How To Make Turkey Taco Meat

Happy Friday everyone! Today I'm going to show you how I like to prepare my meat mixture for tacos! Everyone has their own way, be it beef, turkey and beef, shredded chicken, etc... This is what we like best.

I don't really even want to call this a recipe, because it's basically as simple as throwing what you want in a pan. Keep in mind, I'm making a HUGE batch of this for leftovers. Feel free to half it and it'll still be plenty.

First I start with regular ground turkey. We prefer turkey to ground beef for health and taste reasons. It's not quite so rich. If you use beef, be sure to drain off the fat before added the rest of the ingredients.



Two packs, total 2.5 pounds

Throw this into a pan and cook on medium heat.

As the turkey starts to cook, remember you haven't eaten since noon, and break into the world's best salsa while you are waiting.

Pineapple salsa, Yum!

Then grab your favorite utensil, be it a spoon, spatula, jackhammer, whatever, and grip it like a caveman and stab violently at your meat until it's crumbly.

So easy, a caveman could do it!

I like to add taco seasoning (duh), green chilies, and fat free refried beans into my meat. The beans are delicious and give the mixture a certain creaminess, while stretching the meat farther and adding nutrients and fiber. I always buy a fat free brand that has limitied ingredients.

Also, this cheese dip is the best that I have found. It is identical to the white cheese you would get in a mexican restaurant. I highly reccomend it. It's called Gordo's.

Once the meat is done or almost done, add in your taco seasoning and green chilies.

At this point, I no longer measure my taco seasoning, because I can pretty much tell by the color of the meat if it's seasoned how we like it. By all means, follow the package directions if you are unsure. Also, the chilies will have some liquid with them in the can, so you will not need as much water. I usually start with about half of what the package recommends, then add more if needed.

Once the seasoning is mixed evenly, add your very appealing looking beans.

Once they start warming up they lose their "can" shape and start to look like people food. I just stir them around, mushing up the big parts until it's all mixed in together.

Now you can just let this simmer if you aren't ready to eat yet, or dive right in! This is my preferred method:

I like to serve it up nacho-style. I just grab some chips, layer them on the plate, and add the meat and top with some drizzled cheese!

Tasty!

I don't even have a printable recipe, because honestly you can change this however you want. More spicy? Add hot sauce and canned jalapenos! Less spicy? Decrease the taco seasonings and leave out the chilies! It's also very good with black beans.

Let me know if you it, and if you make any yummy variations!

More DIY Envelope Pillow Covers

I finally finished up my new sofa pillows!

 I had bought this fabric quite a few weeks ago at Hobby Lobby(With my 40% off coupon) and got a pretty good deal on the pillow forms, also at Hobby Lobby on sale. I used my same technique I did with my  yellow and gray pillow that I made for my bedroom.(Click on the link for the full tutorial).

Sorry about the glare on these... this sits right in front of the only window in our condo! Hard to photograph.

These pillows were more difficult, only because of my stupidity. First my machine messed one up, and then after I ripped all the stitches out and started over, I had put the bottom piece on inside out!!! So third time was the charm, and the second pillow was super simple. Now I just need to find another fabric to make pillows for the couch.

I was going to buy another gold snakeskin pillow (Threshold by Target), but I think it would look too crowded with another pillow. Plus I'm liking the asymmetrical look, even though it bothers my OCD just a bit.

I love the gold and teal together!

Even Gambit gave me his seal of approval!

He just jumped up and posed for me!

PS: I also made another matching pillow for my bed. I just thought it looked more "finished" with two.

Sorry about the coloring, It's nighttime!

DIY Scrabble Magnets

I love words. I enjoy reading, writing, and words games, especially scrabble! I've seen some similar ideas floating around the interwebs, and so I thought I'd give this a try.

It started with me finding this down on it's luck scrabble set:

It's very old, and looks water damaged. I snatched it up, and since it didn't have a price, went to the checkout line to ask. The clerk responded with, "You want to buy that?!". After I assured him that yes, I did really want to buy it, he said, "I don't know, $0.10?" Awesome! I paid for it right then!

This guy's seen better days...

The box and playing board were both really damaged and falling apart, and I couldn't really use them for anything. So I removed all the wood tiles and gave them a good cleaning with my homemade cleaner.  Then I fired up my hot glue gun, and got to work.

I had these magnets left over from a previous pinterest craft attempt. I can't find the link now, but it involved gluing the magnets to small plastic baskets, to be used for spices on the side of the refrigerator. It was a huge fail. No matter how many magnets I glued on, the smallest item would cause the baskets to slide all the way down to the floor. Oh well!

I hot glued one magnet on the back of each tile, and then pressed them together for a few seconds so the glue would set.

Some of the tiles also had staining, but I like the look!

I let them dry for about a half hour (Hot glue dries super fast, and the tiles are light) then I arranged them all onto my fridge!

What do you think? I love that it's unique, and also since it's scrabble tiles you have the ability to make more words than with a traditional alphabet magnet set, because there are more duplicates. I actually ran out of magnets before I glued all the tiles, so I'll have to pick up some more to finish it out. I'm thinking there was about 100 tiles total, and I only had 50 magnets.

Fun Fun!

Waffle Iron Pressed Sandwiches

I LOVE pressed, hot sandwiches. LOVE. Panera is one of my favorite casual dining places, because of their awesome soup and sandwiches. I don't have a sandwich press at home, but it turns out, I don't need one!

I've had this waffle iron for a few years, and it works great even though I don't make waffles that often. I think I will be using a lot more after these sandwiches though!

My husband took one bite and declared it a "Glenn household regular".

I simply buttered both outer sides of the bread, and then layered them in the preheated iron.

I pushed down with slight pressure, just smushing the sandwich a bit, then let go. My waffle iron is has a "floating" top, mean it doesn't lock down. If it did lock down, I probably would leave it loose anyway. You don't want a completely flat sandwich!

I used black forest ham and american cheese. I left them in the iron for about 2 1/2 minutes, just until the cheese was melty and the bread nice and toasty.

I served them up with Cape Cod ranch waffle chips(Ironic!).

YUM!

Next time I think I might add pickles, mustard, and swiss cheese for a press cuban! Or pesto and chicken for an italian twist! Lots of possibilites, so much tastier than a plain sandwich. Let me know if you try it out!

Orange Dress to Shirt Refashion

Happy New Year everyone! I wish health & happiness to everyone in 2014! I rang the new year in with friends and family, and I did it wearing my first clothing refashion! Read on for the details!

I was searching through the dress rack at my local goodwill, when I came across this orange nightmare. It was a 50% off day, so I paid $3.00! It is extremely long, and the slit on the side is longer than my entire leg! I think it must have really been some sort of beach cover up, because I can't imagine someone actually wearing it as a dress with that slit.

Feel free to mock my expression and my excessive collection of empty shopping bags.

BUT I really like the silky, breezy fabric, it has no stains or tears, and although I'm not typically a fan of orange, I've been trying to branch out with my wardrobe choices lately.

The slit is higher than my waistband!

The pattern and color are very overwhelming for a dress. So I found a shirt of a similar material and that fits me well, and put it on top for comparison.

Next came the big (SCARY) chop!

No turning back now!

I then tried on the shirt, and decided I wanted to take in the sides just a tad. I needed to sew up that awful slit anyway.

I ran the hems through my machine, and then tried it on for size! I was happy with the fit, so I then pinned the bottom and hemmed the shirt.

Tada!

Voila! I was so pleased with my refashion I wore it out the same day, to my sister's New Year's Eve party! It was a bit chilly(for Florida), so I paired it with a white denim jacket (thrifted), a royal blue necklace (Target), and my favorite jeans.

On a more self depreciating note, here is what happens when your husband takes a photo right when you sneeze:

"Blue Steel"

I LOVE how this shirt turned out, and I can't wait until it warms up and so I can wear it without the jacket. It is a very light and breezy fabric and it'll be very comfortable in hot weather. I also have some plans for the scrap piece I chopped off, and keep an eye out for that!

Happy New Year!!