Walking Tacos at the Supper Table

My mom called me early Saturday morning while my older sister and I were out Christmas shopping (we left home at 6:45 am...yikes) and told me she decided that the whole family was gathering at her house that evening and we were having taco salad for supper. She then asked me to pick up the ingredients - other than hamburger (that comes from the freezer) - to complete the meal.

Now, I'm going to admit something here...I am NOT a salad lover. I enjoy a good spinach salad, especially when you add bacon, but other than that I try to avoid salad.

So, I was a bit confused when I was chosen for this assignment. Then after a bit more discussion, I realized that she wanted me to make what I call "walking tacos." Now this dish usually includes lettuce and tomatoes and I guess if you go heavy on those two items, it CAN be considered a salad...but I never have, so I don't!

This is a very easy meal to whip up and there really is no recipe but I'll take you through the process.

First, if you have a house full of people when you are starting your meal prep, set out some quick and easy appetizers. we went for an array of delicious Fair Oaks Farms cheeses, like Provolone, Asiago, Muenster and Butterkase (I think).

Great way to quiet the masses so you can work in peace. Don't forget to snag some for yourself, you'll need to energy since you are the one cooking.

 Next, brown some hamburger. We cooked up two pounds for our meal (and it was just enough).

See that cool tool, that's a Pampered Chef item that my mom cannot live without. Rumor has it that I may be getting one for Christmas...hmmm.

 After your hamburger is cooked and drained (ours is so lean that we seldom have to drain it), put it back on the stove and add a packet (or two) of taco seasoning mix. Cook as directed on the seasoning packet.

While the hamburger is cooking, you (or a helper) can prep any toppings that you like on your tacos. I just had Baby Sister cut up a head of iceberg lettuce. The grocery store didn't have any nice looking tomatoes so I opted for a jar of chunky salsa instead. You can also dice up some onions but since I don't really like them, I didn't worry about it...too bad for those in the family that do - they should have helped!

Now, here's where I think this dish is a bit different. Grab a can or two of chili beans (with sauce) and heat those up - I just dump the can in a bowl and microwave them. I also grabbed a pouch of black beans in a traditional Mexican sauce from the store that morning and heated that up as well.

When everything is ready, set up an assembly line starting with...

either corn chips or tortilla chips...if you want to go crazy, grab the Chili Cheese Fritos. Crunch those up as your base then add the hamburger and beans. Top with your choice of lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, sour cream, cheese...the possibilities are endless.

This is a great meal for kids because they can crunch up the chips and build their own plate.

Now, I had a great photo of my brother-in-law's plate. He masterfully put together a beautiful example of this meal...unfortunately I couldn't find the photo when it was time to do this post.

I do have this photo of what was left of the meal...



As you can see, we may have to bump it up to three pounds of hamburger as the nephews get older!

Will be linking up to Hunk of Meat Monday over at Beyer Beware later today!

Linking up to some other fun Monday parties, including...
Making Friends Monday
Follow Us Monday Morning


I received a fan pack from Frito-Lay that included the Tositos chips above. No other compensation has been received. This post is based on my own honest and uninfluenced opinions and experiences.

Fan of Frito-Lay...Chips Made in Indiana

I love salty snacks. I love them so much that I don't normally keep them in the house because I've been known to eat a bag in one sitting.

Recently, I joined the Frito-Lay Fan Program and as luck would have it, I was enjoying a bag of Lay's Cheddar Sour Cream potato chips when my Frito-Lay Fan Pack came in the mail! Unfortunately the photo I took of the very cool reusable shopping bag, chip clip, water bottle, coupon for a free bag of chips (yeah) and, of course, chips is lost somewhere (maybe on my laptop but probably on my camera) so just close your eyes and imagine a great looking presentation.

I would normally just re-take the photo but I've since eaten the chips! Because...

Now I heart Frito-Lay for more reasons than just their yummy potato and corn chips...

I appreciate the fact that one of their largest production facilities (where they make the chips!) is just up the road in Frankfort, Ind. I know that they make a lot of their "specialty" chips up there so it's cool to grab a bag of Sun Chips and think that my neighbors played a part in making them.

I recognize that they are a major employer of Hoosiers and a wonderful part of their community in Frankfort.

I love that they feature actual farmers in their new TV ads that show us that Frito-Lay gets its potatoes from farms across the US.

I feel better eating their chips because the ingredient list on many of their bags is short. Some chips just have three ingredients: potatoes or corn, all-natural oils and salt.

I love that they offer a Lightly Salted line of chips. I know they still not a health food, but they contain 50 percent less sodium (salt) than their regular counterparts.

That's a lot of reasons to love Frito-Lay, huh?

Now, I didn't just devour all of the yummy chips myself. I took the bag of Tostitos Scoops, along with a purchasued by of Frito's Corn Chips, with me to my folks' house this weekend where I prepared supper (dinner to some of you) for my whole family...all nine adults and five children (well, really four kids because my niece is just a couple of months old)!

I made a version of walking tacos that was yummy! Stay tuned for the recipe tomorrow when I hook up with Leah over at Beyer Beware for her "Hunk of Meat Monday" blog hop.

I received a fan pack from Frito-Lay. No other compensation has been received. This post is based on my own honest and uninfluenced opinions and experiences.

A Moose Mug, a Slap Chop or Dental Floss?

A couple years ago, my sisters and I (there are four of us) decided to quit buying gifts for each other for our birthdays and just go out to dinner once a year. We were basically giving each other gift cards so it wasn't like we were missing out on the perfect gift. It also forces us to find the time to get together JUST the four of us at least once a year. It's been a fun event so far.

We try to pick a restaurant or style of cooking that we might not normally select...like sushi or a tapas bar.  I'm lobbying for Greek food next year! My favorite Greek place is reopening soon after a devastating fire earlier this year. Can't wait to go, order some saganaki (flaming cheese) and yell "Opa!"

What does this all have to do with moose mugs and dental floss? Not much but I'm building to it. Stay with me!

At the same time my sisters and I stopped exchanging birthday gifts, we also changed up our Christmas gift giving routine. We bought some giant stockings...

OK, maybe not that big but they are much larger than the average Christmas stocking. We then drew names and had to buy gifts for the sister we drew. The rules were simple:

• Gifts had to fit into the stocking.
• No gift cards worth more than $10.
• Couldn't spend more than $50.
• No telling who you drew!

We've had fun with that over the last couple of years but we still fell into the trap of buying exactly what the person wanted...a new black belt, slippers or socks. This year we wanted to try something a little more fun and not so structured.

After MONTHS of thinking about it, we finally settled on each buying five gifts ranging in price from $10-15 each. Then we'll do a gift swap. I'm not sure what it's called...I think there are a variety of names for the concept. Basically, someone will start by choosing a gift. Then the next person can take the gift already open or choose another gift. Then the next person can choose to open or steal...you see where I'm going with this?

I think it will be fun. I bought five gifts that I would enjoy receiving (I can't say what they are because I THINK some of my sisters read my blog!) in case I get "stuck" with them. But I guess I can give a hint. Can you say lawn ornament...

Boy, I still haven't gotten to the point of this post, huh? Hang on...

When I was telling some coworkers about our gift exchange, we got to brainstorming (we love to brainstorm in my office) other "themed" gift exchange ideas. Here are a few we came up with:

Items from "classic" Christmas movies
The objective here would be to pick a movie and give gifts that were either featured in the movie or items that have become iconic because of the movie.

Anyone know what movies inspired these ideas...

Yep, A Christmas Story...a classic set in Indiana! I actually saw this leg lamp at my local Walgreens last week!

How about these?

 

Did you say...

Another classic!

As Seen on TV items

We've all seen those infomercials featuring the next great product that we can't live without. There are even whole stores dedicated to these products. Personally, I love looking at the endcap at my local CVS store where some of these products are prominently displayed.

This gift exchange is all about these products, like...

I have to admit that I've picked up one or two of these in my time but there are SO many to choose from that a gift exchange devoted to these products could yield some great fun. One that I personally have been tempted to buy is...

If only for the awesome infomercial remix that I saw late one night. Miss it? No worries, I found it on YouTube for you. Check it out at the end of this post!

Restaurant Gift Cards

This one is tame compared to the first two ideas.

Everyone simply brings a gift card to their favorite restaurant (for a pre-determined amount) and the cards are chosen, stolen and kept.

Used but Still Useful

A co-worker and her family chose to do this one for Christmas this year. Each person chooses something they already have around the house that they may not want anymore but that still has a use. I thought this was a very clever idea. Real Simple magazine even did a post about "new uses for old things" that could be used as inspiration for this exchange.

I love the idea of an old cast iron skillet as a recipe card holder...

Or a gift box as a cupcake holder...

Or even dental floss as a cheese slicer (see I tied into the blog title eventually!)...



I think this last exchange is quirky and fun. Now, my coworker and her family added one more step. In addition to bringing their "used but useful" gift, each person is also to bring $10 cash to donate to a pre-determined charity. This year it is a school in Africa where my coworker's sister taught earlier this year.

I LOVE the idea! It truly is a season of giving when you think of those less fortunate than you and do something to help them. There's nothing stopping you from having a bit of fun while doing that.

Do you have any fun gift exchange ideas? I'd love to hear them.

Now, I'm off to start my gift wrapping...anyone know an easy way to wrap a flamingo?

Almost forgot...here's the Slap Chop Infomercial Remix!

Indiana Tree Farmers + Holidays = Free Wreath

OK, this blog post probably is only of interest to those living in Indiana, but it's still a cool giveaway that I wanted to share with all of you!

Indiana Christmas Tree Growers are once again participating in the Trees for Troops program which is a great organization that sends trees to military bases all over the world. Read more at Indiana's Family of Farmers blog. I always love reading about this program. It's a way folks can donate in their own way. They might not have a lot of extra money to give, but they do have trees. Even though they grow the trees to sell (that's their livelihood), they give back to their community by donating something they've spent YEARS growing. Pretty cool.

To celebrate the season, Hoosier tree farmers (they are farmers, you know) are also giving away $40 that can be used towards the purchase of a holiday wreath at participating tree farms!

BUT the giveaway ends tonight so you must head over right now and enter! Go here...what are you waiting for?

Good luck. I usually have at least one fresh Indiana-grown Christmas wreath hanging at my house over the holidays. They smell and look lovely.

Playing Catch Up with a Catch-All Post

I can't believe it is December 1st.

I can't believe there are only 24 days until Christmas.

I can't believe that I have not slept more than five hours a night for the last several nights.

And I can't believe that I haven't blogged for almost a week.

It's not that I haven't had anything to blog about (that's happened before) but I swear I haven't sat down for days! I haven't even had time to read any of my favorite blogs. I try to at least glance through my blog roll first thing in the morning and visit at least one or two but that's even been difficult.

(Note to my pals in the blogging world: I miss you and I will be by soon!)

So to make up for lost time, I've decided to play a bit of catch up and post about all of my half-baked post ideas from the last several weeks. So here we go...

P.B. & Fluff Sandwich
From my recent trip to the East Coast, I brought home a wonderful treat...a tub of Marshmallow Fluff!

They may sell this wonderous treat in Indiana but I have never found it in a grocery store near me so I try to grab a tub (a small one) when I'm out visiting friends. Now, out East they also have wonderful rolls & bread (I think it's the Portugese influence) and I love eating this sandwich on a fresh roll. Yummy! So when I came home after my recent trip, I picked up some wheat rolls from the "marked down" bakery rack (Do you have a rack like this? It's a great thing.) and put one under the broiler before adding the PB and fluff...next time I may spread the fluff before it goes under the heat and see what happens. I've also been know to grab a spoonful of fluff and a handful of NutterButters and go to town.

Marshmallow Fluff...a man-made perfect food!

An addiction...I'm calling them on it

Something I also realized when I was out East is that those folks have a serious addiction...to Dunkin Donuts coffee! You can't go anywhere and NOT see more than one person holding a DD cup. The YMCA to watch a bunch of three-year-olds "play" basketball. The Pop Warner championship game to watch a bunch of nine-year-olds play football. Wal-Mart. The mall. This white stryfoam cup is EVERYWHERE!

Wareham, Mass. certainly runs on Dunkin's. I miss having four Dunkin' Donuts within 10 minutes of me!

My nephews & niece
They are hilarious. They are adorable. They are rotten. They are growing up way too fast. Enough said.

15 minutes of cleaning...
I'm not the neatest person in the world. (OK, mom...quit laughing, you'll hurt yourself.) My house is messy. My car is messy. My office at work is messy. I'm messy! Add a real aversion to cleaning (and the love of a great deal) and you can imagine what my house looks like after a couple of busy weeks.

Once my house gets to be too messy even for me, I try to clean in spurts. Usually I set a timer for 15 to 20 minutes and pick up until time expires. The other day I did a quick calculation of the total square footage of my 2-bedroom, 2.5-bath condo and determined that if I cleaned for 15 minutes a day, it would take me...OK I didn't really do the math. I hate math almost as much as I hate cleaning. Let's just say that it would take a long time. I did do a series of 15-minute sessions last weekend and didn't let myself get distracted by the TV or computer so my place isn't a disaster but I won't be hosting a party any time soon!

Trying out Bobby's Thanksgiving dessert
After cheering the Pioneer Woman to victory again Bobby Flay on Throwdown, I decided to try my hand at the losing dessert...Bobby's pumpkin bread pudding. It looked delicious during the show. PW's own daughter endorsed it and then made it herself, so I thought "why not?" I wanted to make it for dessert on Thanksgiving. We were having sausage gravy and biscuits (well...we had hamburger gravy because there's beef  - not pork - in the freezer...gotta love a farm family's freezer) for lunch. What...were we supposed to have something else on Thanksgiving? Sorry, I digress.

Well...I didn't pull up the recipe until the morning I wanted to make it. I did bake a loaf of pumpkin bread (from a box) but I didn't realize all of the ingredients involved (11 egg yolks, brandy, half 'n half, heavy whipping cream). After a run to the grocery store, I was ready to start. Three hours and a water bath later, the dessert was done and half of the water bath was at the bottom of my mom's oven!

I took ZERO photos of the process or the final product. It was a great tasting dessert but I'm not sure it was worth the effort...two runs through a strainer, just sayin'!

Turkey Day Shopping
Since my family didn't celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday, I had some time on my hands. Walgreens and CVS were having some great sales and both were open on Thursday. So...I hit three different Walgreens and two CVS stores! I was going to post about all of my free and "better than free" deals, but...well you know. Now, did I need the eight tubes of toothpaste? Probably not, but I now have a bag of toiletries to donate to a local charity, a bag for my sisters and a bag to take in for my coworkers! I also got some great toy deals for the nephews and for an indian school that my office buys for each year.

To decorate or not
I love Christmas. I love Christmas music, movies and TV specials. I love Christmas shopping and gift giving. I love Christmas decorations...especially nativity scenes and snowmen. However, I don't do a lot of holiday entertaining and it seems like a lot of effort to decorate my house just for me. I didn't decorate last year and the only snowman decoration that I put out last year is STILL on my mantle (he's very small).

I think decorating would cheer me up but I just don't know...

Giveaways
There are some great giveaways out there on some of my favorite blogs. I'm not going to mention them all here, but Little Miss Can't Be Wrong is hosting a fun one over at how i met your father. She's giving away a beautiful "Key to your Heart" necklace. Go over there and check it out. If you decide to comment, please let her know that I sent you!

WHEW! I feel better now. Hopefully, I won't go so long without a post again. I didn't realize how much I enjoyed my "blogging time" both writing my own and reading others.

I think I'll go to bed now. Maybe I'll get six hours of sleep tonight!



Happy Thanksgiving...It's Time to Announce a Winner!

And the winner is...

Jane @ Going Jane...Already a follower. :) Just in case you hadn't noticed. :)

Jane has been notified and has 48 hours to claim her $35 CSN Stores gift card!

Thanks to all of those who commented.

I hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

I'm off to CVS and Walgreens...have you seen their sales flyers for today?

Wordless Wednesday: Call It a Family

“Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family.

Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.”

― Jane Howard

 
Quote from my Daily Thought e-mail from Real Simple.

BTW: Today's the last day to leave a comment to be entered into my CSN Stores giveaway!