Disclosure: I am a Hamilton Beach blogger. The blender was provided for me to create tasty recipes. All opinions and recipes are my own.

It's gonna be HOT this weekend here in Michigan. Woohoo! During the summer months, I am all about watermelon.  I freeze cubes for my water! My favorite use, though? In cocktails, of course! Watermelon + Coconut is my favorite summer combo right now.

Why I'm Getting Rid of My New Keurig 2.0 {Giveaway} #FlexBrew

Disclaimer: I am a Hamilton Beach blogger and the FlexBrew coffee maker was given to me to review. All opinions are my own and I am not compensated for a positive review of the product.  I keep it real, y'all!

When I first heard about the Keurig 2.0, I was SO excited.  It's the best of both worlds-- sometimes I love a pot of coffee instead of a single cup. Having three little ones, coffee is a necessity to make it through the morning.  I am SO not a morning person!!  When the box arrived, it was shiny and beautiful.

Smoky n' Sweet Turkey Chili {Plus a Hamilton Beach #Giveaway!}

We are in day EIGHT of an awful flu bug going around the house.  Needless to say: I'm going CRAZY!  It started with coughs with runny noses and now we have a round of "let's throw up on everything".  I feel so bad for my little ladies!  Fingers crossed it doesn't come my way...

During the winter months (aka flu season around here...) I tend to make tons of soups and chili.  This version on my turkey chili came about one day when I realized I didn't have any chili powder left.  Ricky gets tons of spices from work and I decided to try a new McCormick packet: Smoky BBQ Chili.  I wasn't sure about the BBQ combination, but it turned out SO tasty.  All winter I've switched up my recipe to this one!  

The Smoky BBQ packet gives it a little sweetness and the heat level is mild, so perfect for kiddos.  I made one batch with poblanos and green chilies, instead of bell peppers and it had MUCH more heat. It's nice you can adjust the chili to your preferences.  The smoky flavor isn't overwhelming--just enough in the background.

This recipe uses Jennie-O lean ground turkey, since we don't eat much beef--but feel free to substitute whatever you have on hand! Even add lentils or extra beans instead of the meat for a veggie version! We serve our chili with plenty of toppings and coconut oil cornbread.

While I don't mind chopping, when you're trying to get a meal on the table, it's nice to use some help! I was sent this Hamilton Beach Stack + Snap food processor last fall and it's been a game changer.  It literally takes 5 seconds to chop up veggies for a meal. There is a huge opening on the top, so all you have to do is cut items in half or seed the peppers.  I also have been buying blocks of cheese and shred them with the attachment.  Saves some money! You'll have a chance to win one of your own, too! 

Smoky n' Sweet Turkey Chili
Here's what you need:

• 1 package of lean Jennie-O Turkey
• 2 medium onions, or 1 large, chopped 
• 1 cup peppers, chopped: green, poblano or banana (perfect use for markdown peppers!)
• 2 cans chili beans
• 2 cans diced tomatoes
• If you like super thick chili, use 1 can of tomato paste, too
• 1- 4oz can diced green chiles (optional)
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (my secret go-to ingredient!)
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 packet McCormick Chili spices in Smoky BBQ
• Favorite Toppings! Ideas: avocado, cilantro, tortilla chips/Fritos, cheese, green onions, oyster crackers.

1. Heat large pot over medium heat.  Add tablespoon oil and chopped veggies.  Stir and cook 2-3 minutes.  Add ground turkey.  
2. Stir and break up turkey while it's cooking.  Once no longer pink, add Worcestershire sauce, cumin and chili seasoning packet.  Stir until mixed through.  If you want thicker chili, add can of tomato paste now.
3. Slowly add each can of chili beans and diced tomatoes.  Allow to bubble for at least 15 minutes on low heat.  Stir frequently to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom.  
4. Serve over macaroni noodles, on a chili dog or in a big ol' bowl with toppings!  I love to make baked chips and scoop them in. 

This freezes well, just put in cup sized portions for future lunches!

Now here's the fun part!  Enter to WIN a Stack + Snap food processor of your own below!  

Note: I do monitor and regulate all entries.  If an action is not performed, it will be deleted.  Any questions using the Gleam.io site, please ask!  

Hamilton Beach Stack and Snap Food Processor (10 cup)

#SlowCookerMeals: Turkey Swedish Meatballs {Plus a Giveaway!}

Woohoo! It's October! You know what that means? We can start decorating for Halloween! Also, it means fall weather better start showing up. This is my favorite time of year.

To celebrate fall, I'm going to do some easy, budget friendly slow cooker meals throughout the month of October!  We all tend to turn to our slow cookers in cooler weather for our favorite comfort food.  I'm sure you all have a bunch of recipes you normally use, so I'm going to try to step out of the box for different ideas! Also: I'm giving away one of these AMAZING Hamilton Beach Set & Forget Slow Cookers. 

Why is this slow cooker amazing? It has 3 different settings: automatic, manual and probe setting.  The probe is a meat thermometer which keeps track of the temperature of the meat while cooking.  Once it reaches it's ideal temperature, it will turn the slow cooker to warm to prevent overcooking! How cool is that?  This is great for pot roast or slow cooked chicken. If you frequently travel with your slow cooker for pot lucks, this lid locks in place!

Now time for my first recipe: Turkey Swedish Meatballs.  These came in at $8.25 for the ENTIRE MEAL and couldn't be easier!  I used frozen meatballs to keep it simple, but you can totally make your own if you want!

This week (through 10/4), Meijer has every single one of these items on sale, which makes this meal even cheaper!

Here's What You Need:

• 1 bag of turkey meatballs (1.5 lbs) ~25 large meatballs
• I used Cooked Perfect Turkey Meatballs (NOT Italian style)

• 1 can Healthy Request Cream of Mushroom Soup
• 1 Packet Brown Gravy Mix
• 1 cup of onions, chopped
• 1 package sliced mushrooms
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 bag whole wheat egg noodles
• Garnish: parsley 

1.  Set your slow cooker to LOW for 6-7 hours (HIGH 4). Spray cooker with PAM.
2. Add onions and mushrooms in cooker. Pour brown gravy mix over and water.  Mix.
3. Open can of soup and add on top of veggies.  Fill the can halfway full with milk and pour into slow cooker.
4. Finally, add meatballs.  Stir and cover.  LOW 6-7 hours, HIGH 3-4
5. Before serving, boil water and prepare noodles.  Cook al dente (about 4 minutes). Toss with butter and parsley.  While water is boiling, stir in sour cream to meatballs.  Season with salt & pepper, to taste.
6. Serve meatballs over noodles!

Super simple and healthy(ish) comfort food dish!  The girls gobbled this up--one bag of meatballs almost wasn't enough for our family of 5.  For a party, you can make these and serve with toothpicks instead of noodles!  The sauce has a gravy consistency, so if you like it thicker, add some corn starch.  Once mixed with noodles, it's perfect though!

Want to win the amazing slow cooker? Enter below!  Stay tuned for more tasty #SlowCookerMeals throughout October!!

Hamilton Beach Set & Forget Slow Cooker

Fudgy Healthified S'Mores Brownies + Hamilton Beach Giveaways!

Disclosure: I am a Hamilton Beach brand ambassador and I received free products for review.  All opinions and tasty recipes are my own!

In my house growing up, my Mom was the best cook.  We were a family who sat down every night for dinner together to catch up on what happened that day.   My favorites were her spaghetti sauce, fried chicken and chicken enchiladas. I definitely got my cooking bug from her.  (Thanks Mom!)

When it came to baking, that was my Dad's niche.  Especially chocolate chip cookies!  Also, for Christmas baking, my Dad typically takes over.  To this day, I use the same cookie recipe and my girls love to have cookies at Grandma & Grandpa's.

You all know I love to healthify recipes and last week I came up with one by accident.  It seems that happens quite often!  I was craving brownies while Ricky was at work and I realized I only had egg whites and I remembered reading that you could sub black beans instead of eggs + oil (thank you Pinterest!).  I went through the pantry and voila! This recipe came about.  Yes, they are still a "sometimes food" as we call it...but at least they are a tad bit healthier!

My Dad is supposed to watch his sugar intake and I think I could make these without him noticing the difference!

These brownies came out fudgy, gooey and perfect for any special occasion.  Or if you get home from work before a party and realize "crap, I need to bring something!".  You can whip these up in less than an hour and be the star of a party.  Or if you want to binge watch Orange is the New Black and not feel guilty... (Season 2 is SO good!).

I also have a new giveaway for you! Hamilton Beach send us two awesome mixers to try.  The first one is a stand mixer which we've made our favorite pizza dough  with and it turned out perfectly!  We also got a hand mixer with soft scrape blades which I can make whipped potatoes in my pot without worrying about scrapes!

So are you brave enough to try these black bean brownies?  Olivia said "Black bean brownies? Mama you're CRAZY!"...but she gobbled them up!

Here's what you need:

• 1 box of your favorite brownie mix (We used the Fudgy brownies from Aldi!)
• 1 can of reduced sodium black beans, pureed (NOT drained!)
• 2 cups of Vanilla Wafers OR 1 sleeve of graham crackers
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1.5 cups mini marshmallows

1. Pour entire can of black beans in a chopper/blender. DO NOT drain! Puree until smooth.  Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 375. Crush up crackers by hand or in a chopper.  Add coconut oil and mix together.  Press on the bottom of a 9x13 pan.  Bake for 5-7 minutes, until slightly golden. 
3. Meanwhile, in a large bowl (or stand mixer), mix up brownie mix with black bean puree.  Pour over cracker crust in 9x13 pan.
4. Bake for 20 minutes.  Top with marshmallows and bake an additional 8-10 minutes, until golden brown.
5. Let cool for at least 15 minutes.  

I found that these got better the next day!

Now here's for the fun part! Enter the giveaway below for a chance to win one of TWO Hamilton Beach mixers!

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Spiked Frozen Hot Chocolate {Plus a #Smoovember Giveaway!}

Most of you may know that it's Movember (Ricky is trying to grow a mustache...) which brings awareness to men's health issues.  Did you also know it's SMOOVEMBER?  Smoothie time!  While this drink isn't quite a smoothie...it's close enough for my book!

Originally, I was planning on saving this recipe for December...but we are SO obsessed with this drink I had to share NOW.  This would be a perfect treat while sitting around the table with family after Thanksgiving.

Best part about this drink: it's SKINNY!  Sugar Free hot cocoa mix and almond milk (which has only 30 calories per CUP) makes you feel a bit better about indulging in a few of these.  You can totally serve this warm, also (hello, slow cooker!).

I'm giving away two Hamilton Beach blenders to celebrate SMOOVEMBER...this time it's the large Smoothie Start blender. (Check back later for the hand smoothie maker!). I have a Ninja, but I have to admit this blender is AWESOME.  Favorite feature? The Smoothie button.  Just hit it and it pulses and blends your mixture into a perfect smoothie in a minute.  Holla!  The blender is also great for making a pitcher (or two) of this frozen hot chocolate.

Here's what you need: (Serves 2 large mugs, or 4 small)

• Sugar free cocoa mix (1/4 cup or 2 packets)
• Irish Cream (The Aldi knockoff, shown, is tasty!)
• Whipped cream vodka (or vanilla!)
• Unsweetened vanilla almond milk- 1 cup
• Chocolate to grate on top, or whipped cream

Throw it all in the blender with some ice and you've got yourself a treat!  So simple!

To enter the giveaway, enter with the Rafflecopter below!  Good luck!

NOTE: I will be monitoring all entries, and invalid ones will be removed.  If you have any questions about the Rafflecopter, please ask!




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Back-to-School Breakfast in a snap with Hamilton Beach! {Giveaway!}

 It's a pretty well known fact that I'm somewhat of a kitchen hoarder collector.  If I see something on clearance for the kitchen, I usually buy it.  Of course, we have little appliances coming out of our ears in our cabinets and in our pantry.  I just can't say no (much to Ricky's chagrin).

When I was at BlogHer Food, I saw this handy little Hamilton Beach sandwich maker at a booth and I was excited.  Do I really need another appliance? Of course not!  But this is so fun!  You can be creative with recipes and anything you make at home is 100x healthier than on of those "Mc" breakfast options.

The last day, I found out I won one and I was excited!  Being on Weight Watchers, I am always looking for more exciting ways to make food.  This can also be used for lunch sandwiches or Brinner [breakfast + dinner]. 

I like to use egg whites with spinach and salsa, or Canadian bacon with cheese and eggs.  The possibilities are endless!  You can use sandwich thins, bagels, English muffins, even waffles.  Any meat used needs to be cooked before putting it in the maker.  I have been cooking up a pan of bacon on Monday mornings to last us a few days.  I don't like to heat up the kitchen more than I have to!

I'm not the only one loving this!  The girls can pick out their own toppings for their sandwich.  (NOTE: I wouldn't let the little ones actually use the appliance because it gets VERY hot!).  This will be great for hearty preschool breakfasts!  Start to finish, these sandwiches can be ready in under 5 minutes!

Want to try it out?

I have TWO to give away to my readers!  Enter in the rafflecopter below!

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