Randoms and Spicy Black Bean Chili

:: my cable purse is sooooo close...BUT my needle broke! How can that happen? Well I was knitting on the circular needles backwards. I should have had the right side of the purse to the inside but this is my first project working in the round so after I cast on, I flipped the needles as if it was a flat project (doh!). After the first row I got the hang of knitting in the round and continued on but now with the needles backwards. As the purse was getting bigger, I was creating more work for myself by having to force the right needle straight and finally the plastic connector snapped. I only have 12 more rows left (after decreasing this will fly by)!! I am hoping my big sock order gets here today so I don't have to sit and stare at my broken needle until I go get another one. Ah well, lesson learned, I will never again hold my circular needle wrong!

:: have you seen the show Weeds? If you don't mind a few cuss words with your humor, WATCH it! It is really funny. We just signed up for Netflix. You can watch as many online shows and movies as you want! really cool and much more convenient than RedBox.

:: my friend Nicole is looking to buy a house. So she showed me a couple listings and I got all excited. So I looked up some listings back in Portland, Oregon. I found this one! How great are those windows??? the kitchen needs some work but those windows would do wonders for indoors photos.

:: the black bean chili was AWESOME (said like Kelly Kapoor)! It ended up being too spicy to share with my girl but we just loved it. I have made a few chilis with black beans in the past few months but this one was by far the best as noted by the husband. The husband would not touch beans for most of his life, just ask his mom. So I am so happy that he has slowly opened up to them. The same thing happened with avocados. It is still happening with bananas. But really he enjoys anything I cook.



Spicy Black Bean Chili (recipe modified from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker)

1 tsp olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp chili powder (I ran out or I would have added more)
1 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp cumin (I LOVE cumin)
1 tsp grill seasoning
3 cups cooked black beans or 2 15.5 oz cans, drained and rinsed
2 14.5 oz diced tomatoes
1 4 oz can diced green chilies
1 cup water
salt and pepper

cooked chili toppings:
shredded cheese
avocados
cilantro
grape tomatoes
tortilla chips

Heat olive oil in saute pan. Saute onions for a minute or two, add carrots. After 2 or 3 more minutes and onions are softer add garlic, chili powder, cayenne pepper, cumin, grill seasoning. Cook for 30 seconds more and remove from heat. (I do this the night before and add all other ingredients to a big bowl, throw the bowl into the fridge. This helps with less prep in the morning and colder ingredients can add time to your cooking. As for most people, a 6-8 hour cooking time just doesn't work for us). Turn the crockpot on to low and dump cold ingredients in (do not add chili toppings). Cook on low for 9ish hours.

Add toppings and enjoy!