I blame the early end to my slumber of a the fact that I woke up very thirsty at 5am.  My mind kept racing and I couldn’t go back to sleep for the life of me, so when the clock struck 6, I thought, What the heck, and bounced out of bed.  I figured I could get a start on my day and my to-do list, so I did.  I made coffee, then had to re-make the pot once I realized that I had essentially just made brown water.  I fried an egg, nearly set the smoke alarm off at 6:15 (wouldn’t THAT have delighted my roommates), which sent me racing around the kitchen, frantically waving a towel to clear the smoke.  Luckily, breakfast and I were saved (apparently our smoke alarm doesn’t like to get up before 8 either).  While working at my desk I enjoyed a cup of Round 2 coffee and a yummy Trader Joe’s English muffin, my fried egg atop one, some pecan butter atop the other.  (Fear not, I only dribbled a little egg onto my desk calendar.)

I am currently all over the Interwebs, trying to plan out meals for this week.  We barely have any leftovers from The Boyfriend’s meal last night.  One of my favorite sites is Big Oven.  Big Oven is a recipe database with a unique option: you can do a search based on leftovers.  So if you cooked too much rice last night, type in rice and whatever random ingredients you have lying about the fridge, and Big Oven will show you what you can do with your leftovers! It’s a great tool for the days when the creative culinary juices just aren’t flowing.  Today is one such day for me.

And this evening, while I and several bulky bags were forcing our way into the apartment, chili was my ray of hope.  The evening was slated to be a crummy one spent worrying about my very sick puppy and playing catch-up with my to-do list, but chili made it a little better.

While the chili simmered, my glass of wine and I caught up on some mail that arrived for me today.  My postal treat was from my favorite friends at Applegate Farms:

How excited am I?? Christmas has come early! Remember my excited post from a few weeks ago? Seriously, this OOTS lunchbox should be on your holiday wish list.  It’s durable (no bruised apples), dishwasher safe (for you lucky ones), very cheerful, and much less embarrassing than reusing a Target bag (not that Target is embarrassing, of course!).

As I’ve said before, Applegate Farms has some awesome products so be sure to check them out in the grocery store.  They are natural and organic and all-around good for you.  And wonderfully tasty. Maybe we’ll be seeing more Applegate Farms products on the blog in the near future?

Now on to the recipe of the night! If you had the sort of crum-bum day that I did, you definitely need a dose of this medicine:

Page’s Chili

Heat 1 T olive oil in a skillet.  Add 2 chopped peppers and 2 chopped onions and saute for a few minutes.  If you have garlic cloves, mince and add one or two. I didn’t have any so I used approx. 2 t. garlic powder when I added the spices later.

All those colors make me happy

Add about 1 lb. turkey or beef and cook until brown.

Sid provided necessary supervision.

Once the beef is fully cooked, drain the fat and put beef and vegetables in a large pot.  To the pot add: 6 c. (48 oz.) crushed tomatoes, 2 cans (14 oz. each) kidney beans, 3 bay leaves, 3 T. chili powder, 1/2 T. crushed red pepper, all depending on your taste.  Let simmer on low for about 45 minutes.

It doesn't look pretty, but it sure tastes pretty

This recipe makes a vat of chili large enough to feed you, your roommate, and your hungry boyfriend for several days.  You can pair chili with almost any starch (I enjoy noodles or a baked potato).  Tonight I made cornbread from a Trader Joe’s mix I got on my cross country trip this summer.

The mix calls for 1/2 c. of oil, but I substituted the same amount of applesauce like I normally do with cake mixes.  It tastes exactly the same.

After dinner I packed my lunch for tomorrow:

I couldn’t resist a shot! (In case you’re interested, that’s leftover chili and cornbread, applesauce, Stonyfield soy yogurt to try for the first time, raisins and almonds.)

I’m off to care for this miserable monster named Jack.  Hope he feels better soon!

Leaving St. Louis was a hassle because 64 was closed where we needed to get on, we got lost in the land of Outrageously High Speed Bumps, and we were both yelling at the GPS (“I can’t turn here, stupid! Stop yelling at me! If I turn left I will drive off that ramp! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT?!”). We both suffered from heartburn, backaches, and atrophying limbs from sitting for hours on end (ahh, this is the charming part of fun car trips that they forget to tell you about). My bones turned brittle and my intestines abandoned me for living on a diet of coffee and microwaveable noodle bowls. To motivate ourselves, we took unnecessary inspiration from the radio (“But we’ll try, best that we can, to caaaaaaaaaaaarry on!”).

Basically when you’re two native New York girls driving through a state that is nothing but flat farmland dotted with signs like “Jesus is Lord of All! Pornography Destroys!” and “You Are Now Entering the Hometown of Kansas’ favorite son: Bob Dole,” things start to feel desperate. “Where, oh where, are our spectacular red Utah cliffs, our breathtaking Colorado mountain views, and our welcoming western blue skies?” we lamented. We had left them for Middle America, the land of conservative Christians and fast food (and aggressive advertising schemes for both). I stopped taking pictures of the landscape and started taking pictures of interesting or bizarre signage.

Needless to say, we were thankful for the urban oasis that St. Louis provided. Sadly, the city was completely wasted on us. In numbers, this is our experience in St. Louis:

• 5: Time we woke up Monday morning in Colorado Springs.
• 8: Time we actually got on the road due to the Garden of the Gods and delicious breakfast detour.
• 10: Hour at which we decided Poptarts would be an excellent addition to the morning.
• 10:10: Hour at which we both suffered extreme heartburn from extreme eating.
• 15.5: Number of hours on Monday spent driving through Kansas and Missouri
• 3: Number of times we filled the tank on Monday.
• 114: Number of CDs we played (approximately)
• 11:30: Time we arrived in St. Louis Monday night.
• 30: Number of minutes we spent talking to my roommate’s cousin (our host) before the three of us passed out.
• 7: Hour at which we were planning on leaving the house Tuesday morning.
• 9:14: Hour at which we actually woke up Tuesday morning.
• 10:36: Hour that morning at which we took pictures of the Gateway Arch from the car as we sped out of St. Louis.

Tuesday we drove through Illinois (which, to my credit, I thought would be more populated than it was!). The Illinois landscape looked enough like New York to make me both homesick and painfully aware of how many hours and miles and days and gas stops we had to go. At least when we crossed from Illinois into Indiana, we finally entered our home time zone!

Tuesday night we spent in Columbus, Ohio, stocking up at Trader Joe’s, sitting in our hotel’s steam room, and enjoying the feeling of standing on the ground for an extended period of time. And then came: THE FINAL DAY ON THE ROAD!

Signs of civilization:

Home, sweet home