Choosing Life

Archive for the ‘Life’ Category

As a part of my efforts to live less expensively I am determined to eat healthfully for less. Part of this has equated to using more of my provided meal plan. Another part of it is a larger life lesson- making food that can be remade into something different.

Case in point- Fajita Soup

Here’s the background. One of my local grocery stores has a weekly meal deal. They pick an item, that when you purchase a full price, you get a TON of other things to make a full meal for free. A couple of weeks ago the meal deal was fajitas. I purchased pre-seasoned fajita meat for about eleven dollars and got the following for free: sour cream, cheese, tortillas, salsa, a tortilla warmer (bet people outside of Texas don’t know about those). I could have also received some soda, but I don’t particularly like what was free so I passed on the offer.

Now, this meal deal is enough to feed an army, but I was strategic. I froze the cheese and tortillas. Have used the salsa and sour cream for other meals (including snacks for the Bible Study I lead) and separated the pounds of meat into one-two person sized baggies. They were then consequently frozen. Enter, a stocked freezer with enough supplies to make at least 7 one person fajita meals.

So, one day last week I made my first bag. Turns out, I stink at cooking the meat and I wasn’t terribly impressed. But, I was DETERMINED to make full use of my left overs. So, when I came home for dinner I used the left overs and a bunch of other things I had on hand to make soup. And, I must say, for an accidental-on-purpose-leftover meal, it turned out well!

Here’s the accidental recipe. Feel free to alter and or add to as you see fit with things you have on hand.

Ingredients:
All my left over fajita meat (don’t ask me how much, it was the left overs of 1/7 a pre-seasoned package.)
One can of chicken broth
One can’s worth of water
1 to 1/5 tsp of chicken bullion
1 can of corn
1 can of black beans
1 can of pinto beans
1 can of mushrooms
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 can of diced tomatoes with chili’s
Some brown rice
1 package of Fajita seasoning
Extra frozen, precooked chicken strips

I literally threw all of this in a pot, brought it to a boil and then simmered it until the rice looked cooked. I thought that the extra fajita seasoning would make it too spicy, but I almost think it needs a bit more flavor. I measured absolutely nothing for this soup, and it was liberating.

I made some cornbread to eat with it, but it would also be good with tortilla chips. And in my humble opinion, Coke Zero is a must.

I have a TON of soup left over, so I think I’m going to freeze some of it to save for a day when soup sounds good and I’m too lazy to make it. Not that this required much work. I actually managed to finish a last minute project for work while the stove did all the cooking.

I just never cease to be amazed at how one small item, like chicken fajita mix, can multiply into sooooo much more! If you live in Waco– come over and have some soup. It is like an accidental loaves and fishes scenario.

My Friend Kristine recently posted maps on her blog of the states she and her husband, Cliff, have visited. I stole this idea. Here’s my map:

visited 35 states (70%)
Create your own visited map of The United States

Seeing this visual makes me want to take some vacations to knock the rest off. Maybe first up should be finishing off the northern border.

Anyone want to join?

When I was in college I dabbled a bit in selling Avon mainly because I enjoyed the products Avon offers. After months of spending more than I sold I decided to call it quits.

However, I am now a much more mature, disciplined individual. Right?

After a bit of thought I’ve signed up to sell Avon again. I love the products, and the company. I think the products sell themselves. What’s cool about Avon now, is that each representative can have their own webpage where their customers can shop, order and pay for their Avon products. Gone are the days of needing to have a representative where you are– you can order online and have your product mailed to you.

That’s a pretty sweet deal.

Seriously– check it out.

So, if you are in the mood for makup, bath products, shampoo/conditioner, and a wide variety of other things (kitchen gadgets, clothes, bags, etc) check out my avon site. I can give you a real brochure if you would like as well!

Have family or friends that might be interested? Pass this site along to them as well!

I have heard it said that there is a first time for everything. There have been a lot of firsts around here lately!

While it is not really a first, a couple of weeks ago I the chance to drive to Fort Worth to see my favorite author, Donald Miller. You may remember my previous post detailing my excitement about his newest book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. A couple of friends joined me, and we drove to Fort Worth to have dinner with a few of my favorite former students turned friends, and then on to see Don. Let me just tell you that it was more than worth the hour and a half drive and the $15 ticket. After Donald finished speaking we had the chance to wait for autographs. Kelcy, a student who joined the trip, remembered to bring her book however, I left mine on the kitchen table. We waited in line for her to get her book signed, and I got the chance to meet Don in a moment of awkwardness and awe. Highlights of our 30 second conversation include that he called me “nice” twice. Ahhhh. . . . Here’s a photo of me and Don.

Also recently I tried a new vegetable- acorn squash. I have seen them in the grocery, but never tried it before. My friend Steph posted a link on her blog with a simple recipe so I decided to try it. I must admit, acorn squash was very yummy! You should check out Steph’s blog for yummy recipes.

Tuck recently had a big first. In preparing for Thanksgiving, I felt really guilty about leaving him with other people so often this year. So, since Southwest Airlines recently changed their policy regarding pets, allowing animals aboard flights, I decided Tuck would come along for Thanksgiving. For the first time in his life (that I know of at least), Tuck got to spend lots of time in a crate and flew. The flight out was relatively uneventful, minus the three times Tuck busted out of the cage and decided to try to wander around. Luckily the people sitting around me thought he was cute and wanted to play with him. He was much happier when we got in the car with his grand-people.

May you have a happy Thanksgiving filled with a few firsts!

With the transition to a new blog, I have a lot to learn. Wordpress is much more powerful, but also more complicated than Blogger. I’ll figure it out eventually, just taking it one step at a time.

One step I recently took was learning that my site had comments blocked unless you were registered with WordPress. Oops. That’s fixed now! Comment away!

And, while you’re at it, check out some of the photos I recently uploaded to my Flickr. I’m in the process of editing some recent ones, so more new shots will be coming!