Although I will be forever scarred by last year’s Monday Night Football experience, I still allowed myself to get a little excited about the Bills playing the Browns last night.
It quickly became clear, however, that the Bills–who began the season with a 5-1 start, but have since fallen to 5-4–would soon be falling to 5-5.
Three interceptions thrown by Edwards in the very first quarter = bad news. I’m convinced that he only sucks now that I bought his jersey.
Somehow, the Bills managed to hold on and actually took the lead in the 4th quarter, with only two minutes to go. Unfortunately, I had a bad feeling that this would not be ending well. As predicted, the Browns marched down the field to quickly score a field goal, taking the lead.
And instead of answering with a good drive of their own to get into comfortable field goal range, the Bills coaches played too conservatively and put all of their confidence into the kicker to seal the deal with a 46-yard field goal into the strong wind.
Stupid, I tell you.
And “WIDE RIGHT” came back to curse the Bills once again. Our pretty reliable kicker hooked it to the right of the goal post and the game was over. Another loss.
Annoying. Disappointing. But typical.
On a more positive note, we had most excellent Monday Night Football food:
Baked Tostitos + leftover chili + melted cheddar cheese = MNF chili cheese nachos. Yum.
As for the Buffalo Bills… there’s always next year (as Bills fans have been saying for the last 10 years). The bastards.
I am on the hunt. For what?
The perfect beef chili. We have a recipe that we’ve been making for years, but I’ve decided recently that I’m not all that impressed with it. And so the search begins.
Last week, we decided to start this search with “Simple Beef Chili” from Cook’s Illustrated. After trying it, we quickly came to the conclusion that we are still looking. So why am I sharing this recipe?
Well, because, quite frankly… it’s good. It’s just not the chili we’re looking for.
But for you, it very well may be the “perfect” chili. There are so many varieties of chili, so many versions, and tastes in chili are so different. Maybe this is the recipe you’ve been looking for. Who knows unless you try it?
Maybe, like us, you’re up for the journey. Follow us as we experiment a little bit this winter. Stay tuned… we’ll be trying another chili recipe soon. Until then, give this one a shot and let me know what you think.
Simple Beef Chili
(Modified slightly from Cook’s Illustrated)
Ingredients:
– 2 tbsp. vegetable oil or corn oil
– 2 medium onions, chopped fine (about 2 cups)
– 1 red bell pepper, chopped
– 6 medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 2 tablespoons)
– 2 lbs. 90 percent lean ground beef
– 2 (15-ounce) cans red beans or kidney beans, drained and rinsed
– 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, with juice
– 1 can (28 ounces) tomato puree
– table salt
– black pepper
– 1/4 cup chili powder
– 1 tbsp. ground cumin
– 2 tsp. ground coriander
– 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
– 1 tsp. dried oregano
– 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
Directions:
1. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add the beef, breaking up pieces with spoon. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until no longer pink, and just beginning to brown.
2. Transfer beef to crockpot. Add beans, tomatoes, tomato puree, and 1/2 tsp. salt. Add onions, bell pepper, garlic and spices. Stir well to combine. Cook on low setting for 5-6 hours. Adjust seasoning with additional salt if desired.
Serve over rice or noodles. Topping options: cheese, green onions, avocado, sour cream, etc.
Last night, we had my family over for dinner and dessert. Dinner and dessert for 8 people meant making a lot of food. And I couldn’t just make one dessert, of course. I had to make two.
I knew right off the bat that I wanted to make Apple Spice Cookie Bars again. You know, just because they’re that fabulous and I needed an excuse to have them again. For the second dessert, though, I had many ideas. Another apple something? Chocolate?
The decision came down to two things: what is seasonal, and what is easy. Between making the cookie bars, making the meat sauce, assembling the lasagna (2 pans of it!), preparing the garlic bread, and cleaning the house, I knew we weren’t going to have a whole lot of extra time. These pumpkin cookies were the perfect solution.
I originally saw these over at Delicious Melicious, but the recipe came from allrecipes.com. They came out really wonderfully. They are sweet and spicy, with the perfect pumpkin flavor. The consistency is soft and cake-like. Sure to be a hit with any pumpkin-loving family. :)
Iced Pumpkin Cookies
(Source: Allrecipes.com)
Ingredients:
– 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
– 1 tsp. baking powder
– 1 tsp. baking soda
– 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
– 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
– 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
– 1/2 tsp. salt
– 1/2 cup (8 tbsp.) butter, softened
– 1 1/2 cups white sugar
– 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
– 1 egg
– 1 tsp. vanilla extract
– 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
– 3 tbsp. milk
– 1 tbsp. melted butter
– 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.
3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.
To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners’ sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency.
Last night, we had champagne. Tessa had a cannoli (a dog one, of course).
It’s still so hard to believe!
Now, I’m off to grocery shop and spend the rest of the day in the kitchen, preparing for my family coming over tonight. I’m making two desserts, and then we’re preparing lasagna. Yum!
We do. And you should.
As it turns out, we have had a bit of a miracle occur in our lives.
This morning, I received the dreaded phone call from our vet’s office, with the dreaded results from Tessa’s biopsy last Friday. My heart sank and I physically braced myself. And then the doctor said:
“It’s good news.”
I immediately turned into a shaking, blubbering, crying mess, and said, “What?! It’s good news??”
Amazingly, incredibly, fantastically, unbelievably…
Tessa does not have cancer.
The doctor explained that the biopsy came back negative. The pathologist said that the results show severely inflamed lymph nodes, but it is NOT CANCER. Instead, it is some harmless inflammatory disease/disorder that will go away on its own.
Can you believe it? We don’t even have to do anything. It will just go away with time.
I probably asked at least twice if they were sure, or whether this could still be lymphoma, just in a developmental stage. She said no, there is nothing to worry about. Nothing to worry about.
After that, I don’t know that I heard anything at all. I just cried. And cried.
She’s going to be OK.
I hung up the phone and found myself just so completely overwhelmed by it all. Not only the emotion of it, but by what this means for us.
This changes everything.
In the same way that the bad news of the initial diagnosis knocked us off of our feet and seemingly changed our lives forever, the good news has picked us back up and changed our lives forever.
I had started to try to come to terms with the fact that most likely, Tessa wouldn’t be around next spring or summer. She wouldn’t be around when we have kids. I wondered if we would still be able to take our planned trip to Vegas in February. We had discussions about what we might be willing to spend on her potential treatment, and what we would give up in order to pay for it.
And now, magically, that has all disappeared. A huge weight off of our shoulders.
The last couple of weeks have been pretty hellish. And I am so grateful that we are now in the light at the end of the tunnel, and things aren’t at all what we originally thought.
As for Tess, she is our little miracle girl. When I picked up that phone today, I never expected to hear good news. I won’t lie, I had allowed myself to hope just a little that maybe, just maybe it wasn’t cancer. The doctors seemed almost positive that it was lymphoma, and so I believed them, but I still found myself thinking, “But what if it’s not?”
And lo and behold… it’s not.
I think the doctors are even surprised. They thought it was cancer. They told us it was, and they watched us break down and cry over it. She did say they weren’t 100%, but they did seem sure. Sure enough, anyway.
Our next step is to take Tess into the vet on Monday for her appointment to remove her sutures. At that point, the doctor is going to check out her lymph nodes, show us where to periodically check for her other ones (to make sure they don’t swell), and tell us more about this condition that she has. To be honest, I don’t even know/remember the name of it. She said it on the phone, but at that moment, I was so deliriously happy that I just didn’t care. The name was long and complicated, and the only important information for me was IT’S NOT CANCER. (I honestly don’t think I can say that enough times. IT’S NOT CANCER!!)
But that’s Monday. First things first: A celebration.
Tonight, we are busting out the bottle of champagne that has been sitting in the back of our fridge. Up until this morning, we didn’t think we would have anything to celebrate for a really long time. But we do.
And tomorrow night? We are having my family over for dinner. We made the plans and asked them before we knew the results. We haven’t been together in a while and I figured it’d be a good opportunity for everyone to get to spend time with and visit Tess. Now, it’s going to turn into an all out celebration.
I can’t thank everybody enough. All of our family, friends, readers, and strangers who sent us well wishes. Who hoped for us, or prayed for us. I told Michael and my mom this morning that I feel horrible for worrying everybody. I feel bad that everyone thought our dog had cancer. Everyone was so nice, so sympathetic, so sad for us. And it turned out to be nothing. So for that, I am sorry. And I thank you.
She’s a little dog, but she means a lot to us–clearly.
Even now that we have a positive outcome, I can say that I hate that we had to go through all of this. All of the worry, the sorrow, the not-knowing, the depression. I wouldn’t wish it on anybody else. The last three weeks sucked; they really did.
But I can also see it for what it was: a lesson. A lesson in love, hope, strength, and courage.
A lesson that life is precious. Life is good.
About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
