Recipes Archives | Page 16 of 17 |

Taco Soup Recipe

December 11, 2008 By Laura 1 Comment

Here’s a soup recipe that’ll be sure to warm your chilled bones. If you love tacos, you’ll love this taco soup! I do love tacos, and I also love soup. Good soups – which are usually home made of course. I also LOVE Panera Bread’s Broccoli Cheddar Soup (and so do our kids). I had some today as a matter of fact. It was just the pick-me-up I needed in between the stores of a little Christmas shopping. Ate it in a quiet van. It was the weirdest experience! lol

Now I didn’t invent this Taco Soup recipe, but I did revise it a bit to make it…well, better! No one needs as many beans as was in the original recipe, to start. Unless you just want a bowl of beans, with a little burger mixed in. My kids keep asking me when I’m going to make my Vegetable Soup again. (That was another altered version of a recipe. ) But I just feel like that’s a spring/summer soup…when vegetables are fresh and more locally grown. This is a heartier soup that suits winter meals, and they love this one too. So here’s how I make it, and I hope you give it a try if it sounds good to you:

Ingredients:

1 lb. extra lean ground beef (I use 85%)
1 onion, chopped
1 15.5 oz can pinto beans / undrained
1 8 oz can *Green Giant Niblets Corn / undrained * (we use this brand because it’s sweet and and has snap)
2 8 oz tomato sauce
1 pkg. Taco Seasoning Mix
1 1/2 C water
Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Brown beef with onions in large saucepan; drain.

Add all remaining ingredients except cheese; stir. It’s important NOT to drain the cans of beans and corn! That’s where some of the flavor and liquid comes from. Bring to a boil. Simmer on medium-low for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. At this point it’s ready to eat really, but I like to turn it to low and let it continue to simmer, still stirring occasionally – letting all of the ingredients get to know each other a little better.

“Hello!” “Hi there!”

Then just serve up in bowls, and top with as much shredded cheddar as you’d like. We like a lot. : )

If you try it out, let us know how many gold spoons your family gave this recipe. : )

HALLOWTIDE; All Souls Day – Part III

November 9, 2008 By Laura 2 Comments

We’ve finally arrived at the last part of our Hallowtide theme – Part III. (You can check out all of the fun we had, in Part I HERE, and Part II HERE.)

Our All Souls Day (Nov 2) began with Sunday morning Mass. We most always go to the last Mass of Sunday mornings, as we did on this day. What a beautiful sight it was walking into the church, with what was left of the vigil candles aglow all over the altar, each burning for each soul of every parishioner who passed away in the last year. Each burning candle had the name of the individual on it, and were meant to be taken home by the families of the lost loved one. We can only imagine how much more spectacular and moving the first mass of the weekend must have been, before any candles had been taken home, by the families they belonged to.

Later in the afternoon, we gathered around our table together, and talked a bit more about the history and purpose of All Souls Day. We also focused a bit more, on the lives and souls closer to home for us; those who have perished, who were a great influence in our life, or made a mark in some way. Those we personally knew in some way, and those who we loved so deeply and dearly, and lost, such as close family. We discussed how as Catholics, we are to pray for the souls of those people, that their souls may be purified and released from purgatory, and into the Kingdom of Heaven.

In that light, we began a new tradition. We created a scroll, listing the names of the souls of those in our lives who we have lost, and beside their name, the year of their death. This includes family and friends, and anyone who had been a significant part of our life or family in some way. This of course required really going back in years, and while we have many names down, many exact years are forgotten and still need to be researched.

This list of souls is part of our seasonal altar (or table) we have. This table area changes with the liturgical year, as well as the earth seasons. The scroll of names/souls we remember, will remain there throughout the month of November, as it is the month to remember and pray for all souls. Each year it will be brought back out in tradition, and sadly, be updated, including the new souls we must pray for. Later, we added the remembrance cards we happened to still have, to the table as well.

Then we got to making dough, for soul cakes. Soul cakes (which are more like hot cross buns) have Christian history in Halloween, and in fact are the root of how ‘trick or treat’ began. In short, these soul cakes were exchanged for prayers by the recipients of the soul cakes, who were mostly beggars and whom went to the doors of the wealthier, for the loved ones lost in the family of the givers. As the saying went:

A soul, a soul, a soul cake.
Please good missus a soul cake.
An apple, a pear, a plum or a cherry,
Any good thing to make us merry.
Up with your kettles and down with your pans
Give us an answer and we’ll be gone
Little Jack, Jack sat on his gate
Crying for butter to butter his cake
One for St. Peter, two for St. Paul,
Three for the man who made us all.

How costume wearing came to be, is also tied into this practice that began long ago, and has interestingly evolved into what it is today.

As Daddy added sprinkles of flour to prevent sticking and to get the dough to a consistency just right to form the soul cakes, the kids mostly took turns kneading the dough….

….but not always…….

Once the soul cakes were done, we enjoyed them nice and hot, with our dinner.

That concludes our Hallowtide festivities report, which in real life, concluded a week ago today! Come back again soon to see what we have in store for our blog about next. As quiet as you all are in the commenting department : ( , we know you are all out there, reading along. ; ) We appreciate your visits.

HALLOWTIDE; All Hallows’ Eve – Part I

November 4, 2008 By Laura 4 Comments

As many of you know, Hallowtide is the 3 days of All Hallows’ Eve (better known as Halloween), All Saints Day, and All Souls Day, carrying us all from the month of October into November. These last few days have been full of festivities, fun, and more education for all us! I’ve mentioned to you all before, just how much our kids love to plan any festivities. I think you’ll truly get the gist of just how much they ‘get into it’, as you visit our blog over the next couple of days. For any celebration we have coming up, our oldest always loves to plan the menu items (as well as do a lot of the cooking and baking), and the little ones might have a say in that menu, lol, make decorations, plan the games, and stuff like that. They are all, always, never short on ideas. They are very enthusiastic party planners, even if it is just for us. But we sure do have a good time!! Suffice it to say, I took loads, and loads, of photos. I have been splitting my computer time between processing them all for family history and blogging, and working! I’ll only be sharing a fraction of them here, but still out of necessity (and sanity), this Hallowtide theme will be split into multiple posts. I hope you all enjoy our ‘little ways’.

The children woke up on All Hallows’ Eve to Daddy’s artwork on the fridge chalkboard (that still makes me smile,) seen below. If you can imagine him, he sat on the floor, drawing and coloring like a child, and having as much fun as one. Just when I thought he was done, he’d pick up another piece of chalk for a little finishing touch here, and then there. Then adding this and that. Truth was, he didn’t WANT to be done. He’s just so cute about these things, and I’m sure you’ll agree he’s quite the sketch artist. It didn’t go unappreciated by the kids in the morning either. No one erased it to do their own thing.

But as excited as the kids were to get to all they had worked so hard on planning, it was still a school day, first. Devotion was dedicated to another more thorough and deeper study of the meaningful and interesting ties of ‘Halloween’ to our Catholic faith. As committed Catholics raising our children in our faith, it’s our obligation to teach how our faith relates to everything, and there is very interesting history to be learned here. We learn more every year! In addition to this, as we follow the Liturgical Year, we acknowledge all of these holy days, with ‘Halloween’ meaning “Holy Eve’ in reference to the eve of All Saints Day, which in turn leads to the observance of All Souls Day. (Just talking, in case anyone doesn’t know these things yet. )

At any rate (as my mother would say), All Hallows’ Eve and All Saints Day was pretty much rolled into one broo-ha-ha for us. We stayed up LATE, carrying on with our antics. Having spent a good amount of time discussing the important meaning of all of the aspects of this seemingly crazy holiday, and how it ALL came about over the course of history, and why,….we then dove right into the silliness of it all.

So here come just some of the photos for Part I of our All Hallows Eve festivities. As we sat gathered at our table, schooling as the morning turned to afternoon, we started paying more and more attention to this menu {A} had set on the window sill beside us,…..

as our bellies began to grumble for lunch:

A bit after lunch and awhile of working for me, I had to run out to a client consult. But when I got home, the kids were all geared up to get the celebration rolling!! They got out shirts/sweatshirts, as did Michael and I, and we all decided what designs we wanted for them. Daddy cut our choices out of vinyl and put them on for us. They were ready to ….

…..eat again of course!

{A}’s Salty Bones! These were so good with jalapeno cheese dip!

Bat Wings!

{S} couldn’t get enough of these things!

And then they made their own ‘Monster Pizzas’.

Here’s {O} just sitting there looking cute, waiting for her pizza to come out of the toaster oven.

Finally, they were cooled down enough to bite into! {J} was happy about that!

It wasn’t long after we ate our ‘main course’ that {A} was in the kitchen again, making us some candy apples. (Here she’s at the stove, melting chocolate in a double boiler.)

She wanted me to take ‘how-to’ photos for you all. So go ahead and make some, and enjoy them yourself!

Michael/Daddy started cutting out cookies, too.Take note of the pumpkin on his shirt, which he was all excited about wearing. (No, I am not being sarcastic. )

That’s FAR from all. The party just got crazier from there, late into the night.

So stay tuned, if you dare……………
Check out the crazy-fun antics in Part II HERE!

Tea Time for Our Lady of Sorrows Feast Day

September 15, 2008 By Laura Leave a Comment

Today is Our Lady of Sorrows Feast Day, so I’m be sharing a little special something I did with the kids, to learn a bit about it, and acknowledge it. Over the weekend, we decided to look around in The Christmas Tree Shops. If you don’t have one of those near you, I feel bad for you. It’s such a great, affordable place, and I always come out with more than I planned on getting. So I try not to go in often. : ) But this time we all went in – and being the season to sell autumn decorations and goods, I had to control myself with every turn. However…..we did let the kids each choose a mini loaf ceramic pan, with the intention of letting them bake some mini loaves on Sunday.

Sunday got away in terms of baking. So then it got pushed to Monday…which is today. This morning, somehow we went way off track of our usual school morning routine. We got into helping the kids put finishing touches on some paper crafts they had started yesterday ( I’ll be blogging about that soon), and then we had to clean up the mess made in a flurry of creativity. By the time we were done, we realized we really needed to get the kids to their schoolwork, so we decided to move family devotion to the afternoon (usually done first in the day). Since we were going to do that, and it was the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, we decided to whip up some Quick Bread first and let the mini loaves bake while we did our school work, and plan on having an afternoon ‘tea’ together, and discuss the Feast Day, after school and lunch.

Boy did the house smell good while school work was getting done. Banana bread – one of our favorites. Soon the timer went off, and it was time for them to come out of the oven and cool for a bit.

The kids we so excited to have their own loaf (not to be eaten ALL at once) that they ate lunch a bit faster.

So we gathered in the sun room for Devotion, and discussion of the Feast Day while having a ‘tea’. We have had a ‘tea’ time a time or 2 before, but it was hot cocoa or something for them in the past. We just called it tea, for the sake of a tea time. But this time they tried some real tea. It was apple cinnamon decaf, and the little ones were pretty excited to try it – even though {A} tried to let them know they may not care for it, since she had tried it before. But she too was willing to try it again. Turns out, she still didn’t like it, 2 others didn’t think they did either. and the last thought it was ‘ok he guessed’. They sipped here and there as we chatted about the Blessed Mother, but not quite like they do hot cocoa. Their own little banana bread loaves, however, they were really enjoying.

For our discussion, first, we asked the kids how many times they could think of off the top of their head, when Mary, the mother of Jesus, might have experienced deep sorrow. Naturally, they all guessed his crucifixion, and death on the cross. {A} also named the time when Mary searched for three days in Jerusalem for her son, who was missing, and later found Him in the temple, teaching. Once they were done throwing out their thoughts, we taught them the 7 times Mary experienced great suffering in her life. We talked quite a bit about it, and how hard many of those times must have been. We can only try and imagine. (And as a mother, I don’t even want to. But I must, to truly begin to appreciate her sacrifice, and reasoning for it.)

It was a lovely tea time, even if the tea itself wasn’t the hit they hoped. There will be others, no doubt. Probably many in the coming cold season. We just leave the table with a warmer feeling inside. Perhaps it’s the tea. Perhaps it’s feeling a bit more in touch with our faith than when we sat. Or maybe it’s just the time together. In any case, we find tea time is good for the soul.

On a somewhat unrelated note, we might mention how Sunday ‘got away’. At some point, either while we were at mass, or picking up lumber at Home Depot, our little friend ‘Webington Ringaling’ broke free in the house…and we still haven’t found him.

Make Your Own Ice Cream Sundae…

June 14, 2008 By Laura 3 Comments

Still trying to catch up on work here, but had the chance to finish getting these family photos processed too, which are (some) from Memorial Day weekend, actually. So I thought I’d share them on the blog real quick. ‘Make Your Own Ice Cream Sundae’ is a pretty exciting happening around here. Actually…the kids like to ‘make their own’ anything!! But sundaes seem especially fun. It’s something we do more than not, because with Shane having an anaphylactic allergy to peanuts, we all feel better about just having this treat at home. It’s a lot safer, and we can lick in peace. Not to say we never get ice cream out, but if we do, we really drill it into the counter person about how careful they need to be, and exactly what’s going to happen if they aren’t. They get the whole picture by the time I’m done.

Anyway….whenever someone in our family suggests making sundaes, the first thing I think of is the fun, fun, fun photo opportunity! To me, that’s a bigger treat than the sundae! For the kids (including the real big one with the mustache and goatee…), the best part is the whole process:

making them…..