Taco Soup

It's not quite that cold outside yet, but since I've been sick, all I want to eat is soup. This is one of my very favorite recipes! It's really easy and I can put it together the night before and in the morning, set the crock pot on low and it's ready by the time I get home. Plus, leftovers taste amazing. Thank you, Paula Deen! Ha ha...

Ingredients:
2 lbs ground beef
2 cups diced onions
2 (15 1/2 oz) cans pinto beans
1 (15 1/2 oz) can pink kidney beans (red is fine-I can never find pink)
1 (15 1/4 oz) can whole-kernel corn, drained
1 (14 1/2 oz) can Mexican-style stewed tomatoes
1 (14 1/2 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 (14 1/2 oz) can tomatoes with chiles
2 (4 1/2 oz) cans diced green chiles
1 (4.6 oz) can black olives, drained & sliced (optional) (I never do this)
1 (1 1/4 oz) packet taco seasoning mix
1 (1 oz) package ranch salad dressing mix
corn chips, for serving (optional)
Garnish Items (optional): Black olives, sour cream, green olives, cheese, or pickled jalapeños

Directions:
Brown the ground beef and onions in a large skillet; drain the excess fat, then transfer the browned beef and onions to a large slow cooker or a stockpot. Add the beans, corn, tomatoes, green chiles, olives, taco seasoning, and ranch dressing mix. Cook in a slow cooker on low for 6 to 8 hours or simmer over low heat for about 1 hour in a pot on the stove. To serve, place a few corn chips in each bowl and ladle soup over them. Top with sour cream, cheese, green onions and jalapeños.

How Horrible Am I?

Alright, so obviously I'm doing super horrible at keeping up with this. In my defense, I have been sick. I have some kind of sinus infection thing going on and really have no ambition to do much really. So, to make up for my serious lack of will, I have decided to post a series of blogs with recipes--something that will take very little effort until I'm able to get rid of this junk and back on my normal schedule. Trust me, there has also been a serious lack of cleaning effort and my house REALLY shows it.

Sorry to anyone who actually follows my postings...really, I am. I'm sure these next few days will also bring an overflow of notifications that I've updated. Again, I do feel bad.

First Day of School

McKayla is getting WAY too old... Today was her first day of Pre-K. She's in a class of 4 and 5-year-olds. So far, she seems to be enjoying what they've started learning. She says that is lots more fun than the 3-year-old class was. She attends a Day Care/Pre-School. They accept kids early in the morning, feed them, and make sure they get the appropriate rooms for their class. I love them. They are really great with kids and make every effort to make sure the parents are getting the type of care they are expecting.
I can't believe she is already 4. Time goes by SO fast. I will be sure to post the pictures of her later, but I don't have the attachments with me to take the pictures from my camera and put them up. Oh well. Time just seems to go by all too fast.

So Irritated

Alright, I spent hours putting together a slide show that CLAIMED I could post it on my blog. I arranged all the pictures and got everything visually appealing, I selected that I wanted to post this on blogger, and slide.com then gave me a code. I followed all of their instructions and blogger gives me an error every time I try to post the slide show. I'm super sad...I wanted to be able to show off a few of the pictures that Jourdyn took for us. If any of you know a better way to do this, let me know, PLEASE. I'm just not all that fond of posting lists of pictures. It's more fun as a slide show or even a collage.

::This is one of my favorites::

Quick Pizza

This is a pretty basic and really easy recipe. McKayla LOVES pizza. She asks for it on a regular basis. We use this recipe in all kinds of ways. Feel free to make any changes you see fit.

What you need:
Baking Sheet
Aluminum Foil (optional)
Pizza/Tomato Sauce
Shredded Cheese
Any Additional Toppings
Pita Bread

I like to line the baking sheet with aluminum foil so there's less clean up, if you don't want to, or if you have a dedicated pizza pan, feel free to use that. Place pita bread on pan and begin layering. First a small amount of sauce, I will sometimes use a jarred bottle of spaghetti sauce and add in a small amount of Italian Seasoning, if you have a good recipe for pizza sauce, even better. Sometimes, I'm just in it for simplicity. Using a spaghetti sauce with mushrooms or peppers also sneaks in vegetables, just a thought. Sprinkle on a little cheese. Layer on any toppings, McKayla really only likes meats and olives. Finally, more cheese on top, this keeps your toppings from falling off while you're eating it. Slide onto the bottom rack of a 375°F oven. If I'm in a huge hurry, I use the broiler setting on my oven. Take out when cheese is bubbly and turning a light golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool slightly, cut into wedges or any other easy to handle shape. Serve. Sometimes, I put a salad with this and turn it into a lunch or dinner during the week. You can also make a great breakfast pizza with this as well!

Well...

Well, since I've been spending every spare minute pouring over crafty ideas, I decided to make myself a little schedule to allow appropriate time to at least work on each project. Sometimes, I'm so excited at the prospect of making this new craft that I kind of push the old one aside. This is a HORRID habit. I know. In order to accomplish this, working full time, raising a child, going to school, and getting ready for Christmas, I'm going to have to allow some things to remain on the back burner and get my butt in gear. These are not fun times for me...I hate the feeling of being overwhelmed with responsibility when really, all you want is a little fun. By the feeling, I mean having to keep on task with myself. So...here goes... This week, I've decided to finish some of the more involved projects I have since I only have classes 2 days a week and it's not alarmingly hot outside, but appropriate enough for me to get some painting out of the way while Miss McKayla plays outside and isn't bugging me with her demands for me to entertain her. At work, we are "spotlighting" a fellow co-worker; my turn will be soon, so I WILL get that project out of the way today. Putting it down in text is like a promise. I must get this done. I'm hoping this "schedule" of sorts will allow me to get something accomplished while still letting me do all the other things in life.
Here is a sort of list of today's goals:
»Finish majority of the spotlight project.
»Sort through McKayla's clothing for anything too small or damaged and move it out of her room/closet.
»File all the paperwork I've been letting pile up on my desk for months.
»Get at least 3 loads of laundry done (may seem like a lot, but somehow, my bathroom floor was filled with water and there are a lot of rags to be washed).
»Sort through craft projects and put them in order of importance/involvement and create some type of timeline in order to complete them all.

Yikes! This working thing is taking up WAY too much of my needed time... If anyone has any suggestions on my lack of time management skills or anything else, please, feel free...

Hazah!

Yikes! It's been a week since I've posted anything. Studying for two finals was crazy. Now that it's over, we can concentrate on doing more fun activities.
I love giving homemade gifts to our friends and family whenever possible. Now that McKayla is a little older, it's more fun to get her involved in the crafts. After browsing through several books and thousands of web-sites for fun ideas, I was still not exactly sure what to do this year. Last night, I went to the fridge to get my daughter some water. There, I happened to glance at all the stuff hanging there... **Lightbulb** I saw a project that I had made with a scrapbook class last year, there was my idea. More to come later...can't ruin any surprises...