Cooking with Colin

Colin was complaining about the after-school boredoms the other day while I was cleaning the kitchen, so I had a brilliant idea. I asked him if he wanted to make taco soup for dinner. He quickly said "yes" and, following my instructions, cooked the whole meal by himself. He did a great job! I am going to have to have him help me out more in the future.

In case you don't know this easy-enough-for-a-7-year-old taco soup recipe (that is sooo satisfying on a cold and lazy day), here it is:

Taco Soup

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef or turkey (we often use turkey)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can kidney beans
1 can corn
1 small can tomato sauce
1 package taco seasoning

Brown the meat in a big pot. Drain. Add all other ingredients, plus a can or two of water. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a low simmer. Simmer for however long you desire.

You could also add the browned meat and other ingredients to a crock pot and cook on low if you want.

Serve taco soup garnished with tortilla chips, cheese, sour cream, diced onions, or whatever your heart desires. Or, if you are like Chad, garnish your chips with taco soup ;o)

A couple of food questions for you

Do carrots.....

give you the hiccups when you eat them? They often do with me, especially when I eat them too quickly. Regular carrots, and baby-cut carrots.

Did you ever eat O'Boises when you were a kid? They were my favorite kind of chip (I think it was partly because I was born in Idaho so I thought the name was cool). Well, we were Dollar Tree last week and I saw bags of them for the first time in years. I was pretty happy. The bag says "Back by Popular Demand" so I guess I wasn't the only one who liked them, especially since they have made their big comeback in, you know, the dollar store, which is which is so prestigious and all. Anyway, I bought a bag, and they aren't the same. Not nearly as good. The old kind were a lot "fluffier", if you will. Maybe my memory doesn't serve me right, so if you remember them, please go to Dollar Tree and try them to let me know what you think.

Second Annual Back-to-School Dinner

On Monday we held our Back-to-School Dinner/FHE. It was first inspired last year by Nie, and though I will never pull it off as beautifully as her, I suppose I can get away with it since I have only boys, who wouldn't truly appreciate it if I did.

On the menu:

Zuppa Toscana with garlic butter crostini (okay, it was garlic bread)

Mom's Lasagna

Salad with broccoli and garden grape tomatoes

Pumpkin cheesecake (no cracks!)

After dinner we had a special Family Home Evening highlighting this year's family motto, Our Home Should be a Sacred Refuge, which was inspired by this talk.

Although we have lived in this home for two years, we hadn't dedicated it yet, so after talking about it with the kids, we knelt and Chad offered a dedicatory prayer.

Our motto and a theme that we wrote that we are focusing on for the year are now hanging in our front room to remind us of our family goals.

Oliver's Birthday Party

See the little one in yellow? The one with the grin from ear to ear?

This was all about him.

We all got together last Friday to celebrate Oliver's birthday . We knew everyone would be busy on his birthday (which is the first day of school again) so we thought it would be fun to have it a little early - one last family summer hurrah.


It was a very simple party


The pool provided all the entertainment we needed.

We had banana splits instead of cake, because Oliver screams for ice cream.

We opened presents and Granny and Grandpa had a huge hit with the sippy cup they gave him - one of those ones with the flip up straw.

He carried it around with him the rest of the party.

This is what he looked like the whole time! Just a huge smile, cruising around. I think it was the perfect party for our little boy.

(Tomorrow is his birthday and we will do a little celebration with a cake here at our house. I don't want to think about it too much- I might cry.)

The Great Debate: Twizzlers or Red Vines?

Which do you prefer - Twizzlers or Red Vines?

I noted to Chad the other day that Red Vines are cheaper per ounce than Twizzlers, which surprised me because I consider Red Vines soooo much better. He said that although he likes both, he thought Twizzlers are considered more "high end." HUH?!

Does anyone out there actually prefer Twizzlers over Red Vines?

(and if you do, do you also happen to enjoy chewing on plastic swim toys?)

Our own food network experience

Do you watch Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (or Triple D, as Guy likes to call it)?

We do - so we were pretty pumped when Chad's brother Bill let us know a few months ago that he saw an episode featuring a restaurant in Charlotte. We knew we had to make a pilgrimage to the holy ground on which Mr. Fieri trod. The Saturday before Father's Day was the perfect occasion for such a trip. We headed downtown to visit....

....what was truly a "dive"....

Penguin Drive-In (which actually isn't a drive-in)

Finding parking on a Saturday in this somewhat seedy neighborhood was our first challenge. The next challenge is getting a seat. The seating area is not large at all. As soon as you open the door, the hostess ushers you in, asking you to shut the door quickly. There is no foyer or waiting area so you smash yourself up against the wall with the thirty or so other people who are waiting ahead of you. After we put our name on the list, I took the already restless kids and sat in the car while Chad waited inside. It was amazing to sit out there, watch more and more people pile in, and wonder where everyone is waiting. By the time we got a seat, there were thick lines of people inside along one wall and between the bar and tables.

We were excited to order our food to see if it was"out of bounds" or "off the hook." Everything on the menu was very reasonably priced (so reasonably priced, in fact, that Chad was a little ticked off - why not raise your prices a little if you have lines out the door? - he was dumbfounded).

Chad got the "Hemi" - three hamburger patties on a bun with the usual fixin's.

Colin and Gabe got the corndogs - huge, greasy, and freshly made.

It looks large-but Chad had no problem eating it, though it completely fell apart half-way through. The taste? Basically like regular ol' ground beef. Not exactly "money."

I got the pork chop sandwich - it was good, but pretty bland. I really wanted some kind of tasty kick -some sweetness like coleslaw or some acid, but it was just basically what you see in the picture with a little bit of mayo on it.

The onion rings were the best part of the meal - generous, flavorful, with a light batter that was far from typical. Even Colin, who normally won't go near onions, liked them. We also got the hush puppies, which were good, but not the best we have had in the four years since we first tried this southern appetizers.

Would we go again? - the price was right and the food was about what you expect from a greasy dive (I felt sick for the rest of the day, and Gabe later lost his lunch in the Target parking lot -after we piled Chick-fil-A on top of this). If we had friends who were fans of the show who wanted to go, we would probably go again, hopefully on a weekday this time!

Not sure when the Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives with Penguin Drive-In airs again, but the title of the episode is "Blue Plate Special" if you want to keep your eyes open for it!

Poll: Do you like Egg Nog?

I did not grow up drinking egg nog. I don't think my mom liked it or something. Chad introduced it to me after we married and now the holiday season isn't complete without it. So who out there likes it and did you drink it when you were a kid?

Just a little side story - Chad was at a work Christmas party a couple of years ago, and he took a drink of egg nog and turned to his boss and said, "This tastes funny," not realizing that egg nog is often an alcoholic drink. His boss got a big laugh at the expense of Chad, and that was the end of Chad's egg nog consumption for the night.