Taco Soup

I love Taco Soup!  My friend Gina gave me the recipe and it is one of my favorites.  The packet of ranch in it seems odd but you can't taste it at all.  I think it help cuts the spice a little and adds some creaminess.

 Ingredients:

1.5- 2 lbs ground beef or ground turkey (I have used both and it tastes the same no matter which you use)

1 can Original Rotel tomatoes with green chilies- undrained

1 can corn- drained

1 can pinto beans- drained

1 can black beans- drained

1 packet ranch dressing (You can find this by the bottles of salad dressing in the store)

1 packet taco seasoning (I buy my taco seasoning in bulk at Costco, so I use 1/4 cup of seasoning)

3-4 cups of water (I usually use 3 because I like my soup less soupy)

3-4 beef bouillon cubes (Use 3 with 3 cups water or 4 with 4 cups water)

Toppings- cheese, sour cream, onion, chips, salsa or hot sauce etc

1.  Brown your ground beef (or turkey) in a large skillet.  Drain the fat if you want- I usually use very lean meat so I don't often have much fat to drain.

2.  Add corn, both beans and rotel.  I probably don't use quite the whole can if I'm using 1.5 lbs of meat and the whole can if I have more meat.  Stir it all up.

  

3.  Add the ranch dressing and taco seasoning.

  

4.  Add the 3-4 cups of water and 3-4 bouillon cubes.  Stir together until the seasonings and bouillon cubes are well mixed.  Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes until all is hot.

  

 5.  Serve with assorted toppings.  I like to use my chips as scoops and eat the soup almost like dip.

 

6. YUM!

My husband likes this soup too though it's not something Caroline will eat because of the spice and the ground meat.  I have made this for other family and they all liked it as well.

The Sick Child Rules

Now that I have been a mommy for over 4 years and have nursed my girl through many illnesses including the dreaded swine flu,  I am finally cluing into the unwritten rules of the sick child.

1.  Your child will always start feeling sick on a Friday afternoon.  And you won't think it's anything until 30 minutes after the Dr's office has closed for the whole weekend.  This means you spend all weekend trying to decide if it's severe enough for urgent care or waiting till Monday morning.

2.  If you do decide to take your child to urgent care, they will act less sick by half once you get there.

3.  If anyone in your household has something planned or are looking forward to something, your child will get sick.  Meaning you have to cancel your plans. 

4. The one time you don't pack Tylenol, Motrin and a thermometer on vacation is the one time your child will get sick.  Every other time you pack those things, they will just take up room in your suitcase.

 

Our usual arsenal

5. 95% of the time there is absolutely nothing the Dr can do for your sick child.  You take them in, hoping it's something bacterial so an antibiotic will help, but they just shake their heads and inform you it's a virus.   This only serves to make you feel more helpless in making your child feel better.  And you wasted money on the copay.


As you might have already guessed, Caro is sick this weekend.   It started last night (a Friday!- rule 1) about 4:30 when she complained that her "lungs hurt" while pointing down her throat.  Then she cried because we left her goldfish at a friend's house.  After those 2 things she acted fine until I checked on her at 11:30 as I was going to bed to find her burning up.

100.8°.   Lovely.

 Caro always seems to run fevers that are unresponsive to a single medicine.  So we usually need to alternate them every 3 hours which means very little sleep for mommy.  She's continued to run a fever most of the day if I'm not right on top of the medicine so we have snuggled on the couch and watched cartoons, played some princesses and taken a nap.  So far we've avoided urgent care because besides the fever, she's not acting horribly sick.  Not lethargic or listless (knock on wood.)  I really hope she feels better quickly.  I HATE it when she's sick, I get so anxious.  Illnesses are my biggest fear.

And I still haven't explained that she has to miss a birthday party tomorrow (see rule 3.)  She is going to be so sad

Help!

I was washing my latest sewing project today when I hear an insane racket coming from the laundry closet. When I attempt to open the door in front of the washing machine this is what I found!

Can someone explain how it turned SIDEWAYS in the closet with the door closed? I had to pull the door off it's track in order to turn the (heavy) washing machine back around. And then I had to hold it in place while the spin cycle finished.

But I am so happy with how my project turned out!!! I didn't get pictures today but I will share soon.

A Little Behind

Ok, so I am that person.  You know, the one who procrastinates terribly.

I just took down my Christmas tree today.

A full month after Christmas was over.  Thank goodness it is a fake tree.

Now in my defense, we went on vacation 3 days after Christmas and when we got back, I came down with the worst case of the flu I have ever had.  I spent 7 days in bed.  Taking down the tree was not high on my priority list.  But...  to be honest, I have felt better for over a week.  I just couldn't force myself to tackle the large task of taking it all down.  I really had to work myself up to it.  To put it in better perspective for you, I have a 9 foot Christmas tree.  With 160 ornaments (Yes I counted.)  Plus 10 strings of lights and various other decorations all over the house.  It took me a solid 4 hours to get it all put away.
Now I'm tired.  And very glad that I don't have to put up the tree again until November.

Welcome!

Hi, my name is Meghan.  Welcome to my new blog Sweet Chicken Little.  I hope to blog about my daily life as a mama to a sweet 4 year old girl, wife to a traveling husband, and novice crafter.