Taco in a Bag

Every year we go camping with a big group of work friends on May Long weekend. Last year one of the moms made Taco in a Bag and all the kids raved about it. This year I decided that I had to see what all the fuss is about.

You may think I’m crazy for posting such a simple concept but I had never even thought about making this before I saw it camping so I thought maybe at least one of you hadn’t heard of it either.

Taco In a Bag

• Single serve bags of either Doritos or Frito corn chips
• Taco meat or chili (we used chili chock full of beans & veggies)
• Taco Toppings: shredded lettuce, diced tomato, shredded cheese, salsa, hot sauce, sour cream, etc

Open the chip bag at the top. Fold down the top of the single serve chip bag. Crunch the chips up a bit (makes them easier to get on your fork).  Add a spoonful of chili or taco meat (but not too much). Add your toppings and mix it around a bit. YUM!

Recipe Notes: Don’t put too much meat/chili. If this is all you are eating, you should probably have 2 per person. Next time you make chili, make extra & freeze it so that you have extra for taco in a bag.

What are your favorite kid/camping foods?

Today’s guest post is written by my husband, Dewey, better known as “that guy that makes killer margaritas”. Beware, this recipe is DEADLY. It will sap your will to do ANYTHING other than have another margarita.  You have been warned.

Every year about this time I get asked for my “not really famous but probably should be if you ask me” frozen margarita recipe.  And every time I get asked I have to scrape the bottom of the memory banks to remember exactly how I like to make them.  Ask Merry, she’ll tell you I’m not a strong rememberer.  So this year I decided to write it down and have Merry post it so people can try it if they want.

I spent a long time after I moved away from Texas wondering why nobody in Calgary could make a good Margarita and eventually gave in and did it myself. Before I go too far though I’ve got to give credit where it’s due.  My recipe is adapted from various recipes I’ve found on www.margaritatexas.com .

The site is run by award winning competition bartenders Brent and Marie.  Go have a look for yourself, there are a ton of recipes there.  The small amount of credit I’ll take for myself is based on years of “research” in and around Austin, Texas.  Most of that hard research work was done at a place called Trudy’s.

Now I won’t vouch for the service there, in fact I remember it being pretty brutal at times, (picture me being yelled at by a pink and or green haired mega pierced waitress for asking for a table with more seats than I have people) but I will vouch for their Margaritas.   I haven’t been there for a while but if you’re in Austin check them out at www.Trudys.com.

My recipe is for a frozen margarita and for that you’ll need a machine that can shave ice. NOT just a blender.  In order to get that nice creamy frozen texture that people like you MUST use shaved ice.  Blenders just can’t do what you need to do to make margs turn out right.  So before you waste good tequila on bad margaritas just bite the bullet and get a machine, you’ll be glad you did.

The machine I use is the “Margaritaville Explorer Cordless Frozen Concoction Maker”.  How could you ever argue with a name like that?

I’m sure there are plenty of other kinds of machines out there but this is the only one I’ve ever used and I like it. I especially like the fact that it runs off re-chargeable 18 volt batteries (think electric drill) so we can take it camping and not have to worry about having AC power.  In theory, any machine that can do a good job of shaving ice will do.  You can just dump the shaved ice into a blender which is exactly how the Margaritaville machines work.  Have a look at the Margaritaville Cargo site for more info on their machines, they even make version that does 3 blenders at once.  If you ask me that has train wreck written all over it.   www.margaritavillecargo.com

Seems like whenever you buy one of these machines they only provide recipes that promote the use of their own special pre-packaged prepared mixes.  Based on my findings I have only one word of advice on pre-bottled mixes, “don’t”.    The only thing you need to buy prepared for my recipe is frozen lime-aid.

Choosing tequila isn’t a life and death kind of decision when it comes to frozen margaritas but it can make a difference. I wouldn’t waste money on a really top shelf bottle but I do like to use aged tequila.  The oak casked aging process mellows the taste and produces what I think is a much nicer (wine snobs might use the term ‘more complex’)flavor. Tequila is typically aged in oak casks that have been previously used for aging some other type of spirit.  Ever wonder why a good aged tequila might have a hint of bourbon or rum or even scotch? Now you know why.

The technical term I like to use when describing the flavour of an aged tequila is “less skanky”.  A silver or blanco tequila is one that has not been aged at all. Blancos are bottled right after they are made. A reposado is a tequila that has been aged for 2-11 months and an anejo is one that has been aged for at least one year. Anything aged over 3 years can be considered an extra anejo and will likely put a large dent in your wallet.  Aging not only changes the taste of tequila but also affects the colour.  You’ll probably notice that the longer a tequila ages the more “amber” in colour it will become.

Our fave margarita tequila...Herencia de Plata Anejo

Some people use gold tequila (such as Jose Cuervo), especially for frozen margs where it might not matter as much.   Some oro or gold tequilas contain as little as 51% agave and the rest is corn syrup or some other glucose or fructose.  I always use 100% agave tequila.  You can do whatever floats your boat.  I like this one…

One more note before the recipe itself.  Don’t use crappy ice.  By crappy ice I mean that kind of ice you get at the gas station that’s too “wet” and isn’t frozen hard enough.  Ice like that makes a runny, lumpy margarita and you don’t want that.  Use hard frozen (like from your refridgideezer) clear ice cubes that will shave really nicely and produce a good creamy texture.

Ok, vamonos!

Dewey’s Frozen Margaritas

Yields just enough to fill one Margaritaville pitcher – about 1064 ml

I’m purposely not converting ml to ounces because I’m taking it upon myself to make

all my American friends learn the metric system just like the rest of the world did a long long time ago.

Hey It’s time. Buck up y’all.

Warning: Don’t try to use the “automatic” setting on the Margaritaville machines.  It might work with their recipe but it won’t work with mine.  Besides it’s way more fun to use the machine in manual rather than automatic.   Just like driving a sports car.

Ingredients

4.5 oz Tequila- your choice. (ok, I decided to cave and spare you the metric conversion)

4.5 oz Minute Maid frozen lime aid.

1.5 oz Triple Sec

1.5 oz fresh squeezed lime juice (don’t even think about using the squirted out of a plastic lime kind)

1 oz fresh orange juice

2-3 tbsp agave nectar to taste. 

1. Mix all ingredients except for the agave nectar in a measuring cup and pour into the blender
2. Shave enough ice into the blender to bring the level up a few inches and then blend for a second or two.
3. Add the agave nectar.  Doing it this way stops the agave nectar from floating to the bottom and sticking
4. Continue alternating between adding more shaved ice and then blending.  Don’t try to add it all and then blend.
5. Stop when the blender can just barely “turn over” the mixture in the pitcher. If you listen carefully you can actually hear a difference in the sound the blender makes when you get to this point.  You should have a nice creamy consistency at this point.
6. If you find you’ve still got a little room then add a tiny bit more booze.  Always 2:1 tequila to triple sec. Then add more shaved ice and blend. Repeat this until the pitcher is full but doesn’t overflow when blending.
7. Tweak your agave to fresh lime juice ratio to adjust your sweetness. Some people like them tart, some sweet. 

Serve in salted glasses (don’t use table salt) with a lime wedge and a straw.  Best served with chips and a spicy hot salsa. 

Hope you enjoy the recipe, please send your comments and feedback.

Ok…if you came here looking for all the answers…I must admit that you are in the wrong place. I’m not sure what it is but Evan has turned into an incessant whiner lately. He’s always been a whiney kid at times but these days HOLY…it is BAD.

Just today:

• he cried because we left camping & he will miss his friends. I know…this sounds cute but he wasn’t playing with his friends because he was too busy WHINING that we were leaving.
• he freaked out because Will needed to use the iPad charger when he was using it. Really?
• he freaked out because I had left the bread in the trailer (and Dewey had to bring it back) and he needed a sandwich right away or he would DIE.
• he cried because we are thinking of getting rid of his bunk beds because they won’t fit in his new room (they’re too tall).
• he threw a fit because I wouldn’t let him have the biggest cheesie on MY plate.  That’s right…he threw a fit because he wanted to eat my Cheesies after his were already gone and I wouldn’t let him.

It goes on and on. I have tried to keep from yelling at him but I find myself doing it more and more because….it is FREAKING annoying! Tonight I was strong, though. During the Cheesie incident, he asked for the cheesie and I gave him one of the big ones. He decided to push to get another one (to prove he could). I said “No” so he hit the plate out of my hand. I picked up the Cheesie he wanted and ate it & then I ripped the one I had just given him out of his hand and ate it. This caused him to lose. his. mind.

He then got to go to his room to sit on his bed for 5 minutes. If his feet touch the floor during that 5 minutes, I add a minute per time. Also, if at the end of 5 minutes he is still screaming/crying/etc, he gets another 5 minutes.  It took a few minutes to get him to understand what was going on but it worked. He went upstairs a crying, yelling mess and came down a much calmer and friendlier guy.

I will not lie….I’m not sure this will work in the future but it was a nice spot of light at the end of the whiney tunnel.

Do you have a whiner?  If so, how do you cope?

I know the weekend doesn’t officially start until tomorrow night but by that time we will hopefully be camping sooooo I figured I would send best wishes early. I know camping isn’t for everyone but we sure do love it.  This weekend’s trip will be the first with our new trailer.  We traded in our super-cool looking hybrid trailer in for a less cool looking but much bigger “regular” trailer. It has been a breeze to pack with all the extra storage! I keep feeling like I’m forgetting things but we will be camping near a city so I’m sure we won’t forget anything a trip to Wal-Mart won’t fix.

Evan sporting his cast while camping last year.

Last year, we had a great camping season. I’m hoping for a similar year this year with one exception.  I really hope we don’t have any broken bones this year!  It was a year ago Sunday that Evan broke his wrist on a camping trip.  Ugh.

Well, though I have long extolled the virtues of camp cooking, I must admit that our menu this weekend is pretty mundane. I promise to get into a groove so that I can post some new camping recipes.

Until then, check out these past camping posts:

• Article on Easy & Healthy Camp Cooking
• My top 10 favorite camping foods

See you when we get back!

Evan working on his mad soccer skillz. I think he takes after me. Poor kid!

Evan asked to be in soccer this year. I had my trepidations because….honestly…I suck at sports….all sports. I’m not over-exagerating either. It’s something I’ve come to accept about myself. Dewey, however, is quite athletic so there was some hope that maybe Evan got Dewey’s genes. The verdict is still out but currently it looks like my non-athletic genes followed all the other ones Evan got from me.

Sigh.

Oh well, he has a great coach who doesn’t take it too personally when Evan says “I don’t WANT to play that game!” and just stands there. Evan still get his shift on the field even though he won’t get even remotely close to the ball. I have to give his coach mad props because I don’t know if I could do it.

It doesn’t help that Evan is also playing with kids who are almost 6 and have been playing since they were 3. They run circles around him. Our area only has “under 4″ and “under 6″. I think there is a big difference between the coordination of almost 5 and almost 6.

So, we’ll see how it goes and whether Evan stays in soccer or changes sports next year in the search for something he’s better at. I’m just glad to see he’s more willing to try sports than I was at his age.

Do your kids play sports?

I’ve been to a few conferences & tweetups in the last few weeks. While I don’t claim to be a Twitter expert, I do use it A LOT. At both of the events, I noticed one thing that many people were doing without realizing it & I learned something new.  Since Twitter is a great tool (and loads of fun), I thought I would share.

First: When you start a tweet with someone’s twitter handle, only people who follow BOTH you and the person you @’ed can see the tweet. During twitter parties, conferences, etc I’ve seen many people start tweets with the twitter handle of the person speaking or the sponsor of the twitter party. Often they are wanting to share the information they are learning but due to their tweet syntax no one saw their tweet (or very few). To get around this problem, put a period in front of the twitter handle.

So instead of “@Merry120 Great comment about twitter” you would type “.@Merry120 Great comment about twitter”.  Easy, right?

Added for clarity: Adding names (@Merry120 for example) in your tweets does not affect how your tweet is published unless the @ is the first character of the tweet. Within Twitter, it sees an @ at the beginning of a tweet as a conversation. Since conversations that go back and forth are of limited interest to people who do not know both parties, it filters these so they only show up to those who follow both people in the conversation (the person the tweet is from & the person whose twitter name starts the tweet). Putting a period in front tricks the filter because it is not an @ (which is the only character it is looking for to filter out).  Hope that makes more sense.

Second: You know when you want to RT someone but it’s REALLY long and you have to change it to make it fit? Change the RT to MT. MT stands for “modified tweet”. This lets people know that it isn’t exactly the same as the original.  Thanks Sami Joe for teaching me this hint on Saturday!

I hope you find these tips useful! What are your favorite less known Twitter tips?

Yesterday I got the opportunity to attend a social media event at Williamstown, a new housing development in Airdrie ( a community just north of Calgary). When I got my invite, I was excited to see some of my mom blogger friends but I wasn’t sure what else I would get out of it. Then I remembered….we just bought a new house! I love nothing more than a beautifully decorated house but I seem to have missed that “design” bit needed to make it happen. I had totally forgotten how well show homes are always decorated.  Seeing fully decorated rooms totally shows me ideas that I would never figure out if I saw all the pieces separately.

Great wallpaper!

I never thought I would like a wallpaper this busy so much. I KNOW that had I seen it on a roll in the wallpaper store, I would have made a snide remark about how ugly it was. However, after seeing it actually on a wall….I love it!  Definitely only on one feature wall though.

I really like these silver candlesticks. Again, I don’t know that I would have bought them before I saw how great the looked. My friend, Melissa, tells me that I can find these at Ikea. Score! Pretty & cheap!

Chandelier in the bathroom? Yes please! I don’t know that this will make it into our new house but I love how it looks. So pretty!

Aren’t these chairs pretty? I really like blue and brown. We will be ditching our cat scratched leather couch and I would love to move to some pretty cloth covered couches & maybe a couple of chairs like this. I thought I liked leather furniture but now I’ve decided that it’s really NOT me.

Now my phone is full of pictures and my mind is full of ideas. Thankfully we have lots of nice furniture to make the move (though we DO need to replace some of it) so mostly I need accessories to “finish” the rooms and give them that design “pop”. I can’t wait to get started!

Where do you get your design ideas?

When I moved to Calgary 7 years ago, I had a tough go. I left a job I LOVED and a huge group of friends. I moved to a job I liked and a town where I knew no one except my husband. Over the years, I have made a ton of friends through my husband and at work. They mean so much to me and we have an absolute blast camping and getting together whenever we can….which is awesome.

In the last few years, though, I feel like I have become a part of…and done my part to create…a community in Calgary. Sometimes I forget this fact and then “WHAMO!” something happens that makes me remember. Like going to Aggie Days & running into at least 10 friends from blogging or twitter (our new nanny said “You know a LOT of people!”) or walking in to the MRUShift social media conference & knowing at least 15 people and being genuinely glad to see them.

How did this happen? When did I get a group of friends totally separate from work AND my husband. In fact, many of this group kid with me that I don’t actually have a husband because they’ve never seen him. I think it all started when my friend Donna called me and asked me to help her put together a social media charity event. The rest is history!

I love being married. I love having couples friends.

BUT…

I also love feeling a part of a community that I belong to because of ME. Can you hear me yelling “They like me, they like me, they really, really like me!”?)

Do you have a community? If not…I recommend finding one. It’s AWESOME!

Evan and Grammie waiting to see the penguins.

Posing with the penguins.

Who knew the new penguins at Calgary zoo would be so stinking cute?

Visiting the penguins was one of the highlights of my Mom’s visit to Calgary. I think we’ll go back to see them again soon (though it is FREAKING cold in their habitat).