Happy Bird Day

Happy happy Thursday everyone! Today I am sharing a card for the My Pink Stamper challenge. It's Robyn's birthday and she's celebrating. The challenge was to make a birthday card. This card was made using my Cricut Expression and the 3 Birds cartridge. The first time I've used it. The paper is retired DP, I believe that it was a hostess bundle. The ribbon is pink pirouette and the cardstock is baja breeze and the new pear color. The stamp is from Robyn's stamps.

Don't forget blog candy here.

As far as my freezer meals are going, I have been cooking a lot and putting a few meals in the freezer. I started with lentil soup. Now I don't like lentil soup but my husband does. I use Ina Garten's recipe which can be found here.

Now, I made a few modifications, first I only use 1 medium onion, the amount of onions the recipe calls for is way too much. I also use about half the lentils. This soup makes an absolute ton still. I fed 5 people and there was enough for lunch for two people and I froze a healthy amount for when my husband wants it again. I pulled out what I wanted to freeze about halfway through the cooking. When I defrost, I will heat and simmer for 30 minutes and then add the polska kielbasa and 2 Tb of red wine vinegar.

I do have a fabulous recipe for you if you are in the mood for homemade beans, super cheap and easy. I call these "Dad's beans" as this is my dad's recipe. He wanted beans that he could control the salt, due to his pace maker and without lard or too much fat.

Recipe for Dad's beans:
1 lb of dried pinto beans (cleaned and picked over for rocks)
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 large garlic roughly chopped
jalapeno (as much as you want, I only use about a quarter of it cuz of my wee ones)
1/4 cup or so olive oil (I used grapeseed cuz that's what I had)
Salt and pepper - I don't have a heart condition so I put a healthy amount of salt which really helps the flavor)
Water - Should be 1-2 inches above the bean mixture

Dump it all in a crock pot and cook on high for about 4 hours or low for 8 hours - if beans become dry add more water. When beans can be smushed easily you can serve them whole or do what I do which is take my potato masher and smash, smash smash the beans until they become creamy and delicious. They are wonderful just like this or you can fry them in a dry pan to get that refried bean consistency but I love them creamy.

Pin It Now!