This has been my family's favorite chili recipe because it is loaded with hamburger and not too spicy. There are some fantastic and unique chili recipes out there. However, it seemed like around our table someone would turned up their nose when there were too many beans, another wouldn't like it if there were too many tomato pieces and another wouldn't care for it if it was too spicy. After a lot of experimenting, this is the recipe that seemed to fill hungry tummies so I kept making it.

Another reason I love it is because the ingredients I often have on hand or are easy for my husband to find if he needs to pick something up for me at the store. My prep time to pull everything together is relatively short and easy. I mean, who doesn't need a recipe with "simple" in the title! (If you want to use organic grass fed beef, soak and cook your own beans and harvest veggies from your own garden, you are amazing! I'm not quite there yet!)

This recipe will feed a crowd of people so it has often been a "go to" when we have guests over. Since it doesn't have a super spicy flavor, it is favorable to almost everyone, even young children. And if they don't like it, they can always fill up on the cheese and crackers! 

The Recipe:
​3 lbs Ground Beef
1 Onion diced
1 Bell Pepper diced
3   15 oz cans light or dark Kidney Beans
3   15 oz cans Petite Diced Tomatoes
​1 cup Water
1 tablespoon Salt
1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
2 tablespoons Chili Powder
 
In a large skillet, brown ground beef with diced onion and pepper. Cook on the stove top until the vegetables are soft. Then drain.
Next, stir all ingredients into a large slower cooker (mine is a 6 Qt Crock Pot). 
Cook on low for 3 hours.  
​Serve with cheese and crackers.

In a large pot, bring to a boil and simmer 20 minutes: lentils, 2 1/2 cups of the water, beef bouillon cubes, the bay leaf and 1 teaspoon of salt. (The lentils will be soft and all the water absorbed by the end of about 20 minutes.)

In a separate large pan saute sausage, celery, onion and garlic. Once the sausage is cooked and the vegetables are slightly soft, drain off the excess fat. ​Add sausage/vegetable mixture to cooked lentils in the large pot. Then add 5 cups water, tomato paste, oregano and 1 teaspoon salt and stir well.  Simmer for 20 minutes. 

​Serve over white rice to fill lots of hungry stomachs!

​It happens to all of us...those over ripe bananas!  
Sometimes I'm tempted to pitch them.

But on a good day (or maybe when I had just a little too much coffee), I turn something beyond hope into yummy goodness...Oatmeal Banana Bread!

This has been my "go to" banana bread recipe for years because the unique addition of oatmeal yields a moister variation of the traditional quick bread. And even though it doesn't sit on the counter for long, the moist texture stays until the last crumb is devoured.

So whether you through over-ripe bananas in the freezer like my mom does. Or whether you just want to use up the over purchase from last weeks grocery store run...yep, that's me!  Yummy Oatmeal Banana Bread is the way to go.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

​Cream thoroughly:
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup sugar

Add, beating until fluffy:
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Add dry ingredients, alternating with bananas and milk:
​1 cup flour
1 cup quick oatmeal
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 medium sized over-ripe bananas (or 1 & 1/2 cup mashed)
1/4 cup milk

Fold in:
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

​Pour into two greased 8 x 4 inch loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. For extra moist bread, cover for 5 minutes as it cools after removing from oven. (I prefer two smaller loaves to one larger one. I know it is the same amount of batter but two loaves seem to last a bit longer around our house. If you prefer, you can put all the batter into one 9 x 5 inch greased pan and bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.)

Slice with a serrated knife and cover with a generous layer of butter or margarine.  Enjoy with a warm cup of coffee or a cool glass of milk!