Winter Fun, White Turkey Chili, and Traditions

On the plate: White turkey chili

Soundtrack to cook to:  Disney music...Alex loves the Jungle Book soundtrack, since it came out of the vault.  :)

Mmmm!!  I love each season because of their different comfort foods that they bring.  I absolutely LOVE to make soups, chowders, and stews.  They're just the perfect dish to cozy up to on a cold winter's day.  However, before we get to today's recipe, here's a few pics of the fam:

Alex and me on our "Snuggle couch."
While we're waiting for William to wake up
from his afternoon nap, we get under a big blanket
and snuggle together on the "snuggle couch."
Perfection :)

The boys, playing nicely.

William being cute in his crib.

Alex, tickling William and playing on the couch together.

We were a little late in completing our ice skating and dinner tradition this year.  Joseph had a really busy schedule and unfortunately, didn't have the time available to do our tradition until the first weekend in February.
Since William had just learned to walk, we figured that it would be pretty difficult to expect the little guy to ice skate with us.  So, we had a sitter watch William for the afternoon, and we took Alex on a little date for our ice skating and dinner tradition.  Three years and going strong!  We can't wait until William will be able to do this next year.

Joseph and Alex, getting ready to skate.

Me and Alex, ready to get our skate on!

The wind made my bangs do something funky,
but we were having such a great time!

Someone was sweet enough to take our picture
together.  Happy skating!

Joseph and Alex skating together :)

Mid way through, we took a break.

These two are so cute :)

Woo hoo!  We did it!  We made it around
the rink 10 times!!!  Alex had such a wonderful
time and we had a blast, skating around
the rink with him.  So much fun!

Afterwards, instead of going to our
regular restaurant in the area, we tried a new
one called, "Commonwealth."
I swear...I did not intentionally color match
with Alex.  ;-)

Alex with Joseph on our date.
We had such a lovely time together, and
I know that Alex enjoyed the individualized
attention and INCREDIBLE food.

Something I'm truly proud of...our boys pick up after
themselves!!

Proud wife moment!!  Joseph took a picture of his name in the clinic office.  It's official, people!!  :)

Look out world!  Dr. Joseph Franses, coming through! :)

There was one, beautiful day (a freak accident), and the weather was 55 degrees!!  Thus, I was dying to get the boys outside so that they could run around.  We ended up going to the Franklin Park Zoo and had a lovely time seeing the animals.  I love that place and I know the boys do, too.

Alex insisted on being the rooster.  :)

Normally, I am very insistent on having the boys follow their routine where we eat at the dinner table and go to bath time around 7:45 p.m.  However, I was by myself with the boys and it was the Super Bowl.  Thus, I had to make a big pot of chili with a side of corn bread.  I let the boys have an extra treat of eating their dinner in front of the T.V. (they were totally thrown at first, but had a lot of fun). 
They had a lot of fun watching me scream at the T.V. and freak out within the first few seconds of the game when Manning threw that first play.
However, another reason why I let them stay up a little later was because of the half time show.  Alex loves Bruno Mars, and he was the performer this year.  I let the boys stay up for the half time show, and then it was time for bath, books, and bed.
Here's Alex's reaction to Bruno Mars' half time show:

Alex during the Super Bowl half time show

Some more of the action

It was my dear friend Kate's birthday, so my other lovely friend Roshni and I took her out for dinner and drinks.  I always have such a great time with these ladies and am so thankful for their friendship.  It's so great that our children are able to grow up together.   It's never a dull moment and is always a fun time.
Thanks, Joseph, for taking care of the boys while I went out with my lady friends!

Me, Kate, and Roshni at Aquitane for Kate's birthday.

15 month check-up time!!  This poor boy also had to get 4 shots that day.  He was definitely not that happy.  However, this doctor's office is amazing.  After every mandatory check-up, they give the kids a book!  Woo hoo! 

William, smiling as much as possible
after getting 4 shots.  He loved his new book!

"Ok mom...I don't want to smile anymore...
pick me up and take me home!"  :)

The boys playing out in the snow

I cannot believe I haven't shared this recipe before!!  It meets all of my criteria:
1-It's healthy.
2-It's DELICIOUS.
3-It's easy to make and is completed in less than an hour.
4-It's comfort food in a bowl.  Yummmmmm

Here's what you'll need to make this delectable dish:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 4 stalks celery, diced (I use extra because I like my soups to have a lot of substance)
• 6 medium poblano peppers, seeded, white ribs removed, finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 3/4 tsp dried oregano
• 1 lb ground turkey
• 2 (15.5 oz) cans cannelini beans
• 1 (15.5 oz) can hominy, drained and rinsed
• 4 cups chicken broth
• salt

Garnish (per bowl):

• A dollop of nonfat plain Greek yogurt - mix it in - trust me, this MAKES the dish
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• A drizzle of fresh lime juice

Chop up the celery, onions, poblanos, and garlic.

Brown the ground turkey first.
Then, toss in the vegetables and cook for about 8-10 minutes.

Then add in the following:

• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 3/4 tsp dried oregano
• 1 lb ground turkey
• 2 (15.5 oz) cans cannelini beans
• 1 (15.5 oz) can hominy, drained and rinsed
• 4 cups chicken broth
• salt
  
  Cook for 30 minutes

The end product!

Voila!  Mix in a tablespoon of Greek yogurt, a tablespoon of cilantro,
and a quick squeeze of lime for garnish. 
An incredibly delicious and healthy soup that is sure to be a crowd pleaser!

"Awwooooo!"  :)

The boys, playing in one of their favorite toys - an empty box.  :)

They were being so sweet with one another.

William is definitely showing interest
in books now.  Can you tell?

I was finishing up my dinner, looked up,
and saw this smiling face.  What a sweetheart!

Alex crawled onto the snuggle couch and greeted Oscar.  He's finally
starting to love his furry brother.

Joseph had a round of overnights where he went into work at 7 p.m and got home at 11 a.m. the next day, so I had to keep the kids quiet in the house while he slept during the day.  

I found this really cool craft from Pinterest to make "Play snow."
In order to make this fun concoction, you only need a few ingredients (ones that you definitely have lying around the house).

Mix 2 cups of baking soda with 1/2 cup of hair conditioner (I followed
the suggestion and chose a white conditioner - to make it look more like snow
-and also had a pleasant scent).
Mix together until just combined.

The end result is a fun, coconut scented, moldable powder (i.e.
Play snow).  It was cool to the touch, smelled nice, and the boys
had fun molding the "snow" into different shapes and dragging their
cars through it.

I recommend putting it in a big tub, otherwise it will get everywhere.
If you like it, place it in a resealable container to make it last longer.
I forgot to do so, so it only lasted for about 4 days and then became
very sandy and was no longer moldable.

One of the many days that we had a lot of snow!

William and Alex making snow angels.

The snow was really coming down that day!
I had to clean off the patio 3 times that day
because Oscar refused to go to the bathroom
unless I cleaned it off.
(But you can't blame him.  Once there's an inch of
snow on the ground, that means it's already
scraping the bottom of his belly.)

Alex enjoyed eating the snow, but I repeatedly
told him to stay away from the yellow snow.  :)

Our adorable snow bunnies :)

And now for a little cheeky panda...

Whenever he sees a camera, he goes,
"Eeeeeee!"  (Cheese!)

He's got some beautiful eyes. :)

William was very tickled with his selfie.

The boys, enjoying our walk around the block.

Or rather, our "drag" around the block.  :)

I enrolled the boys in a Music Together class every Thursday.  Both of the boys love it.  During this class, they enjoyed banging on a drum together.  :)

Alex banged the drum, while William held his hand on the drum
to feel the vibrations.

Here's a funny video of our fur baby, Oscar.

Oscar is always in the same room of the house as us.
During bath time, Oscar makes himself comfortable on
Alex's bed.  After the boys' bath, I went into Alex's room
and found Oscar like this. :)

We had a super fun play date with a former colleague of mine.  She has two adorable kiddos and she decided to play some fun music during the play date.  She put on some Bruno Mars and Alex gleefully ran up to the microphone and serenaded us.  He's such a ham!

The future Bruno Mars :)

After another snow, my sister Kristen, her fiance Pete, and I decided to take the boys out to go sledding.  We ventured to a large field located a few blocks from our house and had a fun-filled morning in the deep snow!

Pete, Alex, William, and Kristen in the snow.

Kristen, Alex, and William, getting ready to
go down the hill.

Me, Alex, and William, getting ready to go down the hill.

"Weeeeeeeee!"

Me, undoubtedly mopping up a wet nose
from William.  I swear, as soon as the fall
comes, the boys have runny noses until March.

William was getting tired of falling in the snow, so he took a break.  Then, Kristen and Alex went down the hill a few more times together.  Kristen was having a blast in being creative in going down in different formations.  Alex loved the one-on-one time with her.

Alex and Kristen getting ready to sled down
the hill again.

After a couple of hours, we started to get pretty tired and hungry.  So, we started to make our way back to the house.

Alex in the snow.  It looks like Alex took
quite a few tumbles in the snow, judging
by the amount of snow in his scarf.

Since the snow was past William's knees,
we tried pulling him in the sled through the
field. 

Since he kept rolling over into the snow,
we decided to lay him down on his back
and pull him this way.  :)

William, ready to conquer the playground.

Alex liked taking his little hiking stick
wherever he went.

William, taking the reins.

Kristen loves to put her glasses on William.
(And can you tell that he loves it, too?)

Our little playa :)

William and Kristen after a fun day in the snow!

We've had a fun winter this year, but I'm SO glad to see the snow leave. 
Until next time...

Love and kisses,
Nikki