Felt Strawberries and Carrots

I've been in a crafty mood lately! I made Bean some felt vegetables. He loves "feeding" the carrots to his rocking horse.



I used tiny glass beads for the seeds on the strawberries. Bean had fun picking them up and handing them to me while I stitched them in place. It was a great dexterity builder. However, a few went into his mouth. I was actually looking forward to changing his diaper; I was hoping for a bead studded poop... but alas. I guess he didn't actually swallow any. ;)

I was surprised at how easy these were to make. Here is the tutorial for the strawberries: http://mrmonkeysuit.typepad.com and here is the tutorial for the carrots: http://mojoandco.blogspot.com

Tutorial: Cheap and Easy Photo Board Book!

I made a photo book for Bean!




Bean has loved looking at family photos lately. I wanted a simple and cheap way to organize them so that he could look at them without destroying them. You can order blank board books, but I didn't want to pay for shipping.

Instead, I decided to recycle one that he already has. The board book that I used was originally $1.00. You can find them in the dollar section at Jo-Ann Fabrics. Seriously cheap. You will also need a glue stick and some photos.



Materials Needed:
1 board book
Photos
Glue Stick


Step 1: Apply glue to the back of a photo


Step 2: Glue it in place.
Step 3: Repeat for all of the pages, including the front and back of the cover.

The original pages make a nifty frame around the photos!


Success! He Loves it!

PS: His Great Grandmother made the froggie quilt that he is sitting on.

PSS: A special "Thank You!" to Dev for a little photo editing help. A combination of our blue walls and the blue sky made one of the photos a little too blue.

Black Bean & Sweet Potato Enchiladas

This recipe came from Facebook of all places. It was posted by Baby Boot Camp. It is very yummy in a different sort of way. I'm not sure about the longevity of Facebook Notes, so I'm reposting the recipe (along with the minor tweaks I made).

Black Bean & Sweet Potato Enchiladas

2 large sweet potatoes (peel and dice)
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4 cup red onion (diced)
1 large garlic clove (mince)
1 15oz. can black beans (drain and rinse)
1 24oz. can diced tomatoes (drain)
1 Tbsp. chili powder
Salt & Pepper
2 cups salsa
8 large flour tortillas

Optional: 1 fresh hot chili or 4 oz. can of diced green chiles, diced avacado

Roast the sweet potatoes at 400F for 20 minutes, or until tender.

Reduce heat to 350 degrees.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and optional chili. Cook until onion is tender. Add the beans, tomatoes, chili powder, salt and pepper. Stir in the sweet potatoes and simmer for 5 minutes. Set aside.

Spread a thin layer of salsa over the bottom of a lightly oiled 9x13 baking dish and set aside.

Place a tortilla on a flat work surface, spoon a portion of the sweet potato mixture down the center of the tortilla and roll it up. Place the filled tortilla in the baking dish, seam side done, and repeat. Top with remaining salsa.

Bake covered for 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Fall Garden - 2009

It has been awhile since I posted about my garden. This summer it was filled with 7 different types of cherry tomatoes. Although it was a rough year for tomatoes, there was a wonderful variety!

In June I picked up some corn seeds at Native Seed Search. I got a variety of sweet corn called Guarijo, which sounds beautiful: "produces cobs with yellow or burnt-orange kernels." I planted it a few weeks late (d'oh) it should have been planted at the beginning of the monsoon season, but we didn't get a monsoon season this year. I also picked up a variety of onion called I'ito's Onion.



You can see the corn in this picture, as well as some Mammoth Sunflower seeds I planted on the right (just for fun).


The green onions are in the front center. The right hand side is reserved for winter plants (I'm planning on beets, carrots, and lettuce). The pots are filled with the struggling tomato plants, and a pepper plant. The plastic owl watches over everything.

We got to amend the soil with our own compost for the first time. I half expected that nothing would grow, or it would be shriveled and malformed. It is exciting to see everything thrive!

Easy Crockpot Rice

This is a great way to get part of dinner taken care of, especially if you know you have a busy day ahead of you or if the rest of the meal is going to take a lot of prep work. I'm in love with basmati rice, especially the type that comes in hip burlap sacks.





Crockpot Rice
3 cups rice
6 cups water

Add ingredients to the crockpot and cover. Cook on High for 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours, or cook on Low for 8 to 10 hours. What makes this recipe even better is that the rice will stay warm for a few hours after you turn the crockpot off.