzerella Sticks - Fried cheese is not a meal  ...or is it?!
Andy's mom's huge spread of Christmas Eve munchies - I ate more massive amounts of cheese and M&M's
Christmas Morning Donuts - Need I say more?
Christmas Dinner Homemade Italian Extravaganza of  ravioli & meatballs & Garlic bread - Which I had seconds and thirds of later that week, Thanks Mom!
Christmas Supper Venison sloppy joes & another huge spread - Thanks Dad!
Christmas Cookies, OH THE CHRISTMAS COOKIES - Many MANY Sugar cookies, courtesy of my sister
Birthday Banana Cream Pie - My mom made me my birthday pie already! :)
More Pizza, etc, etc, etc

Should probably get on those New Year's Resolutions, now, eh?  I'm definitely going to be trying out some new recipes soon!  I have this Paleo Diet cookbook on my Kindle that I downloaded for free from Amazon a few months ago.  I've been meaning to try out some of the recipes in there, and I think I'll start doing that!  Of course I will take you on this journey with me.  Someone warn Andy that there may be Eggplant ahead.  The eggplant is coming, THE EGGPLANT IS COMING!!

In other news, I have been struck down with my most despicable sickness I've had in a very long time.  It started on the 26th with a slightly sore throat, and here we are today, four days later, still feeling like death warmed over.  Also, as a bonus, I have this cough that sounds like I've been a smoker since I was five years old.  Hacking, they call it?  Nothing is lovelier than a young woman hacking her brains out and using 500 tissues in a day.  I've also got this ambient noise going in my ears that sounds something like "WHUMMP, WHUUUMP, WHUUUMP".  Awesome.

At least I'm not alone with my sickness.  According to my Facebook wall, approximately 75% of my friends and/or their children are sick as well.  What is it about Christmas and sickness?  Probably the fact that all these people are getting together at once and talking in each other's faces and hugging hello/goodbye?  Or maybe being in shopping malls with 10,000 other people, touching the same door handles...  Ew.  WHERE IS THIS POST GOING?!  Ok, anyway, because of this I had to cancel some get-together's and head back home a couple days early.  What a bummer.  Sorry everybody!

In any case, I am looking forward to New Years, my Birthday (in 5 days), finishing out this next semester at school, getting my Master's degree, and the rest of what 2013 will bring.  Oh yeah, I'm turning 30 this year too.  YAY!

Here's a sneek peak at what is ahead:

Cat Grass or "Oliver's Obsession"

Winter Gardening or "This basil refuses to die"

Venison Chili or "No one knooooows!"

What did you eat too much of this past week?  Let me know in the comments!  And don't forget to follow me on Facebook and Twitter!

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How to make: Chicken Tortilla Chili

Today I am going to continue my series of making use of cooking an entire chicken.  Previously I detailed the actual chicken roasting process here, and followed that up with how to make your own chicken stock here.  So at this point, you should have extra chicken left over from your bird, as well as some stock.  With those two ingredients, we will be making a soup of my own concoction, Chicken Tortilla Chili.

I really came up with this soup because 1) I was hungry and needed to make dinner, 2) I had a random assortment of ingredients that wasn't quite chili and wasn't quite tortilla soup either So I came up with this hybrid of sorts, and it wasn't half bad!  In fact, it was DELICIOUS.

Gather your ingredients:

Chicken Tortilla Chili

Cooked chicken (pre-cook it or use leftover chicken)

Chicken Stock (one can or homemade, enough to have enough liquid)

   Optional: Add water if you're out of stock and add a chicken bullion tablet

2 16 oz cans chili (kidney) beans or pinto beans, drained

2 16 oz cans of diced tomatoes (or 1 32 oz can)

1 8oz can of tomato paste

half an onion, chopped

2-3 garlic cloves

handful to a bunch of chopped cilantro

frozen corn (or canned, if you have it)

any other veggies you'd like to throw in, green pepper, celery, hot peppers, etc.

~1 cup corn flour masa

Spices:  feel free to go crazy with the spices, whatever tastes good to you, measurements are just guidelines (I normally just start adding stuff willy nilly), add things to taste.

     1/2 to 1 tsp Salt 

     1/2 tsp Pepper, 

     2 tsp Cumin, 

     1 tsp Garlic power, 

     1 tsp Onion Powder, 

     1 tsp Coriander, 

     1/2 - 1 tsp Cayenne Pepper (however much heat you want!)

Directions:  Put all of this stuff in a pot, simmer it for awhile (~15-20 minutes), garnish with cilantro or cheese, eat.

And don't forget to notice the delightful flavor brought on by the masa.  Secret ingredient!!!

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