I Was In Such a Thankful Mood...Until Monday Showed Up.....

Good Evening. I hate Mondays. HATE, HATE, HATE Mondays. Mondays are for liars, idiots, jackasses and morons. I don't think I could even make up some of the shit that transpires every Monday. And because it's so chockful of complete chaos and bullshit, it tends to spill over into Tuesday. UGH!!!!! I could turn this entire blog posting into a Monday diatribe, but then I would be giving this shitastrophe day more attention than it deserves. I feel a little better after bitching.

How was everybody's Thanksgiving? Ours was really wonderful. It rained that morning, but it cleared out by the time we ate around 2 pm. Lunch was scheduled for noon, but the Tadlock/Bowden in me took over and insisted that we not eat for another two hours. We also had the annual viewing of Talladega Nights, which made me VERY happy, as well as my other holiday fave, The Family Stone. There was so much food in this house - it was criminal. My MIL brought her kick ass cornbread dressing. Put a little giblet gravy over the top, add some of my mom's bourbon cranberry relish and I am in my happy place! My mom also made a flourless chocolate cake that rivals Pappas'. OMG - it was AMAZING!!! We had a good time and there were plenty of leftovers for when we all woke up from our Turkey Comas!

The Spicy Deviled Eggs came out better than I expected, as did the Jalapeno Sausage Dressing. I ended up using the jalapeno sausage instead of chorizo because I was concerned with the amount of grease. I was happy with the results. Here are the recipes for the Deviled Eggs and Dressing as well as my Sweet Potatoes:

Cadillac Cowgirl Spicy Deviled Eggs

10 large Eggs
5 T Mayo
1 T Stone Ground Mustard
2 T Mild Bills Jalapeno Relish
1/8 tsp Salt

Boil the eggs; peel, slice and place yolks in a medium size bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Add a tablespoon of the mixture to each egg. Chill until ready to serve.

Cadillac Cowgirl Jalapeno Sausage Dressing

10 slices of white bread, cubed and toasted
1 6 oz box cornbread stuffing mix
1 large red or orange bell pepper, chopped
2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped
1 medium red onion, chopped
5 jalapeno sausages, chopped into bite size pieces
6 T butter
2 Cups chicken stock

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees; combine the cubed and toasted white bread and cornbread mix in a 13x9 pan and set aside. In a large pan, brown the jalapeno sausage; remove from pan. Without wiping out the pan, add the butter and let it melt. Add the chopped bell pepper, onion and jalapenos. Saute over medium low heat until tender. Pour the veggies from the pan into the cornbread/white bread mix. Add the sausage to the pan as well and stir to combine. Add the chicken stock to the mixture a 1/2 cup at a time until all of the cornbread and white bread have absorbed it, but not so much that it's mushy. Bake covered for 30 minutes. Check for doneness and for the chicken stock to be absorbed. If needed, add a little more stock and bake uncovered for 30 more minutes or until done. You don't want the dressing to be overly dry and crumbly, but you don't want it to be a pile of mush, either. Add a little broth at a time so that you can control the consistency and cook the dressing, sausage and veggies long enough for the flavors to blend and the stock to be absorbed into the bread mixture. Serve with turkey and gravy...and a little bit of cranberry sauce!!

Cadillac Cowgirl Sweet Potatoes

4 or 5 large sweet potatoes
1/4 cup cream
2 capfuls of Jack Daniels
1 8 oz can pineapple bits
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 cups candied pecans (such as Emerald brand)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Microwave the potatoes until tender and allow them to cool. Slice them and scoop out the insides; place them in a large mixing bowl. Add the cream, Jack Daniels, pineapple, brown sugar and cinnamon. Using a hand mixer, beat until...oh my God...my child just came and asked me when she can grow her boobs. WTH???. Okay, back to the sweet potatoes - beat until smooth and transfer them to a 2 quart casserole dish. Sprinkle the pecans over the top...maybe a few pats of butter if you feel like it....cover and bake for 25-30 minutes until hot and bubbly. Enjoy!

How about some chili results from the HEB Mexia CCO yesterday?!?!?! There were 29 cooks and a good time was had by all!

1. Tom "Champ" Dozier - Irving
2. Kelly Brignon - Ennis
3. Randy Duke - Valley Mills
4. Donna Conrad - Crawford
5. Kenny Short - Burleson
6. Gary Brignon - Ennis
7. Dianne Stimpson - Crawford
8. Jim Trietsch - Waco
9. Robin Short - Burleson
10. Jennifer Collier - Temple

Show:
1. Snake Farm Chili
2. Texas Chili Chicks
3. Tasmanian Devil

We had a great group of cooks and everyone pitched in to help out...especially when Rosa thought she lost her dog! (False Alarm!!) The weather was nice and we all had fun razzing Tom and his big pepper...LOL!!

I just received a survey via email about Sisters on the Fly...an all women organization I belong to. The sender wants our feedback regarding our opinion of SOTF...this should be fun....considering I think of most of them as BOTF's. Certainly not the sender - I don't know her :)

I made homemade biscuits last night and you know what? They're really good with butter and Mild Bills Jalapeno Jelly or the Peach Preserves!!! Try it! Gary suggested putting one of them on a toasted bagel with cream cheese. Hell Yeah!

We are taking Paige to Glen Rose for her birthday. She loves dinosaurs, so we're taking her to the dinosaur state park to hike the trails, look for fossils and see the dinosaur tracks. Gary and I think she'll love it. We hope so!

I'm still on Jenny Craig and I've lost weight and inches! I've only found one thing I'm not too crazy about food wise, too. I also started going to Zumba and I'm not so sure about it. I'm more of a yoga person....and a running in complete solitude type person. There's that need for autonomy...just dying to get out :)

Gary and I have had a lot of people ask us questions about Mild Bills and I hope we've been able to address any concerns and answer everyone's questions. I just want to reiterate a few things, though. First of all, nothing has changed. All of the orders placed via the website, phone, or email all still go through Tamara and are shipped from Tamara in Bulverde. In September 2011, everything will move to either Ennis, where we will have a building, or to our office in Irving and at that time the email address and phone numbers will change. A plus for North Texas cooks - you'll now be able to pick up your orders or get them from me at cook offs! If you are down South, we hope to work out a system to continue to offer spices at some of the cook offs. If we can't work that out, then shipping will have to be paid. I know that kind of sucks...but I hope to also incorporate FedEx and UPS into the shipping options. But, we will have to see.

We will not change the name and we have let Bill and Tamara know we do not want to change the name. We may freshen up the logo, or incorporate a few new things into advertising, but the name will stay the same.

The products will not change. I hope to add more products, more widespread availability and a revamped website. These are things that I don't plan to address at first as I will be immersing myself in all the day to day business of Mild Bills. I want to make sure I know all of the ins and outs, advantages and disadvantages, revenue suckers and revenue makers before I get crazy and change anything. That is my personal business philosophy no matter what industry I'm in.

Lastly, and most importantly, the service will not change. Over the past month, I've heard so many wonderful things about Bill and Tamara and all of the people I talked to mentioned the service and products from Tamara. I would not be doing this if I didn't plan to offer the same great products and personal service that Tamara has been giving the customers since she and Bill started Mild Bills. If people have questions, I want to be able to answer them and help them out. If someone is having trouble with their chili, I want to be given the chance to offer suggestions and advice. I want to take care of the chili cooks and customers the same way Tamara has and I don't want anyone to worry that any of the confidentiality would change, either. I have always, always helped anyone who asked for it and I don't share secrets. You have to be willing to help and willing to keep information to yourself if you're going to be in this business and those are two things I know that I can do. I'm so excited and so proud to begin this venture. I hope that not only will all of Mild Bill's current customers keep buying their products from me and Gary...I hope to earn new customers!

So, please....if you have any questions or concerns, ask me and Gary, or Bill and Tamara. I know there is probably a lot of information floating around out there, but to be sure that the correct answers are given, please ask us!

I'm counting down the hours until Tuesday. Until then, I'm going to have a cocktail and call it a day.

Spreading joy and kindness in all that I do.....

Kelly