Old Bananas

I had a whole bunch of old bananas that were browning today and decided I was going to make some banana bread.  I've never actually made banana bread before, so I was looking for an easy, yummy recipe online.  This is the one I found.  I printed it out and planned to use it... but... then I logged onto facebook and there was a picture of this Raspberry Dark Chocolate Banana Bread. 

Which one do you think I made?

Now, the recipe said to use a loaf pan... but that's what happened when I did.  I probably should have gone with my better judgment and used a larger pan when I saw how full the loaf pan was after pouring in the batter.  Oh well.  :-) 

YUM!  I highly recommend this.  Just use a bigger pan.  I did put a cookie sheet underneath to catch any drips.  Hehe, that was a big one!

Cincinnati Chili

As you may or may not know, I'm a big fan of chili.  It's a staple in our house.  I generally make it using chili packets of seasoning and pretty much always follow the same recipe.  It's not tough. 

However, my favorite kind of chili is not exactly convenient to make.  I used to be able to find Cincinnati chili packets, but they no longer sell them around here.  The packets were convenient because you just add them to some meat and cook away.  Without the packets, the chili has to simmer for a looooooooong time to get all of the spices and flavors going.  If you follow my chili link above, it will take you to where you can actually order the packets.  OR... you can just try this recipe.  I crockpotted it up.  Yep, I made a new word there. 

I think the main difference with Cincinnati chili is that you serve it over spaghetti noodles.  Oh, and you put chocolate and cinnamon in it.  Sounds crazy, but it's amazing!  Mmm... as I was cooking it, the house smelled terrific and it brought back all kinds of good memories.  :-)

All spiced up in the crock.

Simmering meat...

Dump it all in and cook!

Cincinnati Chili

Now, I think if I make it again, I may try it without the kidney beans.  I know that you usually put beans in chili, but the way I remember having Cinicinnati chili is without them.  Kidney beans have never been my favorite anyway... although they apparently have all kinds of health benefits. 

Yummy!

What's your favorite kind of chili?

Chocolate Trees! (2011)

I just realized that I totally failed to post pictures of our most recent chocolate escapade!  We made chocolate trees this (well, last) year... :-)

Neal and Casee's supplies

 

 

Complete with the Christmas hippo!  :-)

Alissa and Jimmy's supplies

 

The woodland creatures are staring in awe at the tree...

Yep, and that's us eating them later on... animals made out of chocolate are scrumptious!  :-)

Masters of Chocolate?

Today was a good day. 

It was just a fun day full of chocolate building.  For those of you who know I've been trying to cook healthy, please look away.  You won't find anything healthy in this particular blog entry!  Just pure sugar.  I think we may have used the most baked goods and candy that we've ever used.  For anything.  Period.  Though, we had some help this year.  This year my brother, Neal, and a friend, Kerri, joined Jimmy and I for the craziness. 

When I say "craziness", that's what I mean.  We took a ton of pictures and looking back through them is pretty insane.  Insane, yet fantastic.  :-)  Here are some pictures to prove it:

Supples :-)

Yeah... we may have used 4 batches of brownies, 4 tubs of icing, 1 cake mix, 36 3 Musketeers bars, M&Ms, marshmallows, 2 pans of rice krispie treats (made by Kerri, Master of Marshmallow), nutella, marzipan, chocolate graham crackers, 3 kinds of Hershey kisses, chocolate chips, peanut butter, oats, pretzel sticks, dots, and the list goes on and on...

 

Neal and Kerri's CAKE House

Alissa and Jimmy's BROWNIE House

It pretty much took us all day... and it was awesome.  Thanks for joining us this year, Neal and Kerri!  :-) 

I'm exhausted.

Fun with Chocolate!

Feeling kinda blah.  Not sure why exactly... had a good time with some friends last night, a fairly lazy day today, and even got one of my last projects for my grad class finished today.  I should feel happier than this?  Ho hum. 

I know what's wrong... I didn't cook anything today!  Haha.  I have all these recipes I want to try, but lots of leftovers in my fridge.  It seems kind of pointless to bake an Apple Cider Crisp (WW recipe) when I already have a Tastefully Simple apple cake chillin' on my table.  There's a giant pan of Turkey Tetrazzini and leftover Green Bean Casserole from Thanksgiving (...that I didn't even make!).  That's one of my favorites ...and I'm not even hungry. 

Oh well.

So maybe while you're here (if you're here)... you could give us some ideas about what you'd like to see made out of chocolate?  We're having a little chocolate party and there's going to be some chocolate building going on next weekend.  :-) 

What do you get when you cross a kindergarten teacher with an engineer?  This...

Chocolate Castle (2008)

Snowman Village (2009)

I think I need some other hobbies that don't involve food of any kind.  Suggestions welcome!  :-)