Taco Soup

Today is a snow day.

I always get hungry for soup on snow days!!

I rummaged around in the pantry to decide what to make.

Taco Soup it is!!

Didn't really have a recipe so I just started dumping in cans of stuff until it tasted good!

Everybody loved it!!

Taco Soup

1 onion minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 lbs lean ground beef, browned and drained

2 packets of taco seasoning or YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN! (click HERE)

(if you make your own use 2.5 ounces for soup)

1 - 14 oz can Mexican Stewed tomatoes + one can water

1 can or Rotel Tomatoes

2 -  14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes

2 - 15 oz cans dark red kidney beans + 2 cans water

2 - 15.25  oz cans corn, drained

Toppings:

Cheese

Avocado

tortilla chips

sour cream

Brown beef with onion and garlic in your soup pot until cooked, drain any excess fat.

Puree the Mexican stewed tomatoes and Rotel tomatoes together in a blender.

Pour them and all of the other ingredients into the pot and combine.

(except the toppings!!)

Let simmer on low for one hour and serve with your choice of toppings.

Brighten Someone's Day with a Box Full of Sunshine!!

Box Full of Sunshine

I made these last year for the twin's teacher's gifts at the end of the school year.  By the time I got around to posting them, it was summer....so I figured I would save it for this year.

Of course, I forgot about it until I was cleaning out my camera roll on my iphone! ;)

Good thing it's only January, so you have time to make these!!

labels made with scrapbook paper

I knew I wanted to make these, so for about a month I started collecting

things that were yellow!

packaged in a cake box I got at Hobby Lobby

my inspiration came from a Pinterest post, the picture was from happymoneysaver.com

I filled the bottom of the box with yellow tissue paper, added things like lemonade, Juicy Fruit gum, a sunshine cookie cutter, a yellow gingham dish towel and dish cloth,  yellow tube of bubbles and flower seeds...in what? yes, yellow.

I packaged it up in a cake box and tied it with yellow tulle.

Added the tag I made on the printer and mounted on scrapbook paper, added a few glittery foam flowers....

and Volia!

Teacher gift for SUM...SUM... SUMMERTIME!!

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

stuffed cabbage rolls

Cabbage is one of those things I didn't like as a kid, but it's grown on me... 

now I think it's quite good!!

My husband and I have been married for 21 years, and I have NEVER made these!

Both of us grew up eating them, and for some reason they popped into my head this morning when he asked the age old question

"what's for dinner?"

So, when I paid my Sunday homage to the grocery to stock up on lunch box food, I picked up the ingredients and whipped them up.

hot out of the oven

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

2 pounds ground beef

i - 29 ounce can of tomato sauce

1/2 cup instant rice, uncooked

1 head green cabbage

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup minced onion

1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place a large pan of water to boil on the stove.

Prepare a covered deep baking dish wit non-stick cooking spray.

Combine ground beef with rice, onion, cheese and spices.  Form into decent sized meatballs.

Peel pieces of cabbage, trying to keep them "intact" place into boiling water for about a minute to 

slightly wilt them.

Roll a meatball up in the cabbage and place seam side down into baking dish. 

Pour tomato sauce over the top, cover and bake for one hour.

Makes about 10 rolls.

homemade Valentine's steal my heart

It's no secret that Valentine's Day is HANDS DOWN my MOST FAVORITE holiday.

It always has been, even when I was little.

I know many cynics say it's just a "Hallmark Holiday" but it's so much more to that, at least to me!

I loved making homemade Valentine's and creating the Valentine box to tote all of the Valentine's I received from my friends and classmates at the Valentine party at school.

I think homemade Valentines are the BEST!!

So, I am sharing with you today, how to add some fun to your kids Valentines this year!!

Simply snap a picture of them, and come up with a caption.

This was my daughter's Valentine last year.  They were a huge hit!!

So this year, she and her twin wanted to do something along the same lines....

We saw the sucker idea all over Pinterest and he really liked it.  We came up with the caption together.

It suits him....

This is what we decided for my daughter this year.

We walked up and down the candy aisle for inspiration.

She punched the lenses out of some 3D glasses, added a little tape...

instant NERD!

They turned out cute because the NERDS are almost 3D!!

Get your creative juices flowing and help your kiddos have an original Valentine of their own!!

HAPPY HEART DAY!!

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Lattice Topped Baked Apples

lattice topped baked apples

My friend, Tim, gets a lot of grief from his guy buddies for losing his "man card" when he posts 

pretty food to his facebook page.

He does a fabulous job!

Last week he made these baked apples that he found on foodgawker.com

They were super pretty!

My family LOVES apple pie, so I new that I had to try it.

The only thing, Tim doesn't use a recipe.

He sees it and wings it.

In that regard we have a lot in common.

So I figured I would do the same.... I winged it and wrote it down as I went!

The one tip he gave me, to place a small piece of crust in the bottom of the apple, because his sort of leaked out of the core base. ( I think he wanted me to test drive that idea to see if it worked, it didsu!)

pie crust cut into strips to form the lattice

in the muffin tins ready for the oven

They were super yummy!!

Here's a peek at the inside!!

Lattice Topped Baked Apples

8 granny smith apples

lemon juice

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/2 Tablespoons flour

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1 pie crust, homemade or refrigerated

additional cinnamon and sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Core and hollow 6 granny smith apples.   Squeeze a little lemon juice in each hollowed out apple and swirl around and dump out to help keep apples from browning. (this step isn't mandatory, but I did it, because I don't like when the apples get brown.) Peel and thinly slice the other 2 apples.

Combine sliced apples with flour, sugar and spices.

Divide and stuff hollowed apples.

Roll out pie crust and cut into 1/3" strips, form a lattice over the apple, and trim of the excess.

Place in muffin tins.

Lightly dust the tops with cinnamon and sugar.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Serve hot out of the oven with vanilla ice cream topped with cinnamon.