Sunday, January 31, 2010

Mexican Casserole

I made this for dinner last night, and it must be one of my very favorite recipes.

Reason #1: It requires very little effort.

Reason #2: It requires very few ingredients.

Reason #3: It meets my  need for mexican food every now and then.

So, without further adue, here's the recipe:

What you need:




You're also going to need:

1 lb. of ground beef
1 package of taco seasoning
2 tablespoons of butter

How to Make It:

First, you need to heat your oven to 350 degrees.



Next, brown your meat in a skillet. Once the meat has cooked through, drain the meat.

Then, follow the directions on the taco seasoning pack.

Your meat should look something like this.



If you're a multi-tasker, you can also start the water for your rice.
For the rice I bought, it requires 3 1/2 cups of water and 2 tablespoons of water to come to a boil.



Once it comes to a boil, pour in the rice, stir, and cover. Cook for 20 minutes on medium to low heat.

While the rice and meat is cooking, you can also dice up the cheese into small cubes.



After everything has been prepared, it is time to mix in the remaining ingredients. Pick your favorite casserole dish and combine the meat, rice, cheese cubes, and Rotel tomatoes.



Mix all of the ingredients together until they are evenly dispersed throughout the dish.



Now is time to crush up handfuls of Doritos and spread them evenly over the top of the mixture.



Cover and put in the oven for 45 minutes.



Enjoy!

Winter Flower


I have a vase that is by my sink at all times. It's there 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

What changes in this vase though is the flower that it may hold.

While the yard looks brown everywhere I look, I turn to the corner of our yard to find a plant that makes me smile in the winter.

I can't wait for this flower to bloom at this time every year. I have fond memories that are related to this flower.

What is this flower I speak so highly of?

The camelia.



My fond memories of this flower relate back to the days I spent with my grandmother who has now passed away. Everytime I see this flower I'm reminded of the beautiful camelia bushes she had in her yard that were loaded down with blooms every year.

As a young child and even as I got older, I would pick blooms of her bush and bring them inside and put them in a vase.

Now, I have my own bush, and I continue to pick the blooms and put them in the vase by my sink. It's refreshing to see a bright colored flower, while the rest of the plants look as if they are dead.

It's also a constant reminder of the lady that I admired so much, and a lady I aspire to be today.

Monday, January 25, 2010

My Purchase of the Year



This is it.

This is the Canon T1i.

This is what I long for.

Why must it be so expensive?

That's okay though. I'm saving my money up for it. I'm nearly half-way there.

I have looked at it and looked at it.

I have read reviews on it.

I have held it in my hands and talked to the Best Buy man about it.

This is the one.

This is the one I'll get.

Once I get it, the new reason I won't be blogging is because I'll be trying to figure the thing out.

Wish me luck...

Monday, January 18, 2010

Where Have I Been?

Sorry for the poor blog posts lately! Actually, there've been no posts. Truth is that I've been missing it to.

Unfortunuately, I don't have much to post about today. I'll just highlight some things that have been going on.

Wedding Planning




I've been caught up in a lot of wedding planning. A person cannot even imagine how much planning goes into a wedding unless you're the person doing it. You may think you know how difficult it it, but you seriously cannot even fathom it.

The perks to having a wedding is this...




What is this you ask? It's the free gift I received for registering for Calphalon. It was so exciting to receive my first free gift in the mail.





Student Teaching

This is what's happened to all of my free time. All of my free time to blog post is gone because of this. I'm starting to get into the routine of things though. I'm positive I'll be able to start being a regular blogger soon.

It's everything I wanted it to be though. I've learned quite a lot already! I can't wait to have a classroom of my own in the next school year. Just be praying that I can find a job! Jobs are hard to find these days!

My New Best Friend: HP Color LaserJet CM1312




One good thing about the wedding and student teaching is that I had to buy myself a printer. I simply cannot live without a printer. I took the plunge and bought myself an all-in-one laser printer. It's my new best friend.

I love that I can hook both computers up to.

I love that it will print wirelessly.

I love that I will be able to print invitations, note cards, and other crafty things with it.
Who knows what I will be capable of now?


The best part about it is that it prints photos, too! I haven't tried it out yet, but I can't wait to see what it can do.

Well...I'm sorry this is all I have. I'll be a better blogger next time. I'll have more interesting stuff. This boring stuff is why I haven't been posting in the past two weeks.

FYI: You might be seeing more recipe posts than anything.