Misc. Chicken Chili & Corn Bread

As I mentioned earlier, I am moving soon. In about a month, I will be packing up everything into my tiny Ford Escort, or as I like to call it, my old person car. I inherited the almost 10 year old car when my great grandma passed away over the summer. It replaced my very unreliable 94' Ford Explorer, however, I wish I had that old chugger for this move. It probably wouldn't have made driving half way across the country, but I would be able to take a lot more with me.

You will come to find out that I am a real bargain shopper. When I find something cheap, I buy a lot. Therefore, I have a bunch of random food I need to get through in the next month, if I don't, that good deal would have been pointless. So when in doubt, I throw a bunch of stuff in the crockpot and hope it turns out good. That's what I did with this chili. You don't need to follow the recipe exactly, throw in whatever you have on hand. The crockpot is a magical make any concoction taste good, inexpensive appliance everyone should have. I even buy this handy crockpot liners that take care of cleaning out the slow cooker. Just needs a quick rinse. You can pick up a 6 pack of Renolds liners at Walmart next to the foil.

Misc. Chicken Chili
***You don't need to follow exactly, use what you have!

1 box tomato soup (2quatrs) (tomato or vegetable juice works too)
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
2 cans Rotel
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cans chicken breast (or whatever meat you                    
         have, ground hamburger/ turkey,
         or cook up some  chicken)
2 cans corn
4 cans beans of your preference (i used 2 chili
         beans, 1 kidney bean, and 1 white bean)
1 onion diced
I packet white chicken chili mix (mccormics)
Minced garlic (to preference, I like a lot)
1 tbsp cyanne pepper
1 tbsp oregano
2 tbsp cumin
1/4 cup chili powder
couple dashes of salt

Add all ingredients to the crockpot, stir it up good, cook on high 4 hrs or low 8 hrs.

This is what you get: a slightly creamy, little spicy, delicious chili! You can top it what ever you like! Green onions, shredded cheese, sour cream, corn chips, etc

Corn Bread

Normally, I would make corn bread using the little jif boxes and adding in a can of creamed corn. However, this time I didn't have those boxes on hand. I did some research to find some recipes, but I was missing a critical ingredient, I had no milk! But I did have everything else and more to make corn bread. So, I did some experimenting and came up with something great.

1 & 1/2 cups AP flour
1 & 1/2 cups Mesa (corn flour)
1 & 1/2 cups corn meal
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp baking powder
shake of salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1 cup water
1 can creamed corn



1. Mix dry ingredients (flour, mesa, corn meal, sugar, and baking powder) in mixing bowl.

2. Melt butter, add can of creamed corn, water, eggs, and oil.

3. Pour liquid mix into your dry ingredients. Then add honey.

4. Mix until incorporated. Will be a little on the thicker side.

5. Pour in a greased 9x13 pan and spread mixture evenly.

6. Bake in preheated oven at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

 Let cool before cutting. Add some butter and/or honey, or add it too your chili!

Welcome 

Hi everyone, Kendra here. I've been think about making a blog for a long time now, but I just haven't found the time. I'm currently finishing up my masters degree in speech language pathology, and I finally finished all of my testing. This weekend I took both my comprehensive exams and national test and I am finding myself a little bored now that I don't need to study. So here we go....

This is going to be a place to keep all my craft projects, some recipes. and you'll probably see a lot of speech therapy activities for both children and adults. I am currently working on a hospital with a wide range of disordered individuals and pretty soon I'll be going to work in a school back at home. I'm living in Nebraska right now but a I'll be moving back to Oregon to complete my school practicum. I'm not sure how much time I'll spend on here but I'd like a place to keep track of all the recipes and craft ideas. I also really need a spot to start keeping my therapy materials other than on my desktop of my computer, it's just getting a little bit too messy! 

As for the name of my blog, Smile, Life is Full of Surprises...

In the past 23 years of my life, I have come to find that almost nothing comes as you expect it. Sometimes surprises are good and sometimes not so good, but you just have to remember to smile! Did you know that smiling reduces anxiety? Even if you aren't happy, when you smile , your body sends a message to your brain and it releases endorphins to make you feel better.

I hope you enjoy this blog and come back soon, there's bigger and better things to come!