Mexican Black Bean Salad Tostada

MEXICAN BLACK BEAN SALAD TOSTADA
(Vegetarian)

1 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
2 Tbsp red onions minced
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 medium jicama, peeled and diced (1/2 cup)
1/4 cup frozen corn kernals, sweet, rinsed under hot water to defrost
1/4 cup avocado, diced
1/2 cup grape tomatoes, halved
4 Tbsp canned green chili peppers, diced
3 Tbsp fresh lime juice, from 1 large lime
2 Tbsp cilantro, fresh, chopped
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp salt
4 small corn tortillas

Instructions:
Combine all ingredients, except tortillas, in a large bowl, mix to combine.
Toast tortillas and top each with 3/4 cup of salad; serve. Yields 1 tostada per serving.
Recipe can be doubled for larger gatherings.

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This is a Weight Watchers recipe I found on their site. Lou and her husband have been doing the Weight Watchers diet and had really great results with it, so I thought I would pick out a WW recipe this week for her.
The link to the recipe is here.  Mexican Black Bean Salad Tostada

Ok so I forgot to get avocado! I was so upset because avocados are one of my favorite foods.  I also looked high and low for a jicama, but there were none to be found in this little town.  Lou couldn't find any jicamas either.  I've never had one,  nor do I know what they taste like.  Hopefully I'm not missing too much?

I used fresh corn from the farmers market instead of frozen corn.

I also made some of my own salsa to put on the tostada.  I just love experimenting with salsas and this one turned out nice. I added habanero instead of jalapeño.
Here is the recipe for the green salsa.  Tomatilla Salsa Verde Recipe

The tostada recipe was very good, I love all Mexican food though.  This sort of seemed like bean salad and just putting it on a tostada, which isn't bad, but you could probably easily eat this like salsa and use chips instead.

This is my Tuesday night dinner across the miles with Lou, if you're wondering about what I'm talking about. Every Tuesday evening my friend Lou (in FL) and I (in NC) make the same meal. I'm going to be at the farm canning grape juice tonight, so I made my dinner last night instead.  You can click on the recipes link on the right side of my blog to see all the other Tuesday recipes we've done.

Here is how Lou's dinner turned out.

Armoires at thrift store

Here is the armoire I was thinking of getting. I went to look at it on my lunch break today.  Pics are taken with my cell phone.

I would paint it white and get new hardware.  I'm just not sure though. I'm not sure if I like the way the feet are made on it.  Sort of a victorian look to it.  Hmmmm  The right side of the door that opens is a little lopsided, too. The doors open straight out, so you can't push them back out of the way or anything.

There is another thrift store right  next door and I noticed this one today.  It's very plain, but I would paint it white and get new hardware, too, of course.

There was another armoire there already white, so I wouldn't even have to paint it, but it was really tall and I think it might overpower the room with it being so big.  I should have taken a picture of it, too, but didn't think about it.

What do you think?

I want it to go here, where this dresser was, so I can put a tv in it.

Guest Room Pillows

When I was looking for some throw pillows for my guest room a while back, I was searching for some pillows with blue on them, to add some blue accents to the room.  Here's the link to some of some throw pillows I really liked.

Someone recommended Etsy, so I searched there and found this beautiful blue throw pillow, but I also saw this other one with the blue bird on it.  Well it didn't come as a set, but this Etsy seller was happy to custom make me one of each of them!  She has some beautiful throw pillows on her site, you should definitely go see what all she has. Free shipping, too!  Here is her link.  This Little Home   She makes everything by hand.

Here is how I received the pillow covers, all wrapped up like a present with a nice note.

Here they are on my bed.

I used my Nate Berkus down pillows as the inserts.  They fit perfect.  I love being able to buy pillow covers instead of having to purchase the covers with the inserts included. I don't think I have room for another pillow insert in this house!  The middle pillow is one I bought at Belks a while back.  I'm using it because it ties in with the darker throw blanket at the foot of the bed. 

I'm not leaving this table here, I'm just using it until I can put my white office desk here instead.  I'm also not leaving that chair there, I have an office chair that I need to paint that will look perfect there. I just wanted to sort of show a general idea of what I'm trying to put together for the guest room.

Here's my Pottery Barn lamp on the wall.  I really love this.  The room just isn't finished how I want it yet.  I want to get a new head board.  I also want an armoire for where my dresser use to be before I put it in the  closet. I found one at a thrift store this weekend, but I'm still on the fence about it.  I may go back and look at it again today on my lunch.  

I accomplished a few things this weekend. I painted some on my garden shed.  I finished painting the bench for my picnic table. I bought some pots to put my 2 dwarf Alberta Spruces in. Got a new doormat, new light fixture for the front door, new door knobs for the front and side door... I'm just trying to fix up the outside a little, since I usually focus so much on the inside.  There have just been so many mosquitoes! I must have got bit 50 times this weekend working on my outdoor projects  :(   Hopefully this fall the mosquitoes won't be so bad so I can get more done outside.  I'll be posting pics of all this throughout the week!

Bathroom Wallpapered!

Here it finally is.  I didn't think this project was ever going to get done.  I will firmly say that I do NOT like to wallpaper.  I was so bad at it. My mom came over and helped me do a little at first, but I tried to do the rest by myself and I made sooo many mistakes.  I would accidentally cut it wrong or something would go wrong.  After all of that, it turned out looking great and I am glad I wallpapered it instead of painting it.  I tried so many paint colors and  nothing looked right in this bathroom against this odd colored beige tile.

(This is the only bathroom in the house by the way.  I have a tiny 2 bedroom, 1 bath home.)

The fruits of my labor...

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

Love my cast iron bathtub.

AFTER

It's not really a complete before and after bathroom makeover.  I still have a few more things I would like to do before it's finally finished, but I think I'm going to wait and do those projects next year.  I am on the hunt for a white roman shade to replace the plastic blinds right now though.  I ordered some from Ebay and had to return them because they got all bent up during shipping. They were JC Penney brand and I didn't like them. They didn't hang right.

I would eventually like to:

• Get bamboo floors to replace the old vinyl.
• Get a marble countertop to replace the laminate counters.
• Re-tile the  bottom of the shower floor.

The wallpaper I got was by Kathy Ireland Home.  The print is called Garden Silhouette, the item ID is NL58196. I got the first roll from Sherwin Williams, then had to order 2 additional rolls from Total Wallcovering.
It's environmentally friendly, prepasted, breathable, washable and fully removable.

I would just like to say, I wouldn't have purchased this wallpaper had I known how much waste there was going to be. I had to cut off so much in order to get the next row to line up as I was putting each sheet up.  As you can see, there is only half of a wall to do in a tiny bathroom. It took 3 double rolls! Now I know why people don't wallpaper anymore. lol  I am just so glad that project is over.  I'm surprised I didn't wallpaper myself to the wall!

Some of the wasted wallpaper that didn't get used.

I love how it turned out.  I like the organic feel and look it gives the bathroom.  I wasn't sure what to do with such a dated room.  When anyone would walk into my bathroom, I would say, welcome to 1963.  I mean, how do you update something like this? lol  I changed out the light fixture over the mirror and I replaced the faucet for the sink. Remember my bathroom flood?

Slowly but surely each room is starting to fall into place.  I can't wait to get my bedroom, I mean the *guest* bedroom finished now!  I have so many fun ideas for it!  I'll post pics of what I have been doing in there next, so come back.  :)

Indoor clothes line ideas

I'm still struggling with how to install a clothes line or rack in my laundry room.  I really want to get this done before winter.  I was blog surfing and found this today and thought maybe I could do something like this.

A shelf overhead, then a line strung from one end of it to the other end.  It wouldn't hold a lot of clothes or anything though, but it's a neat idea.

The above photos are from the blog Raised In Cotton.

I had originally wanted to get this one from Ballard Designs, but it's so pricey.  I have even found a couple of the baby crib racks at thrift stores to make my own, but they are also pricey, which is shocking.  So I'm still trying to figure out what to do for an indoor clothes rack that's out of the way when not in use.

If you have anymore ideas, please throw them  my way.




Did I ever post the new freezer I got?  I may have forgot to post about it. I got it the same time as the dishwasher.  I was going to put it in the shed outside, but I figured in the winter I wouldn't want to go all the way out there digging through it, so I just decided to put it in my laundry room.

New Freezer

I've froze some of my garden goodies.  I had an overload of banana peppers, jalapeños, habeneros, cayennes, etc.   My regular freezer was overloaded and I could barely fit another thing in it.  I really like it a lot. It's by Frigidaire.

My dad showed me how to can my own grape juice!  This is delish!  I used the darker purple grapes for mine, he had used some lighter ones.  These grapes are called Flame.  I'm hoping to can a bunch more since these turned out so good.  Fresh grape juice from the grape vine.  Love!

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Orange & Lime Halibut

Orange & Lime Halibut

2 pieces Halibut (or your choice of fish)
2 naval oranges (sectioned and juice reserved)
1 tsp grated orange zest
3 Tbs orange juice
1 tsp grated lime zest
2 Tbs lime juice
1 Tbs soy sauce
(salt and pepper to taste)

1. Spray the rack of a broiler pan with nonstick spray and preheat the broiler.

2. Combine the orange zest and juice, lime zest and juice, soy sauce, salt and pepper in baking dish large enough to hold the fish in a single layer.  Add the fish and marinate for 5 minutes turning once.  Remove the fish from the marinade and discard marinade.

3. Place the fish on the broiler rack and broil 4 inches from heat.  4 minutes on each side.

4. Cut each steak in half and place a portion on each of the plates. Top each piece of fish with one-forth of the orange sections and drizzle evenly with the reserved orange juice.

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This was my Tuesday night across the miles dinner with Lou.  She picked the recipe this time.
It turned out much more flavorful than I expected because I was surprised it said to only marinade it for 5 minutes. The fish really did soak up the marinade quite well. I used Mahi Mahi instead of halibut since that's what I already had here.   2 thumbs up Lou!

It was quick and easy, especially compared to the one we did last week. This one I felt like I was only in the kitchen for a few minutes and it was done.

For my side dishes, I sauted spinach in olive oil, onions and cayenne peppers.
For the other side, I put slices of corn on the cob, onions, jalopenos, and tomatoes (all garden fresh) and put them in aluminum foil with garlic and herbs de province and Italian dressing drizzled over them.  Yum

Dessert~

Peaches, blueberries and vanilla yogurt.

A friend invited me over to her house for dinner and she served this afterwards.  It was so delish I had to make me one, too!  Thank you Madeline.

Here's a photo of how Lou's turned out.

Kitchen Cabinets -Painted

You can't tell a big difference since I'm not painting them a drastic color compared to white, I just painted them creamy white so they wouldn't be so stark, but I think it makes a big difference in the room.  Seems to have warmed it up a little.

Here are the cabinets before they were painted and after.  From white to creamy white.

BEFORE -White Cabinets

AFTER- Creamy white cabinets

BEFORE- White

AFTER- Creamy white

BEFORE- White

AFTER- Creamy white

I'm really glad I painted them.  I also replaced the drawer pulls with new hardware.  That makes it much easier for opening drawers.  I love my new dishwasher by Whirlpool.  It really gets the dishes clean!  My dad did a great job installing it! These cabinets only took a few hours to paint.  I didn't prime them first which saved a lot of time.  They didn't need priming because there was flat paint on them to begin with.  You can click HERE for the easy step by step instructions on how I did it.

I just received this little utensil holder from Ebay.

It's huge and fits all of my utensils!

I'll try to get the bathroom finished all up, it looks like a tornado hit in there right now.  

It looks so different with the wallpaper up.  

I'll also get some of the guest room pics up this week, too.

Vacation Day!

I'm taking today off of work.  I've only had one day off so far this year when I went to the beach last month.  I just want to unwind and do nothing.  I don't have any definite plans because I don't want to be tied to a schedule.  I was thinking about going down to the spa later today though.  I'm also going to check out his authentic Mexican restaurant down the street from me.

I got a lot done on my house this weekend! I got almost all of the wallpaper put up in the bathroom, I got a new light fixture for over the bathroom sink and got that put up.  My dad fixed my dishwasher where it is bolted in now. He had to build a pedestal for it so it would fit in there right.  I did a bunch of decorating to my guest room, too!  I don't have pics of anything yet, I went to bed exhausted last night!   As soon as I get pics, I'll post everything.

I did start the morning off right with this delicious breakfast!  Ezekial bread with avocado slices, a boiled egg, mango and some muscadine grape juice.  MMmmmmm

Have a great day!

Fun Activities On other Blogs

As you know, blog hopping can be addicting.  I have recently found a bunch of blogs that offer a chance for others to post what they are doing on their own sites.  This is a way to be able to find many amazing blogs out there with some great talent and some great ideas!

Here are some of them I've found that I linked up to today.  Go over and have a look at them, but be warned, it's addicting!

[Click on links under pictures]

My Romantic Home

Finding Faboulous

The Shabby Nest

Home is Where My Story Begins

I didn't even make it home last night, so I didn't get a chance to work on anything at my house at all!  I will be going home this evening and  hopefully will have a great kitchen post for Monday!  :)

Master Bedroom Goodies

I brought the round table from the guest room into the master so I could put my lamp on it. I got it at a thrift store. It was that shiney brass and I painted it white. The base was, the rest of the lamp is glass, it's sort of hard to tell in the pics. I'm planning on trying to find a dark wood antique round table to put here in place of it, but this will do for now.  These pics turned out grainy, I didn't use the tripod for the best settings like I should have.

The white quilt is new, too. I already had the quilted shams from PB (found on Ebay) and had been wanting the quilt, but didn't want to pay the PB price, so I found this one at Home Goods in Winston-Salem, NC for less than half the price.

I'm still not sleeping in the master bedroom.  I've taken over the guest room instead.  Is that so crazy?  The guest room still has some work to do in it for the mini makeover I'm giving it.  My throw pillows for the guest room I got should arrive any day now. I got them from Etsy and she had to make them for me.  They are really pretty.

I still haven't been able to finish up the final touches on my kitchen.  This is the last week I'll be working away from home, so I should be able to get back on my regular schedule and get more done around my home.  Sorry there's not much to see in the past few weeks!  This weekend, look out antique stores, here I come!

Imam Bayildi Recipe

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The title of this traditional Turkish recipe means "the imam fainted," referring to a holy man who passed out with pleasure when presented with this dish, perhaps because of the wonderful aromas.

Imam Bayildi
2 eggplants 10 1/2 oz each
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 large onions chopped
2 large garlic cloves crushed
2x 14oz cans chopped tomatoes
3 Tbsp raisins
3 Tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
lemon rind finely grated
2 Tbsp lemon  juice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (I used 1/4 tsp)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
pinch of cayenne pepper
salt and pepper

Step one: Cut each eggplant in half lengthwise. Using a knife scoop out the flesh leaving about 1/4 inch shell.

Step two: Chop the eggplant flesh and place in a colander,sprinkle with salt and allow to drain for 30 min. Rinse and pat dry

Step three: Heat olive oil in large skillet, add onions and fry, stirring until softened, add garlic and stirring for about 2 minutes.

Step four: Add tomatoes, eggplant, raisins, parsley, lemon juice, cinnamon, cumin, cayenne and then season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring until mixture has thickened.

Step five: Spoon the mixture into the eggplant shells, mounding it up slightly. Place the filled shells in an ovenproof dish.

Step six: Cover the dish with foil, roast in a preheated over at 350 for 45-50 minutes. Serve hot

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The recipe turned out great. This is definitely not something to make if you're in a rush or want something quick. This meal took about 2 hours to complete.  This is really an amazing Turkish dish.  I had no idea it would take so long to make, I saw the bake for 45 minutes, but didn't realize how long it took to prep for it.  Sorry Lou!  Lou is my friend that I make a Tuesday night meal with across the miles. She lives in FL and I live in NC.  

Here is how Lou's turned out.

As I was waiting for the meal to bake, there was a little left in the pot that I didn't use in the  eggplants.  I rarely test taste my food as I'm cooking it, I don't know why.  So I tasted it and all I tasted was cinnamon and thought, OH NO!!  Lou  is going to KILL me!  I thought, she hasn't called me back, maybe she's mad and never speaking to me again. LOL  So I called her and she had just finished eating hers.  She assured me the final outcome was delish.  She was right, when it was finished baking all the flavors had run together and had such a neat smell and taste.  Maybe that is why I don't test taste my food while cooking.  :)

I waited so long for this meal,

 I had me a little spinach salad before hand.

I got the recipe from this cookbook.
What's Cooking Mediterranean

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My dad canned some grape juice.

It looks different than what you buy in the stores,

 but it tasted really great.

Here is his wine fermenting, it stays in this bottle for a month or two.

Sorry if this posts layout is all messed up, blogger is having some major technical difficulties, I will try to fix it later.