20 Minute Cheeseburger Macaroni

I'm telling you now, that the recipes I post on here are not going to be anything fancy. I'm almost embarrassed to post this recipe because it's so easy and I'm practically cheating by using a box of Mac and Cheese. But it's very kid-friendly at my house so hopefully it will be at your house, too.

You will need....

1 lb hamburger

1 box Macaroni and Cheese (I think the Kraft 3 Cheese is the best)

1/3 cup tomato soup, undiluted

1 T mustard

2 Cups water

garlic salt

Brown the hamburger and drain fat.

Mix in soup, mustard, and water.

Bring to a boil. Add macaroni ONLY. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Add cheese packet and season with garlic salt.

Taco Crunch

This recipe comes from my school days at R-4, a rural school north of Holdrege. When the cook, Joyce Bergman, retired someone put all her recipes in a cookbook and gave them to the families of R-4. When R-4 closed last year and a reunion was held at the school, more cookbooks were passed out. The recipes are written to feed 100 (or so) kids and adults so it takes some time to convert into a recipe for a family of 5 for one meal. Otherwise we'd be eating Taco Cruch for a month or more.

So here you go....

1 lb ground beef

1/8 cup chopped onion (I use minced onion)

1 package taco seasoning

1 can pinto beans

1 can tomato soup

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

a few handfuls of crushed Doritos

Brown meat. Season with minced onion. Drain grease.

Mix in taco seasoning, beans, and soup.

Put in 9x9 baking pan.

Top with grated cheese and crushed doritos.

Bake for 30 minutes @ 350.

Sloppy Daddies

I'm going to start posting some of my family's favorite recipes on here. I love to get new recipes because it gets pretty boring eating the same things all the time. I hope you'll try some of these for your family, too.

Sloppy Daddies (sloppy joes)

There are a hundred recipes out there for sloppy joes, but this one is by far our favorite. My kids would eat this everyday if they could. And sometimes I'm tempted to make it that often because fruit roll-ups and Cheetos don't carry much nutritional value.

Emma started calling them Sloppy Daddies because her dad's name is Joe....get it?!?!?!

Sloppy Daddies (from allrecipes.com)

2 lbs ground beef

1/2 cup chopped onion (I just used minced onion)

1 cup chopped celery (optional. . .I've never used it)

1 can condensed tomato soup

1/4 cup ketchup

1 Tablespoon white vinegar

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1. Brown ground beef. Season with minced onion, salt and pepper. Drain grease.

2. Stir in all other ingredients. Heat to simmer over low heat, and cook until thoroughly heated.

3. Spoon onto buns.

Larson kids give it 3 Thumbs Up!

A bunch of what not

Meet our new dog, Otis!

We adopted him from the Humane Society in Kearney a few weeks ago. He is a 10 month old black lab. Isn't he cute?? This is our first dog as a family. He has been really good with the kids. And except for a few minor problems - read below - he is a great dog!

I had to share this. . .This is something Addie did at PreSchool.
Emma's last day of 1st grade was May 8th.

In the last couple of weeks, these two ducks have been living in the draw that runs along the south side of our house. It's a male and a female. I don't know much about ducks, but I'm surprised that they don't ever leave and that they stay together. Maybe we'll have ducklings someday??

Here is one of several landscaping projects we need to get started on. These are bricks to be used for the retaining walls under the deck. We are also going to use them for a terrace on the south side of the house.
Last week, a windbreak was planted on the north side of the house. Not much to see now, but it will be nice to have some big trees along here for protection from the wind....as long as Otis stops digging them up. Bad Dog!!

Emma's 7th Birthday

Emma celebrated her 7th birthday on April 24.

Here she is on the day she was born.

1

2

3
4
56 7
Make a wish. . .

She celebrated with family the night before her birthday.
She was excited to try out her new Wii games. Littlest Pet Shop game was her favorite!
Friday morning. . .Emma's 7th Birthday! She invited 7 girls over on Friday after school. We went swimming at the YMCA in Holdrege, had pizza for supper, and the rest of the night was spent playing wii, running around, and making lots of NOISE!

Addie was mad because she couldn't sit at the table with the big girls. Poor Addie....

Movie time!

Emma and Chloe

Natalie, Emma, and Darla

Easter '09

Easter 2009

The girls and I decorated Easter Eggs.

We hunted for eggs at the 3rd Annual Circle Easter Egg Hunt. Thanks again, Joni!

Wes and Ben Trompke

Easter Morning

The table is ready for dinner. We had my family over for dinner and then Joe's family came later to have dessert with us.

My sister, Anna, with one of her twins.

Grandpa Jeff with Baby Jeff

Uncle Joe and Sam

Emma and Jeffrey

Grandma Doris

Grandma Carolyn brought a pinata for the kids to play with.

Finally!! Candy!!

Luke

Luke has had a long couple of months with sickness. After many months of coughing, with no other "cold" symptoms, we were referred to an infectious disease doctor at Children's Hospital in Omaha for a possible immune deficiency. We met with a doctor in March who was able to rule out allergies, cystic fibrosis, acid reflux, and an immune deficiency. Although we were glad to find out it wasn't any of those things, we never had an answer to what is going on. And we still don't. For the rest of March and April he was still on antibiotics off and on, but it has slowly tapered off. We hope that with the weather change things will get better. The doctor also suggested that he will grow out of this.

This is how he spent most of January - March.

But he did find time to stick blue M&Ms up his nose....

and paint his own fingernails.

The Month of March

Back! By Popular Demand!

And by popular I mean the 2 of you that have asked what happened to the blog.

Well, here we are!

These are pictures from the month of March.

The girls did self-portraits.

Luke checked out auction bills and tractor magazines.

Has anyone seen Imagination Movers on Disney? My kids LOVE that show! They seriously don't move a muscle for 20 minutes while it's on.

Addie sniffed glue sticks.

Addie performed in the Mother/Grandmother Spring Tea at Trinity Pre-School.

She is the short one, 3rd from the left.

Addie and Mommy

Addie and Grandma Gigi.

Addie and Grandma Carolyn

Our nephew and cousin, Graham Clinton Trompke, was baptized at the end of March.

How cute is he?