Our Favorite Chili Recipe

Here it is! I LOVE this chili recipe- it tastes sweet to me with a hint of spice and is thick and tastes great with Fritos and cheese! This recipe feeds 4 people 2 bowls each.

1 lb hamburger
1/2 onion chopped
1 green pepper chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 cloves of garlic minced

* Cook all of the above ingredients over medium heat till browned. Transfer to crockpot.
Add to crockpot...

28oz can of diced tomatoes
15 0z can red kidney beans
15 oz can of black beans
1 cup water
1/2 cup of brown sugar
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or more for a spicey taste)
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp onion powder

Cook all of this in a crockpot on High for 2-3 hours or Low for 4-6 hours. Near the end of cooking time, I take off the lid and add 2 tsp cornstarch to thicken. Leave the lid off and cook for a half hour more. Serve with Fritos and cheese!
As always, you can play with the brown sugar, and spices to create a taste you like! These measurements are my favorite blend! Enjoy!!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

We celebrated Jesus's birthday by starting the morning reading Luke 2-
the birth of Christ.
The kids listened intently while Mark read.
Then we all took turns praying and thanking God for His Son's birth.
I was brought to tears while Arianna and Sophia prayed as they thanked
God that Jesus was born and that he died for their sins on the cross.
They truly seem to understand his sacrifice.

At dinner Christmas night, I made a birthday cake (per the twins request)
and we all sang Happy Birthday to Jesus!

Here are some pics of the presents and stockings....

We had a fancy Christmas breakfast...

And later that night had the Smiths over for a HUGE dinner.. Please pray for Nate and Karie- he is without a job and they have 6 girls in their family!

It was a FUN and busy Christmas filled with constant reminders of the precious gift that was given to us many years ago in Bethlehem!

Christmas Traditions

Every year since we went to the Santa at Southwest Plaza and were terribly disappointed with his yellow beard and smokey odor, we have visited White Fence Farm's Santa and Mrs Claus! They are SO friendly, there's never a line and its free! Cant beat that!
Plus he truly looks like Santa- snowy white REAL beard and rosy cheeks- its eerie!
After Santa, we stopped at Starbucks for some hot chocolate....

Then off to see Christmas lights-
and to top it all off- it was SNOWING buckets of glorious snow!

Traditions are so much fun!

Over the Highway and thru the Snow to Grandmothers house we go!

We gathered on Christmas Eve to eat a scrumptious meal,
splurge on Emy's homemade Christmas cookies
and open oodles of presents:)
I am SO very thankful for the family God has given us in Denver!

The girls were filled with glee as they unwrapped all of Toys R us!

Elijah just loved stomping on all the gifts- poor Valerie got a gift that was torn open by Mr. Elijah and his happy feet!

We drove home with sleepy children cuddled in warm fleecy blankets made with love.
And at this very minute they are all snug in their beds...

Wednesday's Recipe....

My sweet friend Sarah made these for me last year for Christmas and we quickly made these a Christmas tradition! So simple and amazingly yummy!
Ingredients:
1 bag of rolos (usually around 40 candies inside)
pretzels to match the number of rolos
a bag of pecans

Step 1- unwrap rolos and place on top of pretzels
which are placed on a cookie pan lined with waxed paper
Step 2- bake at 275 for about 3 minutes or until slightly melted
Step 3- Place pecans (cut or whole) on the rolos as soon as you remove from stove
Step 4- place in fridge till completely cooled

These really do make great gifts!
Enjoy...

Just Hear Those Sleigh Bells Jingle...

Aspen Grove has FREE sleigh rides this holiday season
which my kids absolutely LOVE!
We sing Christmas songs as the Clydesdale's bells jingle!
I love the Christmas season!

Feeling Inspired

So, my friend Sarah just started a food blog and it got me thinking of all my favorite recipes that others ask for and I always forget to write out! So, I am going to try to blog (a tried and true, favorite recipe of our family) every week on Wednesday- I will try to get pictures seeing as that is really what inspires me to cook:) Too bad we dont have "smell-a-blog" That would really convince you to try my creations! (and I must confess that most of these recipes come from my mom who is the worlds best cook:) But, I do tweek them to fit our tastes, etc! So, stay tuned for some good recipes! (I think I'll start next week)...