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!