Halloween Chili (aka Crock Pot Chili)

As long as I've lived in my house in Ypsilanti, Halloween has been a celebration. Right after I bought the house (over 17 years ago. gulp.) I immediately hosted a Halloween party. Perhaps it has something to do with the close proximity to my birthday . . . it becomes an early birthday party of sorts.

Before we had kids, a ton of our friends would come over and "help" us pass out candy to the treaters because . . . well, our neighborhood is just that cool at Halloween.

Of course now all of our collective kids are in full-blown Halloween mode these days so our house has become the meeting point for a bunch of them. This year we had the GREAT pleasure of having Halloween on a Saturday. And even though I had time to cook (although not really thanks to Saturday dance classes and such) I decided I would take it easy and make a crock-pot style chili. I found this recipe and it turned out so fabulous that I wanted to post it here for posterity's sake.

I doubled the recipe below and although it barely fit in my enormous crock pot, it was the PERFECT amount for our crowd. There was only a small amount remaining for leftovers. Sniff.

Crock Pot Chili

Ingredients:
2 lbs. ground chuck
1 cup chopped onion
1 green pepper, chopped
2 to 3 ribs celery, chopped
1 large (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
2 cans kidney or pinto beans, drained
1 tsp. pepper
3 tsp. chili powder
hot pepper, to taste, cayenne
1 tsp. garlic salt

Preparation:
In a large skillet, brown the ground beef. Drain well. Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker; cover and cook for 7 to 8 hours on LOW, or until done.

[About half-way through the day, Curt turned up the heat by throwing in some extra cayenne and spices. It worked. I hope he remembers what he did for next year.]

bon anniversaire

This is a big week for me.

Even as a kid, having my birthday just two days after Halloween (and one day after All Souls Day if you're counting that) was an exciting and busy time of year. Funny how they seem to run together more as an adult than they ever did as a kid, though. I mean it's a different month and everything.

Nine years ago today, I added another event to this jumble of days by marrying my honey on November 4th.

To this day, he'll say we rushed it by planning our wedding in four months but I wouldn't ever change a thing! (And I guess he should have known what he was getting himself into.)

I love you, husband.

My big yellow tree

I love the big old maple tree in my back yard. It's majestic and formidable . . . yet welcoming and huggable at the same time. It's, without a doubt, the focal point of our yard.

It never shines more brilliantly than in the fall when the the green leaves turn a bright golden. They seem to light up the area.

I finally remembered to take some photos of this beautiful tree in it's fall glory. I managed to take these shots just days before a windy/rainy day removed all of the leaves.

Audrey doing a "jig" in the yard.

Running in the leaves is so much fun!

And so is raking . . . for about five minutes.

Here comes the wind (although it's difficult to capture in this photo that Curt took).

All gone. Sniff.

And Curt is definitely looking forward to bagging all of those leaves. Just ask him.