Tacos and more tacos

I don't know about you but I love tacos, Mexican food in general.  Through the years I have made tacos many times but there's just something about eating them in a Mexican restaurant.  They seem to taste better or something. 
I kept coming across a recipe on Pinterest that caught my attention. 
Last night I finally tried it and we loved them...
Baked Tacos
Something about putting all the ingredients together, placing them in the oven, allowing the flavors to blend and the cheese to melt...made it taste authentic.
I did however leave out a key ingredient by mistake, the taco seasoning. 
We both enjoyed them and went back for seconds.  Ray said that I could definitely make them again as long as I didn't leave out the seasoning next time! 

For directions, go under recipes. 
Yummy!

Life...

There are wonderful moments
               full of joy, happiness, peace and contentment.

There are also moments
               of great sorrow, pain, suffering and loss.

It is during these difficult times that we have to stand strong.

Often we do not feel strong during the hard times...
                            but it is the hard times that make us strong.

As a good friend reminded me...
     Do not borrow the pain, sorrow or even the joy 
            that tomorrow might bring,
                   But take it one day at a time.

Now when you are really facing that raging storm in your life, it is hard to take your hand off of the wheel.  Yet, as hard as it may seem, doing exactly that is the best way to survive the storm.

We think we know what is best and how things should be, 
                                             yet who are we...mere grasshoppers.

We do not know what tomorrow may bring...
                        of the joy, happiness, pain or sorrow.

Yet, there is One who knows exactly what is ahead. 
What we will face down the road and how much we can actually handle.

We will survive the ups and downs of life
                                             if we cling to His hand.

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Peace will come in the storm...
                         when we let go and give it to Him.

New Recipes

About a week ago, we were invited to a friend's house to eat on a Sunday afternoon.  I wanted to take a dish that could be put in a crockpot.  Those things sure are handy. 

So, I went on-line to search for a recipe.  I came across one that caught my eye. 
It sounded good and I had the ingredients. 

It is Santa Fe Chicken and it turned out good. 

Now, I didn't follow the recipe exactly and so it had a lot more liquid than it should have.   It tasted good, really good but I'm going to share a couple tips to keep the amount of liquid down.  One, make sure your ingredients are completely thawed out and do not add any extra liquid to the recipe. 
Now since mine did have extra liquid, it made me think of soup. 
So I took the leftovers and made soup which was also good. 
This recipe served double duty. 

Another recipe I am sharing, at a friend's request, is my Macaroni and Cheese.  This recipe is a big hit and I normally fix it for company and get-togethers.  You do not want to be on a diet the day you fix this but trust me it is really good.  It makes a large batch so you want a large and deep baking dish.

Check them both out under recipes.

Enjoy!

Do You Have An Accent?

There are many different accents through out the country and the world.  You can normally tell where a person is from by the way they speak.   There's deep southern, southern, northern, western, and Jersey...just to name a few.

My husband had only been home for a few short moments yesterday when he asked...

"Have you talked to your sisters lately?"
 

Now, I should have picked up on the meaning of his question right away but I didn't.  So I proceeded to tell him when I had spoken to them and how they were doing. 

 

Mid way through my speech he says...
 

"I could tell."
 

Then I knew what he had been meaning.

(I had talked to one sister earlier that day)
 

I have never had a strong southern accent, even when I lived in the south. 

However, I did have a slight accent that those who were not from the south could hear. 

 

Living in the north, I have lost the little bit that I had. 

However, according to my husband who has very sharp hearing...

Whenever I'm talking or visiting with my family, I acquire a southern accent.

Just a simple telephone conversation does the trick and I'm completely unaware of it... until he says something.  It goes away quickly but it was there. 

He reminds me, I become conscious of it, and

it goes away...until next time.

 

An accent...it tells where you come from.







Quick Update

A big snow...it was not.
The storm made a late appearance yesterday morning but it came in full force. 
It really had a fighting chance of being the big one. 
The snow was coming down hard and fast. 
Ray faced complete white outs, making the drive to work difficult.
The wind was blowing and the snow was piling up. 
However by mid-day the storm had lost it's force and surrendered.
By the time Ray made it home, the roads were clear.
The yard is still white this morning with a thin layer of snow, however...
It seems the big one has passed us by once again.

Let It Snow...

Let it snow, let it snow...
This song is normally put with Christmas songs but if you look at the words,
it doesn't really have anything to do with Christmas.  
It's a winter song and I've been singing, well thinking, it all winter long!
We have had snow pretty regular.  That is if you count a little coating of snow or flurries.  It has been a normal thing to look out and see flurries. 

BUT we have NOT had a real good, BIG snow. 

Now in my humble opinion if it is going to be cold out, then it should be snowing!

Lots of snow!

Last night, we went to bed thinking there would be a lot of snow on the ground come morning.  However, we were Greatly disappointed. 
They had said we would get several inches of snow during the night with more today.  Now, I know they hardly ever get it right.  However, we were all thinking and hoping this was going to be it.

This is a picture that I just took out our front door...

Yes, we have snow and it is still putting it down...looks like it could do it for awhile.

Will this be the big one?

Now this is what I'm talking about...

 

I believe this was in 2010.  We couldn't even open the front door

Our road and the road adjacent to ours was closed. We were going away for our anniversary. The only way we got out was by following this earth mover out to the main road. There was so much snow, the regular snow plows couldn't handle it.

 

 So, will today's snow be able to compare to this?

Southern Sweet Tea

Down south, there is one thing that everybody knows about and
That is good ole' sweet ice tea.
Growing up this was a regular drink in our house. 
We never called it sweet tea...it was just tea.
Putting lots of sugar in it was the only way to make it and
Un-sweet tea was a serious crime!
One of my cousins shared a recipe with me over the weekend.
Now, the one ingredient did seem a little strange
However, she assured me that it really did make it even better. 
Check out the recipe under, well what else, the recipe tab above.
I added some things under the other categories as well. 
So be sure to check them all out and let me know what you think.