Chili & Cinnamon Rolls

 

 

There is just something so special about the combination of chili and cinnamon rolls together.  My entire hometown looked forward to that incredible combo of chili and cinnamon rolls served in the school cafeteria for dinner right before the big homecoming game. 

Now I've moved to another state, another town, but have carried on the tradition of chili and cinnamon rolls in my home.  Usually I make it our tradition to have it for dinner on Halloween before the trick or treating begins, but this year my daughter fell ill and so Grandma's homemade chicken noodle soup took its place.  I'll be sure to share that fabulous healing recipe in a future post, but right now I just want to talk chili and cinnamon rolls. 

When my husband met me he thought I was crazy to put chili and cinnamon rolls together on the table.  Now he can't enjoy chili any other way!  Our way of doing it is we don't wait to finish the chili before having the cinnamon roll.  Oh no!  Oh no, no, no!  You take a bite of chili, you take a bite of cinnamon roll, you take a bite of chili...you get it?  There is no eat your dinner first before dessert.  That rule doesn't apply here! 

So for this post I wanted to share a great family chili and cinnamon roll recipe with you all.  This chili recipe comes from my Grandfather's church.  To those who have experienced and enjoyed the bliss of this combo then you know exactly what I am talking about here, and to those who have never tried it before I encourage you to do so because I truly believe you will never look back!  You may even add this to your list of fun fall family traditions.

The Pastor Wife’s Chili

This is a perfect basic mild chili recipe.

 

1 lb of ground round or ground sirloin

1 – 15 ounce can of tomato sauce

2 –  16 ounce cans of mild chili beans

2 Cups of water

1 Bay Leaf

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 teaspoon of Chili Powder

 

Fry the meat with salt and pepper stirring until cooked, drain the fat.  Add the rest of the ingredients, stir well and simmer on the stove slightly covered until the chili thickens.  After it cooks, remember to remove the Bay Leaf.  

 

The Pastor’s wife made this chili simple so everyone would like it.  She would set out bowls of cheddar cheese, sliced fancy onions, sour cream and Fritos.  The chili powder was passed around so everyone who wanted extra spice could add their own. 

You can make this with a crockpot, stockpot or a sauce pot whichever you prefer.

Our family favorite cinnamon rolls recipe is in the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook.  Here is a link to the Better Homes and Gardens website to see the recipe we've loved over the years.  http://www.bhg.com/recipe/yeast-breads/cinnamon-rolls

I also highly recommend two great cookbooks!

Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book and Killer Chili:  Savory Recipes from North America's Favorite Chili Restaurants.

Best part of all is the chili always tastes better the second day!  Just warm up the cinnamon rolls, or make a new batch or keep a roll of Pillsbury Grands Cinnamon Rolls handy!!

For a little extra ambiance add festive music to your chili dinner.  Check out these fabulous cds by Joaquin Rodrigo called  Malagueña: Spanish Guitar Music and Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez; Fantasía para un Gentilhombre. 
  
Go and enjoy the taste of fall! 

The Favorite Fall Book Winner Is....

Pinfluence:  The Complete Guide to Marketing Your Business with Pinterest

By Beth Hayden

Every season I will be sharing my most favorite, good to read, you're so much better off after reading it, informative teaching book.  For this fall the favorite is...drum roll please....Pinfluence:  The Complete Guide to Marketing Your Business with Pinterest by Beth Hayden!  Holy cow this book is fabo!  Fabo! Fabo!  Hayden has not only made this book chock-full of advice and tips for bloggers, Pinterest users and pretty much anyone who has a computer and has some link to the social media world, but she has made it enjoyable and easy to understand.  I am not computer savvy.  Not one bit!  What takes one person ten seconds to understand, I'm banging my head on the desk ten hours later and that's no joke!!! :-)  She not only guided me through the entire book with ease her words also left me feeling inspired, capable and powerful.  That's a big deal! 

I've never wanted to hug someone so much after reading their book.  I want to hug this lady and just thank her big time, but I suppose an autograph will do just fine.  You can tell when she shares all of her tips and ideas in the book that she is genuinely wanting to help you for the better.  I like people like that, authors like that.  People who know these great things and make efforts to help others with their knowledge and expertise.  So with that said...pick up Pinfluence today.  Not tomorrow, not next week, next month or next year...do it NOW!!!  Thank you Beth Hayden for creating such an informative and delightful book to read!

To learn more about this great book here is the book description at Amazon!
Pinterest, the rapidly growing social networking site that allows users to post and share images and videos on "pinboards" (a collection of “pins,” usually with a common theme), is providing businesses and savvy entrepreneurs with a new platform to market their products and services. And, as with any new platform, learning what works best and what doesn’t when it comes to marketing can be a challenge. Pinfluence is a complete guide to Pinterest marketing that will teach you how to effectively raise awareness for your brand, product, or service, drive traffic from Pinterest to your website, and connect with current and potential customers.

You will learn:

• How to create a powerful Pinterest profile, your Pinterest brand strategy, set up boards, pin and repin images, and get into conversations in the Pinterest user interface.
• Pinterest marketing techniques, including great content creation, how to optimize websites and blogs for pinning, and how to start growing your followers.
• How to integrate Pinterest with other social media tools (including Facebook, Twitter, and blogs) and how to track trends and monitor conversation on Pinterest.
• Advanced Pinterest marketing techniques, including how to grow your audience, how to use the Pinterest iPhone app, advice for special types of businesses (B2B companies and nonprofits), and how to make your pins and boards “sticky” so they capture public attention and influence people to change their behavior.
• Pinterest copyright issues

Okay, now keep an eye out for my informative winter read!!  I don't know what it will be yet, but I know it will be awesomely informative! :-)         

School Supplies Fabric

This week's contest at Spoonflower is the School Supplies Contest.  All of the school supplies in my design are created out of cut paper and made into a paper collage.  I really enjoyed cutting the different colored papers and putting this design together.  The first design I ever did out of only paper was for the Paper Collage Cakes Contest called Cupcakes.  That turned out to be a lot of fun and this one was too. 

As I was creating this one it was making me excited for the new school year and for the fall!  I'm so ready for the fall!  My favorite shows are coming back, pumpkin everything, my crockpot, cooler weather and the colors of the leaves on the trees.  One of my favorite sounds is the sound of the wind blowing the leaves down a quiet street.  For this design I knew right away that I wanted to have apples in the mix.  Of course I had to have a teacher's apple.  Apples are another wonderful thing about the fall. 

School Days Contest Piece

 

Apples & Pencils

If you would like to check out my newest collection please click on School Supplies Collection.  If you are interested in purchasing any of the new fabric designs please contact me and I will make it available for purchase as soon as possible.  These fabrics could go great as tote bags for library days, bulletin board decorations for the school room, children's clothing and more!

Happy New School Year Everyone!!!