High Five For Friday!

Friday always sneaks up on me so quickly! Monday and Tuesday crawl slowly by but by the time Thursday afternoon hits I don't know if it's still Wednesday or if Friday is right around the corner... that's what I get for working long hours.

Anyway, it's Friday! That means it's time for another H54F post. Here are the top 5 happenings this week:

1) Got a little something checked off my summer bucket list this week. I'll post more on it in the coming days, but here's a little sneak peek:

2) I was able to fit some me-time in last weekend while my husband was out of town. Life usually gets too busy and I put other people before myself. Finally, I got to take care of me for a little bit!

3) It's official: I have fallen in love with LaCroix Sparkling Grapefruit flavored water. Again. *sigh* I can't get enough of that pamplemousse! (Side note: I hear they have a new peach-pear flavor that's only at Target. I must find it!)

4) We ate some of the lettuce out of our garden this week. It was our first picking of the season and it did not disappoint! Not only was it delicious, it was only 5 steps from our kitchen! Can't beat that :)

5) This video  made me smile and tear up at the same time (the good stuff starts at 0:32). So cute, so innocent, so heartwarming! And, because of my hearing loss it is especially touching.

What are you planning on doing this weekend? Whatever it is, I hope you make it a great weekend!

Linking up to Lauren @ From My Grey Desk!

Homemade Taco Seasoning

My husband and I love tacos. Like, we love them so much we could eat them at least once a week. You can imagine how many packets of taco seasoning we go through in this house!

I have always bought the low-sodium version of whatever taco seasoning because I'm a bit health conscious... and for the same reason, we don't use ground beef in our tacos, we use ground chicken or ground turkey (whatever is on sale!). I wanna keep my husband and I healthy so I do a lot of label reading. It's what works for us, but we don't hate on people who choose not to do this :)

I was browsing Pinterest a few weeks ago and came across this recipe for a DIY taco seasoning from Heavenly Homemakers. For whatever reason, I didn't make it at the time. However, just this past week I was thinking about it again and looked at the recipe again. 

UM, HELLO, SARA! It's only the easiest recipe that you've come across this week... WHY haven't you done it yet?!

Seriously. I jumped off the couch and ran to the kitchen. It takes about 3 minutes to make (including the time it took me to find a jar and wash it out) and uses 6 ingredients, all of which are common and you most likely have in your cupboards.

I halfed the recipe that I found on Heavenly Homemakers because I wanted to make sure the mix would agree with our tastes. Next time I'll do the whole shebang! This is what I used:

1/4 cup chili powder
2 Tablespoons minced onion (even though the recipe calls for onion powder, I only had minced on hand)
1 Tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 Tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 Tablespoon paprika
1/2 Tablespoon sea salt

You just add all of that to a jar, screw on the lid, and shake it up!

When you want to use it, just add about 3 Tablespoons (a little less works just fine) to your browned meat. I also added a bit of water to help it get mixed in but the original recipe doesn't call for it.

It'll last us quite a few Taco Nights - saving us money since we don't have to buy the $0.79 packets anymore - and I also like that I can control what goes into it. If I wanted to make it all organic, I could. If I wanted more garlic than paprika I could do that too! I really, really like that it's not as salty as the store bought mix.

The mix itself should store for months as long as you use spices that aren't about to expire and as long as you store it in a dry place. We have ours with the rest of the spices and so far, so good!

Try it! Let me know what you think! Anything you'd change? Have you made any homemade mixes before? I'm always looking for ways to make things healthier and less expensive in the kitchen!

Linking up to Shabby Nest's Frugal Friday, Foodie Friday, Serenity Now's Weekend Bloggy Reading, Ladybird Lane, Nifty Thrifty Things, Flamingo Toes, Mandy's Recipe Box, You're Talking Too Much, Natasha In Oz, Serendipity and Spice, A Pinch of Joy & It's a Keeper Thursday!

Happy Monday, Friends!

This weekend went by way too quickly! Trevor was busy for most of it hangin' out in the 90 degree weather at Road America. He and my father-in-law share a love of motorcycles so they have a great time bonding when events like this come up.

Anyways, since I was essentially widowed for the weekend, I decided I wanted to get caught up on stuff for me. I...

- painted my toenails a gorgeous shade of red/coral (Essie's Ole Caliente)

- planted a geranium that my mom brought over last week. It was planted last year in a pot as decoration at our wedding reception and my mom managed to successfully winter a whole bunch of them and saved one for us. I'm happy to have the geranium on our front stoop - it's a great reminder of our love for each other and it takes me back to our wedding day (so timely, because our anniversary is coming up quickly!).

I was going to fill you in on a tip or two that I use when planting but as I was planting this little guy I decided I'll wait and make an entire blog post about my planting methods soon. So stay tuned!

- started getting gifts together and wrapped for Trevor for said wedding anniversary. I'm expecting a few boxes in the mail this week ;) Here's a sneak peek at what I've been up to, but when I get it all put together I'll post some more pictures!

- did some homework for my accelerated summer online class. Let me just tell you that it's hard to focus on the integumentary system when it's so uncomfortably warm outside - I'd rather have been at the beach!

Otherwise, I spent my weekend with my loved ones and living life... I'm so thankful for weekends like these!

What did you do this weekend? Was it as hot out where you are as it was in Wisconsin?