Family Favorite Recipes: Taco Night

I'm on a mission this year to find some great, flavorful, paleo recipes.  With so many people in our family, it can be hard to find things that everyone likes.

We have some texture issues.

We have sensitivity issues.

We have those typical kids that turn their nose up at the food because of how it looks.

To top it all off, I've been blessed with not one, but TWO kids that don't like pizza sauce!

The one meal we all seem to be able to eat and enjoy together is when we have tacos.  And, let's face it, that's because each person gets to customize his or her plate.  Some want cheese, some want sour cream, some want lettuce, some want none of those things and others want it all.

For me it's the one night I don't have to have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on standby.

We've hit on a couple of really good, full of flavor taco seasoning recipes in our search that I wanted to share with all of you.

First is this taco seasoning recipe from Caveman Food.  The kids absolutely loved it!  {Kevin and I, too}  And all the ingredients were just sitting in my cabinet waiting to be put to use.  The only thing I did differently was to add more than the 1/4 cup of water.  Play around with it just a bit to get it to the consistency you like.  Make sure you have a place to store the extra mix, too.  I'm able to get two Taco Nights out of this recipe.

This next one steps things up a notch.  Paleo Newbie is a fantastic site with all kinds of good recipes. The steak fajita recipe is one we add to our taco night every so often to give Kevin and I a real treat.

Some of the things I did with the recipe:

• Used olive oil
• Added a little more than the 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper the recipe calls for
• Threw all the marinade ingredients on the meat.  Yep, didn't read the recipe through first, so I didn't know that half was supposed to go on the veggies.  Turned out great regardless.

We've used the fajita recipe twice now.  Once we had sirloin.  Once we had flank.  I preferred the sirloin.  Kevin preferred the flank.  Regardless, both were excellent!  

I have these recipes and others on my Pinterest, so feel free to go over and check that out.  I'd also love to hear what recipes you've come across that have turned out great.  I'll continue to keep you updated on the recipes that have scored high with our family.

Family Scrabble Picture

I really like crafting.  Did you know that?  I mean, I really like crafting.

But unfortunately, I didn't do many handmade gifts this Christmas.  Maybe next year (or this year?), but November and December were just way too busy to try and get much done in the crafting department.

I did get one handmade gift in.  I loved doing this!  It turned out just like I had hoped, and I think the recipients liked it, too.

I was able to get 12 grandkids' names and a few extra words fit.  Limited places if there are any more kids born.  {Keep that in mind Melissa.}

The project took two games to complete because of the letters needed.  The frame is a simple shadow box purchased from Joann's Fabrics and Crafts.  Letters are hot glued onto the board and then the board is hot glued onto the back ground of the frame.  Very simple construction.

TIP 1:  When purchasing a second set of letters or a whole game, make sure the tiles are the same.  Mixing tiles from an older game and newer game will be glaringly evident.  Not a pretty finished product.

TIP 2:  When using hot glue, place the glue no the back of the letter tiles and not on the board.  This will help eliminate the strings of glue on your finished project.  You could also use wood glue, rubber cement, or something similar.

TIP 3:  Shop around for games and tiles.  I found my second game at a local thrift store.  If you prefer, extra tiles by themselves can be purchased through Amazon.com.  (See Tip 1 when making purchase.)

TIP 4:  Be prepared to play around a little with the word placement when doing this project.  It helps to get all your words planned, make sure you have enough tiles for all the words you want, and then start placing them on the board.

TIP 5- Walk away.  Seriously.  There are going to be times when it gets really frustrating.  You will have several words or just that ONE LAST WORD that won't fit anywhere.  This is the perfect time to take a 10 minute break.  It's amazing what new ideas will come about after a coffee or snack break.

The projects using this game fascinate me for some reason.  I have several projects pinned with the Scrabble game theme just waiting for me to find the time to do them.  One day.....