Black Bean *Burritos*

I posted a recipe a couple years ago for black bean quesadillas.  Over the last couple years we've eaten this recipe at least monthly!  However, since I first posted the recipe, we've made one change.... Now we eat them as mini burritos!

Two will satisfy you, three will fill you up, and four will stuff you full!  The recipe makes 20 small burritos, and with 5 of us eating, we usually end up with 5-6 leftover.  The kids L-O-V-E them; fresh or leftover, it makes no difference to them!  I like to serve them with lettuce and taco sauce.  Kevin has been known to add jalapenos and sour cream to his.  It's a cheaper meatless meal that your family will love!

Ingredients:

30oz black beans rinsed and drained

1C mild chunky salsa

1/8C taco seasoning

2C shredded cheddar cheese

20 mini soft shells

Optional:  jalapenos, sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes, taco sauce 

Note:  I use my food processor because I don't like a chunky consistency.  If you love beans and chunky salsa, don't process the mixture.  If you don't like a chunky consistence, but don't have a food processor, I'd suggest 1. Using a food chopper and chop of the food as fine as possible, or 2. Try cooking the mixture to soften it all and smash it with a fork or pampered chef mix & chop!  (I have never tried any of these ways, so if you do, let me know how it goes!)

Directions:  

Preheat oven to 375*.

Put the rinsed black beans, salsa, and taco seasoning into your food processor. Turn on and mix until smooth.  I usually let mine run about a minute.  Next, I spray and 11x15 pan with Pam and set aside. Open your soft shells and start filling one at a time.  I use a heaping Tbsp of the bean mixture, sprinkle a little cheese on top of the mix (now is a great time to add jalapenos or anything else you'd like cooked in), then fold in the sides and roll up.  Place them in your pan as you go.  

Bake them for about 20 minutes.  Check in on them after they have baked 15 minutes to make sure they aren't getting too brown.

Once they are lightly browned, remove and let cool for about 5 minutes.  Serve with taco sauce and lettuce.  Enjoy!

Happy 1st Birthday Olive

Today my littlest niece turns 1!  She was in town this past weekend to celebrate her birthday.  My kids always enjoy getting to see their Aunt, Uncle, and baby cousin.  My sister threw an amazing party for Olive and we enjoyed celebrating the big O-N-E with her!

Happy 1st Birthday, Olive!!!

5 Things I'll Admit

My sister did a post like this to her blog and I enjoyed it... So, inspired by my sis,  here are my 5 things I'll admit!

Austin is helping me count out the five...

1.  My house is never clean, my kitchen is usually wreck, and I always have piles of laundry waiting on me.  The nesting mode left a few months ago, but I'm trying to develope a desire and appreciation for house cleaning.... I'll let you know how that goes. ;)

2.  I think marriage counseling gets a bad rap.  Kevin and I have gone periodically over the last several years and we are better off for it.  If you have communication problems (I'd venture to say most couples have them) a counselor works wonders to give you a new perspective!

3.  I'm scared that sending Hayden to public school this fall will mess up his sweet friendship with Allie and change his little personality for the worst. (Call me Debbie Downer). I do stay upbeat and positive around him on this matter of public schooling though.

4.  My current dream:  I want to go back to school and get a degree in Family & Consumer Science so I can be a home ec teacher.  Will it ever happen?  Who knows.

5.  I occasionally check out the real estate websites to see what's on the market, but I'd rather add on to our house than move.

Angel Food Cake ... From Scratch!

I had been wanting to make an angel food cake for about a month.  I found a recipe with good reviews, I borrowed an angel food cake pan from my mom, and I got all the ingredients I needed.  My mom then informed me that most "homemade" angel food cakes were a boxed mix and she hadn't ever made one from scratch. *gulp*. I started wondering if I had set myself up for failure, but decided to go ahead and give it a try.  I followed the directions to a T and was super pleased with the end result!

My dad told me that my mamaw use to always put pink icing on hers.  And since I love old traditions, I decided to so the same :)

I shared with everyone I saw over the next 24 hours.  The kids raved about it being "the best cake EVER".  I'm looking forward to making it again and again!  

First time I had ever cracked 12 eggs and not broke an egg yolk!

What the "stiff peaks" should look like.

Recipe:

1 cup cake flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons sugar
12 large egg whites, MUST be room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (I substituted with a combination of extracts that included almond)

Directions:
Note: For those not use to making angel food cakes Don't get any yoke in the whites, if you do throw out and start over. I always separate the egg in a glass first. Then if no yoke pour into measuring container. 

DO NOT GREASE PAN.
I used a two piece angelfood cake pan.
Heat oven to 375°.
Sift the cake flour and 3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp sugar; set aside.  (I actually sifted!)
Combine the extracts in a small bowl; set aside.
Beat egg whites, cream of tartar and salt until it forms peaks.
Add the other 3/4 cup of sugar slowly, then beat on high until stiff peaks form.
If you have a mixing guard for your mixer bowl now would be a good time to attach it. 

Beating on LOW, add flour mixture and extracts slowly. 

Make sure you fold in the sides and bottom of your mixing bowl. 

(You can fold in flour mixture by hand but this way is faster.) 

Spoon into an angel food cake pan. Move a knife through batter to remove air pockets. 

Bake 35 minutes or until top springs back when touched lightly with finger. 

Invert pan onto tin funnel to cool completely. 

To remove the cake from your pan run a knife around the rim of the cake pan just to get the 'crust' away from the pan. 

Then firmly spank the sides of your pan. (Be prepared for it to fly out! haha)

You could use a knife but this sometime tears the sides of the cake. 

Invert onto your serve plate then take the knife to the now top which was the bottom of your pan and gently cut cake away from the pan insert. 

No need to cut around the center tube as you just give the cake a gently but firm tap or downward shake on to the plate. 

Or you can pick up plate while holding onto the pan insert with your thumbs and firmly strike the bottom of the plate onto a folded towel. (Just give it a slam down on the towel/table).

Glaze:

2 Tbsp melted butter

2 Tbsp milk

1/4tsp vanilla

1 C powdered sugar

food coloring

Mix all ingredients together and drizzle on cooled cake!

Weekly Happenings May 17-23

Hello dear family and friends of mine,

I wanted to let you know that starting this next week, my blogging is going to change a bit.  I have gone back and forth over the last year whether or not to get rid of all the "social media" in my life (which presently just consisted of Instagram).  I'm going to take a 3 month period off social media (maybe longer, or even permanent) and focus on my blog - and updating it with pictures, recipes, thoughts, etc.

I pondered the idea of starting a new blog with a catchy address, then I thought about starting one to only talk about my DIY projects, or things I baked, but my life is so scattered and random - one week I bake a ton, one week I sew a ton, one week I do nothing because I'm trying to get caught up on house cleaning - you get the drift, I'm not a one trick pony.  So, I just decided to leave the address the way it is - my name - and fill the blog with all the randomness that fills my days!

My blogging slowed waaay down about eighteen months ago and I'm ready to pick it back up (thanks to a dream baby that lets me sleep all night, every night!).  That means if I'm updating my blog more frequently, there will be less of a need for my "weekly happenings" posts.  No promises on X number of posts a day, but this little enjoyment of mine is coming off the back burner :)

On with what happened this week!

1.  Hayden is getting SO big!  In the last week, Kevin took the training wheels off his bike, he started jumping out of his swing (he's normally pretty cautious), and both of his front top teeth are loose (which was not a result of him jumping out of his swing).

Hayden had picked me flowers all day and while I was outside he brought me this ginormous weed from behind the barn and said "I picked you a tree!" haha

2.  Allie got released from the orthopaedic surgeon yesterday.  She will continue to sleep in her corrective shoes 2-3 nights a week until she outgrows the shoes.  We have no future appointments scheduled, but if I notice things changing, then I'm supposed to bring her in.  We celebrated the good news with a little mommy/daughter blizzard date at Dairy Queen!

3.  I have taken a bit of an interest in makeup lately.  I always wanted to know how to use certain products (highlighters, contour powder, and eyeshadows) but had never taken the time to learn.  I told Kevin I have two girls that are going to be looking to me to show them how to use/do their makeup and I need to know!  I experimented this week with some makeup I already had, but I have a looooong list of products I want to buy and try and learn about! I'm pretty pumped about it!

I'm using foundation and lipstick and brow pencils now!

4.  Kevin and I went on a date this past weekend for lunch.  Neither one of us had ever eaten at Knob Hill Tavern here in Newburgh, so I planned for us to eat lunch there.  We sat on the patio and enjoyed the cool spring weather.  The food was good, the couple smoking next to us was not so good, but overall we had a good time.  We went to the mall and window shopped after we ate, then reality set back in and we had to stop at Walmart and get back home to our 4 kiddies.

Kevin tried their popular catfish fiddlers.  I ate several of his delicious potato fries!

I had the grilled chicken and the broccoli.  Chicken was good but broccoli was rubbery.

5.  Krissy and Austin were extra photogenic this week and I took two of my favorite pictures to date of them! 

The kids broke in to my winter accessory bin.  Those big hazel eyes and that face just melt me!

Austin is getting so big!  He wore his first 12 month outfit this past weekend!

Harry wishes he was an outside cat. 

Weekly Happenings May 10-16

1.  My Mother's Day evening consisted of dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise (they have the best virgin daiquiris and sweet potato chips) then feeding the ducks and geese behind the restaurant.  I LOVE feeding them this time of the year when their babies are with them!

We also found out that kids eat free on Tuesday nights!  Definitely need to remember this!!!

2.  Hayden had his 6 year checkup with our new pediatrician.  (I'm still loving her btw and would highly recommend her!). He was 78% for weight and 86% for height.  He had a great checkup with no shots! Woo hoo!

3.  The last time I was at Target, I decided to pick up something for CeCe.  I went to the doggy isle to see what they had she could chew up and found an interesting selection of "Antlers" next to the raw hides.  They looked interesting, were kinda pricey, but the label said, "Dogs love them," so I decided to give them a try.  CeCe loved it!  She only gets it when she comes inside (#1 bc she would bury it outside, and #2 it prevents her from chewing up something in the house she's not supposed to!).  Because I was so pleased with it, I wanted to do a little research to see if they came in bulk.  While looking, I read that elk antlers are recommended over any other kind.  I'm not sure what kind CeCe's is.  I'm going to find out because the deer antlers have been known to break teeth or fracture dogs jaws if they are aggressive chewers... And CeCe is just that!  In the meantime, I will let her chew chew chew, but with supervision!

4.  We usually get Donut Bank a few times a month.  Every now and then I get sick of my usual (long johns {or "llama johns" as the kids call them}, glazed donut holes, or a cinnamon roll) and I look through their website to try and find something that sounds good.  I was pleasantly surprised to see they had updated their website!  Now each donut has a picture and short description of what it is!  It also says nutritional info and ingredients are coming soon... Not sure I really want to know!  Sometimes I can't handle the sweetness of their glaze or chocolate in the mornings and I decided to try their crumb cake donut.  I'm in love.  Only problem is they sell out fast every day!  The first time I had one was just luck, but I've tried 3-4 times to get one and they are always sold out!  Kevin was able to work day shift this morning and he went at 6:45 and got the last 4!  Two for me and one for each girl.  The Devine girls love them!!!

5.  I love the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and watch it most evenings!  One of my favorite segments is when they show stories from the news that are full of irony.  I was catching up on the news with my 14 news app and clicked on this story.  I'm not going to submit it, so I thought I'd post it because I found the irony hilarious.

7th drunk driving charge and her last name is Drinkwater?!  I'm sure the police get a kick out of pulling her over.  Hopefully this crazy lady gets her license taken away forever and stays off the roads!!

Have a great weekend friends!!!  

Weekly happenings May 3-9

1.  My little Hayden Dale turned 6 years old yesterday! One of our few birthday traditions is to measure the kiddo on the kitchen wall on their birthday.  Hayden woke me up bright and early and asked if I could measure him.  He's grown 3 1/2 inches over the past year!  I made him sock-it-to-me cake for breakfast, then we had Gattitown for lunch.  I had planned on making his favorite Salisbury steaks for dinner, but my beef had expired.... So we had a frozen Alfredo.  We had a little camping themed party for him on Friday at Christmas Lake {which is why this post is days late}.

He loved his tower of gifts - and his favorite present was the "fishing net" from the $1 bin at Target!

Krissy liked his sunglasses a little more than he did!

A build and paint your own bird feeder set!

Bike gear - so we can take those training wheels off soon!

Can you guess which one is the tv junkie?

We don't normally play games, so it was an extra special treat to do so.

They are following in their parents footsteps - we are so proud!  (Kevin and I love air hockey)

I recruited them to help make fruit kabobs for the party!

A couple cousins

Hayden LOVED his BB gun.

More gifts

Almost a descent family picture - if Kevin wouldn't have given Hayden bunny ears!

The kids were laughing at Tyler and poor Austin didn't know what to think.

He loves when everyone sings Happy Birthday!

Make a wish sweet birthday boy!

Krissy approved of the cake!

2.  CeCe got shaved last Monday.  She's staying in the backyard {for the most part} and we have been letting her inside a little more often.  It actually makes her calm the more she's inside.  I have no plans of having an inside doggy anytime soon though.

3.  My dad was a candidate for Sheriff in Spencer County.  Primary elections were last Tuesday.  We were all pretty bummed he lost by 25 votes.  Not sure what his next step will be, but I do know that I'm really proud of him, and he was definitely the best candidate!  Spencer County will be missing out.  

That's it for the highlights.  It was a super busy week with Kevin working 12s, Hayden's birthday, and the elections so we didn't really have time for much else!  And since the post was so short, how about I update my blog with pictures I have taken on my camera over the last month!  {Eeek - need to get better about that!}

I heard the girls giggling in the bathtub.  They were pouring water on each others heads and thinking that was pretty funny.

Kevin fishing at Barkley

 Easter 2014 pics.....
(egg hunt at home)

(

(dying eggs)

(Easter Sunday)

Spoon feeding Austin for the first time.....

She was my big helper.