Taco Pie: What semi-country wives do when their husbands are away

My husband is very picky, and by 'very picky', I mean VERY picky.  He likes meat and potatoes and cottage cheese.  This presents a culinary challenge for me at times.  I work around it when he travels.  With my big brother temporarily living at our house, I decided to make Taco Pie.  A favorite from our childhood (and a recipe my husband despises). 

So, this is what semi-country wives do when their husbands are away.  They do whatever it is they want!  Oh wait, no, they really don't, they just make things their husband won't eat.  I still watered the flowers, changed the boy, fed him, bathed him and maintained the household and went to work...well until Thursday anyway.  It's glamorous, isn't it?

Due to a considerable interest, I will post the recipe, it's not mine, I obtained it from the internet, but you should probably add it to your weeknight, stand-by, favorites:

Impossible Taco Pie:

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 ( 1 1/4 oz.) envelope taco seasoning mix
• 1 can ( 4 oz.) chopped green chiles, drained
• 1 1/4 cup milk
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup Bisquick
• 2 tomatoes, sliced
• 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack or Cheddar cheese

Preparation:

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease glass pie plate, 10 x 1 1/2 inches.
Cook and stir ground beef and onion in skillet until beef is brown;drain. Stir in seasoning mix, dry. Spread in pie plate; top with chillies. Beat milk, eggs and Bisquick baking mix until smooth. Pour into pie plate. Bake 25 minutes. Top with tomatoes and cheese. Bake 8-10 minutes. Longer or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes. Serve with sour cream, tomatoes and shredded lettuce if desired. 6-8 servings.  I also add homemade salsa or Ortega Taco Sauce for good measure.


I would have taken a picture for you, but, sadly, it's gone! =) 

Being the good, domestic goddess that I am, I also took the kids in for photos.  Here are a couple:

Resume: Livestock Photographer

I am adding 'Livestock Photographer' to my resume.  I bought myself a lovely Nikon D3100 for no reason at all, other than I wanted it about 3 months ago.  I got a carrying case and telephoto lens for Mother's Day, aren't my baby and the girls sweet??  Since then, I have tried to capture the girls, the boy and the dog.  However, every time we go to the farm, I'm asked to capture something else.  Sheep.

This is very technical, very important matter. There is a very distinct 'right way' to photograph sheep.  Me, I would come at it from a different angle (and height, and light, for that matter) but sheepin' photography, it's VERY specific.  Everyone takes the same basic three photos, for us 'lay-people':  from the side, back and then a face shot.  The difficulty comes with with the height, angle and placement of the animal.  Plus, you have to have them against the make sure the sheep is pushing (essentially flexing it's muscles).  Still with me?  Yawn, I'm not sure I'm with myself.

Anyway, it turns out my husband is VERY picky (I didn't realize how picky until after we were married...of course, I hate when that happens!).  So I take several shots (try several hundred shots), at several angles, at his direction.  Then he goes in the barn, where he can see the photos (it's too bright to see them out in the sun), then he growls and grumbles and tells me what's wrong with them.  After that, we go back out, take another hundred or so and do it all over again...several times.  Then, he picks the ones that I take on my own, without his instruction.  Like this one below:

Then he makes me take one of their backside.  He says people look at the bone and muscle in the rear end.  This doesn't exactly scream bone and muscle to me...I'll stop there.

And then a head shot for good measure.

Here is a shot my husband asked me to take, see that big blurry thing?  He 'set the sheep up', right in front of a tree. And told me to get pictures for the website.  Babe, I know this is a nice camera and all, but it doesn't uproot trees-I'll need Photoshop for that.  Can we expense it please, please, please, please, please?! Anyway, I did as I was told, because that is what submissive country wives do right?  Oh wait, I'm a semi-country wife, so that changes things a little...  I took the pictures, so he could see what a boneheaded move that was!  Love you babe. (OK, he deleted them from the camera before I could upload it...GRRRR!)

Then I took a few to capture the true beauty of the sheep and because I was bored and hot and wanted to go inside and eat something.

Then he told me to stop because it was annoying and they wanted to put the sheep away for the day.

Then we all went in and had 'farm-food' for lunch.  It was and always is, delightful.

We sold this Ram at the Stud Ram Sale, Sedalia, MO.  He was a sweet boy-he went to a farm in Arkansas.