Friendship Chili

Almost two years ago, I got the call that one of my best friends had welcomed her sixth child, a precious baby boy. In our group of friends I'm proud to say that means we all get to work preparing to help in various ways. One way we show our love and help our friends in a practical way (and sneak in a few moments to snuggle and soak in that new baby) is by bringing a meal.

I'm Catholic so someone is always having a baby! It's one of my favorite parts about being a member of a vibrant Catholic community. So what was different about this time? My dear friend and I were pregnant together! We shared everything: our joys, sorrows, fears, all of it. While she was making it look easy, I was busy complaining! I love babies, but I hate pregnancy.

Then, she welcomed her beautiful baby boy and I realized at 9 months pregnant I had to figure out a meal to bring. It needed to be something that didn't require a lot of me as I hobbled around the kitchen with two other little kids under foot. I decided to go back to my roots for something warm and filling to feed a crowd (she had a husband, her mom, and five other kids after all). 

In my cabinet I found pinto beans, onions, and some cornmeal. Since I'm a big fan of using what I already have on hand, I started making chili. My mom raised us on very simple foods. She was a single mother (until I became a teenager) raising three kids. I grew up in pinto bean chili. Since my mom is also quite a picky eater,  her pinto bean chili consisted mostly of pinto beans, ground beef for flavor, ketchup, and chili powder. 

After browning some ground beef, I started cooking my pintos in a large pot with water and onions. Then I raided my spice cabinet. I needed more than ketchup and chili powder if I wanted this to be a meal fit for one of my dearest friends! So I started adding cumin, chili powder, garlic, curry powder, salt, pepper, and even a little sugar. The result was gobbled up quickly by her crew and she called me to say how much they all enjoyed it. My chili she said, could have won the cook off at church if I had entered it. (I didn't tell her I'd invented it just for her and baby.)

Since then, we have made this chili a lot at my house! It's perfect when you need to feed a crowd and it works well without the meat too which also makes it a go to meal for Ash Wednesday or meatless Fridays for our family.

Need a pot of friendship chili for your loved ones? Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

4 cups cooked pinto beans 

(Add water if you're not using canned beans. The amount of liquid you need, depends on how thick or thin you like your chili)

1 onion diced small

1/2 c Ketchup

4 T chili powder

3 T sugar

2 T garlic powder

2 T cumin

1 T curry powder

1 tsp paprika

salt and pepper to taste

1. Add onions, ketchup, and all spices to a pot full of pintos on the stove and stir. Cook on medium until all chili is heated through, onions are translucent, and flavors have married.

2. Serve in bowls with cheese or sour cream on top if you prefer. My mother adds a spoon of ketchup to the top and my husband likes to add crumbled bacon.

Don't forget #3: Enjoy your chili with friends and loved ones, because it tastes better!

Traveling the World With Mother Goose Time

We have spent the last two weeks traveling the world with Mother Goose Time and the February "It's A Small World" theme. In exchange for our curriculum, we agreed to tell you guys about our learning adventure. I'd love to share with you today some of our favorite world landmarks and activities.

We received cute "passport" books and stickers for each day's lesson with our curriculum kit. Each day the children drew a picture of the place we visited and collected their "stamp" sticker. They loved it!

Every day we had new activities related to the landmark we were visiting. 

When we visited the Leaning Tower of Pisa the kids created their own leaning towers with foam craft peanuts and toothpicks. 

Noah worked very hard to create a structurally sound tower, but Ada Grace had more fun spearing her foam peanuts with tons of toothpicks. 

We also visited natural landmarks like the Grand Canyon. Noah made me promise we could visit the Grand Canyon in real life when he gets older. 

I really appreciate that our curriculum not only teaches them about fascinating places but inspires them to dig deeper and explore the themes in reality as well. 

When we visited the Grand Canyon, the children created layered paper art collages to mimic the sunset over the canyon. They turned out nicely and I loved that they were virtually mess-free!

I think Ada Grace's favorite part was tearing the paper and applying the glue. She's becoming quite the artist!

Finally, we traveled East to visit the Great Wall of China. We talked about just how big the wall is. The kids were amazed that you can see it from outer space! Then, in our community challenge activity, Noah and Ada Grace worked together to build their own wall out of blocks. I love watching them work together to create!

We had so much fun traveling around Earth that we can't wait to explore Outer Space with March's curriculum box from Mother Goose Time. Don't forget to check back next week to see what we are learning about stars and planets!