Recipe: Crock Pot Refried Beans

Here is a new recipe that I am cooking as I type this.  :)  I have wanted to try making homemade refried beans and this is a recipe that is easy as pie.  And if it tastes as good as it smells...I think we have a winner!

Refried Beans without the Refry

Ingredients

• 1 onion, peeled and halved
• 
  
• 3 cups dry pinto beans, rinsed
• 
  
• 1/2 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
• 
  
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 
  
• 5 teaspoons salt
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• 1 3/4 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
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• 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin, optional
• 
  
• 9 cups water

Directions:

Place the onion, rinsed beans, jalapeno, garlic, salt, pepper, and cumin into a slow cooker. Pour in the water and stir to combine. Cook on High for 8 hours, adding more water as needed. Note: if more than 1 cup of water has evaporated during cooking, then the temperature is too high. Once the beans have cooked, strain them, and reserve the liquid. Mash the beans with a potato masher, adding the reserved water as needed to attain desired consistency.

A Simple Trick to Teach Children to Set the Table

Here is a great idea for training your children in the chore of setting the table!

Purchase inexpensive placemats at the Dollar Tree.  Buy ones with limited printing on them.

Draw with a permanent marker where each item should be placed.  Plate, napkin, fork, spoon and knife.  You can also draw a circle for a cup/glass.

Now a chore has been made into a matching game!  

What a fantastic idea!

This idea could be used for your young children or grandchildren.  Children are never too young to be taught a good work ethic. :)

Tubing and Transmission

Busy two days. :)

Friday, I finished up all our insurance paperwork...cleaned the church and ran a few errands.  Then home for some bean and cheese burritos.  Yum!  I never tire of Mexican food.  Never. :)

Today, we had a big teen activity - tubing down the Truckee River.  This is the 3rd time that we have held this activity and it is always a big draw.  We also have lots of adults and kiddos that come as well.  The teens and some adult chaperones float down the river on tubes while us ladies and kids stay behind and socialize.  My three oldest went fishing with their papa and I watched Summer and Ben with the other ladies.

After they finished tubing, we had a nice meal of hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, watermelon and desserts.  Kudos to Mrs. Cook and her clan who always make the best homemade treats!  There were a couple games of volleyball.

All in all, it was a very nice day.  :)  On the way home, we had trouble with our transmission and suddenly found ourselves stranded on the side of the freeway.  We were able to make it to the Traynor home where Bro. Shaun gave us a ride. PTL!  Pray it is not a major problem and that we can have it fixed without a lot of heavy cost.

I started this post last night and finished it this morning.  Just a little tired. LOL!  Have a great Sunday!

He Hears...

Sometimes we just have discouraging moments.  The money just doesn't stretch to pay the bills, you are eating PB sandwiches for dinner, they make changes at work that do not seem fair, you can't seem to make it over the hump of your illness...and you are weary of facing it all.

In these times, I am thankful for the reminder that I read in my devotions this morning.

"Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God...I have even heard thee also, saith the Lord."  II Chronicles 34:27

God hears you.  Even those times when you just even can't seem to pray...perhaps it is just tears...He hears.

Project: School Room/Office

So today, I woke up and thought...What am I going to do today???  My mom left me and went back to Ohio. :(  LOL!  So I decided to tackle a project-organizing the office/school room.

As you may remember, I just finished painting and putting new curtains in this room.  I also received this beautiful bookcase as well.

The new bookcase turned out to be so helpful for organization!  Before, my clothes closet also held all my cards/stationery, all office and school supplies and all school books and grading materials.  Now, I have this nice storage space that is neat and very handy.  I love it!

I have my secretary in the dining room where I use it to write letters, read my Bible, etc.  This is my desk in our office to pay bills, grade papers, etc.

The girls desks are all set up ready to go.  School books, pencil/supply boxes filled and DVD players ready to go.

Ready to begin!

I love this drawer!  It is perfect to place all our needed paper for our printing jobs. :)

Nana's Visit-2012-Part 9-Sunday-Tuesday

Mom in my "happy place" enjoying the sun on her last day in Reno. :)

Mom and her favorite son-in-law! :)

Who knows what Autumn may be thinking...or if she is thinking! LOL!

This girl is getting more beautiful...almost 9 years old. :)  Our Addie.

Yes...we took a picture of the beautiful, wonderful rain!!  It really was one of my favorite days of the entire summer!  The entire day was dark, gray clouds....followed by a sprinkle...cool breezes...then a break in the clouds...then all over again!  We NEVER get rain in the summer so it was SO fun to have a rainy day! :)

LOL!  Great pose in action!

Papa and Summer after she just woke up from her nap. :)

A few pictures from lunch at Dickey's on Sunday.  Mom loved this place! :)

Someone loved the mac n cheese!

Mom, Autumn and Papa Tastet.

Nana's Visit-Part 8-Monday

Yay!  My blog is fixed.  That was really driving me batty.  LOL! 

We had a wonderful Sunday at our church.  Our family was able to sing two specials - My husband, my mom and myself sang "It's Still the Blood"...I loved the three part harmony. :)  Then our family, my husband, our two daughters and myself sang a new song-"He Knows My Name".  Even though it seemed like yesterday was a day of struggles, I felt God really used those songs to touch hearts.  In fact, one of our visitors actually had gone to the gym and saw our church and decided to visit.  He told me when he shook my hand - that he was so tired of visiting churches and just hearing drums and the heavy rock in their music.  He said he grew up with Mrs. So and So playing the piano and that was the music.  He said my playing and our music was so refreshing to him.  I was so blessed by his comment!!!

We also had a couple that are moving to Reno from Vegas.  They were referred to our church by Bro. Teis who pastors in Vegas. :)  Sweet couple.

And we had a lady-Miss Sue-who was visiting family in Reno, found our church online and wanted to visit.  Her family is Catholic and wouldn't come with her but she came by herself and was a blessing to us!

My husband also dedicated Baby John Traynor in the service as well. :)

Today, I had made plans to go to the lake.  However, when I woke up at 5:30am, it was dark, cloudy and thunderstorming.  After looking at the weather report, we decided to stay close to home since the rain and storms were going to be off and on all day.

So we ran a few errands, had lunch at Taco Bell and got slurpees (thanks to Papa Holt for sending the money :).  After we got home, I worked on the laundry and mowed in between raindrops.  Mom helped me make fresh salsa and stuffed green peppers for dinner.  I also baked up a peach cobbler for tonight as well.  It has been a relaxing day...but I am not looking forward to Mom leaving tomorrow. :(

So we will enjoy our last night!  Have a great Monday!

Saturday...

Today, we were able to go on church visitation and pass out postcards in a nearby neighborhood. The tour group from West Coast joined our family and helped us! It was a blessing to have so many folks to help us. :)

After visitation, we had lunch together at Red Robin.

A relaxing afternoon at home...we will go have dinner with one of our dear church folks.

Have a great Saturday evening!

Nana's Visit 2012-Part 7-Girls Day Out

Thursday, we did our annual thrift store shopping day and lunch at Olive Garden. :)

I found a few clothing items for the girls, three pairs of shoes for the girls, a couple cookbooks from Taste of Home and a couple of toys the girls couldn't pass up.

And enjoyed soup, salad and breadsticks at Olive Garden. :)

Nana's Visit 2012-Part 6-Family Fun Night

Sorry for the delay...I am having problems with posting on my blog and I can't figure it out. So I had to go back to the old Blogger interface...

Here are a few pictures from our Family Fun Night. I didn't get any pictures but my mom took a few. :)

This is our oldest with ice cream sundaes at the end of the night!

This is my brother-in-law, Neil, and me. :)

This is Neil's son, Grayson. He is 6 weeks old. :)

My husband and I with our nephew. :)

Addie and Johnny...or as the girls call him...Johnny Appleseed. LOL!

This is the tour group from West Coast Baptist College - the Revival Trio and their piano player.

Katie, Hannah, Paul and Lindsay. They were awesome!!!

This is the tour preacher and his wife, Bro. Reed and Miss Becca.

Nana's Visit 2012-Part 5

Here are pictures from Thursday evening. :) Mom had a princess party with the girls and they loved it!

Nana's Visit-Part 4-Video of Sid

This is a video of Summer receiving her new animal from Build-A-Bear.  My dad has a tradition that when each of his grandkids turn one year old - he gets them or takes them to Build-A-Bear.  This was Summer's turn and she got Sid from the movie - Ice Age.  She calls him "Seed".  LOL!

Nana's Visit 2012-Part 3

This is Tuesday afternoon.  We had lunch at the park then spent a couple hours at the Sparks marina.  The girls were in Heaven with Nana in the water.

Little Summer doing her thing.  LOL!

So glad that they can spend this fun time together!

Nana's Visit 2012-Part 2-TLC

A few pictures of our recent TLC Ladies Bible Study.  We have our study once a month - the first Tuesday of the month.

Pictured is:  My mom, Marcia, my daughter, Addie, Paula, Sharon and Jennifer.  Mercedes is in the corner getting ready to sit down but didn't make it in the picture. :)

Celeste, Lacey, LaDonna, Sandy and Pam.

Shannon, LeAne, Claudia, Megan, Lisa and Danyelle.

It was the honor of my life that I could have my mom sit in on one of my ladies' meetings.  She has been my #1 spiritual encourager in my life...and now especially for the two years that we have started our church...there is no one that has been nothing but a blessing to my husband and I on a daily basis...encouraging us that we are doing the right thing and to keep on going.  I am grateful for her love and support.  

Nana's Visit 2012-Part 1

A few pics from the first day of my mom's visit. :)  A bouquet of flowers for her room.

One of the signs that the girls made...

Another sign...along with little notes and gifts that they made.

An award that Addie made...all they did was entirely on their own. :)

Addie made a sign for the door...and even made a little "Sleeping" sign to hang on her doorknob.  LOL!

Waiting in the corridor.

She's finally here! :)