Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili and Eating Soap on Christmas

Every year something happens at Christmas that marks or labels it for the following years. We have the "Joe thought his bumper for the truck was a gun case" Christmas, the "Riley under the Santa skirt" Christmas, the "Santa brought all the boys condoms" Christmas, and now the "Mason tried to eat soap" Christmas.

I found these bath balls on Amazon.  They had a Poke-Mon toy in the middle.  You put the ball in the bath, it bubbles and when it is dissolved, a little toy pops out.  Two of my boys were obsessed with Poke-Mon so when I saw them, I got two.  I mailed one to the curly haired boy and stuffed the other in the baby boys stocking.

Christmas morning we opened stockings, the Bboy and the Hippy boy laughed about the gobstoppers they got.  They talked about the giant jaw breakers they had as kids and how they would eat them for days, until their tongues were sore.

After presents, we got busy with the day, I headed to the kitchen to start bread for dinner and everyone else started putting presents away or playing games.  Mason came out the the back bedrooms with a funny look on his face.

"What's going on?"  I asked.

"I ate the giant jaw breaker and it was soap."  Mason holds up the tiny Poke-Mon character.

"That wasn't a jawbreaker, that was a bath salt ball."  I started to laugh.

"Now you tell me."  he whines.

And so he told up this story.

"I decided to unwrap the jaw breaker and eat it.  I opened it up and took a lick.  It tasted really salty.  The package was all in Japanese so I thought it was some kind of preservative that made it salty.  I licked it again and it was terrible.  So I got my tongue really wet and gave it a big lick to get past the preservative layer.  The ball started to bubble and foam and I had a mouth full of soap!  I dropped the ball into the bathroom sink and ran water to rinse my mouth out.  The ball bubbled, foamed and dissolved and this little toy came out.  It is a bath soap!"

We were laughing so hard we were crying.  The Baby boy ATE his bath ball!

This Christmas will forever be known as the Christmas that the Bboy ate soap.

I made this chili.  It is full of flavor: spicy with sweet potatoes and beans.  The perfect thing to get the taste of soap out of your mouth!

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili
adapted from Sunset, Dec. 2013

3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped,
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 orange bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 lb. sweet potatoes, cut into 1/2 in. dice
1 tsp. chipotle chili powder
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1 can (14 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups chicken stock
salt and pepper

Toppings:
diced avocado
fresh cilantro leaves
sour cream
lemon or lime wedge
tortilla chips

Heat oil in a medium pot over medium-high heat.  Add onion, garlic, bell pepper, and sweet potatoes and cook, stirring until vegetables soften, about 5 minutes.  Add chipotle chile powder, cumin, and coriander and cook until spices are fragrant, about 10 seconds.  Stir in beans and broth and partially cover.  Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until sweet potatoes are soft and chili is slightly thickened, about 15 minutes.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Ladle chili into 4 bowls.  Top with cilantro, avocado, sour cream and crushed chips.  add lemon wedge to juice over the top before eating.

1 year ago:   Sundried Tomato and Blue Cheese Layered Torte
2 years ago: Chocolate Aztec Cakes and DeSanta-tizing the House

January 1, 2014   Daylight 4 hrs, 1 min, 46 sec.   Temp. H 8/ L -2°F