Monica's Aztec Casserole

My sister Monica gave me this recipe, and  because I'm tired of trying to remember where I wrote it down (in my cell phone), I thought I'd post it here (then pin it to my recipe board).

Here's the ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
2-3 cups cooked rice
1 can black beans
1 can corn
1 can tomatoes
cumin
garlic salt
tortillas, taco shells, or chips

Brown the ground beef with some chopped onion.

 Drain the beans and corn.

 Cook your rice. I use steamed jasmine rice (since we buy it buy the gigantic bag at the Asian market).

 Add everything to the beef along with the spices to taste.

 As you can see we each choose our own way to eat it.  Paul adds salsa because he likes it spicier than the kids, everyone gets cheese on top except Logan (who doesn't like cheese).  We could also make it into a taco salad type with lettuce and fresh tomatoes.

Project Life September

Although I've completed my first Project Life, I'm going to continue documenting my scrapbooking endeavors.  I liked doing the Project Life method for the kids albums but I haven't decided how I want to do the coming years now that Logan is in school.  I have plenty of pages, just not sure how I want to tackle the school stuff yet.  But, of course, I'm still behind on our family yearbook.  I attended an all-day crop with my sister and got so many pages completed.  Her are a few of my favorites from the day:

I'm able to get so many pages done because I do power layouts beforehand, where I go ahead and pull paper and stickers to go with the specific pictures.

 

I made the bow below at one of the make-n-takes.

 I only take a few tools (punches, special cutters, etc.).  It helps so that I can get in with only one trip and it also means I don't spend as much time trying to decide what to do, my options are limited.

 Once I get home, I'll add cricut titles as well as journaling.

 One of the good things about doing the power layouts is that I intentionally look at some of my older supplies, trying to find uses for them...like the die cut playground below.

 I'll even use pre-printed layout pages like this one.

 

I love these all day crops (even though I'm usually sore the next day from all the sitting), but unfortunately I only get to about 2 of them a year.  Not nearly enough time to complete my albums.  But usually I'm motivated for a while afterwards.

Pinterest Recipes 49-55

I've been doing my meal plans (just not blogging about them).  I've been using pinterest a lot to find recipes, escpecially crockpot ones.  Here's a few I've tried: 

Chicken Taco Chili  This was fairly easy and tasted pretty good.

Loaded Baked Potato & Chicken Casserole  I liked the idea of this one, but the hot sauce made it too spicy for the kids to eat.  Trying to find something with a little less kick.

Baked Greek Chicken  I didn't like this much, just another chicken option, nothing special.

Taco Soup  Another easy, fast, good option.


Ravioli Casserole  This was one of those that I should have read through all the instructions first.  For a crockpot recipe is was way too complicated and didn't really have much taste.  If I make again, I won't use the crockpot and I'll substitute pasta sauce for the tomato stuff for more flavor.


Crockpot Chicken & Stuffing  This one was okay, but the kids didn't like having everything mixed together.

Potato Soup  Although the kids didn't like this, I thought it was great.  And so did the church staff, since they got the leftovers.  I've made it twice (it's good for groups) and I prefer diced potatoes instead of the shredded kind.

Pinterest 44-48: Teacher Gifts

I really enjoyed getting to use Pinterest to come up with ideas for Logan's Kindergarten teacher.  We had a little gift for her each day during that first week of school (#1, 3, & 5).  When we were shopping picking out a cup for his teacher, he said he wanted to get something for his new speech therapist too (#4 below).  I also came across some tags I'd printed last year for the preschool teachers so I did some scissors for the office staff at Logan's school (#6).

 

In addition to the pinterest ideas, I also took an apple napkin holder I had and filled it with notepads.  I had the photo boxes from before so I decorated the top and filled it with extra school supplies we'd been collecting.

 

1.  Mint to be

2.  Extra gum

3.  Cup of Supplies

4.  Cup of tea

5.  Smooth Lotion

6.  Cute Scissors