Football, Food and Taco Salad Dip

Growing large family

 

Labor Day Weekend officially started football season. College Football on Saturdays~GO NOLES!!!!!! And NFL on Sundays!!!! Go Jameis Winston!!!!

And with that means FOOTBALL FOOD! Chips and Dip, burgers, tacos and more!!! Not to mention all those yummy desserts that can be eaten by hand. I love football, but the food is the real star of the show for me. Our football food season made its debut with a taco salad dip.

This was a quick and easy meal but full of yumminess. And you can customize it.

Cook your hamburger and drain. Add in taco seasoning (according to package directions) or add a can of enchilada sauce. Whatever you prefer to spice up your taco meat. I added a can of enchilada sauce and some homemade refried beans. It was delicious.

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While that’s simmering away, shred up your cheese. Until your cheese grater breaks.

growing a large family

OH well, it lasted a good 15 years. Anyways, I used Monterey this time around. But really it’s whatever you have on hand or prefer.

Assembly time!

Growing a large family Lettuce

Growing a large familyMeat and Corn. Side note: beans would be great. Peppers if I wasn’t allergic. Olives. Any toppings! This is an anything goes taco salad.

Growing a large familyCheese time! Load that baby up! I love cheese! The cheesier the better! And I’m sure my husband would say my jokes are the same way. But anyways….

Now you are going to add the “dressing”. You could add some spicy ranch from a bottle if you want. Remember it’s your salad. But I went with simplicity. I added a heap spoonful of sour cream and salsa.

Perfect Taco salad

Perfect Taco salad

Now you could eat this like a salad. But this is game day! And you aren’t a real football fan unless you are eating something with your hands and getting messy. So grab a fork to mix it all up and then put the fork in the sink. Now grab some tortilla chips and scoop away!

 

New school year

Usually this would be where I tell you all about the beginning of our new school year. Except I’m not because we didn’t. That’s right. I think its dumb to try to teach kids how a calendar year works when school begins towards the end of it. Plus we had a very slow start last year that I decided our year is running from January to November. So basically we are finishing up with the last of our months of school before everyone moves on to new grades. During the summer we took a slower approach but there was still learning and progress being made.

Dakota is finishing up Kindergarten. He has finally gotten excited about learning and doing school so that has made things more exciting and fun for me. And the best part is the little booger knows more than I gave him credit for. He is breezing through letter and sounds. Writing is coming easier for him. And Math and Science are his favorite right now. He has even started learning to add on his own, count by 100’s and read numbers in the thousands. All this has happened naturally and I love it!

Brianna has been a little bit more difficult only because we have noticed everything has been sliding backwards with her. We were always told that no one could predict what her limit was and I think we have max it out. So for the most part I try to incorporate a lot of art, science experiments and letting her join in where ever she feels like. But she still has a workbook to work out of and I try to give her computer time or tablet time at least once a day.

Cailin is done with English 9 and has moved on to English 10. She is finishing up pre-Algebra which has been a struggle for her. We are also almost done with Biology. American History has been a struggle for me to begin because I hate History but I know it needs to be done so I am starting that. She is also beginning Creative Photography and American Sign Language. OH and over the summer she completed the written part of Drivers ed. Now she needs her permit and her Daddy to start with the actual driving part.

I am very happy with the progress we are making. Sometimes I feel like we are not learning anything and then I write it all down and feel good about our progress. Plus we did testing and everything was confirmed.

Meet our ever growing flock

As everyone knows, I added to our backyard flock this year. We went from 6 chickens to officially 39 chickens and ducks. My hubby keeps bugging me to post about all of them because you know most of them have names.

So here we go…..Introducing the princes and princesses of Feather Tale Farm.

Midnight

Midnight

Luna

Luna

Ninja

Ninja

Precious

Precious

Thing 1

Thing 1

Thing 2

Thing 2

These are the original six. Now for the new members…..

Tank

This is Tank the turken. He has taken over as the #2 rooster now that his brothers were either sold or processed.

Mama & Bertha

The 2 big red hens is Mama and Bertha. They were hatched around the same time as Tank. I can’t really tell them apart unless they are looking at me.

Meg

The last of the first hatchlings is Meg. She is such a good girl giving an egg a day, but has to be watched she will run in the house.

Lucky

Here is Lucky Duck. Still doing very well, but doesn’t think she is a duck. She is also starting to get braver and come eat worms out of my hand.

princess

Out of Lucky’s babies we only kept a couple, this is Princess. I am so happy she is a hen because I love her coloring.

tiny tim DSC_0415

Here is Tiny Tim. I wasn’t planning on keep him because he is a rooster. But after hearing his little crow and then naming him, I knew he was staying. He is a bantam so very little. Every time I am outside he has to be right by my feet. Isn’t he handsome?

other ducks

Here are my other ducks. Still very scared of me, but I do have them trained when I say “come here babies” they know its food time. When I say “time for bed” they know its time to go in the coop. I did just find out that both of the Pekins (white ones) are boys. So we will be selling one of them. I do know one of the Cayugas (black ones) is a girl but not sure which one.

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But this little guy is my buddy. This just started about 2 weeks ago. He is so curious and loves to see what I am doing. Once in a while I can ducky cuddles. I haven’t named him yet. And I know he is a drake because of the flipped up feathers on his tail. I think this is one I hatched but I am not 100% certain.

Now as you might remember. My aunt called and asked if I would take some chicks that the school had hatched and didn’t know where to take them. The kids were so upset thinking they were going to get eaten. And I told myself that if they were all roosters they were going. I did sell one, but ended up keeping the rest. What can I say I am a sucker!?!

Rusty

This is Rusty, a rooster. I have never seen a coloring like his. He is also so calm.

Maleficent

The one in the front is Maleficient and the black and white one right behind her is Mama’s boy. Maleficient is the only hen. She doesn’t like to be messed with but has this very queen like presence about her. And she is so dark from her feathers to her face. Mama’s boy surprised me by being a boy. When they were in the house, he was the one that every morning would jump up on my shoulder and used me as his playground. Very unusual for a rooster. He is also another one that will try to get in the house and knows to wait on the stairs while the feeding frenzy takes place because Mama will feed him his own little snacks. Spoiled much!?! NAH!

Chubby

THIS ONE BROKE MY HEART!!! This is Chubby. I was convinced he was a she. He loves cuddles and follows me everywhere. I was telling my kids I just don’t know. His feathers says boy, but his waddle and comb are little and not red at all. Then he looks at me and attempts to crow! I died right there. And then said oh well as long as there is no fighting he can stay. And the roosters out of this bunch do not fight at all. They are lovers not fighters.

Anna

This is Anna. This is my son’s silkie. We had a total of 3 silkies. We had an Elsa who turned out to be a Kristoff and a Lucy that turned out to be Lou. They got sold. So here is our one lone silkie. Funny looking thing, huh? Just wait it gets better.

Polish babies DSC_0397

Polish Babies! These are also something my son wanted. We went to an animal swap and he fell in love with one that happened to be a rooster. I told him no more roosters, but we will get babies. I ordered an assortment from Cackle Hatchery and prayed the white crested ones would be included. And they were those black with white tops are the ones he wanted. I think one is a boy and one is a girl. The one in the middle is a Gold laced polish and the black and white one is a Silver Laced Polish. I think the gold is also a boy. My son said as long as one is a girl he is happy. Plus we can always order more, DUH?! They are usually much prettier but the rain does nothing for their do’s.

Silver Laced Wyandottes

I also bought some Silver laced Wyandotte Pullets. Meaning they are all girls. I bought 5 of them. I don’t have names for them or the polish yet. And they are very skittish.

Last but not least, I went to an animal swap to sell my leftover Polish chicks. I sold them and turned around and bought these bantam cochins.

flora and fauna

This is Flora and Fauna. There was a third one named Merriweather. But he turned out to be Floyd Mayweather instead of the 3rd fairy from Sleeping beauty.

So there you have it. All of my flock as it is now. Who knows what’s to come in the future!

This blog was part of the Our Simple Homestead Hop.