Huevos Rancheros

I haven't posted a recipe in a long time. I actually haven't been cooking a ton of new food lately. I have been lazy and have relied on old favorites. I did make a yummy dinner last night, but forgot to take a picture, but I'll post the recipe anyway because it was so good and easy and inexpensive.

I don't remember where the original recipe came from, I think it was Bon Appetit, but I can't find it on their web page. I altered it anyway, so here is my version of

Picture from epicurious.com

Huevos Rancheros
6 teaspoons minced garlic or 6 garlic cloves
6 T oil, divided

2 cans of black bean, undrained

2 cans diced tomatoes ( I used one with green chiles and one just plain)
1 1/2 c diced onion
half bunch cilantro
1-2 tsp. diced chile adobo (it makes it pretty spicy but deliciously smoky)

10 corn tortillas, deep fried until crispy (or use tostada shells)
20 eggs, cooked anyway you like. (We mostly had them over easy)

Queso fresco or other cheese
Diced avocado

Heat 2T oil in small skillet. Sautee garlic on medium until soft. Mash if using whole cloves. Set aside.

Heat 4T oil in medium saucepan. Sautee onion until soft. Add tomatoes with juice and cilantro. Add half of the garlic and adobo, if using it. Simmer until thick. Salt and pepper to taste.

Heat undrained beans with remaining garlic. Heat through and mash slightly.

Cook eggs using desired method.

Place a tostada shell on plate. Top with a generous spoonful of beans. Gently place on 2 eggs. Top with a generous spoonful of sauce. Top with cheese and avocado if desired. A squeeze of lime is very good on top as well. Enjoy.

We ate our with potatoes fried with peppers and onions. Very delicious.

Tumbling Blocks, The Easy Way

Our nephew, Baby Benji, was born in August. It is the first baby for Tom's brother, so I thought I would make a quilt for him. I learned how to make this quilt at quilt guild.
It is much easier to make than it looks. I had tons of fun designing it and finding fun fabrics for it. A few of the fabrics are Laura Ashley prints that my mom bought over 30 years ago in England. It is fun to use them.


Whenever I make a quilt, I try to convince my mom to let me use her fancy machine for the quilting part of the project. My machine can handle the piecing, but not the quilting. This time, I decided to try out her stippling stitch, and I think it worked out well.

You can find basic instructions for the quilt here. And you can see an even cuter version of the quilt made by my fellow quilt guilder here.

Porter is a Seed

Last week, Porter participated in the storytelling contest at his school. He had to go to a workshop every week for about two months. When he came home one day and told us he was going to do the contest, Tom and I were a bit hesitant. He loves to read, but he didn't read very loud or clearly. But he was very dedicated. and practiced his story until he had it memorized, had actions to go along with it, could tell it clearly and with emotion.

This video was taken on my phone, so you can't even hear him, but he did a great job even without a microphone. In fact, he did such a great job he was announced as the winner for the first grade. Yea for our little boy.




"I'm a seed."
"I'm a seed, too"
"I'm going to be a marigold when I grow up."
"Me too."
"No you're not."
"Why not?"
"Because you're a different kind of seed."
"What kind of seed am I?"
The story continues and the seeds grow into marigolds and pumpkins and the cycle starts all over again.

I love my little seed and love to watch him grow.

Halloween 2008

For Halloween this year, we went to Porter's school parade, the library parade and we went trunk-o-treating and a tiny bit of trick-o-treating.

I was lazy with costumes:

Porter's - DI for $5, Eliza's - Ross $6.99, James - Old Navy $5 and I decided last minute that Tom and I would be the corpse bride a groom. I am wearing my mom's wedding dress (shhh, don't tell her).Next year, I promise to be creative and maybe even have a theme. I am thinking maybe Alice in Wonderland.

Way Belated Birthday

I don't think I ever posted about Porter's 6th birthday. Well, he turned 6 and he is a great kid.

He loves being in 1st grade. He loves to read. He loves to play the violin. He loves to ride his bike to school. He loves to build things with k'nex. He loves to play with Legos and Playmobil. He loves that his birthday is on a holiday (pioneer day).

He doesn't love being teased by Eliza. He doesn't love eating anything green except for broccoli and peas. He doesn't love to be nagged or yelled at (who does?).



We love Porter and are glad he's part of our family.

Get Out and Vote!!

I love democracy and I love the excitement of this year's election.
I love all the political discussions and arguments we get to have.
I love that I am a total outsider in Tom's family because I am voting for McCain.
I love that Tom is a total outsider in my family because he is voting for Nader (He is protesting the two-party system since he isn't passionate about McCain or Obama, although he feels either will do a great job).
I loved going out for family home evening and distributing leaflets for Lin Alder (He is running for county commissioner in Washington County and trying to defeat good old boy incumbent Alan Gardner).
I love democracy!

So don't forget to vote on Tuesday and let your voice be heard. And vote for Lin Alder for County Commissioner if you live in Washington County.

Marathons and Pouring Rain Don't Mix

Sorry for the darkness, Tom was too grumpy to go over to the light.

We may look happy, but we just didn't quite understand what we were getting ourselves into. Mandi is to my right, she was my training partner throughout the whole process. Renee is to my left and she didn't train for the race but still rocked it.

Race Report
Finish Time 3:38:21

So the race begins at 6:45 am. The start is 26.2 miles from the finish (crazy huh?) so we have to ride a bus to the start line. We decided to ride the earliest buses in order to get entered into a drawing. And it paid off, Tom won 100 bucks! But what that really means is that we have to get on the bus at 4 am and sit at the starting line in the wet, wet rain for 2 hours. We get to the start and it is overcast but not rainy. It is actually pretty warm and I am very optimistic for perfect weather. So much for that optimism - it started to rain about an hour before the start and it didn't stop until well after the end of the race.

I wasn't prepared for wet or cold weather. I wore shorts and a tank. My friend gave me a long sleeve shirt to run in and I wore a garbage bag until about mile 6. My plan for the race was to stay with the 3:40 pace group for the first half and then run my own second half. The weather changed my plans. My goal changed to just staying in contact with the 3:40 pace guy.

Mandi and I ran the first 6 miles well ahead of pace and ahead of the pace guy. He caught us on the Veyo hill. Mandi and I continued to run right with the pace guy until about mile 11. We were still ahead of pace, but slowing. I picked up the pace a bit and tried to just keep the pace guy in my sights.

Hallelujah for Garmin GPS! I had an eye on my pace the entire 26.2 miles. I also printed a pace band specific to the St. George Marathon that weighted each mile based on difficulty. Find it here. Some miles are fast, some are slow but in the end it all averages out. I loved that band and monitored my progress with that.

the rain continued to fall the whole race. My muscles never warmed up. My mind told me to quit a few times. But I promptly told it to shut up and convinced myself I could make it.

The hardest sections were when the headwind picked up and I couldn't make contact with the pace group and the last 4 miles. I was hurting , I was cold and I wanted to be done. It helped to get into St. George where crowds started cheering me on. That energized me to the final stretch where my dad's cheers really carried me in.

Tom waited with open arms for me at the finish line. I burst into tears when I reached him. Running a marathon can be an emotional thing. Tom rocked the course in 3:07. Stay tuned for his full report.

Best things of the race:

• Qualifying for Boston!
• Doing it with Tom (not that we ran or trained together, but just were there for each other)
• Hearing my dad at the last quarter mile
• Knowing my in-laws cheered me on even if I didn't hear them (it's okay because Tom heard them and not my parents)
• Training with Mandi
• Hanging out at the starting line with friends like Renee
  

Worst things of the race:

• Pouring rain
• Cold muscles
• Being too cold to enjoy the post-race refreshments
• Pouring rain
• Quick pass massages (for getting the early bus) that were actually slower
• Pouring rain
• Being super sick to my stomach for 12 hours post-race, and I mean super sick, cramps worse than child birth.
• Getting up at 3:15 in the a.m.
  

But all in all a great experience. We are excited to go to Boston in April. Woohoo!! Click here for glamorous pictures of the race and I mean glamorous. Select St. George Marathon 2008. Last name: Dansie and Tom's number was 239 and mine 4536. And click here for full results.