Turkey Chili Mac and Cheese

In this stage of life, with all of our different weeknight commitments, I typically only cook 3 meals on average each week. When the husband is gone, I am certainly not going to prepare a full meal for just me and Finn. I made this last night for the three of us and it was easy, had minimal cleanup and provided a bunch for leftovers- not to mention it was perfect for a cold, rainy night.

Turkey Chili Mac and Cheese (adapted from here)

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, diced 
• 1 lb ground turkey (or beef)
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 can white kidney beans (cannellini), drained and rinsed
• 1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed 
• 1 can of corn
• 1 green pepper diced
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 3/4 a box uncooked elbow pasta
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese(I actually used Mexican blend)

Directions:

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic, onion, green pepper and ground turkey, and cook until browned, about 5 minutes.

Stir in chicken broth, tomatoes, beans, corn, chili powder and cumin; season with salt and pepper, to taste and let simmer. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to box directions in separate pot with generously salted water.

Once pasta is cooked just slightly firmer than al dente (it'll continue to cook once mixed in with the turkey/veggies), add two ladles of the starchy cooking water to the turkey/veggie mix (this will help the sauce bind with the pasta).

Drain the pasta and toss into the turkey/veggie mix. Combine until thoroughly blended.

Remove from heat and mix in your cheese.

I served topped with some fresh avocado to boost the health factor. Both the husband and our one year old loved it!

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving 2014

I cannot believe that it is December 1st already! Our house may have been decorated for Christmas two weeks ago, but I didn't want to skip completely over Thanksgiving. We were able to spend several nights in South Carolina and see both of our families. With our active boy, I only managed to get my real camera out a couple times. I also completely forgot to take any pictures with Dustin's fam, so we will have to make up for it at Christmas. Here is a little photo recap from our trip.

We celebrated our last Thanksgiving as a family of three. Hard to believe next year, baby boy #2 will join this picture!

Just because I love his face in this picture so much, here is what our family looked like last year...

 

My attempt to document "Finn's first Thanksgiving plate of food". Last year, he was only 10 weeks old and not able to enjoy to deliciousness that comes with Thanksgiving.

 Four generations of  the King family.

 Nonna with Finn

 Pop with Finn

 

 He also got a cupcake for dessert which he thoroughly enjoyed.

Getting ready to cheer on our tigers!

 I was so thankful that I was able to visit with one of my very best friends from high school since we were both in town. Rachel lives out on Colorado now with her new hubby so we're grateful when our paths cross.

 

Cheering on our tigers to the W! Also, we now officially have a walker!

Please ignore the awful lighting. This was the first time I was able to actually capture him walking on camera.

Now onto a full month of Christmas fun! I will try to stay as up to date on here during the month so you can follow along.

Clemson Weekend

Since it has now been two weeks since our weekend at Clemson, I figured now is as good of a time as any to post about it. Each year, my college roommates and our husbands (and whatever littles are tiny at the time) spend a weekend in Clemson. Toddlers stayed with grandparents and only babies that can nap on the go attended. This was our one weekend where we didn't have to be constrained by nap times and oh man did we live it up- out on the town at 2pm never felt so liberating. You can read about our last two trips here and here. This year's trip, we didn't have a home game but I think that made the weekend feel even more relaxed. Clemson was relatively quiet (if you don't count the bar crawl going on downtown) and the weather was so perfect. Here are some pics to recap.

Annual stop at Groucho's

 Annnd Spill the Beans

Just the girls plus babes. With Reynolds leaning in for a snuggle.

 Obligatory pic with the sign.

 So Sunday afternoon/evening, we learned that our lakehouse was a mile away from our favorite putt putt spot in college. Well, not only is it putt putt, but now there is an "arcade", laser tag and go karts. We designated this adventure as "Heather's 30th birthday party" and man oh man was it a fun time! The pictures pretty much speak for themselves.

One Year Photos

A few weeks back, we had Finn's one year photos taken by a local photographer around Atlanta some of our friends use. Her name is Brandi and she did a fantastic job. I would highly recommend her if you're in the Atlanta area. Let me just start off by saying that sweet boy was less than cooperative in that he didn't nap well that day, did not want to be held and definitely wanted nothing to do with his shoes. Given all of that, I was pleasantly surprised with the results.

Just in case you thought those little red Toms looked familiar... they are the same ones we used in our adoption announcement a year and a half ago. We couldn't possibly love those pudgy little feet that fill them any more!