Crockpot White Chicken Chili

Winter weather has finally hit us in NW Ohio--at least the temperatures have. I'm getting in to warm comfort food mode apparently and experimented on my day off with a new chili recipe. I thought I'd start using my blog to keep track of this winter's cooking experiments.

Crockpot White Chicken Chili

2 lbs. ground chicken

2 (15 ounce) cans of great northern beans

1 (15 ounce) can white corn

1/8 cup taco seasoning (or one packet)

1 (4 ½ ounce) can of green chilies

1 (10 ¾ ounce) can of condensed cream of chicken soup

1 (14 ounce) can of chicken broth

½ cup sour cream

Monterey Jack or Colby Jack shredded cheese

·         Brown ground chicken and drain

·         Place chicken in crockpot and top with beans and corn

·         In a medium bowl, combine taco seasoning, chilies, condensed soup, and chicken broth. Pour over top of ingredients in the crockpot.

·         Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours

·         Before serving stir in the sour cream

·         Serve topped with cheese

It's November Again...

...and that means continued lack of updates to this blog while I participate in National Novel Writing Month.

Sorry, But You Can't Be Real

I love creating characters--whether it's for a character I'm going to be playing in a role playing game or someone I see winding up in a story somewhere down the road. There are an unending line of fictional people in my head waving their backstories at me on a daily basis. Then there are the real people I know. Whether they're people I've met in the real world or people I've come to know on-line, I seem to have come across a lot of people who are so clueless about reality, or have so much going wrong with their life that they scream to be "borrowed" and thrown into a story. The problem is that some of the things going on with these people are so bizarre that, if the story ever got published, most readers would claim I was going over the top and that the character wasn't believable. Then I'd have to try and explain I really knew a person like that, they'd find out I used them as a character and I'd either get sued for defamation or they'd want a cut of the profits.

People in my life really need to have more mundane lives.

Another Book Review

Here's a link to my latest book review on Troll in the Corner.

http://trollitc.com/2012/06/this-aint-harry-potter-or-narnia-kids-a-review-of-the-magicians/

Sitting At Home

I had the opportunity today, after a doctor's appointment for our son and dropping him off at daycare, to just sit at home and write. The weather is cool enough that I turned off the air conditioner and opened the windows in the living room. There's a bit of a chill, but considering the unbearably hot days I know are coming, it felt nice. My plan was to write for a little bit and play some computer games the rest of the time. I gave up on the computer games part.

It's strange to see your neighborhood going about its business at a time you normally aren't there. I watched the type of traffic that cuts down our street (a lot of pick up trucks hauling trailers full of lawn mowers and weed whackers) and listened to the neighbors. The houses are close enough together that you can't help buy hear them. I was treated to the neighbor on one side arguing with her daughter's boyfriend (he and the daughter are both early 20's and live there). They guy ended up arguing with someone on his phone while he packed his things (not much, a couple small boxes and a handfull of clothes) into his car. Then the mother, the daughter and a couple neighbor women gathered on the sidewalk and talked about things. The daughter and the boyfriend hugged a lot (while he was still on the phone) and I got the feeling he'd been kicked out by her mother. Turns out he decided to move out on his own. The mother ended up at the neighbor on the other side with two women talking about him owing she and her husband money and she wasn't happy he packed up and moved out. Colorful. I then listened to the ladies talk about the neighborhood going downhill, kids being disrespectful, and other little things that just seemed to come up. For a brief moment I thought of all the colorful characters I could have if I just quit work, took up smoking and became nosier.

And now the day is getting shorter, the clouds are filling the sky and I should really get back to the story I'm supposed to be writing.

Waiting at the off ramp.

http://instagr.am/p/Lfj4MzOZ51/

Writer's Dice

From supporting Daniel Solis'  kickstarter.