Making chili for dinner tonight. Quick and easy since it is Football night. I also decided to use up some of my bananas that I have stored in the freezer. I have quite a few so using them to make some low fat banana muffins sounds great......

Yes this chili is in a crockpot, but that is the beauty of it. Easy peasy:)

Banana muffin mix is done and ready to be baked. 

And they are done. 

APPLESAUCE BANANA MUFFINS

2 ripe bananas

1/2 cup of sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup applesauce

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp. Baking Powder

1/2 tsp. Baking Soda

1/2 tsp. Salt 

DIRECTIONS:

Mash bananas, add egg, applesauce, sugar. Mix together.  Fold in flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Put mix into muffin pan

Bake at 350° for 20 minutes. Check with a toothpick and if it comes out clean they are done.                            

The healthier the food the more $$ is spent

I was so sad yesterday.  I went to the grocery store to buy stuff for salads.  You know the kind of salad that you would get at a restaurant, but you want to make it at home.  So I went and bought lettuce,  cherry tomatoes, 1 green pepper, 1 bundle of green onions, 1 bag of sprouts, and 1 cucumber.  I also bought some apples and bananas for snacks around the house.  Nothing but healthy good food, so you can imagine my shock when I find out that my total was.........$28.72.
I was shocked at how much healthier foods are, it's no wonder people in America are large, some people can't afford to buy the healthier foods other may not want to spend that much money for food.  For goodness sakes the apples I bought which was only 4 cost me roughly $6.  Its ridiculous, now I am sure there are other stores I could have gone to, but this store is right next to my house so it was either spend a little more on groceries or spend a little more for gas.  I guess the take away from this is be sure that when I do my grocery shopping at the other stores I might need to make sure and buy my fruits and veggies from there instead.
If there are any ideas of ways to cut back your grocery bill let me know and I will share it with everyone.
Oh and by the way the dinner we had was amazing.  We had salads and homemade parmesean garlic bread. (delicious)   Our salads had lettuce, tomato, green pepper, green onion, sprouts, cucumber, lunch meat, eggs, and crunchy chow mein noodles.

As for the bread, I found this recipe through pinterest.  If you don't have a bread machine I would highly recommend getting one.  Often times you can find them for very cheap at your local thrift store.  This is the kind of thing people will get as a gift or buy for themselves and then realize that they aren't going to use it very often so they get rid of it.  I got my bread machine for xmas last year and I have been using it ever since and I love it. 

Italian Parmesan Bread For Bread Machine

Here is the Recipe:
ITALIAN PARMESAN BREAD FOR A BREAD MACHINE
 
Ingredients 

Yield 1- 2 pound loaf

• 1 ¹⁄₂ cups water (or more, as needed)
• 4 cups flour
• ¹⁄₄ cup parmesan cheese
• 1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon italian seasoning (or pizza seasoning)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons yeast

 Directions

1. Add ingredients in order suggested by manufacturer.
2. Mine is water first, then flour, then seasonings and cheese, lastly yeast.
3. Run on basic or delay cycle.

Crockpots are a life saver

I have come to the realization that my family is just super busy, but not only is  my family, most families today don't have much down time.  I have two kids involved in sports, a husband who works, I go to school and work.  There just isn't enough time to get things done let alone cook some good healthy meals. 
Today is a great example.  I am home from work, but am spending my time doing laundry and trying to catch up on some majorly missed study time.  Dinner is on my brain and I know that between football and school and a book fair the time just isn't there.
MY SOLUTION:  Crockpot Chili.  There is no recipe for this because it is just so  simple

Chili kit

 Carroll Shelby's Chili Kit is my go to chili mix.  A couple pounds of lean turkey, some beans and the kit VOILA!!!!  Dinner is cooking. 

I throw it all in the crockpot and let it cook on low if I am letting it sit all day or on high if I only have a little bit of time. 

The best part is that you can add whatever your family wants, onions, green peppers, bell peppers, carrots, different beans, no beans.  The possibilities are endless.  I am just happy to know that dinner is going to be ready as soon as the boy gets home from football. 

Halloween fun without the major calories

Since we are just about 17 days away from Halloween I thought it might be fun to take these next few weeks and explore fun ideas for Halloween treats, but without the major calories and of course without spending too much $$$$$.  I have always loved to do something special with my family when we are ready to decorate for any holiday.  Last year we have orange noodles with green alfredo sauce for dinner, and then orange chocolate chip cookies with purplish milk.  I say purplish because it was really more of a lavender color.  We used strawberry milk and blue food coloring, just to be a little different.  This Friday we are decorating for Halloween and I was trying to find something good to make.  I think I may have found the perfect idea "Orange Soda Cake Pops"

YummyHealthyEasy

 I found this idea on yummyhealthyeasy.com this is an easy, not as bad for you and pocket friendly way to decorate with the family and still get my sweets. 

Skinny Orange Soda Cake Pops

Author: Jen Nikolaus

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 8-10

Ingredients

• 1 box white cake mix
• 10 oz. diet orange soda
• 2 egg whites
• orange gel or liquid coloring, if desired for a bolder orange color
• ¼ of cooked & cooled 9x13 cake
• 2 Tbsp. white frosting
• lollipop or cake pop sticks
• white chocolate bar(s) (the ones for melting, can find next to chocolate chips in baking aisle) or candy melts, for dipping
• sprinkles

Instructions

1. Preheat oven according to box directions. Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray.
2. Beat cake mix, diet soda and egg whites in a large bowl for 2 minutes. Add coloring if desired to make it more orange. Pour mixture into pan.
3. Decrease cooking time by 5 minutes from what the box says. A toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake will come out clean when it is finished.
4. Make cake pop batter by mixing the cake and frosting in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment until smooth. Measure out one tablespoon sized balls and
5. roll smooth. Place on a wax paper covered cookie sheet and put into the fridge to harden a bit.
6. Melt some of one of the candy bars or candy melts in the microwave. If using candy bars, use the melting directions on the inside of the wrapper and melt into a mug. If using candy melts, put into a microwaveable mug and heat for 45 seconds on high; stir and heat for 30 seconds at 70% power; stir and let sit for 5 minutes to allow the heat of the bowl to continue melting the candy. Stir until smooth.
7. Take the cake balls from the fridge and dip the stick into the melted white chocolate and then insert halfway into the cake pop ball. After all the cake balls have sticks, stick back in the fridge until hardened a bit more.
8. After the cake pops have hardened a bit, take out of the fridge. Melt more white chocolate in the same mug. Take the stick and dip the cake ball into the chocolate (I found that if you tilt the mug at a 45 degree angle, it seemed work best for me). Tap off the excess and decide if you want the stick up or down for display. Finish all the cake pops. Add fun sprinkles while the chocolate is wet.
9. This might sound weird, but I took a shoe box with a lid on it and cut some small holes into the top of the lid. Each time I was finished with a cake pop, I stuck the stick into one of the holes to set. When dry, serve or share and enjoy!

The nutrition facts for this recipe are give or take because it depends on how much white chocolate you use  :)

Nutrition Facts

8 Servings

Amount Per Serving

• Calories 282.9
• Total Fat 6.4 g
• Saturated Fat 2.9 g
• Polyunsaturated Fat 0.0 g
• Monounsaturated Fat 0.0 g
• Cholesterol 0.0 mg
• Sodium 460.0 mg
• Potassium 0.0 mg
• Total Carbohydrate 55.6 g
• Dietary Fiber 1.4 g
• Sugars 34.4 g
• Protein 2.4 g