A Great Chili Recipe

 I really enjoy using the crock pot! To make it easier to clean I use slow cooker liners! Do you use them? If not, you need to try them! In one of my boxes of liners there was a few recipes, one of those recipes was "Game Day Chili". My crew and I could eat soup atleast once a week... so I thought I would give this recipe a try.

 I am so glad I did... but now we have it a lot! It is very simple and delicious! I wanted to share because now that the weather is getting cooler you may want to try this recipe. The weather don't have to be cooler for me because I could eat this any time of the year! LOL!!

"Game Day Chili"
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 TBSP of chili powder (or more if you like)
2 cans of light red kidney beans (undrained)
1 can tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes and green chiles
1 small onion chopped
1 medium bell pepper finely chopped
cheese and sour cream
1 slow cooker liner

Place liner in slow cooker. Brown beef, onion, and bell pepper in a skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally until beef is no longer pink. Drain well and add chili powder, mix well. Place the beef mixture in lined slow cooker. Add beans, tomato sauce, and diced tomatoes and chiles in the slow cooker. Stir gently with wooden spoon to combine. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours or on high for 3- 3 1/2 hours until heated through. Serve and top with sour cream and/or cheese. We like to add crackers to our chili. Yummy! Enjoy!

Future Baker

We all know that one day Sarah will own her own bakery! Until then she is getting some practice in. We will be attending a church block party tomorrow and Sarah made these yummy cupcakes to take.

 These are dark chocolate salted caramel cupcakes! She has made these before and they were delicious! She will add a pretzel on top before we leave. If you add the pretzel too soon the pretzel will be soggy.

These are funfetti cupcakes! Haven't tried these yet but I am sure they are yummy! She enjoys baking and trying new recipes. It's fall now and I am sure she will try something with some "fall" flavor soon.

Fall Soccer Season

This weekend we finished up our fall soccer season with games on Saturday. Grandparents were able to come up and spend some time with us.

 My parents came up on Wednesday evening and were able to be here for soccer games on Thursday night. Elijah, Timothy, and Joanna had games on Thursday night while Isaac and Sarah refereed a game.

 Bryan's parents arrived on Friday afternoon and Gigi (Bryan's mother) brought supper for all of us. She is an amazing cook. She made chicken and dumplings and red beans and rice. Elijah, Timothy, and Joanna helped make the banana pudding, and they enjoyed licking the spoons and bowls.

 Soccer games started early on Saturday. Isaac and Sarah had the first game at 9 and then the other children played games after that with the last game at 1:30. It was a hot and exhausting day. Sarah and Isaac had two games and in between their two games they refereed three games (they were busy and tired).

 Do you recognize these two soccer players? This was one of our first soccer seasons when they were younger... much younger. They began playing Upward soccer when they were 5 and 7 years old.

Here they are all grown up! (Makes my heart melt!) In the fall of 2014 they began playing soccer at the local recreational league. It was a whole different game than Upwards. We had to get use to the rules and plays of soccer at this level. They have had some great times playing soccer. Our family is very blessed to have the physical ability to play a sport and we often remind the children that we never should take that for granted. Thank you Lord!!