Healthy? Taco Soup

The question mark in the title is unfortunately not a typo. This recipe was adapted from a Weight Watchers one, but I have no clue how far I have adapted it:) Oops. I will tell you one thing, it's excellent. There are thousands upon millions of "taco-soup-ish" recipes floating around Pinterest lately, so this post may be completely irrelevant to some. Sorry. It's relevant to me however, and since this is my blog, I will continue.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 to 2lbs of lean ground beef or turkey (this particular time I used 1.85lbs)
1 onion, chopped
3 cans of ranch style beans
1 can of corn
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 can of rotel
1 small can (8 oz) tomato sauce
3 C water
1 packet of taco seasoning
1 packet of ranch dip mix
Garnishes to throw on top (optional)(cilantro, lime, sour cream, shredded cheese)

Instructions:
Brown meat, drain off any grease. Add all other ingredients, simmer for 20 to 30 minutes (perfect amount of time to whip up some cornbread).


*This time I bought the "Mexican" variety of all the canned items (rotel, diced tomatoes, corn, & even the beans) and it gave it a little extra kick.
* I do know that pretty much the main difference in my version versus the WW one is that their recipe calls for only 1 lb of meat. Everything else is pretty much the same, minus any garnishes.

Blessed Are the Peacemakers

{Me with Granny Iva}

{Me, Mom, Granny Iva}

It all started last summer. A bunch of our family was up at my grandparents' house having dinner one evening. While I was back in my grandma's bedroom rocking Levi, she came back there and got a little storage box out of her closet and said "I was wondering if you thought you could use these for anything." Inside the box were a few piles of fabric scraps that had been cut out by my great grandmother from clothes she used to wear with the intention to someday make a quilt (or two). There were not enough scraps to complete a quilt pattern, but I knew I could use them for something.

My (great) Granny Iva holds a special place in all of our hearts, as I (and most all of my siblings/cousins) had the privilege of growing up knowing her (I have mentioned her here and here before).

I had an idea of what I wanted the minute I got the scraps. I had seen this blog post a few weeks before, so I sought out the shop it came from, which is called For the Love of Joy. I emailed Anna, the shop owner (you can visit her shop here, and her blog here), and told her my story, and asked her if she would consider making 10 pillows for me, using my great grandmother's fabric scraps and a scripture of my choosing (Matthew 5:9). Everyone in our family can quote this scripture, having heard it recited by my grandma (the one who gave me the scraps) most all of our lives.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Matthew 5:9

I wanted to give these pillows as (Christmas) gifts to my family members as an heirloom of Granny Iva's. Anna was extremely gracious and told me it would be a privilege to make the pillows for me, and she even provided me a discount since I provided some of the fabric. I sent her the fabric scraps back in August or September, and told her I just needed the pillows before Christmas, which she mailed to me in plenty of time. They turned out perfect, and I have never been so excited to give a gift as I was for these. Had I had no budget, I would have commissioned a pillow for every family member, but I live in the real world so I made sure to have at least one per family.

Be sure to visit Anna's shop if you are in the market for something special like this. She has so many precious items, especially if you or someone you know is expecting a little one. Here are a few of my favorite items from her shop:

{Family name pillow with scripture, image via For the Love of Joy}

{Coffee sleeve, image via For the Love of Joy}

{Quilted Boppy Cover, image via For the Love of Joy}

Anna's shop will be closed for a couple of weeks in January, but she will be back after a short vacation. You can find out more about it on her blog.

Here are some of my family members with their pillows, and a few snapshots of my pillow. I love these heirlooms and I'm so happy to have had them made!

iPhone Bulletin Board

My Sunday School class heads up a "Bulletin Board Ministry" at church - meaning we are in charge of decorating the two main church bulletin board that aren't covered by another specific ministry. The main bulletin board is large and in a very high-traffic entrance, and our pastor made it clear that he wants some thought and creativity put into that one (meaning he doesn't want a bunch of butterflies and flowers thrown up there to call it good, as seen below).

{Example of what not to do, my apologies to the author}

{Example of what not to do, my apologies to the author}

Over the holidays, we had a generic Christmas theme that highlighted Luke 2:10. I knew it had to be changed out right after Christmas, so I started looking for ideas back in November. I came across this picture online (from here), and started really thinking on how it could be applied to a spiritual meaning:

I'm really happy with what we came up with. It was fun to think about and put together, and everyone has loved it. As we were finishing up the installation, kids were arriving for Awanas, and almost every single one who came through the door commented on how cool it was (most walked in and said "look, it's Angry Birds!).

Everything is not perfectly straight or put together, so don't look at it with a critical eye :) But several people showed up to help put it together and I think it turned out really cute! I intended on the little captions to not be hand-written, but there are only so many hours in the day.

{Scribbling out a plan with dimensions}

{Printing out some app icons}

{Finished Board!}

{Angry Birds}

Restaurant-Style Smashed Potatoes

I ran across this recipe back in 2010 on Ree Drummond's blog (Pioneer Woman). I made these last night and from my husband's reaction, I'm not sure why I don't make this easy side more often (he evidently thought this was the first time I had made it - but we've had it a few times). I slightly adapted her recipe, and here's what I came up with:

Ingredients:
5 large red potatoes, whole & scrubbed clean
1 stick of butter, softened & cut into pieces
5 slices of bacon, cooked & crumbled
2 whole green onions, sliced
1 C light sour cream
1 C french fried onions
S & P to taste

Instructions:
In a microwave-safe large bowl, cook potatoes in the microwave.* Smash with a potato masher (they will not be soft and gooey like regular mashed potatoes - you are just smashing them up). Immediately add softened butter, sour cream, onions, and bacon and stir with rubber spatula. Add salt and pepper, then fold in the fried onions (you can reserve a few for topping). Serve hot.

*Original recipe said to cook for 10 min in microwave but I had to cook about 13 minutes. Remember to pierce them a few times with a fork first. They will be semi-hard to smash up, but just use some elbow grease and smash them up with the skin and all.

{Ingredients, minus S & P}

{A great side dish for anything grilled - we had pork chops}

The Red Sleigh

My sweet grandpa has always been good with his hands, and has made us several things over the years, but it has been several years since he has made anything, and I think everyone assumed he was not able to any more. On Christmas day, my grandparents walked in with this beautiful red sleigh full of presents and little family heirlooms for Levi (which was a huge surprise in itself because we don't exchange gifts with this side of the family).

Andad (what I call my grandpa) had made this beautiful sleigh for Levi, and Anna (what I call my grandma) said he had been planning it for quite some time. He is so great at things like this - there are no nails or screws in the sleigh - and the pieces come out so that it can be stored flat and not take up much space. I love this so much - and it is so, so special! I can't wait to use it every year for Christmas.  

{Anna, Andad, and Levi back in July}

{Levi and Andad early this Fall}

Thank you for making this Andad! We love it SO much and will cherish it forever!

2011 Wrap-Up

I thought I'd do one of these posts because everyone else did :) I started this little blog back in May (first post here) and I'm really glad I did for many reasons. I've loved sharing things (and people) that interest me with my family, friends, and a few new acquaintances, and I also love hearing your feedback - so thank you! It has slightly pushed me to keep a tidy house (when I know I have to take pictures of something), cook a little more (to share a recipe or two), fully complete projects that otherwise may have been left partially completed for weeks, month, or even longer, and to keep things in life documented better by pictures. It has definitely been a creative outlet, which is one of the main reasons I wanted to jump on the blog bandwagon.

Here is a look back at my top 3 posts (according to page views):

This was Project Post 9: Old Porch Post Ledge. This has been my favorite project to date and one of my most favorite things in our house. You can view the full post here. This post had the most page views (by far) of any post, thanks to Pinterest and some Facebook sharing.

This was Project Post 4: DIY Bistro Chalkboard. The full post is here. I can't believe I had this old mirror for so long and didn't make it a chalkboard sooner. This post had the second most page views also thanks to Pinterest and probably Facebook.

The third most-viewed post was the homemade body butter. This one surprised me - mainly because these pictures (if you want to call them that) were taken with my phone as I was in between cameras at the time. I really intended on going back and taking better photographs to upload but I have not done it yet! I see this floating around Pinterest often - I am guessing it's because it's so easy?? Either way, I will not complain :)

So there they are - my 3 most-viewed posts - the crowd favorites - for 2011. And here's to many more in 2012!

Bear

Levi's grandparents gave him this bear for his first birthday. It was Tyler's bear that he got for his first birthday. And these pictures are of both boys, with the bear, around the age of their first birthday.

The first picture is Tyler (almost 28 years ago), and the second is Levi. Levi's hair is wet because this was right after bath time. I could have done a better job of getting the exact same picture/pose, but there is really only so much you can do to "pose" a very active 1-year-old. :)