Taco Soup

I have been working on a Taco Soup Recipe that would require me to use a pre-made taco seasoning and ranch dressing mix with all those icky fillers. This version is also low sodium.


Taco Seasoning:

2 tsp  dried minced onion

1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp corn starch
1/2 tsp crushed dried red pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp paprika

Ranch Dressing Mix:

1 tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon finely minced garlic
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon celery seed
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 dash dried thyme or 1 dash dill weed


Overnight soak Pinto Beans with water and place in crockpot cover with water and cook until done.
Put that in a stock pot. Add Ranch Dressing Mix, and Taco Seasoning Mix, 1 bag frozen corn, 1 pound cooked and drained ground beef, 1 can tomatoes ( I found a low salt option but you can also roast your own tomatoes), and 1 cup of quinoa.  Cook until heated through and quinoa is done.  When serving can serve over tortilla chips, with sour cream, avocado, and grated cheese.

Vacation

It has been a wonderfully busy and relaxing vacation so far. Highlights were a trip to the coast with my mom and Aunt. I am so grateful to my Aunt for arranging a great relaxing visit for us. I even worked in a knitting lesson and a massage.  I went up to the woods with my dad for a day and didn't get eaten alive by mosquitos. According to Dad that is because my mosquito repellent smelled so strong any living thing was keeping their distance. I had some "all natural" repellent. It worked well until you worked up a sweat then had to reapply.  I didn't get a single bite so I am thinking it was beneficial.  We also had the time to go to one of my favorite restaurants out in the boonies. My parents have taunted me with their visits to this restaurant. It was finally my turn and just as delicious as I recalled.

I also had enough time to remember issues with going to the bathroom in the woods.
If you don't want to read about urinating in the woods...stop here!

1. I never put mosquito repellent on my butt cheeks
2. Is that or is that not poison ivy... what was that rule for telling if it is poison ivy? Something about three leaves... it doesn't have three.
3. I gotta go I'm going to take a chance that it is poison ivy. (I've never gotten a rash from it)
4. There are ants crawling up my leg... do I stop peeing and find another spot?
5. I left the t.p. in the car... WHY DID I LEAVE T.P. in the car?
6. Now my arse is stuck in the mosquito infested air until I drip dry.
7. I remembered the t.p. and now I must carefully balance it while I pee on this hillside and try not to drop it in the... too late.
8. I really hope I didn't just pee on my shoe... I'm sticking my shoe in the freezing cold stream for awhile.
9. Please hold onto the dogs leash while I pee in the woods even though it looks as though I need assistance I'm not sure the dog can help me.
10. Wet dog nose on butt cheek.... there is no choice but to squeal.
11. On the other hand... public restrooms can be much more dangerous... but that's a tale for another time.


I have eating a lot of yummy fruits this trip. That's the best part about this state in June. Yummm! I worked in a visit to Costco, staples, and other stores to stock up before heading back. I haven't gotten much school related work done and I am working on my online class. Mom and I plan to do some cooking and freezing this week. I also have plans to see some of my pals before heading down south for a conference.  Hopefully we accomplish everything on our list before I have to return. A colleague sent me a message that they would be working on class rosters. I said "Please don't tell me" I want to live in denial a little while longer. I do know of a few of the students I will be getting because the parents put in a request. Other than that I don't want to know :)! That stress can be saved for later. I am on VACATION!

Summer

Fired up my new lawn-mower. It worked very nicely. My neighbor had to help me with the first fire... I wasn't doing it correctly apparently. I am sure all of the starts from now on will go very well. After mowing I set up the sprinklers again. Yeah  mow, water, water, repeat. The cycle of the lawn. There always seems to be a couple of patches damaged by the heavy snow. They are starting to perk up.  I also had to go and get a gas-can as I didn't have one. Now I am ready for summer. Well I gave up on the hardware store and ordered some sprinklers. My back lawn is long and narrow. I purchased a tandem sprinkler. That's what they advertised it as. Three sprinklers with short hoses between. Am I mistaken or does "tandem" mean two?  I am certain it does. Anyhow, It should save me a little time moving hoses around to hit all the corners of my odd shaped yard.  I also have an area that is an isosceles triangle.

I recovered from the but the kiddos shared with me. I am fairly certain it was that and full on exhaustion. I gave it my all to the end. Then in the end I gave out. I caught up on rest and feel myself again. It is the time of year for some delicious fruit smoothies. I will be bringing home a lot of projects to work on and texts to read. Tomorrow I am in to school to finish cleaning, clearing out my classroom. Hopefully, by the time I get back I will be able to paint the walls as I have planned.

Laundry is in the washer, dishes in the dishwasher. I have a "Garage Sale" Pile that is growing. I need to get the house and the class cleaned and then I can begin my "vacation". Tomorrow my online class begins. I am looking forward to that.  My neighbor kids "helped" me plant some seeds in my garden. I have no idea how they will grow. They were not exactly consistent with their seed placement nor their watering. If they water the garden when I am up north the seeds have a little hope. :)   They had fun planting so we'll see how it goes.

Wrapping it up!

It took me several hours after students and our luncheon yesterday to print all the "end-of-year" reports. It really shouldn't be this hard but it is. In part because we weren't every shown how to set the program up correctly so every time we go to print reports we have a brand new previously unknown issue. Sigh. In part it is a pain because we have a 21 step process we must complete to print a report. Does this sound a little nuts in the modern age? That's because it is. The person in charge of this software who is supposed to set it up to make it user friendly. Well they haven't done so. In part because it doesn't really impact their job.  It is the biggest headache. If you want to hear some whining and complaining going on it is when we are doing these reports. I always start them with a buddy or two because I always have problems with it.  Some of the kinks were worked out permanently by the Vice-Principal. She came by and helped correct some things that should have been shown to me in August. SIGH!    Anyhow needless to say after spending hours on the reports I still didn't get my classroom cleaned up.

Today I went in and worked on the Cumulative Folders we must complete for every student. That took quite awhile mostly because I had not completed one in this manner before. I completed many of the things on my checklist for the school. I found out today that we were expected to have this all done on Wednesday. How? I don't know. With students we were supposed to complete all of this?  Luckily they have been reasonable enough to understand that wasn't going to happen.  I didn't see a classroom empty of a teacher today. The only teachers that weren't at school today were the support staffers like the special ed teachers who haven't had students for a few weeks now.

When I woke up this morning I was very congested and not feeling great. I went in to work and just felt worse. At lunch time I decided I would go get distilled water for my humidifier and take a nap. I woke up and there wasn't any change. I went to work for several more hours and felt worse. I had to run to the hardware store for a sprinkler I need that hadn't been unloaded from the shipment yet. Then I came home put on my pj's and have been resting. I finally realized this evening that I am running a little bit of a fever. I think the kids shared their bug with me. I am hoping a good nights rest and a few healthy meals I can get back on track to get everything done. Tomorrow is a Health Fair the county health department is putting on. I have learned to attend these for any needed blood tests. I can get a blood test their for 20$ that would cost hundreds at the clinic. So I need to attend that tomorrow.

We found out that our District is changing our health insurance again starting July 1st. On Monday I have to attend a mandatory meeting to learn about the changes. It sounds like our new insurance is going to be pretty pathetic.  Thanks to you "Affordable Health Care Act" we can no longer afford to pay your insurance so we are finding a cheaper policy that really doesn't pay for your health care at all. Yay!!  I am not the first person to be going through this across the country I hear of people that are going through the same things.

I am sorry if my grumpiness is overwhelming in this post.  So I will end it on my laugh of the day. In my classroom sometimes to get my happy chatters attention I yell "RED ROBIN" Like in this commercial  then my students say "yum". Usually the first time works but sometimes I have to do it a few times getting quieter each time to get their attention.  They love it and it works. I have a mom volunteer that comes in with her four year old and he has heard me do this several times. She sent me a message today that her older two kids were arguing in the car and the four year old was sitting in the middle. Apparently he had, had enough and yelled out "RED ROBIN".  I  hope it worked for him I truly do! :)

Have a great weekend!

Ah the sweet sweet smell of...

I think I smell SUMMER VACATION! One more day! ONE More DAY! I can do this. We can do this. Although it would help if I was in bed by now. I had  to stay up to make dessert for our staff luncheon tomorrow. What I didn't have to do was go to dinner with a colleague. Let's be realistic though... there was NOOOO way I was cooking dinner tonight. If I hadn't have gone out to dinner my dinner probably would've been a bowl of ice-cream. So yes, dinner out was the better choice.  

Tomorrow is the big wrap up of everything we are supposed to have done. I am so used to Thursday being an official work day. Nope it isn't. We have students for 1/2 a day tomorrow then the 2nd half we are supposed to get all of our teacher stuff done.  After the staff luncheon. If a teacher has a classroom completely in order on the last day with students. Hats off to you...but I think you have issues.

Today was Field Day. In a burst of enthusiasm and optimism our PTO put on the most elaborate Field Day ever seen by our students. They had a ball. I needed about 2 more layers of sunscreen and 2 more cups of tea. However,  my students did receive compliments at several "stations" on their good behavior. There was bubbles, bouncy slides, bouncy obstacle courses, sponge tosses, a dunk tank, kick ball with kiddie pools for bases, gummy worm eating contests, water relays, a color run, and other ridiculous fun. Then we had to walk back to school. Yep one block seemed completely unreasonable to my students.  The whining was non-stop. I grabbed Popsicles from the freezer, turned on a movie, and the last 30 minutes I had students impersonating limp noodles. It was awesome. The bell rang. The sigh of relief coming from their teacher was amazing.   I think the PTO was a little optimistic about how long lower grades can go without water, bathrooms, etc. However, we learn from a party every time we give one.

So I spent my evening firing up sprinklers in my yard and making Special K bars for tomorrow. They are done. I am "unstinkified" from my shower. I am trying to hydrate more before bed. One more day. Unofficially more days than that. I  hope it won't take me too long to clean it all up. The students have taken most of their things home and have "mostly" emptied their desks. We had a desk cleaning activity. Imagine my surprise when I check them after school and a couple of them had just moved things around. Really?  So then they had to finish the job.   I start an online class in 6 days. I will also be going to a 2 week training and a 1 week conference this summer.

Well my alarm always seems to ring earlier than what I think it should... So G'nite