Dessert, Dessert, Dinner

I baked a couple of items to bring to Thanksgiving this year and boy, were they yummy!!

Brownie Candy Bites
I found this recipe on my cyber-friends blog, Heather Drive.
Heather, if you don't mind, I'm just going to copy and paste your instructions!

Ingredients:
- 1 box brownie mix
- eggs, water, and vegetable oil (in the amounts listed on your brownie package)
- 25-30 mini Reeses cups, frozen, then unwrapped
- 1 Box Reynolds 2-inch aluminum foil mini cups for muffins

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place approximately 30 foil liners on baking sheet (I used a mini cupcake baking pan)

2. Combine brownie mix, eggs, water and oil. Stir with spoon until well blended. (about 50 strokes)

3. Fill each liner with 1-2 tablespoons of batter. You want them to be about 3/4 of the way full.

4. Push a peanut butter cup into the center of each "brownie cupcake." (I also used cut up York Peppermint Patties)

5. Bake for 15 minutes and remove from oven.

6. Cool 5-10 minutes in pan and then move to cooling rack to cool completely.

These bites went very fast at Thanksgiving dinner. I made 24 and when dessert started, I think they were all gone within 10 minutes.

The second item I made was geared towards non-chocolate lovers. I don't understand those types of people but I know they are out there. Sadly, I think I threw away the recipe for this pumpkin cake but it took a lot of eggs, a lot of sugar and a lot of oil. And some pumpkin. The recipe was in the special edition magazine called 100 Best Cookies: Love on a sheetpan. I highly recommend getting this magazine!!!

And lastly, dinner!!! I went through a set of recipe cards for the slow cooker and found this wonderful soup. I was excited when I realized it is the same soup that my boss has made for work functions several times.

1 lb ground beef
1 onion chopped
16 oz cans of tomatoes, ranch style beans, whole kernel corn, kidney beans, black beans (undrained)
Picante Sauce
tortilla chips
sour cream
shredded cheese
**I also added a whole pack of taco seasoning once everything was in the crock pot. This added a nice seasoned taste to the soup**


1. Brown meat and onions; drain
2. Combine all beans, tomatoes and picante with the meat and onions in the slow cooker
3. Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours (ours was ready in 4)
4. Serve with tortilla chips, sour cream and cheese on the top

You can get 6-8 servings out of this recipe so enjoy leftovers the next day!! Or make it for a large group and watch the smiles!