Happy Birthday to Me!

Today I turn 26 years old. And what do I have planned for myself today? Cleaning my apartment. Two weeks of night shifts from eight at night to eight in the morning means my apt is trashed. I have already cleaned the bathroom and took down the Christmas tree. I am planning to clean and organize my spare room. I have a two bedroom apt, but the front bedroom only contains my stash and the various junk that is not immediately needed after moving.

So, everything is going in boxes and is going to be neatly stacked (I hope). While doing that, I need to wash about three loads of laundry. The laundry facilities are a bit touch and go around here. There is only one washer and dryer and they are shared by all 8 apts in the building. I have an advantage in that I don't work days. So, I tend to wash clothes when most other residents are at work.

Now it is time for the Christmas recap. I had several things on my list that I considered necessities, not just stuff I wanted for the heck of it. One such item was a slow-cooker. I got a 5-quart Rival Crock-pot from my grandmother and have already used it twice. Both times I made my dad's chili. It is easy and very cheap. All you need is 2-5 cans of Luck's Pinto Beans, a 16oz can of tomato sauce, a packet of McCormick chili seasoning and a pound of hamburger.

1. Mix the seasoning in a 1/2 cup of water.
   
2. Add the tomato sauce.
   
3. Open the cans of beans and put in slow-cooker.
   
4. Add the seasoning/tomato sauce mix.
   
5. Brown the hamburger and add to mixture in cooker.

6. Allow to simmer for 1-2 hours.

7. Enjoy.

I decided to make to chili because it was easy. Also, all ingredients totaled about $6.50. I just made a weeks worth of food for the price of one combo at McDonald's! It tasted just like my dad's too. I ended up calling him about 3 times asking for instructions :).

Here is what it looked like in the Crock-pot:

And this is what it looked like in the bowl:

It tasted just like my dads.