Xapa to the World

Category: Review

  • Smoky Weeknight Chili – BHG Recipe

    I subscribed to the Better Homes & Gardens magazine. It brings me so much joy when it shows up in the mailbox each month. If you follow them elsewhere (Facebook, Instagram), then you’ll find even more inspiration. I thought that I would challenge myself this year with making one of the recipes that comes each month in the magazine. I…decided to do this starting last week, so I hadn’t made anything from the January or February editions. So, here you are, the Smoky Weeknight Chili, featured on page 101 of the BHG February edition. (I’m going to have to do something hunting for the January magazine…I can’t seem to find it anywhere…)

    Now I’ve never made chili before. This looked like a fairly straightforward recipe, so I figured it would be a good one to start with. Plus, there is cocoa powder, and when you grow up in Cincinnati, you know that cocoa powder can make the chili. This recipe makes 4 servings of 1 1/2 cups each. I also added ground beef, because I cannot serve a meal to the Huz without meat…and I prefer meat in my chili as well.

    Smoky Weeknight Chilichili 140307

    Prep Time: 10 mins (unless you’re like me and prep while you cook)
    Cook Time: 35 mins

    Ingredients

    1 tbsp vegetable oil
    1 medium green sweet pepper, chopped (3/4 cup)
    1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
    1 15-16 oz can chickpeas (Garbanzo), rinsed and drained
    1 15-16 oz can great Northern beans, rinsed and drained
    2 tbsp chili powder (more or less for taste)
    1 15 oz can tomato sauce
    1 14 1/2 oz can fire-roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
    *1 lb ground beef, browned and drained
    1 tbsp packed brown sugar
    1 tbsp dark unsweetened cocoa powder
    *1 tsp cinnamon (optional for more of the Cincinnati variety)

    Directions

    1. In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add sweet pepper and onion. For great tip on how to cut bell peppers, which I did not do, click here. Cook and stir 4-5 minutes, or until tender. This took a bit longer for me, maybe 10 minutes. I think I had my heat turned down though.

    2. Add beans and chili powder. Cook and stir 2 minutes.

    3. Stir in tomato sauce, undrained tomatoes, ground beef, brown sugar, and cocoa powder and cinnamon, if desired. Bring to boiling and reduce heat. Cover and simmer 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

    4. Serving style: Optional toppings of sour cream, green onions, and chili powder. I shredded a bar of my Tillamook cheddar cheese and we used that as topping. It was so yummy!

    Health details available (sans ground beef) at the original recipe link above. I revised the recipe format a little. They had steps 1-3 all compiled into one step, and that makes too much reading through while I’m cooking, so I separated it for you.

    Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did! Have any chili recipes that YOU love? Care to share them?

  • Review: Huffman Park – Fairfield, OH

    A couple of weekends ago, my mom and I went to a new park in Fairfield to make some rain barrels. I’ve been wanting a rain barrel for a while. We have well water at The House, so water isn’t a challenge here, but I really want to be a better steward of the resources God has given us. Rainwater is one great resource.

    But before I get going on how great rain barrels are and how we made ours, I want to share about the park!

    Huffman Park

    2100 John Gray Road
    Fairfield, OH 45014
    513.867.5345 (Fairfield Parks & Recreation)
    Website

    130907 Huffman 01 st2
    left: rock at the entrance with benefactors of the park. right: windmill used to aerate the pond through an underground tube.

    This park has a very cool back story. I remember hearing about it a year or so ago, and now, having seen the finished product, I’m very impressed.

    The Huffmans owned the property, 22 acres, and maintained the property as natural open space for their kids to play in. When the couple died, the family donated the property, land and buildings, to the city to be turned into a public park. The two conditions were that it had to be a learning park for families and all the materials in the house had to be repurposed (whether in the park or through the Habitat for Humanity Restore facility). I believe the park staff said that 92% of the house was salvageable and repurposed in some form or another. Even if that’s not the right number, the percentage was very high. Some of the trees on the property were repurposed into playground equipment.

    130907 Huffman 03 st4
    clockwise from top left: tunnel with an overhead viewing spot in the center; wood balance beam and a rock circle; bumble bee monkey bars (there is some metal on this but even in the hot sun it was cool to the touch); pond with native aquatic plants to attract waterfowl.

    Not only is there play equipment for recreation, there are quite a few places for learning more about nature. The property includes several learning spots like a butterfly garden and a fruit and nut orchard. We even saw a persimmon growing on one of the tiny trees growing there.

    jpeg format huffman
    clockwise from top left: orchard learning station; tiny persimmon tree with fruit; more playground equipment and tree steppers; beautiful flowers to attract butterflies.

    Last year, I took a community garden class down in Cincinnati. At one point I stopped attending (I’m not sure if we were done, or I pooped out), but I learned so much about natural gardening techniques. I would love to take more classes like that (especially for the free price) in the future, but I was so excited to hear that they would have community garden plots at Huffman Park. I had to check them out while I was there. They are completely self-service, so if you don’t maintain them yourself, they will die. But it’s a great idea and there was some good stuff to see.

    130907 Huffman 04 st3
    This was late in the summer and the plants were already getting brown and scorched in that heavy heat, but I bet it looked great during the growing season!
    Baby corn and some peppers. Yum!
    Baby corn and some peppers. Yum!

    Ok, back to the rain barrel class. Sara was our teacher and there were 6 of us there making 5 barrels. My mom wanted to make one and I have wanted one for a while, so we both made our own. She ended up giving hers away, but ours is proudly out front in its bright, bright blue (that will soon be remedied with some spray paint…it is kind of an eyesore right now). We quickly went through the process and started at it. The hardest part was the hole saw. We had it figured for either not enough torque or too much. One of the men came over and helped stabilize the saw for me while I guided it because it was just too strong for me. I have two little snags in my t-shirt from where it shot off the top of the barrel towards my stomach. I was not harmed. I felt like wonder woman!

    130907 Rain barrel 01 st3
    clockwise from top: two of the “students” and our teacher Sara on the right; mom snapped a pic of me in action!; cutting the big hole to sit under the downspout.

    We had a great time and learned a lot more about the park and made a couple of friends. Sara is the first naturalist on staff with Fairfield Parks and she is very enthusiastic about her job. She is looking for more ideas of things to teach Fairfield/Butler County residents. The classes are open to anybody, but they are a little more expensive if you live out of the area. Costs seem to be primarily for supplies. They have concerts, painting and photography classes, yoga, bird watching/learning, stargazing, etc. There are tons of activities for kids. Call or visit the city website (above) for more information. http://gettotheBC.com has a lot of great information about other activities throughout all of Butler County. It’s a definite must-visit for the local tourist.

    In the meantime, I’m going brainstorm how to paint my new rain barrel and get it ready for next year’s growing season!

    Yes, I realize that the spout is too close to the ground. We're working on that as well. :)
    From start to finish!  Yes, I realize that the spout is too close to the ground. We’re working on that as well. 🙂

  • Crains Run Nature Park

    A month or so, ago, I took a wrong turn coming back from the Dayton Mall area and ended up on this twisty, beautiful road called Crains Run. When I went to show Matt the road, I noticed that we plopped out near the namesake Crains Run Nature Park. At that time, we could not stop to enjoy it; plus, it was unseasonably cold…or hot that week…I can’t remember, but I just know we couldn’t stop. So we promised that sometime soon, we would stop and check it out. Matt has been in this area for years and had never visited it, but I’m the type of person who a) loves parks, b) loves local, c) loves new places, d) loves old places, and e) loves going to said places with my husband.

    Crains Run 01 stacked sq

    That is what Crains Run Nature Park is. It is a park, and very lovely. It’s local, and is part of a string of parks along the Miami River. There is a bike patch connecting all these parks for miles! It is new to me, and I love first time visits anywhere. I’m saying it is old because of the river. There is something about rivers that is just old and new all at once, and I love paradoxes like that. It is like the Gospel.

    Crains Run 02

    Ohio has been doing a great job of turning old rail routes that are no longer in use into walking/bike paths. While I do love trains and the rail system, this idea of making something new and scenic from something else is fabulous to me. The views are lovely, and there is a lot of nature to observe along the way. We took a short walk on the path, only a mile in one direction and back, before we called it an evening. My feet were sore at the end of it, but my heart was full.

    Crains Run 06 sq

    I felt like I was running (well, I was walking) through Narnia, “Further up! And further in!” It was growing and the smells and sounds were delicious. I’m also a self-christened “hana otaku,” which can be translated from the Japanese to mean a “flower nerd.” And I think wildflowers are some of the best. This park has them in spades. We walked along a big cement platform out to the river’s edge and found some lovely examples of Ohio wildflowers.

    Crains Run 05 stacked

    Some of these I have never seen before.

    Crains Run 04I love how the wild nature reminds me so much of God. We go through our lives, many of the events having the same color and feel, like the green of the trees, bushes, weeds, and then suddenly, we will find a patch of beautiful color to remind us that God is right there and has a treasure to show us. The little blessings throughout the day are the scattered wild daisies or butterflyweed tucked into the corners between the strong oak and maple trees. And God spoke these into creation; they are from the very words of God!

    I enjoy seeing the discarded remnants of man’s attempt to either make better or to invade something wild. In the end, it is all nothing. God made nature resilient and no matter how many times something is paved over, a flower will probably start growing between the cracks.

    Crains Run 03 stacked

    Here are the specs for the park:

    Crains Run Nature Park

    http://www.miamitownship.com/dept/parks/parks-directory/
    Miami Conservancy District

    10741 Dayton Cincinnati Pike, Miamisburg, OH, 45342

    Wildflower types:

    American Pokeweed

    Halberdleaf Rosemallow

    Those are the only two I could find information for online.