Southwestern-Flavored Ground Beef or Turkey for Tacos & Salad

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 3 pounds lean ground beef or turkey
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can petite diced tomatoes
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/4 cup cornmeal

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oil in a 12-inch skillet until shimmering. Add onion; saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, chili powder, oregano and cumin; saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add beef or turkey and cook, stirring often, until it loses its raw color. Stir in tomatoes; simmer to blend flavors, about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Stir in cornmeal; cook, stirring constantly, until it thickens, almost instantly. Cool and refrigerate (or serve warm for dinner as tacos or taco salad).

Here were some of the signs I made fir Christmas presents. These signs were so fun to make. I just need to figure out a cheap place to get vinyl! Any ideas?

Applesauce pancakes

Lately I've been looking for recipes to use the ingredients I already have. Pretty much to get rid of food (just in case we move) and to save money. This is a really good recipe and I was surprised with how good they were. The only difference I made was used apple cider vinegar instead of lemon juice. I also added a little more milk than it called for because I like thinner pancakes:)

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups dry pancake mix
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup applesauce
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 cup milk

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, stir together pancake mix and cinnamon. Make a well in the center of the pancake mix. Add the eggs, applesauce, lemon juice and milk; stir until smooth.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

I learned a new trick. I made a ton for a garage sale this weekend. I wonder how much I should sell them for. What would you pay for them?

Here are some new clips that my friend Susan and I made today. I think they urned out pretty cute. I love my new Crop-a-dile too!!!!




This one is a snail. I just haven't put his antennas on yet.

Another Bag....Hawaiian Style

Here it is. This one was made from a table runner. They did have place mats last time I looked, but they were all out of them. So, I found a table runner. I can't decide if I made it a little too long. What do you think. I also made sure I put the strap on better.
Notice I did a pocket this time?
Sorry for the bathroom shot. We only have mirrors in the bathroom since I've broken three of the long ones since I've lived here;(

Ok, so I had two place mats left. I was thinking about a library bag for Mckenzie, but once I started putting it together I thought that Kellie should have a cool church bag too:) Not to mention that they would be so cute going to church all matching!!!! I think it turned out super cute!!!!! Although, I did put the strap on backwards. Oh, and that strap is from an old bag that Ryan got for free at a conference he went to a few years ago. I might take the time to flip the strap.....we'll see.

Here are two new bags I made for my sister's kids. They needed new scripture bags. I tried to make them slightly different so the weren't exactly the same. These are made out of place mats. They were on clearance at Tuesday Mornings for $6.00 for 4. Not too bad. I think I'm going to use the other two and make a big bag for the library.

Here are some new clips Marsha and I made for Mckenzie. They turned out pretty cute. I'm sure we'll be making more soon:)

Here is another place mat project. Chris told me how to do this. You pretty much just fold the place mat in half and sew up the sides. Then, sew diagonals on the bottom of each side. Then, I looked in the ribbon section and found this thick ribbon. It was only .83 per yard. So, I sewed it around the top and then sewed the handles on.







It turned out pretty cute. The only problem was that right before I finished it my sewing machine broke. Like BROKE! I finished the rest by hand, but now I'm bummed about my sewing machine. I heard that JoAnn's does repairs so maybe I'll take it in tomorrow and see what they think.

Make-up Bags

On our girls weekend my sister-in-law had one of these she made out of a placemat. We got all the stuff together and Kellie and Chris left before we could make them together. I sat down to make them today while I was waiting for some work emails to come in. Both of them took about a hour to make. They turned out cute too.

This one is for make-up brushes, mascara, lip gloss and an extra big pocket for my eyebrow fixer.
Then, I thought I'd make one for my make-up. I use bare minerals and they get so dirty when they are together. This keeps them all nice and clean. Also, I know what order I put them on instead of looking for the next one I have to use. If you use bare minerals you know what I'm talking about.
I wasn't expecting this one to look so cute when it's all tied up. I love it!

The placemats were at Wal-mart for about $1.89 each and the ribbon was probably a few dollars a yard.

New Cards

These are some more cards I made for the January card group. We were suppose to make 12 birthday cards, 6 girls and 6 boys. I always make my boy cards a bit more plain than the girls. Usually because I have Ryan in mind when I make them and I can just see his face if it was all glittery and flowery:)

As I continue my quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie I came across this one. They also turn out just like the picture.

INGREDIENTS
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

If you want to see the reviews click here.

Award Winning Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is from Allrecipes. Here is the link to read the reviews. They are really good and I love the twist with the vanilla pudding.

INGREDIENTS
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.

Asian Pork

1 pork loin or 6 pork chops

1/4 C Brow Sugar
1 t Ground Ginger
1/2C Soy Sauce
1/4 C Ketchuo
2 Garlic Cloves Crushed
salt and pepper to taste
2 T Sweet Chili Sauce

Place pork loin or pork chops in the slow cooker and top with all ingredients. Low for 6-8 hours.

This was really good. We had it over some noodles. It's also good over rice. My friend trippled all the ingredients except the pork for more of the juice and it was awesome. Also, watch the chili sauce. I only did 1 tablespoon.

The Best Meatloaf I've Ever Made

I made this for dinner tonight. I doubled the recipe because I had two sets of missionaries and another couple come over. We only had a little left for leftovers tomorrow. Everyone loved it and I really liked it too. This is probably the recipe for meatloaf that I' going to stick with for now on.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 cup minced onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 2 pounds extra-lean ground beef
• 3 slices bread, toasted and crumbled
• 7 buttery round crackers, crushed
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 3 1/2 tablespoons sour cream
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce, divided
• 1/4 cup milk
• 3 tablespoons ketchup

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat, and cook the onion and garlic 5 minutes, until onion is tender. Remove from heat, and season with salt and pepper.
3. In a large bowl, mix the onion and garlic, beef, crumbled bread, crushed crackers, egg, sour cream, Worcestershire sauce, and 1/2 can tomato sauce. Gradually stir in the milk 1 teaspoon at a time until mixture is moist, but not soggy. Transfer the mixture to a 5x9 inch loaf pan.
4. Bake uncovered in the preheated oven 40 minutes. Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C), and continue baking 15 minutes, to an internal temperature of 160 degrees F (70 degrees C).
5. In a small bowl, mix the remaining tomato sauce and ketchup. Pour over the top of the meatloaf, and continue baking 10 minutes.

New Cards

So I joined a card making group. There are 8 people in the group. What this group does is we make 8 cards and then meet together and just talk and swap cards. Here are the ones I made today in a mad rush because it's tomorrow and I hadn't even started until 1:00 today.


Mckenzie helped by painting.

Pumpkin Crunch

This is kinda like a pumpkin cobbler. After serving this no one will be unhappy, unless they are allergic to pumpkin or something.

1 C pumpkin puree (not the pumpkin pie filling w/ spices)
1 Yellow Cake Mix
1 Can evaporated milk
3 eggs
1/2 C sugar
4 t pumpkin pie spice
1/2 t salt
1 C chopped pecans
1 C melted butter

Mix pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and salt together. Pour in a greased 9 x 13 pan. Sprinkle all the yellow cake mix over the mixture, melt the butter and sprinkle over the mix. Then, spread pecans over that. Preheat the oven to 350 and bake for 50-60 min. It's makes the house smell soooooo good! Serve either hot or room temp. Great w/ vanilla ice cream or just whipped cream.

Also, I've only had this w/o the pecans. I'm sure it's good with them too.

Café Rio Sweet Pulled Pork

2 1/2 pounds pork
1/3 cup water
1/8 tsp garlic salt
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 cup green chili sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar

Put pork, 1/3 cup water, garlic salt, salt, and pepper, in the crock pot.

Cover and cook on high for 4 hours.

Drain, shred pork, stir in 1/2 cup green chili sauce and 1/2 cup brown sugar.

Café Rio Rice

3 c water
4 t chicken bouillon
4 t garlic –minced
½ bunch cilantro
1 can green chiles—or equivalent fresh
¾ t salt
1 T butter
½ onion
3 c rice (see note)

Blend cilantro, green chiles and onion together in food processor. Bring water to a boil and add all ingredients, simmer covered 30 minutes.