homemade refried beans

I am on my way out the door to The Farm Chicks show - yay! - but wanted to quickly share one of my current favorite recipes. I actually meant to share it on Cinco de Mayo, but it seems I'm about a month late for that.

Or eleven months early. Take your pick.

I make these often, they are easy-peasy, and if you give them a try, I promise you'll never buy canned refried beans again.

Promise.

I use canned beans, which I know makes these only sorta homemade, but it also makes the recipe lightning quick to make.

1 cup chopped onion
2 cans rinsed pinto beans
2 cups water
2 tsp chicken bouillon

In a saute pan, cook the onions in a little bit of olive oil for a few minutes, until they begin to soften. Add water, bouillon and beans. Cover and simmer for about five minutes, then use a potato masher to smash the beans. I leave mine pretty chunky.

Sometimes, I smash a clove of garlic and let it simmer with the beans and then pull it out before the mashing commences.

From there, I leave the lid off and keep stirring the beans, scraping the bottom of the pan with a spatula, until enough liquid evaporates to make them the consistency I like....not too thin, not too thick. Total cooking time is usually about ten minutes or so.


My favorite way to eat them is over Tostitos Multigrain chips with melted cheese (in the oven, never the microwave), and a generous dollop of sour cream.

Bean heaven.

Any other Farm Chickers out there? This will be my third time at the show. I'm meeting three of my best girlfriends, and I can't wait!

Have a great weekend!

zailey rae

Remember these two?

Just a few days after these pictures were taken, they became three.

Meet Miss Zailey Rae.


She is an absolute doll.

Perfect in every way.


Our plans for Zailey's first photo shoot took a detour courtesy of Mother Nature, so we just brought the outdoors into my dining room.

My hubby helped me haul furniture around, gathered flowering branches for me, and soon we brought my dream of baby swing in the crabapple tree to life.

I'm always up for a good Plan B.


Her mom and dad are absolutely head over heels in love with this darling thing, and it's easy to see why.


Sweet baby toes, just waiting to be nibbled.


A perfect swirl of gorgeous baby hair.


We had the heat turned up to August in the Tropics temperatures, but even so, girlfriend was not a fan of being naked.

This was her "don't touch my blankie" look.


Little Miss was barely, barely asleep, but inch by inch we pulled it back, and we were finally able to score a few shots of her in her birthday suit.


After she was finally allowed the dignity of having her clothes back on, she happily relaxed in front of the fireplace while I snapped just a few shots of the new mom and dad.


Oh, was this fun!

Dear Baby Zailey,

You. Are. Sweet.

Will you be my friend?

Love,
Teresa

a day for ducks

When my youngest was little, we religiously, daily, sometimes twice or thrice daily, watched PBS's Arthur. We loved it. It was a great mama and little boy together time. After a while, the character voices changed, and then the show in general changed, my youngest grew up, and needless to say, I haven't seen an episode of Arthur in years.

That has absolutely nothing to do with this post.

On one particular very rainy day in Arthur's talking animal world, the kids paid a visit to their Grandma Thora, who greeted them at the door with, "Well if this isn't a day for ducks!"

That phrase stuck with me. I like it. A lot. It's the perfect way to describe a dreary, drizzly, rainy day.

Today is a day for ducks here on the farm. We usually don't get socked in, constant, pouring rain here in Montana. It usually comes and goes fairly quickly, and while it might be raining at my house, it's probably not raining at my friend's house just a mile or two away.

It has been raining the vast majority of the last twelve days.

At everyone's house.


This is my usually manicured front lawn.


We fertilized right before the rain hit - always a good plan - but at this point, we may as well call the guy that does our haying for us. The foreseeable forecast is for rain, so I pity the fool who has to mow this mess when we finally dry out.

(Just watch, it will be me, as my usual mower always seems to be able to pull out the always lame and much over used, "I have to go to school" on the only nice day in weeks. School, schmool. Whatever.)

Our mountains have almost disappeared. If you look really close, you might see a faint outline against the gray.


Now, to the actual reason for this impromptu post.

Last night, I was firmly settled in my comfy chair, laptop in lap, television on. It's a common sight around here and quite appropriate for a rainy evening.

Out my window, this is what I see.


The clouds virtually disappeared in moments.

The dandelions in our field were glowing in the sun.


It was absolutely gorgeous, and the camera does not do it any kind of justice.

I tried anyway.

Wheel line with sun flare.


Wheel line without sun flare.


Which do you like better? I can't decide myself.

Leaves were transparent and beautiful with the light shining through.


Even things commonplace and usually overlooked took on a sparkly new life.


The light was electric. Colors were saturated.


An obsession with reflections was born in an instant.








And then this morning.


The light went back to being gray and flat.

But an obsession with water droplets, not a new obsession mind you, was given its chance to shine.












Dear Rain,
I appreciate your recent visit. I know we need you. Desperately. I profusely thank you for the wonderful job you are doing. You are bringing life to our drought ridden valley and for that I will be eternally grateful.
But, I'm feeling a bit stifled. You're getting a bit clingy, and I think it might be time for a break. You certainly may come back and visit, but we are going to have to establish some boundaries.
I have to say, the fact that you have totally ignored my suggestion that you come each night, then leave during the day is a bit irritating. It smacks of an uncooperative attitude.
I feel you are not listening to me.
In any relationship, communication is key.
I look forward to you giving this matter your full attention as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Teresa

i wish i could think of a title

Have I ever mentioned that I'm not a big fan of the writing part of blogging? Many, and in fact, most of the posts I publish, start with me staring at a blank screen for what seems like hours. With no idea where to start.


Today is no exception, so I'm just going to dive in, go the random route, and see where we end up.

I'll start with flowers, because you really can't ever go wrong there.

My crabapples are finally blooming. I have come to the conclusion that, while they are still in extremely close competition, I like flower buds more than flower blossoms.


I reserve the right to change my mind on that, perhaps even as soon as tomorrow, but for today, buds are in the lead.


As I am typing this, I once again realize that I am afraid of my blogger dashboard. Twice now, over the last few months, I've just been typing along, minding my own business, and all of a sudden, the "your post has been successfully published" screen pops up.

Whaaaaat?

Noooooo!


One time, I'm pretty sure I hit the enter key while typing the title, and I think that's what did me in, although I'm afraid to try it again to see. Now, every time I hit enter, my heart rate elevates just a bit. It's quite stressful.

You've heard of "Artful Blogging"? I'm going to start a magazine called, "Stressful Blogging".

It will be a hit, I'm sure.


The other time, I have no clue what happened.


Dear Blogger,

Please make publishing a post a two click process. Please give us one more screen with something along the lines of, "are you absolutely sure you want to publish this particular post, because it looks to me like it still needs a bit of work".

Sincerely,
Teresa


Has that ever happened to you?


Okay, one more blog related item.


A while back, a friend encouraged me to add my email address to my blogger profile. That way, when I comment on a blog, my email address is attached to my comment and sent to their email inbox. It makes it easy as pie to respond to a question, or jot a quick note back.


Now, as luck would have it, this particular friend had no clue how to perform this little blogging miracle, so after some investigation and asking around a bit, I was able to solve the mystery. That in itself is a minor miracle, as "computer whiz" is not a name I hear associated with myself on a regular basis.

Or ever.


For anyone else in the same technology impaired boat, I will share the love.

It's very simple. Go to your user profile, and under the privacy settings check "show my email address".

Now scroll to the bottom and click "save profile".

That's it.

Not really rocket science, but elusive nonetheless.


Of course, there are a million reasons you might not want your email address out there. But for those of you who are game, that's how you do it.


Now, I have a question for you. Can anyone tell me how you go about following a blog that does not have a "Follow" button? I know there is a way, but I can't seem to figure it out and I would really like to know.

My old pal Google wasn't even much help to me on this one, so I'm coming to you.

Have I mentioned that my claim to fame will never be anything computer related?

Yes? Several times?

Just making sure.


As for the adorable fluffy baby geese pictured above? Aren't they cute? Yes, they are cute. However, as they grow, they....well, let's just say they're messy. Very, very messy. And their favorite place to hang out is also our very favorite place to hang out.

This place.


This little section of pond shoreline is maybe a tenth of the available pond shoreline real estate. All we want is that one tenth. They may have free reign of the other nine tenths.

But, no.

The view isn't quite the same if you have to wear muck boots to enjoy it.



Shall we pop into the greenhouse for a moment?

All of our tomatoes are planted. Last year, we planted two tomatoes upside down, just to see how they'd fare.


It actually worked pretty well, so this year we have decided to quit fighting gravity and plant them all that way. We have tried every tomato cage known to man, and it was always a losing battle.

I've heard various reports on how they produce while hanging upside down, so I'll keep you posted. I have high hopes though and can't wait for some home grown tomato goodness.


The strawberry pots are planted with impatiens.


I am an instant gratification kind of person, so it's hard for me to see them looking this pitiful. However, in a couple months, you won't even be able to see the pot for all the impatiens glory.

I will try not to be impatien until then.


I have much more to say about the greenhouse, but seriously people, this post is boring me to tears. I'm putting myself to sleep and it's ten o'clock in the morning.

Sincerest apologies.

Having trouble getting your toddler down for a nap? Just read them this post.

I will leave you with this last very, very random thought.

I love the Kindle commercials.

See!

I warned you at the beginning that writing is not my thang.

Happy Monday!