My two favorite dinners (not including eating out)

I have really tried to not stick to the same old cooking stuff lately, and I have wanted to try some new things, so in the past few months, we keep coming back to these two recipes, which have quickly become some of our favorite family dinners, so I thought I would share the recipes.

First off is Taco Soup. Justin's sister gave me this recipe like a year ago, but it really didn't sound that good, so i never made it, but I was wrong, it's my favorite dinner! (pictured above, it tastes better than it looks:)

Ingredients:
1/2 lb-1lb ground beef or ground turkey (I use a whole pound, but the original recipe calls for 1/2 lb)
1/4 cup onions(optional) or 1 Tablespoon onion flakes
1 can light red kidney beans with liquid
1 can corn with liquid
1 can petite diced tomatoes with liquid (14.5 oz)
1 can tomato sauce plus 1 can of water
1 packet of taco seasoning
Toppings: Sour cream, cheese, Juanita tortilla chips (the best you will never go back! Available at Albertsons and Winco)

Use a large sauce pan (spray with non stick spray beforehand) to brown ground beef with onions, drain fat. Add the rest of the ingredients except for toppings. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 15 minutes, then top with toppings.

Second is called crock pot fiesta chicken, I love this one it is so easy!

Ingredients:
8 chicken tenders
1 can black beans drained
1 can corn drained
1 jar of salsa
Toppings (Cheese, juanita chips again, and sour cream)
cooked rice

Throw all the ingredients in the crock pot except for the toppings and rice, cook until chicken falls apart, then shred chicken, mix all crock pot ingredients together and serve over rice, then top with toppings. Easy and cheap if you are feeding a group.

In other news Miss Lexi will be 2 on Saturday. Justin will be at a gymnastics competition, so we will celebrate on Sunday with some family. Lexi is a busy body, but she is so much fun, and so cute. I put her hair in curlers the other day, and she loved it, I also painted her toe nails and finger nails, and she sat still for both. Im not a prissy girl, i can't remember the last time I painted my finger nails, maybe 5th grade? But she loves that kind of thing. Also her favorite color is pink (naturally) we didn't even teach her that color, but somehow she knows that color, and never fails to point out something pink. We tried a trial run of potty training the other day, but its a no go, Justin thought she was ready so we gave it a shot, but three poopy underwears later, I was done...maybe in a few months will go at it again. Its just not going to happen when she clearly doesn't mind sitting in her own feces. Lexi loves to sing and dance, read books, play with barbies, and her one ken, and watch movies "starring" Barbie:) I love her tons. It is hard for me to be patient with her sometimes, but obviously it's something I need to learn. Here are some cute pictures of the past few weeks:)
































Lexi in her valentines present
curlers!