Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Army Wives..err..Spouses

Last night I attended my first coffee with Nick's new unit. Fortunately for me, we've been part of this group most of the time we've been in Hawaii, but not in the Headquarters. Now that he's a staff guy, I get to play with the wives..umm...spouses!
We had a lovely dinner on a roof top in Honolulu. This particular coffee was hosted by a male spouse in the unit. I've never been part of a group where any of the men were involved on this level. He grilled outside, had buckets of wine, beer, and sodas, and a lovely view. His wife was there too, and a couple of other guys..I'm not even sure how they fit in.
I had a great time eating and drinking with my girls. It's a hysterical group.
Tonight, I play Bunco with another group of Army Wives. This is a sub-group of our spouse's club. Bunco is always a blast because we have lots of wine, and we play with real money!

On a side note, I made the South Beach Diet's "Turkey and White Bean Chili" It's from the "Quick and Easy Cookbook" It was DELICIOUS! I had only a few bites before I left for my night out. I was going to take a photo, but Nick ate almost all of it, then packed the rest in his lunch for today.

Turkey and White Bean Chili

Ingredients

1 TBS extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound turkey cutlets cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 TBS chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 (14.5-ounce) can Mexican diced tomatoes
1 C lower-sodium chicken broth
Salt and pepper

Directions

Heat oil in a large sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more.
Add turkey, chili powder, and cumin; cook, stirring often, until turkey is no longer pink inside, about 5 minutes.
Add beans, tomatoes with juice, and broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until flavors blend, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.
I will double this next time...it was that good!
I completely blew my diet last night. Chips and salsa, wine.. oh boy. I will try to do better tonight!

6 comments:

Expat Girl said...

Funnnnn I have never been at a post long enough to make friends : ( Hopefully when my husband gets home and I move back to the area I will meet some of the other wives

Nikki D said...

Kudos to the Army Hubbys! Hopefully the ones that are involved will encourage more to get involved...because let's be honest, they're there and they are left out because they don't jump in!

BTW...you always post the bestest recipes! Thanks =)

prettyinink0402 said...

This sounds like it is delicious! I found you on Hellcat Betty's blog...look forward to following you! I totally think it's great that Army Husbands are sooo involved...I wish there was more of that...because they have tons to be proud of too! :o)))

Paula said...

You ladies are right, the men SHOULD be more involved. After all, they face the same challenges we do.

Tiffanie, I tried to leave a comment on your blog, I can't make it work. I love it and will be back!

USMCWIFE said...

Wow, rooftops Hawaii..me jealous. I think it is awesome when men get involved on the spouse side. We have no female Marines in Division. But I often wonder if the male ego takes a beating when the woman is the warrior? The receipe sounds delicious I will have to try it. I decided as I enter this new phase in my life (emptynest) I am going to explore this cooking thing a little bit more.

My Army Life said...

Being in Field Artillery, I haven't seen many male spouses, but the time Hubby spent on an HBCT staff introduced me to the concept. The one male spouse from our last unit was absolutely fabulous. Super-nice guy, great husband and father, successful in his own career, and comfortable enough in his own skin to hang out with a bunch of us ladies! He was a huge help when we farewelled our BDE spouse and we ended up sharing a promotion party with him and his wife (plus two other couples) since our Soldiers were all promoted at the same time. He organized our budget and we all worked together to plan a super-fun promotion party after our Soldier-spouses got home. (Incidentally, he did look a bit like "Roland" on Army Wives so we gave him that nickname for a bit. It forced him to watch the show to see who we meant!) =)

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