Warm soup for a cold day

View from outside my office window today. Central Iowa has had it's first snow of the season, just in time for Christmas. The wind has picked up though and we now have a blizzard out there. I'm snug in my house and happily, I have power and heat. So I'm okay.

But on a day like today, I want something warm and comforting to eat. I made a taco soup. Here's the recipe I used, if you're interested.




TACO Soup

• 1 pound of ground beef
• 1 onion
• 1 15 oz  can of diced tomatoes
• 1 can of whole corn, drained
• 2 8 oz cans of tomato sauce
• 2 8 oz cans of beef broth
• 1 pkg dry ranch seasoning mix (like Hidden Valley)
• 1 pkg taco seasoning (I used Ortega)
• Salt, pepper to taste

Brown the ground beef and onions, drain. Combine the cooked beef with all the other ingredients and simmer approximately 30 minutes.  Serve with tortilla chips, shredded Mexican cheese, and sour cream, if desired.  Variations: You can add chili, black or kidney beans if you like beans. You could also use salsa and/or chipotle if you like a spicy taco. I go mild all the way, but you can make this as hot or mild as you prefer! This is really great on a cold day...or any day really.

And here it is - ready to eat and yummy as can be! 

Warm. Soothing. Tasty. 

Yes, the ultimate in comfort food on a cold winter's day!

March came in like a lion!!!

The bad news? Well, we got the blizzard they were predicting. Interstate 80 was closed from like Omaha to Davenport on Thursday night into Friday morning (BTW, that's across the entire state of Iowa, kids). The good news? I didn't lose my power! After last week, I was thrilled out of my tiny mind about that! Believe me!!

The library closed early Thursday night so I went across the street to buy some groceries before I went home. It wasn't too bad at 6 p.m. By the time I was done at the store about half an hour later, the wind was blowing horizontally. I kid you not!

I was SO happy I wasn't scheduled to work on Friday. I would have been, but this was my weekend to work. The roads and such were much better by the time I had to emerge from hibernation to work on Saturday. I work this afternoon from 1-4 pm, then I'll go home and crash. Sleeping sounds pretty darn good right now.