My Black Beans & Rice

Most recipes that I use have been copied from others, or are recipes that friends and family have shared with me. This one is MINE! Super easy and healthy.

I serve it with chicken or grilled fish.

1 c. rice, uncooked

2 c. water

1 tsp. kosher salt

Place rice, water and salt into a pan. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low. Cook 18-20 minutes until all of the water has evaporated. Fluff rice with a fork.

1/3 c. chopped onion

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 T. olive oil

1 15.5 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 small can mild green chiles, chopped

cilantro

In a separate pan, saute onion and garlic in oil until onion is clear. Add beans and heat through. Add rice and stir in green chiles.

Right before serving, add fresh chopped cilantro.

Serves 6 (1/2 c. servings)

Flavorful, easy, low fat...enjoy!

Sharing this recipe at All The Small Stuff

Samoas Bars!

I was craving Samoas and was excited to try out this recipe! And wouldn't you know? Not more than 2 hours after I made these, my neighbor, across the street, called to say that my Girl Scout cookie order just came in....6 more boxes of Samoas headed my way! I totally thought they weren't coming until mid March!

I am going to be sick of these little cookies very soon.

I've made homemade thin mints before and they are yummy, but a lot of work, and it's just easier to buy the Keebler ones for $2/box!

Maybe someday Keebler will come out with their own version of Samoas too. Until then, the Girl Scouts will continue to get my money and on the off season, I'll make my own :) These are VERY good, and VERY rich, You could easily spread the cookie crust thinner among two pans.

For more Girl Scout cookie recipes, scroll to the bottom of the post. These are all courtesy of Baking Bites.

Homemade Samoas Bars

Cookie Base:

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 large egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

First, make the crust.Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking pan, or line with parchment paper.In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter, until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla extract. Working at a low speed, gradually beat in flour and salt until mixture is crumbly, like wet sand. The dough does not need to come together. Pour crumbly dough into prepapred pan and press into an even layer.Bake for 20-25 minutes, until base is set and edges are lightly browned. Cool completely on a wire rack before topping.

Topping

3 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)

12-oz good-quality chewy caramels

1/4 tsp salt

3 tbsp milk

10 oz. dark or semisweet chocolate (chocolate chips are ok)

Preheat oven to 300. Spread coconut evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet (preferably one with sides) and toast 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until coconut is golden. Cool on baking sheet, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

Unwrap the caramels and place in a large microwave-safe bowl with milk and salt. Cook on high for 3-4 minutes, stopping to stir a few times to help the caramel melt. When smooth, fold in toasted coconut with a spatula.Put dollops of the topping all over the shortbread base. Using the spatula, spread topping into an even layer. Let topping set until cooled.When cooled, cut into 30 bars with a large knife or a pizza cutter (it’s easy to get it through the topping).Once bars are cut, melt chocolate in a small bowl. Heat on high in the microwave in 45 second intervals, stirring thoroughly to prevent scorching. Dip the base of each bar into the chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment or wax paper. Transfer all remaining chocolate (or melt a bit of additional chocolate, if necessary) into a piping bag or a ziploc bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle bars with chocolate to finish. Let chocolate set completely before storing in an airtight container.

Makes 30 bar cookies.

Note: You can simply drizzle chocolate on top of the bars before slicing them up if you’re looking for yet an easier way to finish these off. You won’t need quite as much chocolate as noted above, and you won’t quite get the Samoas look, but the results will still be tasty.

Don't like Samoas? That's ok, they have recipes for Thin Mints, Tagalongs, and Do-si-Dos too!!

Photo Collage Clock

This clock came from Hobby Lobby. It was $24.99, marked down to $2.49. You couldn't even buy the metal easel for that price! Derrick found it and thought that I could do some sort of photo collage on it. We bought it, and it sat in my craft closet forever. I forgot about it until recently when I found out that Costco prints out large collages and photos for such great prices!

You can create a collage online at Costco, but they only do the grid ones. I wanted one that looked a little more random so I created one on Picasa. You can download Picasa for free. Then I saved it to my computer and uploaded it to Costco online and had them print it out in a 12x12 print. $2.99!!

The clock worked, but was missing hands. I had a hard time finding hands to fit since it was a different brand than the replacement ones I was looking at. So I bought a clock kit at Michael's with black hands to use for this project.

I placed the photo on the clock and found the center point. I marked it and cut it out so that the clock kit could slide through. I was lucky that it was already pre-drilled for the previous clock kit.

Then I traced around the clock and cut out the photo.

My trusty little helper, Aaron, applied a thin coat of mod podge to the face of the clock and laid the photo on top.

After that dried, I applied another coat of mod podge to the top of the clock and then assembled the clock kit and black hands. The clock kit was super easy to add and had great instructions. You could make a clock out of ANY hard surface. Just drill a hole (if it doesn't already have one) and you are good to go!


The kids love finding their photos in the collage!


 

Rosette Handbag

 My Mom is spoiled :) She called me a couple of weeks ago and asked me to make her a new handbag. The one I made her a year ago is well worn and she requested another one just like it. I've been meaning to make myself a purse, but never seem to have time to sit down and do it. But it's so much easier to find time to make things for other people! Maybe because there isn't a guilt factor there. It's service and not selfish!

Someday I will make myself an upgrade to my diaper bag. And I will use fabric just like the ones I chose for my mom's purse.

Just not today.

The style is the same as the last one I made, but this time I didn't make a pocket on the front. Instead, I tried these fabric roses.

There are two pockets inside, one zippered. I think it turned out nice and hope she likes it as much as she like the other one!

Giganto Smores!

A week or so ago we had a big snow storm. Derrick went out before the night the storm was supposed to begin and ran a few errands. He grabbed all the supplies to make smores for the kids. It was a great activity for a snowy day.

Look at that smore. It is HUGE! He found these monster sized marshmallows and the kids loved them! I don't think either of them were able to finish their snack. It was just too big, but the "wow" factor was there and they thought it was awesome :)
(left: Giant Mexican Marshmallow, right: Jumbo Marshmallow)
Just in case anyone is a huge marshmallow fan and would like to get these (I'm not), they are in the Mexican food section.

Stack your chocolate, marshmallow and crackers (chocolate grahams in this case) on a microwave safe plate and microwave just long enough for the marshmallow to begin to expand. OR...you can use a blow torch to roast your marshmallow. We've made them both ways this week. That's it!

Cute as a Button!

Drooling? You will be after you see this recipe! Coconut cupcakes (courtesy of Martha Stewart) and homemade buttercream frosting. YUM.

I made these for a baby shower & luncheon that a friend and I hosted at my home this afternoon. It was SO MUCH FUN! Great food, friends, visiting and laughter!


I saw these fun chocolate buttons on Bakerella. She had linked them to Bake it Pretty who sold the molds for them. I HAD to have some. So I put in my order and they came in time for me to make them for this baby shower!

I used blue, white, and brown Wilton melts and put them into tiny plastic lollipop bags. I printed out a design that I made on my computer along with the baby's birth info. I cut out each tag, folded it in half and stapled it across the baggie just like a bag of buttons that you would find in a craft store.


The perfect party favor. I used the buttons on top of the cupcakes as well.


Martha Stewart's Coconut Cupcakes

Makes 21
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup packed sweetened shredded coconut
6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 large eggs plus 2 large egg whites
3/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl. Put coconut flakes into a food processor and pulse until finely shredded. Wisk into dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, and beat.

Reduce speed to low. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in 3 additions, alternating with coconut milk and ending with dry. Scrape sides of bowl. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full.
Bake cupcakes until testers inserted into centers come out clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks. Cupcakes will keep, covered, for up to 3 days, or freeze for one month.


Buttercream Frosting
{adapted from Wilton's Buttercream frosting}

{you may use shortening, and use butter flavoring instead of vanilla, but butter tastes so much better!}

1 c. butter
1 pound sifted powdered sugar
2 T. water
1 tsp. flavoring (I used vanilla)

Place ingredients into a mixing bowl and beat. Scrape sides, then continue beating until smooth.

6 Be's Cardstock Busy Book Page

Church was cancelled a week ago so we did Primary at home with the kids! I asked Dallin the night before what he would like to learn about. He said that he wanted to learn about President Hinckley since he was his favorite prophet. Gordon B. Hinckley is the former president of our church. He was truly an inspiration and we just love him. When I was a teen he shared the "6 Be's" with us. I remember the talk and thinking that it was something that would become a standard with the youth.

Be Grateful

Be True

Be Smart

Be Clean

Be Humble

Be Prayerful

I found pictures in the gospel art kit that went along with each "Be" as well as songs. It was a nice lesson and the kids liked putting the bumble bees next to each topic.

I thought that since I was putting a lot of time into this little poster that I would give it a dual purpose. I made it the same size as the Cardstock Busy Book pages that I have been working on. Perfect for church.

The "bees" are actually fireflies from my cricut cartridge "Stretch Your Imagination". I don't own a cartridge with bee cutouts, but these worked. I drew out a beehive shape on cardstock, glued it all together, laminated it, and added velcro tabs so that the kids can move the bees around.

Happy Birthday Saydria!

Wow, MORE snow days! 9 more inches and another 2 tonight. Then another snow storm this weekend! Needless to say, there's been a lot of Wii playing, projects, reading to the kids, and a little time for myself...to blog while the kids watch a movie :)

This little project was SO MUCH FUN! Our sweet friend, Saydria, turned 8. We went over for cake and ice cream last night and brought her this little purse with accessories.

After the kids went to bed the other night I went through my fabrics and found this pink one that I had used when I was selling baby shoes. There was just enough to make a small purse. I don't have a pattern to share for this one since I just cut it out without any measurements and sewed it up, but here is a tutorial for a handbag with the same kind of boxing on the bottom so that the bag can stand up.

It is such a cute style and QUICK to sew up!! I used fusible interfacing in the straps and on the bag to make it sturdy. She is hoping that it will be big enough to put her new scriptures in.

The flower is just 3 pieces of felt scraps cut into circles with 3 small craft beads for the center and a felt leaf. Super easy. I added the flower the next morning while Kaylee "helped" sort through beads to put in the center. She had a lot of fun sorting and throwing.I haven't mastered my small tool skills yet, lol. Don't look too closely at the wire on the earrings, and hopefully Saydria's mom, Stephanie, won't either. She makes lots of jewelry.

The fabric button hair tie was another quick project...2 minutes. I used this tutorial when I made them with the young women at one of our Wednesday night activities.

And here it is! A custom gift out of the supplies I already had on hand and I didn't have to go to the store with 3 kids in the snow. Even better.

Lori, from LIFE AS LORI, featured this project in her favorites on Feature Saturday! Thank you Lori!

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

We are the only ones in our family who live in Ohio, or in the Midwest for that matter. ALL of our family lives in the west and in Alaska, so we love making little reminders to send showing how much we love and miss them!

I just dipped the kid's thumbs in acrylic paint and printed it onto the card stock. Super simple but personal.

Happy Valentine's Day!

More Fortune Cookies!

I posted a picture of our trial batch of fortune cookies in January. They were a lot of fun to make and we've made several batches since then. My friend, Becki, said that she made these and dipped them in chocolate and they turned out great. So I used some Wilton melting candies and did the same thing. I added some red sugar on each one as well, and I think they turned out so pretty! Much better with a little color.

We made cookies for Dallin's bus driver and teacher today. He worked very hard yesterday writing out his little "fortunes" which were adorable.

I am also going to make a batch to bring to church on Sunday for the young women that I work with. SO fun!

Snow Sundaes!

The kids LOVED making these! Super easy and a fun seasonal activity. We used leftover candy canes from this project and sprinkled them with mini m&ms. We'd make more but we ran out of milk. Getting more milk would require traveling through the snow to get to the grocery store. We're good.

Snow Ice Cream

7-8 cups unpacked snow

1 c. milk

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 c. sugar

Mix together and serve. Eat it fast because it melts quickly!

My friend, Tanya, said that her family made peach snow ice cream. I need to ask her how she did that because it sounds awesome!

Linked up to The Thrifty Home, Somewhat Simple

Our Favorite Sugar Cookies

Every family has a favorite sugar cookie recipe. This is ours. I found it online 4 years ago and haven't used another one since.

 

 

Roll Out Cookies

1 c. butter, softened ***

1 1/2 c. sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. almond extract

2 3/4 c. flour

2 tsp. baking powder

Preheat oven to 400°F. In mixing bowl, cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and extracts. Mix flour and baking powder; add to butter mixture 1 cup at a time, mixing after each addition.

Do not chill dough. (I LOVE this part!)

On a floured surface, roll out dough 1/4 in. thick. Dip cookie cutter in flour before each use. Bake cookies on ungreased cookie sheet 6-7 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned.

Makes 3 dozen

Adapted from Wilton's Roll Out Cookies

***original recipe calls for unsalted butter. I only buy regular butter. If using unsalted, add 1 tsp. of salt to the recipe. There is no need for salt if using regular butter.***

The boys love helping with these. They get better each time we make them. Dallin cut out most of the shapes by himself this time.

They both enjoyed dipping them into the frosting. I handed Aaron a wet wipe to wash his hands and he said, "We can just lick the frosting off" Um, probably not.
 

(Luckily I made a few before handing the over the boys for Aaron's little Valentine's party on Thursday...cootie-free).

To make a frosting glaze, just warm the frosting tub (remove lid and liner) in the microwave for 30-40 seconds. Stir and pour into a wider container for dipping.

Dip them face side down, let excess drip off and lay on a baking rack. They'll harden back up again and are so smooth and perfect....and a lot easier for the kids to frost than frosting with a butter knife. I use this technic for a quick way to frost/glaze homemade donuts too.
 

Add sprinkles. At least 3 varieties for each cookie as the boys demonstrated.

We make these all the time, no holiday necessary. I love that Dallin chose dinosaurs for Valentine's day, classic.

 

Peppermint Hearts

I saw these peppermint hearts last February and thought they were very cute. I made sure to grab a box of candy canes during the Christmas clearance sale at Target so that we could do them this year!
The boys each made one for their primary teacher at church. We filled each heart with white almond bark and red sugar. I saw the idea for the filling HERE. I think we may have left ours in the oven too long. They are a lot wider than the ones I saw before, but that's ok! For baking instructions check THIS out. We followed her directions, but didn't use lollipop sticks since we were using regular sized candy canes and I only had small lollipop sticks.

The hardest part was unwrapping the candy canes. We got a box full of broken ones, I swear! 24 candy canes and we salvaged 10. The others went into a ziploc bag in the freezer to crush up for desserts.

Yum!

We also saved a couple for decorations at our house. I think next year I'll buy mini candy canes and make lollipops for the kid's friends.

Inspiration for this project was found at http://www.theidearoom.blogspot.com/