January, 2012

Recipe: Homemade Taco Seasoning

I will admit that it took me a while to actually try this recipe. I kept meaning to but I’d be missing an ingredient or it just seemed easier to buy a packet of taco seasoning. Finally though, I did bite the bullet and boy am I glad I did! Not only do I love it but my family enjoys it as well! The recipe is for one serving but you could easily make up a bunch all at once. The bonus is that it’s something my girls can help with, and I will take anything they can help with (they looooove to help mommy in the kitchen). Not only do I use this for tacos, but I also use it for enchiladas and homemade refried beans. I love knowing exactly what is in my food.

Having said all that, here is the recipe. I got it from the Make a Mix cookbook. Someday soon I will do a review on these cookbooks. They are amazing!

 

Homemade Taco Seasoning

2 teaspoons instant minced onion

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Chili Powder

½ teaspoon Cornstarch

½ teaspoon crushed dried red pepper

½ teaspoon instant minced garlic (I use garlic powder)

¼ teaspoon dried oregano

½ teaspoon ground cumin

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl until evenly distributed. Store in an air tight container. This recipe makes one package of taco seasoning. If you are planning on making a large batch, two tablespoons is one serving.

To make taco meat add ½ cup of water and seasoning mix to a pound of meat.

I am linking this to: and Beauty and Bedlam

Monday Mommy Confession #28

Sometimes I forget.

I forget to give myself grace. I forget why I wanted to be a stay at home mom in the first place. I place my expectations and long to-do list before my girls. I worry so much about whether I am doing things right that I skip out on life. And I am especially guilty of comparing myself to other moms and allowing myself to believe that I am falling short in the “awesome mom” department.

I know in my head that comparing myself to others is futile, that each person has different strengths and circumstances, but in my heart I repeatedly fall short.

And every time I hit rock bottom I realize just how little time I have spent in relationship with my heavenly Father. It is so much easier to love your children when they are being impossible when you have experienced love when YOU are being impossible.

I know I will forget again, many times over, but my prayer is that each time I crawl back into my loving Father’s lap I won’t wait as long as the last time.

Today if you are feeling overwhelmed and hopeless I encourage you to spend some time in the word. Talk to your Daddy and let him know just how you feel. He will fill you with peace and give you the strength to finish the day.

Monday Mommy Confession #27

Welcome to 2012 and a new year of Monday Mommy Confessions! Who knows what this year will bring and what laughable stories I will have to share with you all. Only time will tell. Today’s story is less than 24 hours old.

Confession: I am a sucker for Sammie’s big blue sleep eyes and little curly blond head snuggling into my neck.

Sammie has been cutting teeth again the last couple of days. Last night in particular was especially hard for her, keeping her from falling soundly asleep. She would wake up and cry out for me, sometimes falling back asleep on her own and sometimes needing daddy to go up and comfort her. When we were heading into our room to turn in for the evening she cried again and I decided it was time for some pain meds. I brought her into our room and gave her some meds and decided to keep her in with us for a little bit to snuggle (I covet snuggle time with my girls right now.) Then I started reading to her from my book for a little while until it was time to turn out the lights.

Of course by now she didn’t want to go back to her bed. She wanted to stay with me. And of course I obliged. I figured once she fell asleep I would carry her into her room and put her to bed, which I did. Only problem was she woke up and proceeded to cry off and on for the next ten minutes. Finally Joel woke up and went in to get her. We went a couple hours more with her in bed with us before Joel couldn’t take being kick any longer.

Joel carried her in and put her to bed with much better success than I had. I sung his praises when he came back in and we were able to sleep a couple more hours until Joel’s alarm went off at 6:30.

Thankfully my girls were kind enough to let me and let me sleep in this morning.

I wish I knew better. This happens with both girls every time, and yet I think the next time will be different.

When it’s all said and done, I will gladly be a sucker for their blue eyes, curly blonde hair and the sweetest, biggest smiles ever, any day of the week!

Anyone else’s kids have you wrapped around their little finger?

2012 Goals: Recipes

 

Along with reading and crafting goals, I am challenging myself in the kitchen as well. I figure if I try just one new skill or recipe per month (save April) I can overcome my fear of failure in the kitchen once and for all. Granted I have tried new recipes and different takes on recipes, but my biggest fear is waste. “What if it turns out badly and no one will eat it and I’ll have to throw the whole thing away or worse yet, I’ll have to suffer through eating all the leftovers myself because I can’t bring myself to throw it away?” That is over my friends! It has been a looong time since I have screwed something up so royally or picked such a terrible recipe that we had to scrap the whole meal. And even if it were a total flop, so what, you live and learn and do better next time.

With that, here is my list of skills/recipes for 2012 broken down into monthly goals:

January

Basic Bread Recipe

February

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

March

Homemade Crackers-" target="_blank">Jam it, Pickle it, Cure it

April

Homemade Mustard-" target="_blank">Jam it, Pickle it, Cure it

Homemade Ketchup-" target="_blank">Jam it, Pickle it, Cure it

May

Homemade Soda-" target="_blank">Jam it, Pickle it, Cure it (this one will be with the help of hubby since he’s the one who reeeally wants to try it!)

June

Chipotle Burrito Recipe

July

Homemade Salsa

August

Better then Panera Broccoli and Cheddar Soup

September

Homemade Tomato Sauce-" target="_blank">Jam it, Pickle it, Cure it

October

Homemade Pie Crust Recipe

November

Homemade Pitas (I want to make Gyros)

December

Homemade Granola

BONUS

Homemade Runzas (once I get the bread thing down I will be whipping up a batch of these babies! I made them with my mother-in-law once but she had already made up the dough. They are so good and are great to keep in the freezer and pull out for a quick lunch or dinner!)

How about you, do you have any recipes you are dying to try? How about that culinary skill you need to suck it up and try? Share with us below and we’ll give you lots of encouragement!

I’m linking this to Monday’s Homestead Barn Hop!

2012 Goals-Crafting

 

With the aid of pinterest I have made myself a list of crafts I would like to try this year. I would like to consider myself a creative person, but over the last couple of years that creativity has taken a back burner to motherhood. Even though we will be adding a third little to the Terrell Clan, I am determined to keep up with my Goals and get back into the crafting game. There will always be something keeping me from it if I let it.

Here is my list broken down into monthly goals:

January

Crocheted Dish clothes

February

Freezer paper shirt printing

March

Produce Bag from old t-shirts

April

Grocery Bags from Recycled T-Shirts

May

Dipped Candles

June

Braided necklace from old shirts

July

Bent Spoons Wall hanging

August

Baked Marbles/Glass Stones

September

Vegetable Stamps

October

Button Bobby Pins

November

T-shirt Shag Rug

December

Paint Dipped Pinecones

Bonus

DIY Gift Bags

Do you have any craft projects you hope to tackle this year? Please share with us below! You never know when it will be just the project someone else has been looking for!

2012 Reading List Monthly Breakdown

 

I am a huge fan of Crystal over at Money Saving Mom. I’ve been following her blog since Emma was a little baby and I was trying to find ways to cut down our budget. Last year she listed her goals and books she wanted to read that year broken down by monthly goals. Since it worked so well for Crystal, I am going to try my hand at it. This is the year that I am going to get things done and not let fear stand in my way.

So here is my reading list broken down into monthly goals.

January

">Organizing for a Fresh Start

" target="_blank">Skinny B*tch (Don’t judge, I didn’t make up the title. I’ve already started this and it has great straight forward nutritional information. I can’t say that I appreciate some of the language or the way they address the reader, but I do like the way they clearly explain things. Plus I think I only paid $1 at a garage sale for it. And Yes, I did change the “I” so that it wouldn’t be the whole word. That isn’t actually the way it reads on the book.)

February

" target="_blank">Blogging for Dummies

" target="_blank">Jam it, Pickle it, Cure it

March

" target="_blank">Miserly Moms

" target="_blank">Becoming a Woman of Freedom

April

" target="_blank">The Simple Dollar: How One Man Wiped Out His Debts and Achieved the Life of His Dreams

May

" target="_blank">Four-Season Harvesting

" target="_blank">The Power of a Praying Parent

June

" target="_blank">Seed to Seed

" target="_blank">Calm My Anxious Heart

July

" target="_blank">How to Dry Foods

August

" target="_blank">Root Cellaring

September

" target="_blank">Quitter

October

" target="_blank">Margin

November

" target="_blank">Entreleadership

December

" target="_blank">The Money Saving Mom’s Budget

Books I’m going to read over the entire year

These are books that are more how-to’s or not chapter books.

" target="_blank">The American Red Cross First Aid and Safety Handbook

" target="_blank">Back to Basics: A complete Guide to Traditional Skills

" target="_blank">The Complete Tightwad Gazette

I’m linking this to  Money Saving mom’s My Goals for 2012

2012 Reading List

I received quite a few books for Christmas that were on my wish list so I am ready to get started devouring them. Actually, I’m already several chapters into 3 of them and I flipped through another. I want to read all the books that I got for Christmas, some books that I got through Amazon for free using the free kindle program on my computer, plus a few more that I have or still need to purchased. Also, I want to have a regular time set aside each day to read to the girls. We aren’t to the point of doing chapter books yet, but I’m able to ready longer stories and keep their attention.

I know this is a long list and for someone (meaning me) who finished two maybe three books last year it seems a little ridiculous, but I am determined to read a lot more this year and be more disciplined with my time. I am becoming far less interested in watching TV and using that time learning in one way or another or working on writing for my blog.

Books From Christmas

" target="_blank">Four-Season Harvesting

" target="_blank">Miserly Moms (I’m doing a bit of skimming in some sections of the book since a lot of this stuff I already know or is outdated.)

" target="_blank">The Complete Tightwad Gazette (there are 3 volumes total so there is a lot of info to go through. I think I will ready a little each day and spread it out over the entire year)

" target="_blank">Root Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage of Fruits and Vegetables

" target="_blank">Jam it, Pickle it, Cure it-And other cooking projects (This is a recipe book that Joel and I have already flipped through. I love that she describes how each food actually tastes. There are several recipes that I want to try in the next few months)

" target="_blank">Back to Basics: A complete Guide to Traditional Skills (This one won’t be a cover to cover read, but more of a flip through and see what all is included and what we could learn sooner than later. Really it’s a reference book.)

" target="_blank">Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners

" target="_blank">How to Dry Foods: The Complete Guide to Drying Foods at Home

" target="_blank">The American Red Cross First Aid and Safety Handbook (This will be a book I read throughout the year as well)

Books on Kindle

" target="_blank">The Simple Dollar: How One Man Wiped Out His Debts and Achieved the Life of His Dreams

" target="_blank">Organizing for a Fresh Start: Embracing Your Next Chapter in Life (This one is still currently free for Kindle)

" target="_blank">Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives

" target="_blank">Becoming a Woman of Freedom

" target="_blank">Calm My Anxious Heart: A Woman’s Guide to Finding Contentment

Other Books

" target="_blank">The Power of a Praying Parent

" target="_blank">Blogging for Dummies

">The Money Saving Mom’s Budget

">Quitter

">Entreleadership: 20 Years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches

" target="_blank">Skinny B*tch (Don’t judge, I didn’t make up the title. I’ve already started this and it has great straight forward nutritional information. I can’t say that I appreciate some of the language or the way they address the reader, but I do like the way they clearly explain things. Plus I think I only paid $1 at a garage sale for it. And Yes, I did change the “I” so that it wouldn’t be the whole word. That isn’t actually the way it reads on the book.)

 Note-All of the book links are through my Amazon.com affiliate program. All the books were chosen by me without any outside influence.


I’m going to break down these lists of books so that I have smaller goals. I’ll post that once I have it done.

What’s on your reading list for 2012? Do you plan on adding any of these books to your list?