Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins (Recipe)

I hope you all had a great weekend! Mine was spent trying to recover from a cold I've battling all week.  But I did manage to sneak in some bowing, laundry, football, and baking.  My mom always makes the BEST chocolate chip banana muffins, so when we had a few ripe bananas sitting around, I decided to get her recipe and make some myself.  They are seriously so easy and taste AMAZING!

Ingredients:
3 ripe bananas
1/2 c. shortening
1 c. sugar
2 c. flour
2 eggs
1/2 teas. salt
1/2 teas. baking soda
1 c. chocolate chips
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 teas. nutmeg

1. Mix all ingredients together, EXCEPT the brown sugar and nutmeg, until well blended (I used my kitchen aid mixer for this).
2. Add in the chocolate chips and mix.
3. Fill 24 cupcake liners with the batter you just made.
4. Mix the brown sugar and nutmeg together and sprinkle over top of each filled cupcake liner.
5. Bake at 350 degrees to 12-18 minutes (I did mine at 18 minutes. It just depends on your oven and how full you fill your cupcake liners).

I actually eat these for breakfast, but they are also great as a dessert too!  What are some of your favorite recipes?

Linking up with:

The Creative Corner

Favorite Pinterest Finds

I love seeing people's favorite Pins or links, so I thought I'd share some of my favorite recent Pinterestfinds. Feel free to comment with some of your favorites!

I've made this Bacon Ranch Chicken a couple of times now and it's a super easy, quick dinner that tastes great too!

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I made these cute Mini Cinnamon Rolls for a brunch party at my house a couple months ago and they were so good! Perfect bite size portions and really easy to make.

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If I was brave enough, I'd add a little of this dark purple to my hair. I haven't gotten the nerves to do it. Yet.

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I made this Crock Pot Creamed Corn for Thanksgiving and it was a hit! It was my first time ever eating or making creamed corn and it was something I'd definitely make again.

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I don't need a baby gate, but I'd love to make something like this for the top of our basement stairs. We have an arched doorway, so a regular door wouldn't fit right, so a half door/gate would be perfect.

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I've been crocheting a lot lately, and coffee sleeves have been at the top of my list (check them out on Instagram). This one is super cute, but looks a little complicated, so I haven't attempted it yet.

Happy New Year!

Where in the world did the past year go? I'm sure we're all kind of feeling that way, right? I've seen a lot a posts over the past couple of days about resolutions, goals, word for the year, etc. so I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon. It's pretty obvious that I've been absent on this blog over the past several months, and I'm hoping to change that. One of my goals for this year (along with the typical workout, eat better, be more organized...) is to be more intentional about this blog. I miss blogging like crazy and want to get back to it.

So with that comes a new blog name and new layout, both of which I'm hoping to get done in the next month or two. (I'm still looking for recommendations for blog designers, so send them my way!) Another goal of mine this year is to start an Etsy shop. That's a little further in the future, but I'm hoping to make it happen!

What are your goals or resolutions for this year?

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House & Life Updates

Well, I did it again. I unintentionally took another blogging break! We had a great Thanksgiving filled with family, food, and football--just the way I like it. Kevin's cousin got married Thanksgiving weekend, and he was in the wedding, so we were busy with all things wedding that weekend.  We also had a wedding the following weekend, so we've been keeping busy, that's for sure!

Not only have our work and social lives been busy, but we've also done a big thing with our house...we had a new roof put on!  We had a big wind storm about a month ago that caused some minor chimney damage.  We had a few people come out to look at the chimney, and they all commented on the condition of our roof.  In the back of our minds, we knew the roof would have to be replaced soon, but we were hoping we could put it off longer!  I could think of a million things I would have rather spent that nice chunk of change on, but I am also thankful that we were able to get it taken care of before winter hits Michigan.

So that's what I've been up to lately, instead of blogging. But I'm really ready to make a serious come back in the blogging world. I'm thinking of changing my blog name to something more specific to me.  Along with that, I'd like to get a new blog design.  If you have anyone you'd recommend for a blog design, let me know!

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and are enjoying this holiday season. Thanks for sticking around!

All About Fall & Me

I saw this fun little fall survey on p!nk persistence and I thought I'd join in and do it too!

Favorite Fall Drink: That's hard...I love anything pumpkin, so PSLs are always good. I also love apple cider, especially when it's warmed up.  And if you add a little fireball to some hot apple cider--yum!

Favorite Fall Candle: I pretty much love all fall scents and I always have candles burning in the fall, so I can't pick just one. Give me all of them!

Favorite Thanksgiving Food: I'm not a big turkey fan. I love all the sides. Green bean casserole is one of my favorites!

Favorite Type of Pie: Apple pie for sure.

Football Games or Jumping In Leaves: Football is my favorite sport, so I love watching football during the fall!

Favorite Fall Attire: Boots and scarves--I could wear those every single day.

Favorite Fall Television Show: We watch so many shows in the fall. Scandal and How To Get Away With Murder are two of my favorites. We started watching a couple new ones that we really like too: Blindspot and Quantico.

Combat Boots or Uggs: Actually, I'd rather wear riding boots. All day, every day.

Is PSL Worth the Hype: I'm not sure that they are worth the hype, but I do love them!

What is Fall Weather Like Where You Live: It's cold. It was 28 degrees when I woke up this morning and supposed to get up to 50. Maybe. The leaves fall (and we spend every night cleaning them up). And the days are short...dark by 6:00 pm and getting shorter every day.  Summer is my favorite and I'm not a fan of winter, so when fall comes, I know that winter follows and I'm not happy about that!

What Do You Think About Black Friday: I'm one of those people that goes out shopping on Black Friday, but I don't wait in line and go crazy...I love finding deals, but not worth fighting all the crazy people for them in line.

Fall Mornings or Evenings: Fall mornings on the weekends. It gets dark too soon in the fall, so I love mornings when the sun is shining :)

5 Things

I posted over a week ago and said I was back...and then nothing. Oops! I'm working on getting back in the blogging groove, so today I'm sharing 5 things that I've been up to since you last heard from me. Get ready for picture overload!

ONE. Running.  I've done a few races since the last time I posted.  I've been getting better and finally made my goal of running a 5k in under 30 minutes!

Alger Heights 5k

Grand Rapids Marathon Relay

The Great Pumpkin Run (5k)

TWO. Halloween.  I dressed up this year for the first time in probably 10 years!  Kevin and I went to a Halloween party at our friend's house last weekend and we dressed up as Clark Kent and Wonder Woman.  We stayed home and passed out candy on Halloween night.

The photo on the left is of my mom in the early 80s, and me on the right, this year.  I wore her Wonder Woman costume from about 30 years ago!  It was so fun to be able to do that :)

THREE.  Yard work.  Now that fall is here it seems like every night is spent cleaning up leaves...the joys of being a homeowner!  But I do have fun decorating the front porch for fall :)

FOUR.  Softball.  We played a lot of softball this summer and fall.  And we won our league and tournament on our fall team!

FIVE.  Girls weekend.  I spent a weekend in Traverse City with some of my girlfriends.  We had so much fun wine tasting, eating, and laughing!

What have you been up to?  What have I missed in the blogging world?