Ok, so, some days I am overwhelmed with this fantastical desire to be a grassroots domestic goddess, cooking everything from scratch and blowing my family's collective mind with my awesomeness. I have discovered that such mind blowing is usually better achieved with a Papa Murphy's Pizza and Root Beer. In spite of this well earned knowledge, sometimes I still endeavor to appease my down-home urges, and in the instance of this frosty morning, once I found out I was out of canned beans all together, I decided to make this awesome soup recipe with dry beans, which are cheaper, but ultimately, maybe just as unhealthy since they are not organic, blah blah blah. Anyway, I didn't soak the beans over night, and since I am still recovering from the two failed pots of pinto beans, I decided to try something new and actually read the directions on the package. Weird. Apparently there is a quick soak method that involves boiling the beans for a few minutes and letting them stand for an hour, after which I will crock pot the heck out of all of them until dinner time. I will let you know how it goes, and even if it tastes crappy, I will probably dress a bowl up and tell you how awesome it was because I have already experienced more than my share of humility this week.

I am sharing this recipe with you, cut and paste from a Facebook Chat with my cousin (the one who likes low quality Thai Food), because it's much quicker than transcribing, and y'all know how I like to cut corners. I have made the recipe (as it follows) before and it is darn good. Especially with corn bread (because obviously, I am cool) on a frosty night when the leaves smell sweet and are crunchy under your feet. I am pretty excited about eating it tonight because I remembered that I bought a bag of Fritos in a weak moment the other day, which will be fabulous all crunched up in it. If the dry beans work out good, I will be pretty happy. If not, well, there's always Papa Murphy's.

Taco Soup

This is totally Aunt Anna's recipe.

In a crock pot, combine:

1 lb ground beef, browned

1 sm onion, diced

2 cans Mexican Style stewed tomatoes

2 cans kidney beans

1 can black beans

1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce

1 can corn

1 can olives

1 packet taco seasoning

Simmer all day on low. Or, just cook in a pot if your crock-less.

Serve with corn chips, sour cream, and grated cheese. And corn bread, if you're cool.

My Very Industrious Morning, which consisted of pouring unmeasured amounts of various beans into a pot and adding water, is fueled by a very large, very awesome cup (newly acquired from my workplace) of coffee that I was forced to embellish with Irish Cream since I forgot to buy regular cream last night. There is something almost naughty about drinking this early in the morning, but since it was forced upon me, I guess I won't wallow in the guilt for too long. Besides, it was supposed to be my day off, but I talked my boss into working me in for a few hours so I can afford the Super Adorable snow globe we're selling at the store. At this point Josh keeps asking how many hours he needs to put in to pay for my job, which is kind of silly, since he really only has to work like a half a day to keep me in business there. I mean really, it's a small price to pay for all the cool stuff I am getting.

Tomorrow I am closing at work again, and since I came home to such rousing appreciation (read: no leftovers for mom) for the delicious enchiladas I made them last night for dinner, I will probably make something equally as sumptuous tomorrow. Or I might make my sister's Tortilla Soup, which is a recipe that everyone should have. I have had it several times, and lost it repeatedly, so this morning when I asked her for it again, she just texted me photos of the recipe card. She's getting smart. But now I have to look harder at the little pictures. Maybe I will do her soup next week. Is one soup night a week enough? Maybe tomorrow is a roast night. Or maybe it's a kids-eat-chicken-nuggets and I maneuver my way into another $9.95 prime rib dinner at Timbers, which, second to their happy hour finger steaks, might be the best deal in town. The last time I engineered that set up, Josh got creative and fed the kids one of the frozen "manicotti" that he bought at Costco, which they will only eat if we call it lasagna, since it in no way resembles "real" manicotti, which is a long held Stecker family tradition and I am sure I will share with you at some point. In the mean time, I need to go finish this Irish Cream and check my pot of beans.

It's not that I am indecisive. Ok, maybe I am. I don't know. But voting seems to get more difficult every time I have to do it - and that doesn't include the times that I skipped because I didn't have a bunch of friends making me feel guilty for abandoning my civic duty. I would like to think that the whole voting thing works and we really have some say in the direction that our country goes, but then I look at the candidates and really wonder... But I did it. I voted. It was almost a violation of conscience to cast a vote that actually counted. But I did it. Now I can proceed with my life (relatively) guilt free.

I guess maybe I just do better with somebody telling me what to do. I was raised to obey unquestioningly, and I am pretty good at the first part. I am also good at questioning. But I did let Josh more or less tell me who to vote for in the city council positions and stuff like that, since he knows pretty much Everything about them and I hadn't even heard their names. But I made sure he couldn't see who my presidential vote was for, just because I love keeping him in suspense. (authors note: don't think I don't know that he snuck open my envelope when he "dropped off our ballots" this morning:))

In spite of my resistance to voting and All Things Political, I really love watching the numbers come in on election day. I love the live news feeds. I think it's nostalgic for me and hearkens back to Lincoln Day Dinners with the young republicans of Steven's County, and taking pictures with Carolyn Sapp, who was obviously only Miss America for her GIANT hair and pro-football playing boyfriend (who impressed me WAY more than she did). I never did put any stock in that made for TV movie about him beating her up. He was way too nice. Plus he let me hold his helmet. At any rate, I might make Josh take me to a bar someplace to watch the election results. I wonder if any bars play that stuff.

Unfortunately for all of you, I have to go to work again today, which means I don't have time to wax philosophical about the bain of sewing, or whether crock pot potato soup twice in one week is too much, or anything like that. But I will leave you with a stellar recipe, for crock pot potato soup, which I waffle back and forth between liking, and my old disdain for potato soup. But as far as cheap and easy goes, it's the bomb. It's also a great way to use up the last of that giant brick of cream cheese you got at Costco after the kids have eaten all of the bagels.

I got this off of Pinterest via Mama Loves Food - she's got some other good stuff too. Check her out. Instead of stealing her awesome pictures though, I will add my own later.

Slow Cooker Baked Potato Soup Ingredients:

5 pounds russet potatoes, washed but NOT peeled. Diced into 1/2 inch(ish) cubes
1 medium/large yellow onion, diced
10 cloves of garlic, minced (if you use jarred, it's a 5 teaspoon equivalent)
64 ounces (8 cups) chicken stock or broth
16 oz cream cheese, softened (I use low fat)
1 tablespoon seasoned salt
optional garnishes: crumbled bacon, shredded cheese, green onions

Slow Cooker Baked Potato Soup Directions:

Add potatoes, onion, garlic, seasoning, and chicken stock to slow cooker.
Cook on high for 6 hours or low for 10 hours.
Add the softened cream cheese and puree soup with an immersion blender until the cheese is incorporated and about half the soup is blended. (Alternately you could remove half the soup and the cream cheese to an upright blender, then re-incorporate).
Stir well, top with your choice of garnishes & enjoy!

Things That Are Warm

Taco Soup

Things That I Waffle About