Black bean & corn salad

I am going to start this recipe off with a warning. A) It's so good that it's addictive. B) If beans give anyone in your house gas, you might want to prepare their living quarters outside in advance. I know people that will run you out of the county after eating this, but it's so good that it's worth it. :)

I got this recipe from a friend, who got it from a friend, who got it from ..... well, I don't know where. I've tweaked it a bit to better suit our palate.

Black Bean and Corn Salad

• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can mexicorn, drained and rinsed
• 1 pint grape tomatoes, quartered
• 1/2 red onion, finely chopped
• 1 small bunch cilantro, roughly chopped, optional
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic, optional
• Colby Jack cheese, cubed, optional
• Ranch dressing
• Louisiana Hot Sauce
• Salt, to taste

Super simple directions: throw all of the veggies into a large bowl, pour in about 1/2 C of the dressing and as much of the hot sauce as you want. Mix well. If you need more dressing, give it a little squirt - but don't drown it. Then add a few splashes of hot sauce, and by "a few" I mean like 25. If that's not enough, add a few more, because more hot sauce is always a good idea. Sprinkle in a little salt and stir again. If you're going to eat it right away, go ahead and stir in the cheese cubes. If not, keep the cubes separate and just add what you need as you serve it, otherwise the cheese will get soggy if it sits in the salad for a couple of days. Mmmmhmmm! Yummy, yummy in my tummy!

Don't judge a book by it's cover

When I was in high school I read romance novels ALL the time. Romance novels and Cosmo magazine - teachers took them away from me on a regular basis. I would sometimes skip lunch so I could save up enough money to buy them - don't tell my Mom. One student teacher thought he was going to get the best of me by telling me I could read them while he talked, as long as any time he asked me a question I had the right answer. Unbeknownst to him, I could read and listen at the same time, so he was a little surprised when I answered his questions correctly. He still took my book away. lol

After high school, I stopped reading romance novels and got into mysteries, thrillers and spy/espionage type novels for several years. But, last year I got a Nook Color and there were quite a few romance novels that were free or extremely cheap, so I thought, "Why not?" and downloaded a few.

This was one of those books.

"When All My Dreams Come True" by Janelle Mowery

Part of the Colorado Runaway series

Or so I thought. I downloaded it months ago and when I got ready to read it earlier this week I couldn't remember what the description said. But, based on the cover and title, I thought it must be a period romance novel, something set in the Old West - my favorite kind of romance novel! It didn't take me long to figure out that this book was a little different.

It was definitely a period novel. And it was definitely a romantic novel. But, the minute the author brought faith into the mix, I knew I was in for a new ride. I've never read a Christian Romance novel before and I have to say, this book was VERY good! It had all of the romance and love a girl could want, but none of the in-depth intimacy (you know what I'm talking about) of, what I lovingly refer to as, "smut novels". I'm a real sinner - I went in expecting a smutty book and the Lord sent me one about faith and love. Maybe he was sending me a message?

If you're looking for a quick, easy, entertaining, hearfelt, make-you-drop-a-few-tears-and-make-you-feel-warm-and-fuzzy kind of read, then this book is for you! I can't wait to download the rest of the books in this series!

This is not a paid advertisement, just a country girl sharing with her friends about a book she liked.

P.S. Even though I no longer read Cosmo, I still love the way it smells when you open it up - like glossy paper and perfume! :)

Taboli

I had a "first" a few weeks ago - someone actually paid me to make food for them! One of my coworkers asked me how much I would charge to make her some taboli (or tabouli or tabouleh or however you spell it, it says taboli on the package I buy). She said she's tried taboli made by other people or at restaurants and she didn't like them, but she loves mine! Garsh ..... blush. Who knew I could make money by cooking for others?

Oh my goodness!! Doesn't that look delish?! I didn't like taboli until I was well into my 30's and I can't remember where I ate it, but I liked it so well that I learned how to make it at home. That happens to me a lot. If you see me at a restaurant and I'm staring at or examining my food, that means that I'm looking at every layer, every angle, trying to figure out exactly how they made it so I can replicate it at home. If I can't figure it out, I just ask my bff google. The first time I made taboli, I didn't have the right knife and it took me more than an hour and I almost never attempted it again because my hands were worn out. Then I switched to a larger, flat edged knife and voilà! We have success! Now, even if the package says you don't need to add lemon juice, I always adjust the liquid ingredients to add it. Here's my method, which is almost exactly as directed on the package:

Taboli

• 1 10-ounce package Taboli salad mix, I use Bishop Brothers, get the package that has dehydrated parsley and onions already in it, it may say "salad mix" on the package
• 1/3 Cup canola oil
• 1/2 Cup lemon juice
• 2 Cups cold water
• Salt, to taste, I like a lot of it, so I give a generous pour and I use sea salt
• Pepper, to taste
• 1 package Campari tomatoes, or whatever sweet tomato your store has
• 1 large cucumber, peeled and seeded
• 1-2 bunches of green onions, I cut off the green tops just past where it starts to split apart, but you can use the whole onion if you want

Dump the dry taboli mix into a bowl, pour in your salt-n-peppa then add the oil, lemon juice and water - in that order, this is different than the directions on the package. This gives the taboli the opportunity to absorb the lemon juice and oil before you add the water. While it's marinating in the liquid ingredients, chop the tomatoes, cucumbers and onions. Then stir in the veggies and mix 'em up! Cover and stick it in the fridge for about 4 hours and then it's done!

Note: Do not eat a large amount of the taboli before it's done plumping up. If you do, it will swell in your stomach and you will feel like ralphing and spend the rest of the night rolling around like a horse with colic. Take a little taste so you know if you need more salt, but stop yourself before you inhale half of the salad. This is the voice of experience talking.

 

Also, someone once asked me how to seed a cuke, so if you've never done it before, here's an easy method: After you peel the cucumber and slice off the ends, halve it lengthwise. Then halve each half. Use your knife to slice down the length of each piece, just under the row of seeds. It should peel off and stay together; if the seeds are spitting out all over the place, you're not slicing deep enough. Enjoy!!

Life lessons from a tea pitcher

This pitcher makes the best sweet tea this side of the Mississippi!

This was my Grandma's tea pitcher, one of them, anyway. She had two, a matching pair, and Mom now has the other one. Ever since I was a little girl, we made sweet tea in these pitchers every Sunday for dinner. I don't know that they've ever had anything but sweet tea in them. They were made by Frankhoma Pottery in Sapulpa, OK. I remember either taking a tour of the facility or maybe we just drove by it on a school field trip one time. I was so young that I didn't really realize the signifigance or importance.

I love this pitcher for so many reasons. It's a beautiful green and brown with a few golden hints here and there. It's sturdy and fragile all at the same time. I love that it has chips around the bottom because that means that it's used and appreciated and loved and not stuck on a shelf to gather dust and only be admired from afar. This pitcher is a wonderful metaphor of our lives as humans:

We all get filled up and we pour ourselves out.
We all have a job to do.
We are all beautiful.
We are all sturdy and fragile.
We all have a few scars, signs of the life we've lived.

The lesson I see in this pitcher is to not set yourself on a shelf, collecting dust and only experiencing life from behind a protective glass. To truly experience life, get involved in it! Get down and dirty. You may come out with a few chips and dings, but at least you can say you weren't afraid, you weren't frozen, you weren't stuck - you lived! Without the darkness, we wouldn't know light because everything would just be grey. Without the downs, we wouldn't know the ups because everything would just be flat. Without loss we wouldn't know happiness because everything would just be neutral. I have tried so many times to explain the meaning of these words to young people and I just don't think I can adequately do so. Life is full of experiences, good and bad, and much like the old theme song to The Facts of Life - "You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have the facts of life!" Don't sit back and watch life go by, get out there, get hurt, get happy, get up, get down, stick your right foot in and take your right foot out and do the hokey pokey! Oops, sorry, wrong message. But, you get what I'm saying, right?

P.S. Did you know that the theme song for season 1 of The Facts of Life was different than seasons 2-5? Wow, the things you can learn on the internet!

Ringtones

This morning I woke up at 4:11 am, sweating like a race horse and with a very urgent need to visit the bathroom. I had trouble going back to sleep after that, so I opened up my Nook and finished the last 100 pages of "Catching Fire". AWESOME READ, by the way, if you haven't read it, yet. Yes, I know I'm a little behind the times and most of you probably read it more than a year ago. Forgive me. I downloaded it months ago and just now got around to reading it. Finally, around 7:00 I went back to sleep and woke up again around 7:30. The last thing I remember dreaming was that I was in the office and Jakob's phone was plugged in, which I thought was strange because normally he does that in his bedroom, and then it started ringing. But, what caught me off guard was that the ringtone was the first few guitar strums of "Let's Get Together" from the original Parent Trap movie. I thought, "What boy has that for a ringtone?" Don't get me wrong, I love the song, but it just seems a little girly for a boy's ringtone. I wasn't altogether sure that it was ringing because I've never actually heard his phone ring. I think he keeps it set on silent or stun. Then Diamond shook as she woke up and her massive tail thundered against the wall and woke me up.

That got me to thinking, what do our ringtones say about us? What do mine say about me? Here's a quick rundown of past ringtones that I've had:

"How 'Bout Them Cowgirls" by George Strait
"She's Country" by Jason Aldean
"Wildfire" by Michael Martin Murphy
"Sex and the City" theme song
"Dallas" theme song
"Harry Potter" theme song
"Bells Tolling" this is my current ringtone, it's one that came on my phone and I chose it because it sounds like wedding bells

What do all of these songs tell you about me? Or does it matter? Perhaps you're not as judgemental about ringtones as I am? Maybe, my ringtone choice means nothing at all? Maybe, like my husband, you choose a ringtone because it's loud and gets your attention, not because it suits your personality? These are the haunting, daunting, I-need-an-answer-to questions that keep me up at night. Or infilitrate my dreams, anyway.

:)

Joe's and video games

We finally took the boy to Eskimo Joe's last week!

 

After the world famous bacon cheese fries, Jakob had the sweet peppered bacon and cheese hamburger. I'm glad he loves bacon as much as we do.

Afterward, we took him to the to the store so he could get the new FIFA game and then we had ice cream shakes. I felt like an overgrown, fat roly poly. Or a pot bellied pig. Or a tick that's been feeding on a fat dog for 3 days. Or Marilyn after we give her canned dog food. Too. Much. Food. Ugh.....

Jakob has since been glued to the Xbox lol :)

Easy spaghetti

I love spaghetti. I've been making it for for-ev-or (channeling a little "Sandlot" for ya). But, I hate, get it, I hate sauce from a jar. I have never had any kind of jarred sauce that I thought tasted good at all. Other than the light alfredo from Classico, but that's not spaghetti sauce. I'm talking about red sauce or meat sauce. I have a friend who puts sugar in her spaghetti sauce, which sounds gross and weird and just downright wrong, but it's actually pretty good. I ate it. If you're like me, and you despise the jarred variety, here's a super simple recipe to get your engine running for spaghetti! It's so easy you might slap yourself!

Easy Spaghetti

• 1 package thin spaghetti
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1 package thick & zesty spaghetti seasoning
• 1 package italian mushroom spaghetti seasoning

Cook the spaghetti noodles as directed on the package. Brown the ground beef, then drain. I rinse it under hot water, too. I like to get off as much grease as possible; drain well. Throw it back in the pan. Dump in your diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and both packages of seasoning and cook it through. If it's too thick for you, thin it out with one small can of tomato sauce or some water. Add some garlic salt if you've got a hankering for it. Serve it on top of the cooked spaghetti noodles with garlic bread and some parmesan cheese.