Beloved Taco casserole

The first time i ever heard of Taco Casserole was from one of the acheivement days girls that i used to teach. she came over for the activity that night and was totally devastated that she had to go home because it was "taco casserole night" at her house. i laughed and wondered HMMMM what IS taco casserole? how i finally found out was that i went to the halloween party at my ward and someone made it for their "chili". Ruby rarely likes anything, but she has just recently gotten on a taco kick. so i thought---i must make this!!

the only reason i am posting this is because i made it tonight yet again and it was SOOO delectable. maybe i am just deprived of really good cooking that is wholesome and healthy --instead of super greasy and oversalted.

but here is my recipe. its simple and easy to put together. i just think its a really easy meal---LIKE TACOS!!! it seems like everyone has stuff to make tacos right?

1 box of taco shells ( you can use tortilla chips if you like) 

1 lb of lean ground beef--or turkey 

1 tbs and 1 teaspoon taco seasoning ( or a packet) + bay leaf

1/2 an onion diced ( or more if you like) 

1 bell pepper ( optional) 

1 small can of tomato sauce 

pace picante sauce or salsa of choice 

1 can of black beans 

corn, olives---or anything else you would like to add. 

 grated colby jack or cheddar cheese

sautee onions and beef together, drain, return to pan. 

add seasonings, beans , bell peppers, tomato sauce, &corn. 

sautee for about 3 minutes on med-high. stirring. 

then pull apart taco shells ( so they are flat) and place them in a 

13x9 pan on the bottom. put spoonfulls of  salsa on them. put your 

beef mixture in a layer on top of the flat taco shells. and continue to layer 

in this order: tacoshells, tiny bit of salsa on the taco shells, beef mixture, cheese---and so on. 

until you run out of mixture and or everything else. 

bake in an oven at 375 for 20 to 25 minutes. 

scoop out casserole onto a bed of shredded lettuce and add sliced avo 

and sour cream. i like a little spice, so i add El-PATO sauce drizzled over top. 

its SOOOOO yummy. 

your kids will love it if they like tacos.

CRAFTINESS OF AMERICA!!

These are the auction pieces for the school auction

I made that little fused glass beauty------made it in the schools Kiln--seemed only fitting that i sell it at the school fundraiser---its so cute and funky!!

This one is really fun-- you cant see , but in the middle the flower sparkles. 

wonder how much these pieces will get at the auction? me too!

these are the cute crafts/fused glass things i made while katie was at my house watching my kids.---thanks katie!! wish i could do this ALL the time.

ill post more crafts soon---because i love to make them!! 

hey......thats my husband!

i was surfing my sister -in- laws blog, and i saw this awesome picture that i would like to share with the public. 

no---it was not halloween. it was new years. and the theme was "the distant future". 

so prepare yourselves men-----my husband is quite the trend setter. this is going to be the new tuxedo. 

watch out red carpet people. i hope you all look good in fuchsia. 

WORST FREAKING WINTER EVER!!!

Poor baby Lucy.............I love my kids, and i love having three, but the more kids you have , the more opportunities for sickness your family gets!! we have all been sick for .....hmmm lets see.....ever since katie left....

three weeks?!!! first strep, then the random colds, then allergies to amoxicillin, then double ear infections, in both children, and now ----some random infection with fever......

can i just say...im sick of going to the pediatrician and having NO real solutions. how many anti-biotics am i going to have to give these kids? im done. 

i dont really think that western medicine is the answer anymore. --Dont get me wrong, i am grateful for the anti-biotics , when truly neccesary---but come on....... they just want you to come into the doctors office, get an anti-biotic, ( which wipes out the other effective parts of your immune system) then, because you are at an office with a bunch of sickies, you get something else, and your body cant fight it because it has no more immunity!!!
At least Ezra doesnt look like a Leper anymore. he had a really really really bad rash, with hives and it covered his whole body. we finally gave him Zyrtec ( instead of benadryl) and this is how he looks now. less freaky, but still a sickie. 

Finally PiCTURES!!! of Katies visit, and the month of January

I will post crafts soon.............but for now...............check out January:

these are some pictures  of Ezras 3rd birthday party. down below, in the following post, are more pictures. i am kinda going out of order. but there were alot, and they werent taken with my camera.

I took this picture because i just thought my kids were being peaceful and cute. its a very rare sight around here. and they were cuddling in the blanket together. Lucy is SOOO cuddly.

she loves to cuddle ruby

Katie and i decided to be adventurous and take the kids to Shari's because we were in the mood for breakfast food. i dont think it was worth it. it was right around nap time with five kids in a restaurant!! AHHH!!! at least we got this cute picture.

my little peanut again :)

more pics of january

"muno! the one eyed monster" 

we had a Yo-Gabba Gabba party for Ezra. it was a dance party. thanks to Nickjr.com it was "totally awesome!!"

but the cake was all me and my skillz. for some reason, im overly obessed with decorating cakes. i dont know whats gotten into me. 

Ezra truly thinks he is a rock star. i will have to do a video post with him dancing. its utterly hilarious. he makes a curled lip and everything. its self taught

cutest cousin picture ever 

why are my arms so fat??? i need a spray tan. 

i know i am a lame blogger

I KNOW....... I AM LAME -- i dont update as frequently as i should. but i feel that most of the time the only thing worth writing about is my kids, and the silly things they do. and then i forget to take pictures, and well, no one wants a blog with out pictures. 

but i will just do some quick updates, and then soon ( when my sister katie remembers to send the only cool pictures i have of ezras birthday and of her visit) i will put some pictures on here. 

cool/eventful things that have happened in january:

*coming home from the holidays in arizona,we realized that flying with three kids is just not worth it. dont know when we will be adventurous enough to try it again. and ps--we also realized that our kids have the "adverse" reaction to benadryl--NOT the ideal reaction we were hoping for ( aka--tantrums and screaming the whole flight)

*Katie came to visit, helped me with my kids, and helped me do an awesome Yo Gabba Gabba birthday party for Ezra. and then she so graciously watched my kids while i went to an awesome fused glass class ( so sorry we couldnt find a babysitter so you could come :(

*Lucille started walking talking and got one upper tooth this month!! wowee! she is officially a toddler

*i chopped off the top of my thumb with a knife and went to the ER.

*all my kids came down with strep throat and me as well with in one week. we spent 100 bucks going to the doctor and 70 bucks on prescriptions and lost money for classes we signed up for. 

* My cat had to go on prozac :) ---now, this is a great one....wink wink. he sort of went more crazy on it, and we soon had to stop giving it.

* Jason made some awesome superbowl commercials that were very appropriate for the economic climate---and was written about in the mormon times.

*I learned how to make a fabric bead necklace, fused glass pendants and made my first sock monkey thanks to Fletcher Millers Eagle scout project ( thanks fletcher!!)

IN SUMMARY: i think we had a pretty successful month. we are so excited for this coming year. 

jason is planning a family reunion that is catered for his family ( it will be held up in pine arizona in july) . 

we are taking some kind of European Cruise ( grecian, or italian) for my 30th birthday. 

did i mention im turning 30 ? :(  and we are going to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary this year!!!woo hoo for us. 

and i hope ( i really hope) we can find the money, or the time, or something to do a disneyland trip for our kids this year. we'll have to pinch, but i think we can do it if we plan right. :)

so i really think this is going to be a great year. so far im not planning on having any babies or anything----i think i might lower my body fat ( hee hee ) 

its 2009 and we're doin fine. this is going to be a great year. 

we hope everyone is healthy and happy and doin great!!!

will post pics soon.