Just a couple or four quick things today.
1. Red beans and rice recipe
Several of you asked for my recipe yesterday but there are a couple of things you need to know.
First, I don’t actually use red beans. Second, I don’t really have a recipe. It’s all a little of this and a little of that.
1 pound pinto beans (you have to soak overnight or quick soak and bring to a boil and let simmer for about 1 1/2 – 2 hours)
2 15 oz. cans diced tomatoes with garlic and onion
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
2 lbs smoked link sausage
Tony Chachere’s cajun seasoning
salt & pepper to taste
Cover beans with water and soak overnight or quick soak. Add water as needed. Drain water and then cover soaked beans with fresh water. Add cans of diced tomatoes and tomato sauce along with cajun seasoning, salt & pepper to taste. Let simmer for about thirty minutes and then cut sausage into quartered slices and add to beans. (If you want to get fancy you can cut up an onion and sauté with sausage before adding but I’m usually not fancy) Let simmer another 45 minutes and then serve over rice, preferably with some cornbread.
2. Mabel & Piper
The girls ride with me almost every day to pick Caroline up from school and they are always on high alert. This is no time for wagging tails or shenanigans. In fact, Mabel has (naturally) written a couple of haikus about it to add to her book of poetry.
Carpool means trouble
Kids running backpacks flying
I am on the case
Riding in the car
Isn’t for the faint of heart
Danger all around
Not to be left out, Piper also tried her hand at writing. Here’s what she came up with.
FOOD. WHEN WILL I GET MORE FOOD?
3. The Fringe Hours: Making Time for You by Jessica Turner
I think one of the hardest things about being a mom – especially a mom of little kids – is looking up and realizing you can’t remember the last time you did something for yourself or by yourself, including going to the bathroom. That’s why I thought you might want to know about Jessica Turner’s new book. It’s all about the importance of carving out a little time even in the midst of raising a family.
It’s available here on Amazon and here on Barnes & Noble.
4. 25:40 Love
I recently discovered the 25:40 Love shop online and fell in love with all their cute products. The best part is they feature a new charity each month and donate 15% of all profits to that charity. This month happens to be Show Hope which works to help orphans.
Just look at some of the great things they sell.
This great barn wood chalkboard
And this Have faith pillow cover
I love when you can buy cute things for your home and give money toward a good cause all at the same time. And today the sweet people behind 25:40 are giving away a Have Faith pillow cover to one of you!
All you have to do for a chance to win is leave a comment on this post – maybe you can tell me what your favorite thing is from their store. You can find all their great products here. I’ll leave comments open until this Sunday and then pick a winner using Random.org.
Hope you have a great day.