The Best (and Easiest) Taco Soup

Happy Wednesday friends! Last night I was trying to figure out what day of the week it was...hello middle aged mind. I was relieved when I realized it was only Tuesday. I'm taking a break from fashion today and sharing a family favorite that is oh so easy and delicious. It's the perfect rainy day, snowy day, game day food and perfect for Taco Tuesday. LOL! If you don't already have a Taco Soup recipe you love, then give this one a try. I've been making it for years. It's from a 1994 Southern Living Annual recipes cookbook. Remember those? I think I use to read them like novels.

Before I jump into the soup recipe, I've got a question for you. Did you know today is National Compliment Day? Well thanks to my friend Shelly from The Queen In Between and her awesome post yesterday on #nationalcomplimentday, I now know. She shared some great ideas for spreading joy and sharing compliments in her post here. As soon as you finish reading this post (wink, wink) you should hop over and read hers. Great job Shelly! #compliment

Now back to talking soup. I almost feel silly talking about "soup weather" living in California, but it's not going to stop me. Taco soup is one of our families favorites and couldn't be easier to make. I mean it's basically an open and dump kind of recipe and I can get all over that. 

Katie and I are neither one big fans of ground beef so I always opt for ground turkey. I like it better in any recipe that calls for ground beef. I think it has a little bit of a "sweeter" taste and a better texture.

I like showing a picture of all the ingredients like this because I know personally I can screenshot it or remember better if I've seen them instead of just reading them. I'll put the ingredients all together with the recipe at the end of the post.

Start by browning the turkey and then I always rinse it to remove and fat that may have cooked off. I also do this on the rare occasion I happen to use ground beef.

Put the turkey back in a stockpot or a crockpot and add the chopped onion.

Open and empty all the cans (undrained) and add seasoning packets.

Give a good stir and bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer, uncovered for 15 minutes or longer.

Serve with chips, cheese and sour cream or corn muffins.

I recently tried this mix and it.is.delicious.

TACO SOUP

1# lean ground beef or ground turkey

1 large onion, chopped

3 (16 oz) can Mexican Style chili beans, undrained (substitute any bean of your choice)

1 (16 oz) can whole kernel corn, undrained

1 (16 oz) can chopped tomatoes, undrained (I prefer crushed tomatoes)

1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce

1 1/2 cups water

1 (4 1/2 oz) can chopped green chiles

1 package taco seasoning mix

1 envelope Ranch salad dressing mix

Toppings: tortilla chips, shredded cheese, sour cream, chopped avocado

*Cook ground turkey, rinse and drain. Add chopped onion. Stir in remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for 15 minutes or longer. 

*Serve with desired toppings.

*This soup freezes well.

Enjoy friends!

         

One Of My Favorites

Before Katie went back to school a few weeks ago I managed to get her to go out with me a couple of times and shoot a few outfits. Today's look is one of them and actually the last one I had in my back pocket for posts, so I guess I'd better get busy and cue up some more. 

If you read Friday's post then you saw pretty much this same outfit. I told y'all I keep wearing this top and I wasn't kidding. It really is just so easy to throw on and feel comfortable but look cute at the same time. It's the perfect weight for layering so I added this moto jacket that I picked up at Old Navy back before Christmas. It's sold out now, but they do have this one that's very similar. It also looks cute under a vest or military jacket.

While it's a tunic and can be worn untucked,  you can just as easily do a front tuck for a little different look. It's also long enough to wear with leggings and cover your rear view.

My St. Anne tote is the perfect bag for a day of running errands. I mentioned before that we have to pay a dime for shopping bags in the county we live in. This tote is perfect for being able to throw a thing or two in when I'm out running errands and forget to take a bag in with me.

I'm still totally in love with my Old Navy Rockstar jeans. I continue to occasionally order a pair or two of "premium denim" to try and have yet to find a pair I like anymore than these. My Converse have also won my heart and I find myself wearing them more and more. 

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Have a great week!

         

Friday Favorites #91

Happy Fri-yay friends and welcome to another edition of Friday Favorites! Check the link ups tab up top and see who I'm linking with today. You might find some new blogs to read while you're there.

This week has been a mix of feeling like it went by quickly and feeling like it's been two weeks since Monday. Do you ever feel that way? Anyway, I'm happy to see Friday roll around and share some highlights from my week.

Kent had Monday off for MLK day and so we decided to get out and do a little exploring. We've been in CA for 4 1/2 years and have seen quite a bit, but want to try and take advantage of the area while we are here. We drove down to Palo Alto. It's only about an hour away. We drove through the Stanford campus, saw the Google campus and went to a very upscale shopping center, I went into Louis Vuitton for the first time and looked at a Neverfull bag. I've been wanting one of these for a while after seeing so many bloggers with them. I've set a goal with my R&F business and once I reach it, I'm going to "reward" myself.

I'll be able to carry my things in it to the institution Kent will probably put me in for spending so much on one bag...LOL!

        

I've mentioned I started getting my nails "dipped". Well I'm here to tell you that I love it! The picture above is how my nails looked on Monday. It had been a month since I had them done. (before we went to VA for Christmas). Now granted, they REALLY needed to be redone, but I don't feel nearly as guilty getting a month out of them.

These don't peel like a shellac manicure and remove much easier. I did have trouble the first couple of times with cracking them, but she just dips them one additional time now and I've had no issues. If you are a nail-getter-doner girl, I'd encourage you to give this a try. 

Here they are currently. I went Wednesday and had them redone. The girl I go to does the best job and is just the sweetest.

I did see a kit where you can do your own, but I'd probably go have them done once just to get a feel for how to do them.

Color Dip Kit

No shame in my game. We had a leaders lunch at bible study yesterday and someone brought these little bites of heaven. Goodness, they are delicious!

This is a picture from bible study too. I looked across the table and realized Sharon and I were twinning right down to our glasses. 

Kent loves French Toast (and so do I). Y'all, this is the BEST bread for it or eating alone. It's like eating a slice of cake. I find it at Costco and only buy it on rare occasions because we just don't need to eat it frequently. Try my favorite French Toast recipe here.

    

I'm really trying to remember to post my #ootd on Instagram and here's a round up of what I shared this week. 

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Loft is having yet another 50% off everything sale. Here are some things I have coming to house to try.

Have the best weekend friends and thanks for taking time to stop by and see what I have to say today.
And if you happen to be new around here I'd love for you to follow me on Bloglovin', Facebook, Instagram & Pinterest and subscribe for email updates whenever there's a new post.

         

       

It's Not Too Soon To Think About Christmas

You're probably wondering if I've lost my ever loving mind. It's not too soon to think about Christmas? What?!?! So here's what happened. I had seen a baking set in Williams Sonoma after Christmas that I was thinking about grabbing for Benny and Erin. I meant to look on the website when I got home (so I could just have it shipped there) and of course in true Lisa fashion, I totally forgot. Fast forward to last weekend when I went back in the store and they were all gone. Insert sad face here. I jumped on the website today and didn't see it, but I did see a lot of other things that would make great gifts for a great deal. So while I typically am informing y'all of great fashion deals, today I'm sharing some things you might want to grab for birthdays, showers or...next Christmas.

Williams Sonoma has quite a few fun American girl things including this adorable doll apron and mitt. (less than $9) If you've know an little girl who loves her AG doll, can you imagine how excited she'd be to get this cute little set?

American Girl apron set

This little Madeleine baking set  is another cute AG item that caught my eye and would be perfect for a birthday party gift.

Madeleine Baking Set

I love looking at the dishes in Williams Sonoma. They have such beautiful, albeit pricey items. They have a whole line of these Botanical Pumpkin items, but the platter really caught my eye. You could use it to serve or it would be gorgeous on your counter on a plate stand.

 Botanical Pumpkin Platter

Sometimes I wonder if beautiful stemware and china are just a thing of the past and then I stumble on a stunning set of stemmed, cut glass goblets like these.

Mixed Cut Goblets

Monograms are timeless and classic. A monogram tray is the perfect hostess gift or shower gift for newlyweds and this one is under $8. There are also coordinating salad plates for just under $6.

Monogram Tray

I feel like punch bowls may fall into the same category as stemware, but any good southern girl throwing a shower will most likely wish she had one. This one is beautiful cut glass and comes with 6 glasses in 3 different patterns. The glasses would look gorgeous in a bar cabinet or on a bar cart. Trust me when I tell you this is a real bargain at under $50 and was originally $120. What a great wedding gift this would be.

Punch Bowl with cups

Every holiday I feel like I start pulling out table linens for special meals and wish I had this or that. This is a beautiful runner with a tartan border that could be layered over a table cloth or used alone on a wood table. Now's the time to get a higher end item for a bargain.

Tartan plaid table runner

There are so many great things on the Williams Sonoma site right now for a fraction of what they typically cost if you can just think ahead. 

Go get those bargains, friends! These just scratch the surface. There are so many pretty things to ponder.

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Happy Hump Day!

    

       

Closet Staples

Good morning friends! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. Ours was about as low key as they come and I didn't hate it. 😉

Today I'm sharing with you a remix of some closet staples I purchased during the fall.

This long cardigan has been a great addition to my closet. Sometimes I purchase something wondering how much I'll wear it and it becomes a favorite. Conversely, sometimes I buy something just knowing I'll wear it all the time and then I hardly ever do. Gotta' be honest, hate it when that happens.

The long sleeve peplum tee is such a great stand alone piece, but also makes for a great layering piece. Knowing how I feel about regular tees and the way they fit my short-waisted self, this peplum is the perfect alternative and has personality too.

When I purchased these raw hem jeans from Old Navy last spring (option / option) I had no idea how much I'd end up loving them. This pair has "built in sculpt" and they are so comfortable and keep everything tucked in right where it should be. These jeans are one of my most worn pairs.

Alex and Ani bracelets are really fun layering bracelets. I like to wear a mix of gold and silver and these allow me to do just that. You can get them with all different themes and express your personality.

I also added one of my favorite Kendra Scott necklaces. This was my very first KS purchase 2 years ago and started a love affair I didn't see coming. I now have quite a few KS pieces and they are probably my most worn. This necklace is the gunmetal finish and is no longer being sold (that I can find), but KS stores have what is called a "color bar" and they can make this necklace for you. You can go in an create your own combination of metals and stones if they don't have what you are looking for. Be sure you stop in a store during your birthday month and treat yourself to a half price piece.

I hope maybe you are enjoying a day off today. Kent is off and we may go explore some area we haven't been to yet.  Have a wonderful week!

            

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