TACO SOUP

 I don't know where you live, but here in the midwest (Kansas City, Missouri) we are being truly blessed with a mild winter. It is February 7 as I am writing this and outside it is 51 degrees F with little wind, some thin clouds and plenty of sun shining. Yesterday it was 70 degrees, a tie from 1904 for the high temperature. Tomorrow evening we have rain in the forecast - not snow - but rain. I can't complain but I do feel for the northeast that I think is going to be getting the white stuff.

Sunday at Roxanne's Cafe where we often go after church on Sunday for a meal, Wayne got their taco soup. Other than maybe having some shredded cheese on it, he said it tasted pretty good. I checked it out in his bowl looking to see what was in it and then told him I could make him some this week. 

I had decided what I was going to put in it and bought the missing ingredients on Monday. This morning I remembered that our younger son Patrick makes taco soup so I checked with him regarding the ingredients he uses. He uses black beans and pinto beans, but I didn't have any pinto beans so I just added another can of black beans. He also adds a can of rotel, but I didn't have that either so Wayne suggested some mild salsa that we also got on Monday. I used ground turkey, but you could obviously use ground beef.

It was one of those throw some ingredients together, no written recipe, but Wayne was really pleased with my end results and was very thankful. I know he ate two bowls. (I went to Whataburger and got me a cheeseburger. I brought it home and really enjoyed it.)

PRINT recipe.

TACO SOUP

1      lb ground turkey or beef 

1      (1.25 oz) taco seasoning mix

1      (6 oz) can tomato paste

1      (14.5 oz) can diced tomato

1      (15.25 oz) can of whole kernel corn (drained)

2       (15 oz each) cans of black beans

1       (32 oz) container beef broth

1        teaspoon minced garlic

2        tablespoons minced onion

2        cups salsa 

shredded cheese and chips

Cook the ground meat in a large pot until done. Add the taco seasoning, tomato paste, tomatoes,

corn, black beans,

onion, garlic, and salsa.

Bring to a boil and then simmer until the soup is heated thoroughly and ready to serve.

I cooked mine probably 30 minutes.

Spoon soup in serving bowls,

sprinkle cheese on top and then

add chips.

 

BROWN SUGAR MEAT LOAF

Wednesday Worker Walt finished their work in our kitchen when he hung the "jar" lamp I bought in the West Bottoms months ago before we were even thinking about our current remodeling project in our kitchen and deck/back porch. When I saw it, I knew that I wanted it hanging over my sink in the kitchen. Friend Janice agreed that she thought it would be perfect there with my other decor. (See pictures below of remodeled kitchen.) 

Too celebrate (not really, but it sounds good) I decided I would finally make this Brown Sugar Meat Loaf for dinner. It was made for the actors while filming Bridges of Madison County and was in the cookbook, Recipes of Madison County from the Movie Bridges of Madison County. The note on the recipe said that it was made using ground turkey instead of ground round because the actors preferred white meat. It had to bake for 90 minutes and I thought I would take a well-deserved rest during that time but that didn't happen. I ended up getting everything back on the walls and finished just as the timer went off on the oven. (Don't forget to check out the pictures following the recipe.) I still need to paint the pantry doors the Betsy's Linen, but there is always this weekend. I'm just ready to get it finished, but not looking forward to painting the doors.

Click here for a printable version of just the recipe.

BROWN SUGAR MEAT LOAF

2     pounds ground round
1     cup herb-seasoned stuffing mix
1/4  cup chopped onion
1/8  teaspoon salt
1/8  teaspoon pepper
2     large eggs, slightly beaten
3/4  cup milk
2     tablespoons barbecue sauce
vegetable cooking spray

1/4  cup ketchup
2     tablespoons brown sugar
1     teaspoon dry mustard

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 5 - inch loaf pan with vegetable cooking spray. Set aside.

In a large bowl/container combine the ground beef, stuffing mix, onion, salt, and pepper. (I ended up using my hands to make sure everything was evenly distributed.)

Beat eggs and

add milk and barbecue sauce.

Pour egg mixture into container with meat mixture and

mix well.

Press mixture into loaf pan.

Combine in a small bowl, the ketchup, brown sugar, and dry mustard.

Spread over the top of the mixture in the loaf pan.

Bake for 90 minutes.

Serve hot.









Here are pictures of our new kitchen -- we got rid of the popcorn ceiling and terribly done sand-in-paint walls and new lighting. I painted the walls and will eventually have all the wooden trim including the pantry doors painted the Betsy's Linen.

First my newly cleaned and reorganized pantry. I had hoped to have an island in the room and got rid of a cabinet I had been using. The island is on hold right now and I needed to find a place to store cookware I had stored in the cabinet. Not perfect, but hopefully I will find an island with storage. My husband likes the harvest table but it doesn't give me any storage space.

Just love my hanging light...

Here are some pictures of our "conservatory" (sun room) that we are adding on our back deck.  Our friend Cathy saw a picture I had posted on Facebook and commented, "I just love conservatories." so we are calling it our conservatory.

So ready for the job to be completely finished.

AMERICAN FLAG PIE

For several years now the godparents of our MO grandchildren have hosted a 4th of July celebration at their house usually on the 3rd. They furnish the hamburgers and hot dogs and everyone brings a side, their drinks, and fireworks. In spite of the heat yesterday, everyone who attended this year had a good time. The kiddos enjoyed cooling off running through the sprinklers and the fireworks, of course, and the adults enjoyed horseshoes played with washers and cornhole. 

I wasn't sure what I was going to take for a side until I saw a picture/link on Facebook for King Arthur Flour of this American Flag Pie. I was a little concerned about reproducing the stars (rightly so), but otherwise it looked pretty easy and quite impressive. I was lazy and used two refrigerator pie crust (rolls) instead of making their pie crusts. My recipe varies a little bit from the King Arthur recipe.

AMERICAN FLAG PIE

2       refrigerator pie crust rolls (1 package) 9 - inch size
6       cups chopped fresh strawberries
2       cups fresh blueberries or 1 - 12 ounce package frozen  blueberries (I used the latter and had about two spoonfuls leftover)
5       tablespoons flour
1/3    cup sugar
2       teaspoons lemon juice

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Take one of the pie crust (follow box directions about bringing to room temperature), roll it out slightly and

place it in a 9 - inch deep pie plate.

Fold under edges and crimp the edges as you prefer. Set aside.

Combine the flour and sugar in a small bowl.

Wash, hull, and chop fresh strawberries to make 6 cups. (I used almost two packages of fresh strawberries.) Place in a large bowl. Sprinkle the lemon juice over the chopped strawberries.

Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the flour/sugar mixture over the chopped strawberries

and toss to coat. Set aside.

Place two cups of blueberries in another large bowl and sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the flour/sugar mixture over them. (I added two teaspoons of extra sugar to the flour/sugar mixture I had leftover after coating the strawberries before measuring out the 2 tablespoons to put on the blueberries.)

and toss to coat. Set aside.

Roll out the second pie crust  and cut 6 (six) - 3/4 - inch wide strips across the bottom half to make the stripes.

(I took a plate that was the size of my pie plate and cut the dough in a circle.) 

Then cut small stars from the rest. (I have to tell you that this was the hardest part because I didn't have a small star - shaped cookie cutter. I drew around a larger star cookie cutter I had and just kept cutting it down until I had a small star. I didn't want to cut it any smaller but their stars were smaller than mine because they had 13 stars over the blue berry section and I could only get 6. The next time I see a SMALL star cookie cutter I am going to buy it.)

Place the strips and stars on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.







Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Tear off a piece of foil (I tore off a piece about 10 inches or so. I didn't measure what I started with, but you just keep folding it until you get it the right size.) and fold it in half

and then in half again.

Fold in the ends until

it will block off a quarter of the crust.

With the foil "standing up" to block off the quarter, spoon the strawberries into the larger portion of the crust.

Then fill the quarter section with the blueberries.

(This is where I had more berries than I needed, but my husband enjoyed eating the leftover blueberries.)

Remove (lift up) the foil

and you have the filling for the flag.

Place the pie on a large cookie sheet lined with parchment paper to catch any spill over while the pie bakes (I didn't have any) and place on the bottom rack of your oven. (I actually had my rack one up from the bottom.)

Place the dough stripes and stars still on the parchment paper where you cut them on another cookie sheet and place above the rack with the pie. (My rack was on the second place above the pie or fourth rack from bottom of the oven.) 

Bake the stars for 12 minutes and remove from cookie sheet. Bake the stripes a little longer until brown. (I baked mine about 5 more minutes.) Remove cookie sheet. (Didn't take a picture of the stripes after I removed them to cool on rack.)

Bake pie a total of 30 minutes on 425 degrees F. and then reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees F and bake the pie for another 45 minutes. ( A few of the strawberries burned on the edges. I just made sure the stripes covered them and they weren't noticeable.)

Place stripes and stars on pie. You will need to break off the "stripes" to fit the top of the pie. Press down to make sure they are touching the pie to soak up some of the juice. (Mine didn't soak up as much as I thought they would but looked okay. They just broke up when I cut the pie to serve it, but no one really noticed.)

Here are a couple of pictures of the kiddos. I didn't take really any good ones.

Granddaughter Madison was initially hesitant about running through the sprinkler, but Grandson Tyler wasn't.

The kids (and a couple of the moms) love trying to catch the parachutes as they come down. (See one in the top of the picture.)

They also love the smoke bombs. Forget what the girls are so focused on. Grandson Tyler (the only boy in the group) was watching the smoke bomb.

I hope your 4th of July is a safe and happy one.