Recipe Review: Taco Salad

In this weeks MPM post, I mentioned a couple of salads were gracing our table since we are currently overrun with lettuce from the garden. Much to my surprise, I received a few inquiries about these salads, so I figured I'd post the recipes (well, they're more like non-recipes, but whatever). Here's the first...

Note 1: I like to serve buffet style because it puts up easier this way if there are any leftovers. Eating cold taco meat on leftover salad is just gross, so this way you can easily reheat the meat.

Note 2: I'm allergic to corn & corn products, so this is a completely corn-free taco salad (I thought you may find that odd if you didn't know the back story).

Ingredients:
Lettuce
Diced Veggies: Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Red Bell Peppers, (any additional veggies you want)
Taco Meat - We love McCormick's Cheesy Taco Seasoning. (We usually only eat about half, so I freeze the other half for another taco night.)
Shredded Cheese - I used Monterey Jack & Sharp Cheddar (for the love of all delicious queso, please shred your own!)
Ranch Dressing (we make our own from the dry ranch seasoning - it's so yummy!)

Directions:
1. Put lettuce in bottom of your bowl/plate.
2. Add taco meat & veggies.
3. Top with shredded cheese.
4. Put a smidge of ranch dressing on top - really brightens up the flavor!
5. Mix up & enjoy!

I think the Texas Toast Tortilla Strips or a few tortilla chips would add a yummy, salty crunch to this salad (although I'm just guessing since I can't eat those products).

This also serves up great on wraps if you're looking for a leftovers use for lunch the next day.

Spring Cleaning: Bathroom Cleaning Caddy RAVE!

I'm sure you're probably getting tired of these cleaning posts, so I promise this is my last cleaning post for the week.

We have 2.5 bathrooms in our house - two upstairs and a powder room downstairs. Until now, I've been making multiple trips back & forth between the bathrooms to haul around these cleaners. It's always been a pain, but for whatever reason I never thought to do anything differently. Well, it hit me last weekend - CLEANING CADDY! Not sure why it took me that long to come up with such a simple solution...oh well! 

One family trip to Target later, I found this awesome caddy...handle, plenty of space for cleaning products, and a separate place for paper towels. Perfect!

In case you're wondering, this is the company that makes it.

All the cleaning products fit perfectly with room to spare!

A top view (in case you're really curious).

Fits perfectly under the guest bathroom cabinet with the toilet brush & plunger. 

Not glamorous, but that's life!

Spring Cleaning: Under the Kitchen Sink

Have you taken a peak under your kitchen sink lately? If you're like me, it could be a bit scary! I decided it was time to clean out & organize underneath there. I started by taking everything out and what was left was pretty gross.

I vacuumed all the dust & debris (leftover from our kitchen renovation), wiped it down with a bucket of Lysol solution, and used the handy magic eraser on the tough spots.

Next, I needed to tackle all the junk I pulled out of there. I threw away some things (old sponges, cleaners we don't use anymore, etc) and lined up everything else that needed to be sorted. Here's what didn't get thrown out...

There was obviously WAY too much stuff underneath the sink! I sorted these into two groups: items to stay under the sink and items to go somewhere else.

After the cleaning and organizing, here's what's left. I just love the sparseness!

Our hand & dish soaps are by the sink, I only need easy access under the sink to the dishwasher detergent and the cleaner for our appliances. 

I did keep a few other things underneath, but they are tucked away in a corner because they aren't needed very often.

Of course, I still had all these products to deal with...

they scattered about the house into my canning box (a bottled brush helps clean a yucky canning jar so easily!), paint supplies, and the big cleaning product basket on the top shelf of the laundry room.

Spring Cleaning: Kitchen Purge

I've recently discovered a blog that is right up my alley - it's called I Heart Organizing! From what I've gathered she posts a new project to work on each month and shows you how to follow along with her. April is all about "Project Purge" - something I seem to constantly be doing anyway, so I thought I'd follow along at my own pace. First up - the kitchen! I've needed to clean out the drawers and cabinets ever since our kitchen renovation (there was lots of dust & debris still hanging out). 

Of course, my little helper was around to "help", which usually translated to playing with my purged kitchen items. He was so helpful - ha!

Before I go on to show my pictures, it's important to note that I use my kitchen a LOT! I cook everyday, usually 3 meals/day since Little Man & I are home during the day. So, I do have quite a bit of kitchen gadgets, utensils, etc and the important thing is I use almost all of them on a daily-weekly basis. I also do a fair of amount of canning/freezing in the summer, so I have an entirely different set of gadget needs for those projects. Basically, don't be surprised if I still have a lot in my cabinets.

So here are a few of my before & afters...

And here are just some after collages (didn't want to bore you too much with so many pictures)...

Here is the pile of purged objects...some will be donated to Goodwill, others will be stored (like the knife block) until I'm really ready to part with it.

Due to time constraints, I skipped my spice cabinet & pantry. So, I will probably have even more to add to the pile! And now I'm feeling a bit guilty over the excess...

I'm also linking up to Thrifty Decor Chick's Before & After Party!

Meal Plan Monday

Our spring crops are ready and the garden is overflowing with LETTUCE! We also have plenty of radishes, spinach, and broccoli. Looks like from here on out, our meal plans will be reflecting garden life...yum!

Monday: Taco Salad
Tuesday: Buffalo Chicken Salad
Wednesday: Lasagna & Salad
Thursday: Grilled Chicken, Ranch Potatoes, Roasted Broccoli, & Roasted Carrots
Friday: Pizza
Saturday: Hamburgers & Hot Dogs on the grill
Sunday: MOPS Family Potluck

Hop over to OrgJunkie for plenty of other meal plans.

Project 365: Week 16

iPhone Photo

iPhone Photo

iPhone Photo

We were on vacation last week, so there are several iPhone photos. Sometimes it's just better to capture the moment rather than focus on getting the "perfect photo" and missing a memory.

 

Happy Easter!

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 

-1 Peter 1:3 

This moment.

One day recently, I had been busy around the house while my Little Man happily played by himself (but near wherever I was working). Well, after several hours of paying only brief attention to him, it became clear that he needed me to spend some good quality time with him. He kept asking for play-doh, which is my least favorite thing to play, but sometimes it's good to be a "Yes-Mom". 

I'm so glad I said "yes" that day. We had so much fun together, even if my OCD was in overdrive while he happily mixed play-doh colors. It was well worth it!

Such great advice...

I've had this little sign for a while (picked it up at Ross or TJ Maxx, no sure which). I recently moved it in front of my (corner) kitchen sink simply because the colors go well in there. However, it struck me that it's pretty great advice for people (including myself) to remember to leave the kitchen sink & dishes a little better than they found it. 

So, now I wonder if our dishes will end up in the dishwasher or hand-washed a little quicker than before?

Project 365: Week 15