Garden Life and an Easy Last Minute Recipe

Just to clarify, the recipe at the end of this post doesn't have anything to do with the garden.  I haven't mastered the art of food gardening yet.  I do want to have a little herb garden though sometime soon.

I took these pictures about a week ago when my rose bushes were at the most beautiful flowering stage I have seen them in since we moved in.  These rose bushes have been the best little plants.  We moved in our house in April and they were full of blooms and just now in mid November, the blooms have fallen off but the green is still there and vibrant.

I found this little "weed" growing out of one of my shrubs in the front yard.  I put it in the vase with some water and it has lasted over a month.  Glad I didn't throw it away!

The other day on my way home from work I called my genius food-savvy mother and told her I had ground beef and didn't want spaghetti for dinner...what other ideas did she have? Layered Taco Salad of course!

Layered Taco Salad
Makes a 9x13 pan (I halved it because I didn't think leftovers would be that good and it was just for 2 people)
1 lb ground beef
Taco seasoning
1 Can black beans (rinsed)
1 Tomato diced
Green onions diced
Lettuce (I used shredded)
Sour cream
Salsa
Shredded cheese
Tortilla chips

Cook the ground beef with the taco seasoning packet and set aside.  In a 9x13 - layer lettuce, tomato, green onions, black beans, ground beef, and shredded cheese.  Then mix together sour cream and salsa (I don't remember the ratio I used...but I just added salsa until the mix was a dark pink color) and sprinkle crushed tortilla chips on top.

If you add the ground beef while it's still hot, the cheese on top will melt...yum.

This took me 15 minutes and it was deeeelicious.  Thanks to my mother and her never ending dinner ideas! :)