Cowboy Beans:

Ingredients:

1 pound dried pinto beans, soaked overnight
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 pound lean ground beef or turkey (optional)
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1-2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 Tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 (10-ounce) can Rotel (tomatoes with chilies), or traditional chopped tomatoes, your choice
1-2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
7 cups water
sliced jalapenos (optional)

Directions:

Sort pinto beans, and soak overnight in lots of fresh water. In the morning, drain your beans, and pick out any that have split open, or look discolored and shriveled.

Pour into a 6 quart crockpot. Brown hamburger and onion on the stove, and drain fat. While the meat is cooking, add the rest of the ingredients into your crockpot. Start with 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce and apple cider vinegar. Add the meat, and top with 7 cups of fresh water. Stir to combine.

Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours, or on high for about 6. Taste the beans. If you'd like your beans to have more of a tang, add some more Worcestershire sauce and apple cider vinegar. Top with sliced jalapenos, if desired. 

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Holy wow, it's been one heck of a week. It started with me having to pick up a bat to remove him/her from my living room in the middle of the day and "ended" with a power outage that lasted 18 hours. In the middle there was the death of a friend that has left me in shock, even days later. I don't want to dwell on any of that though. Let's focus on some fun and positive things.

Quinoa Casserole:

Ingredients:

1.5 cups quinoa
3 cups broth (chicken or vegetable)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 sliced or chopped almonds
1/3 cup dried unsweetened cranberries
Handful of baby spinach
1 cup baby tomatoes, halved or quartered depending on size
1/2 block feta cheese, crumbled

Directions:

Pour quinoa into the crockpot. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and mix it around. Add chicken or vegetable broth, the salt, and cinnamon. Stir in almonds and cranberries.

Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours, or on high for 2-4. The quinoa is done when you can fluff it with a fork and it is tender. The liquid should be pretty well absorbed, similar to how you know rice is done.

Fluff the quinoa with a fork, and add the baby tomatoes and feta cheese. Stir gingerly to mix. Add a large handful of baby spinach to the top of the crockpot, and close the lid. Cook on high for about 20 minutes, or until the spinach has wilted. Stir again to distribute the spinach. 

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Italian Rice:

Ingredients:

1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained

6 green onions, sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1 cup long-grain white basmati rice

2 cups chicken broth

 

Directions:

 

Put the tomatoes and sliced green onions into the bottom of your cooker and add garlic and Italian seasoning. Stir in the raw rice until it's evenly coated with the tomato mixture and spices. Pour in the chicken broth.

 

Cover and cook on low for 4 hours, or until the rice is tender. Take the lid off and fluff the rice with a fork. Let the slow cooker sit with the lid off for 10-15 minutes before serving to release steam.

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Whew! I almost didn't get a post up today. I had a doctor's appointment, went shopping, came home, and after lunch took a three hour nap. Then, tonight, I was on a livestream to help promote an awesome anthology called Cthulhu Invades Neverland. It's currently on Kickstarter. If you're into either of these fandoms, you should check it out.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries & Apples:

Ingredients:

Fruit – Strawberries, Apples, Pineapple or any other favorite

Chocolate chips – 1 bag or as much as you’d like.

Crockpot

 

Directions:

Dump chocolate chips into the crockpot.

While the chocolate is melting, wash and prepare the fruit you're going to use, and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Cook on high for 30 min-1 hr. You will know that the chocolate is ready to stir when it gets really shiny and begins to break down. You can start stirring it when the chip forms are still visible.

Dip fruit pieces into the melted chocolate. Put the covered fruit onto the parchment-paper lined cookie sheets and place into the refrigerator to harden. 

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When the chance to create a holiday happened, the sheep were first in line to add January 20^th as Cheese Lover’s Day. They loved cheese and tried to have some with every meal. The other toys could tell you that whenever the sheep were in charge of food for an event, there was always cheese. They didn’t know the types of cheese, but the sheep always chose delicious ones for everyone to enjoy.

On January 20^th, the sheep laid out all different types of cheese on their outdoor tables. There were soft cheeses like Brie, ricotta, cream cheese, and even cottage cheese. There were hard cheeses like cheddar, parmesan, and Swiss. Each of the cheeses was labeled with its name and had a small plate of crackers next to it.

As each of the toys stopped by that day, they tried different types of cheeses, and the sheep told them about each one.

“Brie is from France. It tastes great on crackers or even on sandwiches,” Baa told Teddy when he stopped by.

“Cheddar cheese comes from England and is white there. Here, in the United States, it’s yellow,” said Black Sheep.

“I bet you can’t guess where Swiss cheese comes from,” said Baaa to Sylver when he took a nibble of the holey cheese. “Umm…Switzerland?” answered Sylver. “You’re right!” the three sheep yelled, making Sylver jump and almost drop his cheese. He scrambled and managed to catch it before popping it into his mouth.

He was about to head back to the ocean life cubby when he noticed a tv set up next to the tables. “What’s this?” he asked. “Oh that…that’s something that we thought the toys might enjoy. It’s a game called Cheese Game.”

Sylver walked closer to the screen and noticed that controllers had been hooked up. “Can I try it out?”

“Of course you can. That’s why we set it up!” said Baa while his brothers walked back to the tables to put out new pieces of cheese. “It’s one player or I’d play with you. Try it out and if you would like a snack, come back over for some more cheese. Perhaps some cheddar this time or cream cheese.” Baa smiled and walked away.

Sylver picked up a controller and hit start. He chuckled when he saw that he was playing as a piece of cheese that looked a lot like the piece that he had just eaten. The game started easily enough. He was a piece of cheese that had to avoid everything because everything wanted to eat him. He beat a few levels and when he paused for a moment, he noticed that he had drawn quite the crowd around him. Quite a few of his friends were there supporting him and cheering him on.

He took a deep breath and unpaused the game. It was time for the final level. With his friends watching, he dodged left, and he dodged right. There were rocks falling from the sky and a miner trying to catch him. He kept dodging and running. The rocks were falling faster now and the more intense the game got, the quieter his friends got. There were only thirty seconds left. Could he beat the game?

He dodged to the left again. A rock barely missed him, and his friends held their breath. He was so close. Another dodge to the right and around a pair of rocks that came raining down. The miner was right there, but he managed to veer around him. Ten seconds left. Suddenly the rocks were coming down faster, but with each rock that rained down, he dodged around it. Five seconds left and the miner was right on this tail. He flipped around and ran around the miner. Time was up and he won! He let out the breath that he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and grinning, turned around to hug his cheering friends.

“You did it! On your first try you beat that game!”

“Oh my gosh, that was awesome!”

“Thanks, guys! We should celebrate with some cheese!”

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Hi, guys! It's me. Then again, who else would it be, right? I have some bummer news. I have pneumonia. I've been coughing for two months but thought maybe it was severe allergies or something. No such luck. This explains why I'm tired so much and why I start having coughing fits after doing things like grocery shopping. The doctor prescribed some meds for me so hopefully I'll be on the mend quickly. As for my hands, it looks like a pinched nerve in both elbows that will require me to see an orthopedic doctor and probably splints that I'll have to wear. I'll be calling on Monday to see what my next steps are.