Cooking Thursday

 Did you ever try the Mexican pizza at Taco Bell?  I had it occasionally, and then it was discontinued.  I saw this copycat recipe and thought I should try it.  We like Mexican food and this is a recipe you can put together quite quickly if you have the taco meat part of it ready.
I'll tell you that mine didn't look near as pretty as the one in the original recipe, but it still tasted good! I didn't have a lot of the toppings in the house, so that didn't help.
I made only 1/4 of the recipe, to make 2 pizza's.

Copycat Mexican Pizza

Pizza Ingredients

1 pound ground beef

1 packet taco seasoning

¾ cup water

1 cup vegetable oil

8 flour tortillas (taco size)

1 (15 oz) can refried beans

1 (10 oz) can enchilada sauce

2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend

Toppings

diced tomatoes

sliced green onion

sliced olives

sliced green onions

Directions

Preheat oven to 400f. In a large skillet, brown and and crumble the ground beef.

Drain excess grease. Place cooked beef back in skillet and add taco seasoning packet and water and stir. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer until thickened.

In a large skillet, heat up oil over medium heat. Add tortillas (one at a time) and cook for 3-4 minutes (flipping frequently) until crisp. Continue with the rest of the tortillas. Set aside.

Meanwhile, heat up the refried beans in a microwaveable-safe bowl. This will make it easier to spread the beans onto the tortilla shells.

On each tortilla, slather a generous layer of refried beans. Then top with seasoned ground beef.

Place another tortilla on top. Slather about two tablespoons of the enchilada sauce on top. Then place some shredded cheese on top of the sauce. Continue assembling the rest of the pizzas.

Place the pizzas on a large nonstick baking sheet and bake for about 8-10 minutes until cheese is melted. Serve with your favorite toppings!

Wordless Wednesday

 

Some of you may have seen this as I shared it on FB. This photo was taken by my SIL Aaron.  He takes some amazing photos, but I think this is one of his best.  This mushroom was in their yard.  Did you ever know a mushroom could be so beautiful?

Bug magnets

 Here's a cute and easy craft I did with Alaina and Ruby last weekend.  They both said it was fun and the finished product turned out cute.

For this project we used:

scrapbook paper

flat glass marbles

wiggly eyes

E6000 glue

magnets

Here's Ruby, choosing her paper and deciding where to glue the glass marble.

You spread a little glue onto the back of the glass piece, then put the scrapbook paper onto it. (we used Elmer's glue for this part)  Let it dry for about 15 minutes, then trim the extra paper away.

Then glue the wiggly eyes on and glue magnets onto the back using the E6000 glue.

Here's our finished bugs, Ruby's in the front and Alaina's in the back.

Here they are with one of their bug magnets.

And then the bugs got put on the refrigerator until they took them home!

Picnic in the park

 Last week I told you we had a picnic in the park on Fathers Day.  We had never been to this park and it was such a pretty little place.  I wanted to show you some pictures of it.
It's on the banks of the Thornapple River in Ada Michigan which is about 45 minutes from our house.  There was a really nice picnic pavilion, paths to walk on and some cool statues.

Here's Alaina and Ruby on a statue I thought was so cool!

Here it is without anyone sitting on it.  It's called Fish Tales and is a grandpa telling his grandson about a big fish!  You can't see it on this photo, but the branch the boy is sitting on,  has roots that turn into fish swimming around.

Another fun statue

The river was peaceful and calm.

Another fun statue!

Lots of pretty flowers.

There was even someone fishing.

There were some kids enjoying jumping on these rocks on the bank of the river.

At the edge of the park is a dam.

Such a pretty place to spend an afternoon.

Friday Funny

 

Cooking Thursday

 Bob loves anything with cherry, and he also loves crescent rolls, so when I saw this recipe that had both of them, and cream cheese too, I knew it would be a winner.
These were so easy to put together and were as good as anticipated!

Mini Cherry Cheese Danishes

1 roll Pillsbury crescent rolls
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 can cherry pie filling
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons milk

Open crescent rolls and do not unroll them.  Use serrated knife to cut through them like slice and bake cookies.  Cut into 10 slices.
Lay each slice on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Press them with your fingers to flatten them, leaving a small wall around the edge.
Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla together until smooth.
Place a dollop of  cream cheese mix into the center of each roll.  Place a tablespoon of cherry pie filling on top of it.
Bake at 350 degrees for18-20 minutes.
Stir together powdered sugar and milk and drizzle over danishes.  Enjoy!

Wordless Wedesday

 

Fathers Day

 Fathers Day was a fun and busy day.  But before I show you pics of that day, I have to show you a package that was delivered here on Saturday for Bob.

This was from Andy and Nikki in KY.  It's a little tool belt, but the tools inside are cookies!

Nikki is so talented!  She made all the cookies, and I know from getting some myself, that not only are they cute, but they taste wonderful!

Saturday night, we joined my brother, 2 sisters and their husbands to take my Dad and Ann out for supper.  We had a very nice evening together.

On Father's Day we were out of the house early in the morning.  We went to Heather and Andrews church to see Cassie's dedication.  
Their church was having outside service that day.  It was a bright and sunny day - and quite warm.  We were thankful for the occasional breeze that came through.

Here's  Alaina and Ruby waiting for the service to start.  They sat in front of us and sat very quietly, even though we were outside.

After church, we picked up some sandwiches and went to a park to have lunch.

Andrews parents joined us as well.  We had a nice cool spot here, right near the river.

Alaina with her cute freckles!

Cassie was enjoying the attention!

Andrew, Ruby, Bob, Alaina, Cassie and Aaron.

Our sweet girlies!

Bob and his girls.

Bob enjoying some time with Cassie.

Bob also had a call from Andy in the evening.  He had a very nice day!

Cassie stays overnight!

 Friday night Cassie stayed overnight at our house for the first time!  We forgot how much stuff a baby needs.  Our car was full when we left their house - a pack and play to sleep in, a jumper to sit in, a bag with clothes and diapers, bottles, milk, toys...  and of course a baby in a car seat!

Here she is when we got to our house.  Car rides put her to sleep.

She woke up and we sat on the porch for awhile.

Playing with Grandpa

He was blowing on her tummy and making her laugh.

Here she is sitting in her jumper.  She was being fussy about taking her bottle and was tired.  She's a thumb sucker, and sucks her left thumb and wraps her hand around her face while doing it.

She finally took her bottle and fell right asleep.  That happened a little after 10.

She doesn't sleep through the night and was up around 4:30.  She had a little to eat, and then was cooing and smiling at me.

Here she's getting tired again.  She fell back asleep about 5:30 and then slept till almost 8.  I thought that was pretty good!

Awake and playing on her mat after having her breakfast bottle.

Hanging out with Grandpa.

See that foot?  It is almost always moving,  She's very flexible too, and that foot is often in her mouth!

She is such a happy baby, cooing and smiling all the time, until I point the camera at her.  Then she focuses on that and the smile goes away.
I brought her home about 11:00.  We had such a fun time with her.  Andrew and Heather enjoyed a good night of sleep, but were happy to see her come back home.

Friday Funny

People who say

"Go big or go home",

seriously underestimate my

willingness to go home.

Like, it's my only goal

right now!

Cooking Thursday

 How do you feel about mushrooms?  It seems you either love them or hate them!  I love them, but unfortunately no one else in my family does.  And if I decide to cook some up for myself, I get accused of smelling up the house!  So, I don't make them very often, but every once in a while, they are a treat!!
I saw this for mushrooms that could be used as a side, on top of meat or just eaten by themselves, and it only takes about 10 minutes!  It's a winner!  And, oh my goodness - they are good!
One note - there was plenty of sauce, and I think you could use 12 ounces mushrooms instead of 8 ounces if you wanted to.

Creamy Garlic Parmesan Mushrooms

2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
8-12 ounces sliced mushrooms
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 ounces softened cream cheese
1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

In medium skillet, add butter and olive oil.  Add mushrooms and garlic and saute until tender.
Add heavy cream, parmesan cheese, cream cheese, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.  Stir together with mushrooms and heat until sauce is bubbly and smooth.  Serve immediately.

Recipe from - The Recipe Critic

Wordless Wednesday

 

June flowers

 Spring and early summer are one of my favorites times of the year.  Of course, it's wonderful that the cold is gone, I love the blue skies and gentle breezes, but seeing all the flowers blooming is so fun!  We enjoy walking around the yard in the evening, seeing the new blooms from night to night.
Here's what's blooming in our yard right now.

Siberian Iris.  I'm always happy to see this splash of dark purple in the back yard.

This is a columbine. I like the way the flowers hang down and it's pretty color.

Our white clematis is loaded with flowers this year.

Peonies are one of my favorites.  My Dad has a huge bush that I'm jealous of.  We have a hard time with them, but this one plant usually gives us a couple blooms and I'm always happy to see them.

Not a flower, but aren't the seeds hanging from the Japanese Maple pretty?

Bright and cheerful yarrow.

This is Lady's Mantle. The flowers aren't so pretty, but the leaves are cool, especially when it rains.

This is a Coral Bells plant.  The red leaves are pretty all summer long, but I like these airy little blossoms too.

Our side yard.  You can see the coral bells in the front, along with a variety of hosta and other plants.  My gardener (Bob) does a great job!