WOW

That's all I have to say about this.

Crockpot refried beans

These are MUCH cheaper than the ones from the can!

Cook a pound of beans with a bunch of water - maybe 10 cups or so - on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours with a tablespoon or two of salt. Optionally, add a chopped onion, green pepper, a little olive oil, and oja de aguacate (avocado leaves - a couple of those. You can buy them in any Mexican grocery store).

Ladle out some of the water and set aside. Remove the avocado leaves (they're like bay leaves). Mash the beans with a potato masher or process in the food processor. That's it! This makes a lot of beans - you can put them in individual containers and freeze. They're just as easy to pull out of the freezer as the cans are easy to pull out of the pantry!

Cake City!

That's what my house has been lately because I've been taking a cake decorating class at Michael's. I started because two friends wanted to sign up and I thought, "What the heck?" Now I'm in level 2 and they didn't continue past level 1 (for school and other reasons). The class is really fun and who knew I could do this stuff?

This is the first layer cake I've ever made and the first time I used a decorating bag.

Yummy...mocha fudge filling.

Here is the final Level 1 cake that required at least 5 roses.

Once I get my colors right (red and black are the hardest...go figure since those are probably the ones I'll use most), I'll make some rock metal cakes and football cakes. Also, I am very unofficially open for business so if you need a cake let me know and we can work something out :)

Kiddie Pool/Sandbox

So I'm not a mom yet, but isn't this the most genius idea ever?

I copied this from the blog Passionate Homemaking. What a great idea to use this plastic bin as a kiddie pool...it's cheap and you can snap on the cover so you don't have to keep changing the water AND when your kids outgrow it, you can use it for storage!! And bonus - you can switch it to a sandbox easily if you feel like it.

OUCH!

I'm stealing this topic from my friend Laura's blog because I think it's interesting. What do you think?? This is my comment on hers...

I do understand the supposed risks so I wouldn’t call anyone wacko who doesn't vaccinate their kids, but I don’t think that I want to let Jenny McCarthy sway the medical decisions I make for my child either. I thought it was pretty interesting on this chart that very few of them actually contained any mercury. I think when I’m making these decisions for my own kids that I will be careful to only let them be vaccinated with the brands that use no mercury because I don’t trust that stuff.

I checked out both Immunization schedules from 1983 and 2008. I do think that it’s sort of incredible how much it has changed. I also know that diseases are powerful and can evolve (why we get a flu shot every year – or at least I do and I hardly EVER get sick). I noticed that Rotavirus is one that was added and I don’t know much about it so I looked it up. 60,000 people are admitted to hospitals in the US each year and 37 die from rotavirus. Most people in the world have had it by age 5 and the first time is really bad and causes severe diarrhea, then the following times their body has built up enough antibodies to be asymptomatic even though they may be infected. A little boy on WIC died from it soon after I started my job and I still remember his mom calling me on the phone crying and it was horrible. I personally don’t want my kid to have severe diarrhea or put other kids at risk for severe illness and possible death.

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/why.htm
This link explains “the other side” pretty well in plain language. Parents who refuse vaccinations are relying on the kids who are vaccinated to prevent the outbreak of disease.

BUT I do understand proceeding with caution and doing your research is very important, just know where you are getting the information from a reputable source and remember that overall, the disease itself is probably way more of an enemy than the vaccine, otherwise the health community wouldn’t be interested in eradicating it.

Fajita Wraps

Hers's a recipe that I created. It is pretty healthy and completely delicious and got two thumbs up from the hubs.

In the slow cooker, combine:

1-2 chopped bell peppers

1-2 chopped onions

1 chopped yellow squash (I promise you won't taste it in the end - I got one free from a coworker)

1 can Ro-tel (or similar) diced tomatoes w/ green chiles

1 can drained diced tomatoes or some diced fresh ones

Some combo of fajita seasoning, Tabasco chipotle hot sauce (DE-licious), taco seasoning, etc.

Some kind of cubed boneless skinless meat (beef, pork, chicken, whatever)

Cook everything on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours

Before serving, add 1/2 block of cream cheese (low fat is good but don't use nonfat) and stir to melt. Serve on tortillas. YUMMY!

It's a Wonderful Life

Reber's work schedule has changed to weekdays...YAAAYYY!! We had our second Saturday together and it's already so great. We went out to breakfast, to the library, to the farmers market, to the Cat's Cradle open house, and then to our friend's house to visit and dig up some vines to plant. Whew, full day but it still felt so long. It's so exciting to enjoy our our city and each other.

On another good note, my always-low iron was boosted by a bunch of iron pills, red meat, and clams that I ate so I finally got to donate blood!! I feel fine and I'm so glad to have been able to donate. I prayed about it the night before and came up with 12.6 iron (you need 12.5 to donate). Now THAT is a perfect example of answered prayer!

Sharp Shopper Goodies

HAHA!! This is raisin bran from Israel, but it sure tastes delicious.

What have I been doing lately??

Hangin' out with these kiddos!! Aren't they ridiculously cute? They're so much fun and they all especially love Reber.

What's for dinner - Rabbit

So I bought a rabbit from the farmer's market yesterday.  No, not a live one, it was already ready to cook, just like you would buy a chicken from the store.  I love buying stuff at the farmer's market b/c it's all local and you can ask the farmers/growers what they've fed their animals, how they treat their soil, etc.  I also ran into an old friend and bought some of his delicious fresh parsley which can be used in place of cilantro if you have a husband like mine who doesn't like it.

Anyway, here's how I'm attempting to cook the rabbit:

2 onions, sliced
4 pounds roasting rabbit, skinned
1 clove garlic, sliced
2 bay leaves
1 whole clove
1 cup hot water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup cold water

Basically, you throw most of this into the slow cooker and cook it, then add the flour and water to make a "pan" gravy.  I might leave out the clove because I'm not sure if I have one...

Mmmmm....I hope!!

What's New

So I really do have a life, even if I'm not good at keeping up with my blog...

Let's start with Wednesday, because that's about as far back as I can remember.  We had church here at the house on the back patio with some STEAK (and yes, of course I made a salad).  We opened our Bibles but never got to the "study" part because we kept on talking and laughing and telling stories.  Sometimes those times are equally or even more important than "studying."

Thursday we went to Artiles, a new Cuban restaurant, with the neighbors.  It was to celebrate her birthday a MONTH ago.  The restaurant had AWESOME food and the people were really friendly.  Not a huge buffet selection but that's ok because everything tasted so good.  Mmmm...I love those fried plantains.

Friday I took the day OFF and hung out at home with Reber who had a stomach bug.  Still much better than working.

Saturday my neighbor, Karina, and I went with her church to Our Community Place to cook and eat lunch with the people there.  That is one amazing place with a bunch of good people.

We also had another cookout with my neighbors and coworkers in the afternoon.  Everybody enjoyed hamburgers and grilled corn, face painting, and a tres leches cake fiasco that was still delicious.  It totally fell apart!

Here is my neighbor painting the kids' faces.  She is so talented at everything and always has good ideas.  The kids were so excited that they kept crowding around her and she hardly had space to work sometimes!

Here are the kids with their finished faces:

I LOVE all these kids - they're so adorable and funny.  Plus we discovered that our shared backyard space is perfect for kids to run around and play.  I always say "I don't have a yard," but really I do!

Sunday I cleaned the basement like a madwoman because I want to have a yard sale sometime in the coming weeks.

And now it's Monday.  Time to savor the extra day off, get a few things done, and take a break!