White Bean Chilli - new favorite - YUM!

It's soup weather again!  And I think I have a new favorite.

White Bean Chilli

• 1 tbsp oil
• 1lb ground beef/venison/meat
• 1 medium onion
• 2 stalks celery
• 1 large can stewed tomatoes
• 1 can original Rotel/tomatoes w/ hot peppers
• 1 can white kidney beans
• 1 can navy beans
• 1 can Great Northern beans (Limas)
• 1 cup wh. wheat macaroni pasta
• pepper and Parmesan cheese to taste 

I used a big slow-cooker with a temperature setting (because I hadn't packed it yet), but you could just as easily use a big stock pot.  Chop up the onion & celery and saute in oil until translucent, then add your ground meat - I used venison, because we still have quite a bit from last year. 

When it's nicely browned, add all of the canned ingredients - I didn't drain anything, just dumped them in -  and bring to slow boil.  (If the bean you use are on the dry side, you may need to add some water.) Add pasta. Simmer at least half an hour or until the pasta is done - the longer it cooks, the better the flavor.  Add pepper/salt to taste.  I don't like a lot of salt, so...

I served it with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese (ode to cheddar on traditional chilli).  Should have taken a picture when it was all hot and bubbly in the pot last night, but it's darn tasty warmed up for lunch today, too! 

The neighbors make themselves heard

Sunny was not in a cooperative mood last night.  Happy enough to be caught, he then objected to being tied up at the top of the lot without Thunder (who was quite content to watch us from down by the loafing tree).  He danced his way through brushing, and tried to sashay himself out from under the saddle.  Tough luck, Sunny!  He got brushed and saddled anyway.

Rather than go back down through the lot and out, I walked him around to our normal practicing field by way of the driveway.  Which takes us out of sight of the lot - at which point Thunder stirred himself to whinny and trot down the fenceline.  Sunny pranced along next to me, but quieted down once we were back in sight of his buddy.

I bridled him, ditching his halter in the center of the pasture to use as a spiral in/out marker, checked the girth he's gained weight and hopped on.  He promptly walked off.  Backed up, stepped down and tried that again.  He finally stood still on mount three.

It took probably half an hour of work to get him nice and round - he wanted badly to go over to the north fence by Thunder.  And there was something moving across the tree grove on the south side by the lines of round bales which wasn't helping matters any.  I persevered, and eventually he settled down, although he persisted in wanting to drop his shoulder and dive across the circle on the south side. Occasional banging and engine noise signalled something was going on over there, but I couldn't tell what.  Eventually the what was explained by gunfire - apparently some folks at the pheasant place were sighting in on the range out back.  They must have been setting up new targets, thus the banging.  The shooting triggered the appearance of a little spike-horn buck who trotted out of the trees, bounced over the pasture fence and proceeded on across toward the north tree grove.  He must have been eating/resting in among the hay bales, and decided it was time to move to safer territory.  Although he didn't seem to concerned about a) the noise, b) the horses, or c) me.

At that point the wind kicked up, and between that and the continued shooting and voices from across the way I pretty much lost my horse attention.  I'd been riding for almost an hour at the point anyway and it was starting to get dark, so I finished up with some stationary bending and stretching exercises and called it a night. 

Today was just too chilly to face riding - I have new long-underwear coming, though, and as long as the snow keeps holding off....

Nu-nu thinks it's chilly, too

Made the bed when I got up this morning, and went back in to find Nu-nu had made herself a nest in what remained of my warm spot.  She poked her head out when she heard me come back with the camera, but initially all that was visible was the tip of her tail. I actually was reaching to yank the covers flat again when I realized the rumple in the covers was something under there!

On the plus side, it's soup weather again.  I love soup, but it just isn't warm weather food.

The last of the turkey

No more leftovers - I made turkey soup of the last of Tom today.  The plan was turkey-barley, but I must have used the last of the barley in something else, so I dumped in a half cup of steel cut oats.  Hadn't tried that before, but I didn't think there was any reason it wouldn't work - and the result is pretty tasty. 

The only bad thing is that I didn't get around to turkey enchiladas this year, and they're one of my favorite leftover turkey meals.  Oh well, maybe Christmas...

Snow for the New Year

The cats and I are doing the couch thing again today. I hemmed and hawed this morning before daylight, debating risking the roads to fill the hay feeders again since the forecast is inching up toward 12" - history says the plows won't hit the gravel roads Sunday or Monday.

We had a brief window of clear before the blizzard kicked in again, and I was tempted, but it's really hard to judge how badly things have drifted in - town weather is rarely the same as conditions outside the city limits. Often it's better, sometimes it's a lot worse.

If nothing else, I figured calling to check and let them know I was on my way wouldn't hurt. I'm glad I did, as J said she'd feed for me this afternoon and tomorrow if necessary. Which makes me feel a lot better. If I was going to go, it would have had to have been then - at this point, the wind is holding at about 25mph at the moment, but I can barely see across the street it's snowing so hard, so I think the window has closed.

Tortilla soup is bubbling away in the crock pot, bread's baking, and I have pears that need to be made into... muffins, maybe? Or possibly pie - haven't decided yet. Something to make the house smell good, though.