Balacing

pretty much describes my daily quest, trying to balance the 'have-to's' with the 'want-to's.'  Balance is also the theme of our next Tangled Textiles challenge.  I found a couple of hours to start playing with it this weekend, and this is what I came up with.

I'm limiting myself to two colors, in a range of values.  I don't know if any of these will end up in the final piece, but I am having fun playing.  We'll see where this leads me.

Today was all about the kitchen.  I made chicken white chili for dinner.  I've done it before, but I think the pot I made today- without a recipe- is the best I've ever done.  This is what was left in the pot after dinner.

So, for my own sanity, since I probably won't remember how I did it if I don't write it down NOW- here's my recipe.  I chopped a large onion and about four cloves of garlic, and sliced about six stalks of celery.  I sauteed these in olive oil- enough to coat the bottom of my Dutch oven- until tender.  I covered the pot and let them sweat on low heat while I cut up four large chicken breast halves in to small pieces.  I took the veggies out of the pan, and sauteed the chicken in three batches, so the pan wasn't too crowded.  When all the chicken was cooked, I added my spices.  I used about two teaspoons of roasted ground coriander, two teaspoons of ground cumin, and two teaspoons of oregano.  I added salt and pepper, and cooked the chicken and spices for a few minutes.  Then I returned the veggies to the pan, added four cans of drained canellini beans, two small cans of chopped green chiles, and three cans of chicken broth.  That filled my Dutch oven up to the top.  I let it simmer for a couple of hours this afternoon, then served it with grated queso fresco, sour cream, and cilantro.  With corn muffins or tortillas, it made a scrumptious winter dinner.

I've had cans of pumpking staring at me in the pantry from Christmas- I never did make a pumpkin pie this year.  So I made pumpkin gingerbread cupcakes, frosted with cream cheese frosting.  Love the recipes in Williams-Sonoma Cooking at Home.  The frosting recipes don't have tons of sugar in them, and aren't gagglingly sweet.  Yum!!

I swear, one day I'll be a pro with my pastry bag!

So now I'm off to try to finish my latest book in my Nook- I need to start reading a library book I downloaded, I only have two weeks to get through that one.  Hope your week is a flavorful and creative one!