Classical Homemaking

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Mom's Taco Casserole for the Homemaking Party

Welcome to the Homemaking Party! It's been a couple days since I've featured one of Mom's Favorite Recipes--I've still got a few left in the series so here's number four.

One of Mom's favorite things to eat is Taco Casserole. I know there are lots of different way to put one together, but Mom likes this one the best:

Taco Casserole

2 lbs. ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2 TB. taco seasoning
15 oz. tomato sauce
15 oz. corn
8 oz. water
3-4 c. crushed corn chips
1-2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
lettuce and tomato for topping

Add meat, onion, salt and pepper to a skillet and cook until meat is done. Add taco seasoning (here's a recipe for my homemade bulk seasoning), water, tomato sauce, and corn. Simmer for a few minutes and then pour the mixture into a 13x9 baking pan. Sprinkle crushed corn chips on top and push down a little. Cover and bake on 325 for 20-30 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle cheese on top. Bake for another 10 minutes, uncovered. Top with lettuce and tomato and serve. Yum!

Thanks Mom!

It's a week of Mom's Favorite Recipes. Here are more in the series:

Bulk Taco Seasoning
Perfectly Fried Chicken
Mom's Picnic Macaroni Salad

I love to feature some of the neat posts that are linked up so please make sure and put my button or a text link on your blog so you'll be eligible to be featured!

Here are a couple of my favorites from last week's party:

Here's an excellent, encouraging post from Nan at Mom's the Word. I read it out loud to my 4 year old daughter and 11 year old son. They agree it's good stuff!

Look at this awesome Spiral Herb Bread that Winnie shared. Isn't it awesome? She has the neatest ever foodie blog!

Lisa at Helene's Legacy wrote about Manners to Teach Your Daughter. I loved this, but here's the thing: if we don't practice these ourselves, we can't effectively teach them to our daughters. Ladies, read this. 'Nuff said.

If you have been featured, please grab a button!

Now for the linkup. Please remember to return the favor by adding my button or a text link to your post. Have a great weekend!

Hope In Every Season is on Facebook! If you like what you've read here, please follow me and keep up with the latest posts.

Linking with:

Homemaking Party @ Hope In Every Season
Thursday Favorite Things @ Katherine's Corner
Strut Your Stuff Thursday @ Somewhat Simple
Thriving Thursday @ Serving Joyfully
Homeacre Hop
Tutorials, Tips and Tidbits @ Stone Gable
Think Tank Thursday @ Saving4Six
Home Sweet Home @ The Charm of Home
Create It Thursday
Open House @ Bernideen's Tea Time Blog
Share Your Cup Thursday @ Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson
Inspiration Friday @ Dear Creatives
Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home
Foodie Friday @ Rattlebridge Farm
Farm Girl Friday @ Let This Mind Be In You
Fit & Frugal Family Friday
Recipe Swap Hop @ Cuddlebug Cuties
Show and Tell Saturday @ Be Different, Act Normal
Or So She Says...
Saturday Nite Special @ Funky Junk Interiors
Finding the Pretty & Delicious @ Your Homebased Mom
30 Min. Linkup @ 30 Days
Sharing Creative Ideas @ Made By Joey
Show Me Saturday
Craft-o-Maniac Monday
Motivate Me Monday
Modest Monday @ The Modest Mom
Matrimonial Monday @ A Proverbs 31 Wife
Make the Scene Monday @ Alderberry Hill
Inspire Me Monday @ Create With Joy
Masterpiece Monday @ BoogieBoard Cottage
A Round Tuit @ Creating My Way to Success
Monday Funday @ C.R.A.F.T.
Better Mom Mondays
Manic Monday @ Cupcake-n-Bake
Mommy Mondays
Making Your Home Sing Monday
Mommie Mondays @ Sew Crafty Angel
Monday's Musings
Monday Meetup
Teach Me Tuesday @ Growing Home
Tutorial Tuesdays with Hope Studios
Courtship Connection
Women Helping Women @ Teaching What Is Good
Domestically Divine @ Far Above Rubies
(Titus 2)s Days @ Time Warp Wife
Tending the Home Tuesday
Tuesday Link Up Party
Make Bake Create @ Hope In Every Season
Wisdom Wednesdays @Simply Helping Him
Winsome Wednesday @ My Daily Walk in His Grace
Whole-Hearted Home Wednesdays
Encourage One Another @ Deep Roots at Home
A Wise Woman Builds Her Home
Homemaking Link Up @ Raising Homemakers
Home @ Rose Chintz Cottage
Inspire Me Wednesday @ MamaBuzz
What's Working Wednesday @ NextGen Homeschool
Watcha Work-Up Wednesday
What's It Wednesday @ Ivy and Elephants
Simple Living Wednesdays @ Our Simple Farm
Wednesday Link up at Adorned from Above
Shoe Lace Linkup @ Living In the Shoe
Home Link Up at Raising Arrows

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Time Travelling Fun with Wummelbox

One day, a curious package arrived at the Coller house. "Hmmm....", thought the Coller kids, "Mommy is always getting these interesting packages in the mail. Wonder what this one could be?"

When the box was opened, they were greeted by a brightly and intriguingly wrapped assortment of colorful craft supplies and stories!

The makers of Wummelbox, a new subscription arts and crafts service, sent our family a free box to review. Thank you, Wummelbox! All opinions are honest and are my own.

Wummelbox is a Berlin-based service that inspires learning, creativity, and exploration in children. Each box is based on a particular theme and has all the supplies needed to create 3-4 projects.

Our box was based on a time-travel theme. There was a story enclosed that had the two animal characters travelling back to what they called The Stone Age. The discussion topics on the back of the story pamphlets were very geared toward the theory of Evolution. We are a Christian family and believe this theory contradicts the Bible's literal account of a young Earth, but the story was very easy to adapt to fit what we know to be truth.

After we talked a little bit about what kinds of things ancient people used that would qualify that period to be called a "Stone Age", we were ready for the first craft. The kids got to assemble some fun stamps and make their own cave painting! I was really impressed with the quality of the supplies: rich watercolors, smoothly-sanded wood, and strong, well put together cloth.

While the younger ones were finishing up, the older boys built us a cave from blankets and chairs. We hung our painting up in the cave and everyone climbed in.

While we were in the cave, we talked more about our cave painting and about anthropology in general.

Next, it was time for the second craft: building a Time Machine! Again, the quality of the items we were given really was outstanding. All pegs and screws fit into the pre-drilled holes perfectly and the wood was all sanded so smoothly.

Once our Time Machine was assembled, we got back into the cave and used it as our portal. Rather than travelling to different time periods, we pretended we were travelling to different places in history that we believe to be accurate. We visited Adam and Eve and the dinosaurs, the pyramids of Egypt, Camelot, and even pretended to go to the future and visit space aliens! You never know, they could be out there!

There's one more project left for us to do, a hunter/gatherer game. We're looking forward to assembling that and playing with it later this week.

There are lots of other Wummelbox themes like, Nutrition, Music, and Color and Light. Subscription prices range from $19.95-$34.95 per month, depending on how many months you'd like to receive them.

Our family had a blast with our Wummelbox and will definitely consider a future subscription! For more information, visit them on Facebook or at Wummelbox.com.

Make Bake Create Party #8: Free Printable for Weekly Menu Planner

It's really hard to imagine "partying" after the horrible events of today's tornadoes and knowing that there are so many people right now trapped, suffering, mourning. It's really overwhelming me.

Lord God, we pray for the hundreds of thousands of people that have been affected this week by these horrific tornadoes. We don't understand why You would allow this. We don't even have the words to express our sorrow and how desperately we want to wake up to find this has all been a horrible dream. But we trust You. We know You hold us in the palm of Your hand. Sometimes You calm the storm and other times You calm Your child. Please, Lord, bring peace and calm and bring good things out of this terrible disaster. I pray there would be stories of miracles. Children found alive. Parents found safe. God, please bring good out of this tragedy. Please heal our hearts and heal our land.

Welcome to this week's Make Bake Create Party! Every Wednesday come and link up your favorite projects from the week. This could be any food, recipes, crafts or DIY! Since there are 5 hosts... your link will be seen on 5 blogs at once. SWEET! Meet your hosts:

We would love for you to follow us on Google+!

Bubbly Nature Creations

Hope In Every Season

Mommy Hates Cooking

The Creative Princess

The Rookie Seamstress

This week, our featured host, Kristy, is offering a free printable for her adorable Weekly Menu Planner. Be sure to stop by and grab one!

A few days ago, I shared the third recipe in my series, Mom's Favorite Recipes. Check out this great "loaded" Macaroni Salad. Be sure to pin it for your next picnic!

I loved seeing the awesome things you all linked up last week! Here are a couple of my favorites. If you're featured, make sure to grab a "featured button" for your blog!

<a href="http://www.bloggingwhilewaiting.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src=" http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6yfHFWrJJvM/UWHKJseexMI/AAAAAAAABJA/hEMJ9CJOYFI/s240/MBCFEATURED.png

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Noreen at Crafty Journal shared these cute and super easy to make Plastic Lid Stamps. I know my kids would have a ball with these!

Here is something I will definitely be making for Kynthia very soon. Natalie made this gorgeous dress for her daughter and gave an excellent tutorial on making the Birdie Applique. Love this!