Making Tacos is easy. Of course, I grew up in Vermont, so I am not sure how authentic they are. I am sure that they are quite yummy, and not terribly unhealthy (at least the way I make them). Plus, you can get two very tasty meals out of one batch of taco meat. Here is what you will need:
- 20ish oz ground meat (I use turkey, but beef, pork, etc. will work too)
- 1 large to 1 large & 1 medium onion (adding more onion is a great way to stretch the meal)
- 2T Chilli Powder
- 1t Oregano
- 1T Cumin
- Ground/finely dice garlic (more is better!)
- Small can of Tomato Paste
- Salt and Hot Pepper Flakes to taste
All of these are approximate measurements. This is about what tastes good to you, so taste while cooking and adjust as you deem necessary. Just keep the oregano amount small, because it can taste bitter in larger quantities.
1 - Put a bit of olive oil in the pan, and heat to medium. Dice onions and begin cooking.
2 - Add ground meat and cook until onions are transparent and meat is browned.
3 - If you have whole cumin seeds, add a few pinches now.
4 - If you have dried peppers (which is always a good idea at the end of summer) put them in a bag and crush them. When you don't use the bag, it burns anytime you touch somewhere sensitive (yeah, personal experience here...).
5 - Add the spices. We really like cumin, and probably use more than a tablespoon. Figure out how much you like, and go with it!
6 - Add garlic and tomato paste and stir it all together. It wouldn't hurt to add another splash of olive oil here too if you wanted.
7 - If you are using hard taco shells, heat the oven to 350 degrees. Put shells on a cookie sheet - preferably with slightly raised sides. Spoon just enough filling into each shell to fill the bottom. You should only need a good sized spoonful. The filling has a lot of flavor, and you want room for toppings, so you don't need too much! Bake at 350 degrees for about 15minutes.
8 - Fill with lots and lots of yummy stuff. Be prepared to gobble them down.
Now, put away all the extra filling you don't use. What you want to do is make up a rice-bean mixture (1.5C rice, 1 can black beans, 1t cumin, salt and hot pepper flakes to taste), and when it is cooked, stir in the remaining filling. Serve with taco fillings (lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, etc.), and enjoy because it is damn yummy.
Now you will do the ribbing:
Now, for the bind off - I am going to use Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off. Click on the link for a really good tutorial.
Across the bottom stitches (no knitting pattern), knit a row with scrap yarn. 
You will then treat these like normal stitches and continue knitting your socks as you would if they were not there. You will now knit pattern rows all the way around the socks, instead of just across the top.
I began the next k2, p2 row in the middle of the back going forward. For the remainder of the socks, I treat this point as the beginning of every new row. 
Continue knitting in the established pattern until about 1" before you want the sock to end. Stop here, and then we will continue with my next post.
1lb bags of superwash merino mill ends: $20/ea. I got them on ebay a few years ago and just haven't gotten around to them. By mill ends I mean not full roving - some thinner roving pieces and some shorter sections. All very spinnable.
Vintage Louet wheel with skein winder: $250
Yes, a bit dusty. It's been sitting around for a while...
I will be at the Feb. 6th Nutmeg Spinners Guild meeting if anyone wants me to bring things to see before deciding to purchase.
Next Rounds:
Now we get to the repeating pattern. Patterns will only be knit on the top, and the bottom will be knit only. You will repeat the following rows:
You will repeat the following pattern until it is about 2 inches shorter than the length of the foot.
The tip is fairly blunted, as I have wide paws.
The yarn I used is Chirapa, a sport weight, merino wool yarn in colorway Mars Spirit. I got it on super-sale at the Webs after Christmas sale (wow, do I ever love big yarn sales).
I used an afterthought heel construction, which we'll go over in the process of knitting up the matching sock.
I then knit one round, putting 7 stitches on each needle.
Repeat these two rows until there are a total of 44 stitches
2 - Add ground meat and cook until onions are transparent and meat is browned.
3 - If you have whole cumin seeds, add a few pinches now. 
4 - If you have dried peppers (which is always a good idea at the end of summer) put them in a bag and crush them. When you don't use the bag, it burns anytime you touch somewhere sensitive (yeah, personal experience here...).
5 - Add the spices. We really like cumin, and probably use more than a tablespoon. Figure out how much you like, and go with it!
6 - Add garlic and tomato paste and stir it all together. It wouldn't hurt to add another splash of olive oil here too if you wanted.
7 - If you are using hard taco shells, heat the oven to 350 degrees. Put shells on a cookie sheet - preferably with slightly raised sides. Spoon just enough filling into each shell to fill the bottom. You should only need a good sized spoonful. The filling has a lot of flavor, and you want room for toppings, so you don't need too much! Bake at 350 degrees for about 15minutes.
8 - Fill with lots and lots of yummy stuff. Be prepared to gobble them down.
