Taco Soup Recipe and Ten on Tuesday

Before I get to ten on Tuesday, I had a few people on Facebook ask for my taco soup recipe. So here it is. It's super easy to make and I usually have all of the ingredients on hand-so no need to remember anything special at the grocery. A couple of things to note-most taco soup recipes call for some kind of bean (black, pinto, you get the idea) and a packet of dry ranch dressing mix.
This one has neither.
Because:
a-At least two of the boys and I detest beans-so it's easier to omit them than eat around them-and majority rules at our house.
b-I don't normally use ranch dressing mix-so I'd have to remember to buy it specifically for this dish and let's be honest-I won't remember.

Okay now that we've cleared that up, here's the recipe:


Christina's Taco Soup

1 lb ground beef (or turkey)
1/2 white onion diced
2 cans of diced tomatoes (Mexican style-if you have it-regular works too!)
1 pound of frozen corn (or 2 cans of corn)
1 package of taco seasoning (we use Ortega)
1 1/4 cups of water (use your judgment here-I sort of add water until it is the consistency we'll eat)

Brown the ground beef and onions. Drain them well. Add the ground beef mixture and all the other ingredients to a large saucepan or Dutch Oven. Simmer for 45 minutes. (You could also cook this in a slow cooker-just set it on low and let it cook for 6 hours.)
Serve with grated cheese, tortilla ships, sour cream and guacamole. (I can't even look at sour cream-so we just use grated cheese.) It makes a ton-so you will have plenty of leftovers!

Onto Ten on Tuesday...
1-Jackson loves playing Brody and having his picture taken. Well...he does until Brody spits up and then we hear: "EWWWW...Brody puked on me, I have to go change clothes!" Even though the spit-up was barely the size of a dime. The kid is such a clean freak.

Before the spit-up

After the spit-up

2-Bryce put on quite the display at the b-ball game Saturday. During the team introductions, he came out backwards through the cheerleader's tunnel, did some kind of a spin into a half split and did the "call me" sign (fingers to ear and mouth) at the crowd. Later on he tried to get the crowd to cheer by raising his hands as he ran down the court. He is awesome!

3-While Bryce was being the Chad Johnson of Upward basketball, Jarron was quietly owning the court. Making shots and free throws and just really playing good. So proud!

4-The boys got some kind of disguise glasses (fake nose, eyebrows and frames)-and being the way they are, they dismantled them until all that was left were the frames. Which Chuck decided would look good on Brody. Poor kid.



5-Why are there no pictures of the twins in this post? Because they at an age where they actively avoid the camera-or do crazy things and faces that make the pictures unusable. It's awesome.



6-My hair saga continues-I got red highlights and newly added bangs last week. I like the red, not sure about the bangs. Kelly (my stylist) did a great job as usual, I'm just having a case of buyer's remorse. You can't really go back once you've cut your bangs, you just have to wait for them to grow out. Which I am doing.

7-Jarron broke out in hives Friday morning-we still aren't sure what triggered it. I freaked out because I've never had that happen to me. But it apparently happens to people with allergies a lot. Who knew? Anyway, he didn't really complain but he did look pretty miserable for a few days.

8-I'm signing the boys up for Spring soccer this week. So instead of crazy basketball stories, soon you'll be reading crazy soccer stories. Aren't you lucky!


9-Brody loves his feet. A lot. The moment they are visible, he immediately attacks them. He thinks they are wonderful.


10-This was probably my longest post ever! As London Tipton would say "Yay me!"