Taco Puffs!

I recently bought my first cookbook. Not really thinking I would ever open it's pages, I am surprised that it has become something that Kyle and I like doing together (cooking, I mean, not just opening it's pages.) So, last night we made Taco Puffs, and a salad that I didn't like, but Kyle loved. I'll share the Taco Puffs recipe because it's fun and fattening and, well, salads are boring.

So, all you need is this:

1 pound of ground beef (I used Turkey...just as good.) 

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 packet of taco seasoning (I used the mild seasoning. Kyle wasn't to happy about that)

8 cheddar cheese slices (It called for two slices per puff, but I put one, and that was plenty)

2 things of refrigerated large flaky biscuits (meaning you need 16 biscuits) 

That's all you need! I actually LOVED it because it doesn't need salt or pepper, which is nice because I forget to add those ingredients when I cook. Oops. 

--Cook the beef, aka turkey, with the chopped onion until there is no more pinkage. Pink meat is bad meat. Drain. Add the packet of seasoning, and follow the directions on the back of the packet. 

--Take half the biscuits and flatten them out to about 4 in circles. Equally spread the meat across the 8 biscuits. Put a slice of cheddar cheese on top of the meat. (Kyle tore of the cheese a little so that it wasn't going over the edge of the biscuit. But you could also you shredded cheddar.) Now, flatten out the other 8 biscuits and place them on top of the ones with the meat. Pinch the edges together to make sure there are no openings. 

--Put the biscuits in a greased 1in deep pan, and bake for NO LONGER than 15 minutes at 400 degrees. (I put "NO LONGER" in all caps for a reason.)

Now you have a delicious dinner that is sure to take care of lunch tomorrow, and maybe even dinner the next night. I ate about half of one, and I was full. You can see in the picture how big they get...and that's about 3/4s of it. Kyle and I had them with the bean salad, chips and salsa and margaritas! Mmm! 

 

The Invisible Wall

I love memoirs. I love them so much, I usually don't care what they are about. I'll read them anyway. I have recently finished The Invisible Wall by Harry Bernstein. Harry, or 'arry, writes about his childhood in Lancashire, England before and shortly after WWI. There is an "invisible wall" that exists on his street, separating him and the other Jewish families from the Christians. It's a bit of a slow read at first, but as his character grows and his relationship to his surroundings grow, it quickly becomes one of the most interesting memoirs I have read in a long time. (We all know how much I LOVED Petal Pusher though. Read it!) 

Some fun facts that make this book even more interesting:

1) Bernstein wrote this novel when he was about 93 years old to help him get over the death of his wife. 

2) Even at his ripe old age, he published a sequel to this book (The Dream) and even published a third book! Man, he's old! 

3) He is one of the few people to live through two world wars, other smaller wars and a great depression and not focus his books around these events. For that, I respect you 'arry. 

USA Today said it "invites comparison to Angela's Ashes." This is not true. NOTHING is comparable to Angela's Ashes. But it is a great story about the bond of a poverty stricken family, and I recommend it to you all. 

On that note, I am looking to read a memoir even better than this. (Actually, preferably five memoirs) Any suggestions are welcome! 

I Graduated College, Now What?

Let me start off by saying that I haven't blogged in a while because, well, I was busy graduating from college. I also had to deal with some slight depression-like feelings of being old. What am I supposed to do with my life now? Why can't I come up with an answer to the common interview question, "where do you see yourself in five years?" Will I be married? Will I be living in D.C.? Will I be living in this country? Will I even have a job? I now have the ability to delay answering these questions for another year, because I was accepted into the CICS program at Ball State University. I was also offered a graduate assistantship at the Art Museum, where I will be putting my journalism degree to good use. Having a master's degree, though, is something that has never entered my mind before, and now it's happening. I guess Forrest Gump was wise when he said, "Life is like a bunch of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." 

 

- This is a picture of my mother and me at my college ceremony, taken right after I got my "degree". It was an awesome ceremony, really. Dean Lavery was great as always, as was Professor Bremen. And the slideshow they played, along with the Redemption Song by Bob Marley, was fun to watch. I loved it! It was a perfect day! I will never forget any of the experiences I had with my graduating class, and I hope none of you do either! 

XoXo