Chili!

Game Day Chili

1 pound lean ground beef (I used ground turkey, because we don't eat beef)

1 medium green bell pepper, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

2 cans (15 oz.) red kidney beans, undrained

2 packages (1.25oz.) chili seasoning mix

1 can (15oz.) tomato sauce

1 can (10oz.) diced tomatoes and green chilies (Rotel)

I added:

1 can of black beans, drained

1 can of roasted garlic diced tomatoes, undrained

Browned the turkey, bell pepper and onion.  It smelled so good! 

Put the turkey mixture in the crock pot

I forgot to take a picture, but in a large bowl, combine all the other ingredients together.

 Add the mixture to the beef and gently stir.

Set the crock pot to low for 6 hours.

After about 5 hours, the house was smelling so good and I was super hungry, so we just ate! ;)  

Yummy to my tummy! 
I have to say that I'm pretty impressed with myself! I think that the chili was better than some canned ones that I have had before! I will totally make this again!

Homemade pizza

My adorable helpers!

On Saturday, I thought that it would be fun for the kids and I to make our own pizza! Pizza is always a huge hit at our house and I had got this kit on sale at Vons. 

Jacob pouring in one bag of the dough mix

 

Shianne pouring in the other bag of dough mix

 

Adding the very warm water

Mixing it up

Once all the dough was mixed, you drizzle some vegetable oil over the top of it

Then cover and put somewhere warm.  I had let the microwave run for a minute and then put it inside there when it was done - nice and warm.

After 5 minutes, you kneaded it into a ball.  The kids had so much fun doing this part!

It's squishy! It tickles! It's sticky! 

I heard it all! They loved getting their hands dirty! ;)

Next, you divide the dough in two and then spread on a pan.  It was quite warm on Saturday, so I didn't want to run the big oven. So, I used the toaster oven.  I made it into a square shape! 

Cover with pizza sauce

And sprinkle with cheese.. Shianne helped! 

Ready to go in the oven! 

It said to bake it until the crust was golden brown and the sauce was bubbling.  The inside was super goey, so I ended up baking it for around 30 minutes, I think.

All done!  

And ready to eat!

I made the other half and baked up another pizza! There were some leftovers, but Jacob finished the last two pieces last night! It was fun and a big hit!

Got my cooking on!

Today, my sister flew in to California. My dad went and picked her up at the airport. It has been over 2 years since I have seen my sister! Way too long! I was excited to see her! I invited her and my dad over for dinner! I spent all afternoon baking and then got dinner into the crock pot! I am loving all this baking! I am looking forward to doing a lot more of it!

Here are the links for two of the recipes that I did.
Pumpkin swirl brownies
Pizza in a crock pot

 Yummy!

First things first, I made pumpkin swirl brownies (the recipe is in the link above).  

You make a box of brownies, exactly how the box says.  Then you make a pumpkin mixture.

You pour about 3/4 of the brownie mix into the 8x8 pan.  I had laid parchment paper down first. In all my years of baking, I have never used parchment paper before, but when I found some at the dollar store, I wanted to try it. It works great! My stuff didn't get that extra brown bottom that I hate!   Then, you drop the pumpkin mix by spoonfuls on top of the brownie mix.

Then you pour the rest of the brownie mix on top of the pumpkin and brownie layers.

Then, you take a knife, I actually used a toothpick, and swirl the two mixtures together like this. It look so pretty, all swirled up!   Then you bake it for around 40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

All done! 

Look at that gorgeous brownie! It was a mixture of a pumpkin pie or pumpkin cheesecake and a brownie! So good!

Then, I made some banana bread. Now, when I make banana bread, I always make a TRIPLE batch! No joke!  My family loves banana bread and I always share it too! 

See, my triple batch recipe!!! ;)

Mixing up the ingredients

Sometimes, our bananas go brown before we can eat them. My kids don't like them when they have brown spots on them. But for me, it's perfect, because those are the bananas that are great for making banana bread! I put them in a baggie, smoosh them flat and freeze them!  I have a couple baggies like this in my freezer! Perfect for when I want to make some bread! 

The very thick banana bread batter!

My friend, Jen, lent me these super cute pumpkin molds and I thought it would be cute for the bread! 

Getting my mini bread pans ready for the batter. There are 4 mini bread sections on this pan.  I melt some butter and paint it (kitchen's paintbrush) on the pan and then sprinkle some flour on it.  I did one pan this way and the other I used parchment paper. I was still testing it out! 

All done! I like to do the banana bread cupcake style, because it's easier for my kids to eat and then I share the loaves with family and friends! 

The gorgeous loaves

So pretty! 

 

 

Next, I got started on dinner to get it in the crock pot! 

Pizza in a crock pot

ground turkey, an onion and a bell pepper

Added the marinara sauce and all the other seasonings in, smells so good!

The pasta is done and into the crock pot it goes

Poured the meat sauce on top of the pasta

Then added the turkey pepperoni.  I found mini ones this time and they worked great!

Added cheese on top of that and then set the timer for 3 hours on low

 

 I love this meal! Simple and delicious!

 

 

Jacob (who kept blinking everytime I took a picture), my sister - Laura and Shianne

We had a really nice time visiting with my sister and my dad!

Pumpkin French Toast Bake

Delish!

Another Pinterest recipe tried! Check! 

I used these two different recipes and sort of combined them!

Pumpkin French toast bake

French toast bake 

For starters, I melted a stick of butter in the microwave.  It then called for 1 cup of brown sugar.  I started off with 1/2 cup of brown sugar and added 1 cup of pumpkin puree (what I had left from the can that I used to make the pumpkin pancakes on Saturday).  I didn't measure, but added some pumpkin pie spice, and mixed it all together. It didn't taste quite right, so I add some more pumpkin pie spice and the other 1/2 cup of brown sugar.   Whisked those together, until they were completely mixed.

I used an old cake pan of mine. I put tin foil down, for easier clean up! What mom isn't all about that? ;)
I poured the pumpkin, sugar, butter mix in the bottom of it.

Yesterday at the 99 Cent Only Store, I found a loaf of Texas Toast and figured it would be great for this recipe!  I cut the crusts off and put down one layer of toast.  I had to Tetris some pieces to make it work, but it did! 

Next, you take 4 eggs, 1 1/2 cup milk and 1 teaspoon of vanilla and beat those together. Once mixed, pour half of it over the top of the bread.

Then, you add another layer of toast. Next time, I will get 2 loaves of it! I had to use some regular sandwich bread to fill in some gaps!

You pour the last half of the egg mixture over the top of this layer of bread.

I sprinkled some pumpkin pie spice on top and some cinnamon and sugar, until it looked good! ;)  You then cover it and put it the fridge for overnight. I put mine in around 12:30am last night and pulled it out around 11am to bake it.  The recipe says to cover it for at least 6 hours!

 

This is what it looked like after I pulled it out of the fridge.  The pumpkin mix on the bottom had soaked into the bread.  It was an ooey gooey mess!

 

You cover it with foil and bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.  When the 20 minutes is up, pull the foil off and bake uncovered for another 25 minutes! Man, my house smelled so good!   When it is done, the bread is cooked through, but will still be moist.

Fresh out of the oven!  

My son and I are enjoying a piece right now!  You can sprinkle some powdered sugar on top and pour a little bit of maple syrup on it!  It is so yummy! My son loves it!