Taco Casserole

Every Tuesday in our house is Taco Tuesday.  You can imagine how boring it can get eating the same meal every Tuesday.  Taco Tuesday is so popular in the Pepper household that we have a weekly guest here every Tuesday for tacos.  This week I decided to try something new.  I decided to make a Taco Casserole.  It was super easy to make and came out great!  We all ate more than we should but it was so awesome.  I have an idea for next week as well.  Here's my simple recipe for Taco Casserole.

Ingredients:

2.5 lbs of ground meat
2 packets of taco seasonings
2 large tomatoes diced
1 large bag of shredded lettuce
1 container of sour cream
2 cups of shredded cheese
taco sauce for taste






Pre-heat oven to 350.  Ground the meat.  Once complete add the taco seasoning.  Continue to cook the meat to mix all the seasoning with the meat.  Once the meat is fully cooked and the seasoning is completely mixed, it's time to start layering the ingredients.  This is the order I layered them in:
1. meat
2. cheese
3. tomatoes
4. sour cream
5. cheese
6. taco sauce

Cook the casserole for 20 minutes to melt the cheese.  Once the cheese is melt add lettuce on top and put the remaining sour cream on top.

Enjoy,  my family sure did!

PS.  I wish I would have added avocado!
:)

New Favorite Band- Nothing More

My daughter is in that "discovery phase" of her teenage years. Every week its a new band that she loves. Well last week she introduced me to a band called Nothing More. They are a Rock band from San Antonio, Tx and New Orleans, La. They have been around for a while but this past year they seem to have "made it big" and are on the charts. I really like several of their songs, with "Jenny" as my favorite. You should really give them a listen.



Here is their newest album:

Nothing More

Nothing More

Genre: Rock

Released: June 23, 2014

Homecoming Mum

Homecoming Mums are a Texas tradition. I am excited to start making these lovely mums and garters for you!

 

So you may be wondering what the heck these "mums" are.  You can read for yourself.  This is via wikipedia.

High schools in the south of the United States, especially in Texas, often have a tradition of the girls wearing "mums" and boys wearing "garters" to the Homecoming football game. Mums usually consist of artificial Chrysanthemum flowers (originally real Chrysanthemums were used) surrounded by decorated floor-length ribbon and little trinkets. The tradition is that the boys create a personalized mum in their school colors, white and silver for seniors, for their date. Girls make garters for their date which are similar to mums but shorter and worn on the guy's arm rather than around their neck like mums. The size of the mums and garters tend to grow along with the grade the person that is receiving the mum is in. Around the 1980s, mums were usually about a maximum of three Chrysanthemum flowers and a few ribbons and only worn by the Homecoming Court/Homecoming Prince and/or Princess but as the years have gone by, the size and expectations of mums have increased and have gotten more elaborate and are worn by almost all of the students. Depending on the school, mums can get quite competitive, expensive, and drastically bigger than they previously were intended to be. New items are also placed on mums than there previously were like LED lights, bubble containers, cow bells, feather boas, stuffed animals of all sizes, and even more. They now sometimes act like scrapbooks made of ribbon and even contain passages and photos of the mum/garter-receiver and their date. The detail, size, and price usually varies depending on the school, town, and couple. The tradition is to make the mum and garter after the couple is asked to Homecoming and exchange the night of the Homecoming game and wear it throughout tailgating and the game. Couples often take group pictures with their mums and garters the night of or before the night of the Homecoming Game to showcase them.

Pork Strips

I am not a huge fan of pork, much less pork strips.  Not sure why, but I just don't care for it.  These pork strips changed my impression of pork.  I found these at my local H-E-B.  They were really cheap for a family pack at only $3.50.  I wasn't sure how to cook these strips so I decided to cook them just like ribs.  They came out amazing.  This recipe is pretty simple.

Ingredients: 
1 pk of pork strips 
1 clove of garlic 
Worcestershire sauce   (enough to coast the meat) 
Olive Oil (enough to coat the meat) 
BBQ of your choice (I used Mark's Good Stuff Honey Bee) 
Tony Chachere's for taste 




The first step for me was to "wet" the meat with a combination of Worcestershire sauce and Olive Oil.  Then I seasoned the meat with Tony Chachere's and garlic.  I baked the meat covered for 1 hour at 350 degrees. After one hour I applied a nice thick layer of bbq sauce and recovered.  45 minutes later, I uncovered the meat and applied more bbq sauce. 15-20 minutes later and it was done.  This meal was served with Green Beans.  It was so good that we ate it two nights in a row!