Black Bean and Mango Tostadas

We love beans in our family. They're cheap, yummy, and really good for you. I'm always trying to find new recipes using beans and I found a new good one. I'd never thought of making tostadas but they turned out to be REALLY easy and fun to make. You don't even have to use the mango salsa, any of your favorite salsa would do, although the mango salsa does give it a really yummy sweet flavor. I think these will be perfect for the hot summer nights since they only cook for about 10 minutes.

Black Bean and Mango Tostadas

1 15 oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 scallions white and light green parts, finely chopped
1/2 tsp. chili powder
3/4 tsp. salt
4 8-in flour tortillas
6 oz. grated Monterey Jack
1 ripe mango, peeled, pitted and diced
1/4 small red onion, finely chopped
1 Tbsp. lime juice

Preheat oven to 425. Combine beans olive oil, scallions chili powder and 1/2 tsp. salt in bowl. Mist a baking sheet with cooking spray. Place tortillas on sheet and spoon bean mixture on top. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake until golden and crisp, about 10 minutes. While tostadas are baking combine mango, onion, lime juice, and 1/4 tsp. salt in a bowl. Remove tostadas from oven, spoon mango mixture on top and serve immediately.

Serves: 4
Cost $1.54

Source: All You, March issue.

Just talking...

I apologize for the lack of posting recently. My husband just made a switch in jobs so we had him home with us for the last three week. It was so fun to have him home that it just felt like a nice long vacation.

In other news, we are in the process of trying to find a home.  Which is probably the most horrible experience I've ever been through! I've dreamed of the house I would some day own, but right now I just want to curl up in my little apartment and never leave if it means I can stop all of the hassle that goes with house hunting.  I'll be back soon with new posts.

Big Girl Bed

Addie jumped to freedom last week from her crib so we decided it was time for a toddler bed. I found this cute Pottery Barn Bed on CraigsList for a fraction of the price. She loves her new bed. Well, she loves to sit on it and pretend like she is going to sleep. Her bedroom door doesn't stay closed so we are having a hard time figuring out how to get her to stay in bed. Any suggestions?  Does anyone have experience in moving a toddler to a new bed?

I love my drawers.

Are you in the mood to reorganize all of your drawers? I wasn't, until I watched this clip. I then threw all of my clothes on the floor and refolded everything. I love looking in my drawers now, it makes me smile.

I also realized I need more shirts with patterns. 

Guest Posting

Today I'm guest posting over at Sumo's Sweet Stuff. Go check it out!

Elmo and Cookie Monster Cupcakes

Sorry I haven't posted in such a long time. I just wanted a little break from the computer for the last few weeks. I haven't even looked at other blogs and hardly checked my emails. Well I'm back with a fun post! My little Addie turned two yesterday! I can't believe how fast the time has flown, she has turned into such a fun little toddler.

For her birthday party yesterday I wanted to make Elmo cupcakes, she LOVES Elmo so I knew she would love these. They were really easy to make and turned out really cute.

First you get a cupcake.

Then you frost the top of the cupcake with red. I used the "grass" tip to make the fur.

Then you add the eyes, I used white candy melts or you could use marshmallows or just pipe white frosting into circles.

 

Pipe on a orange nose.

 

Add black dots to the eyes.

 

And don't forget the mouth.

 

I also decided to do cookie monster so Elmo would have some friends. Just make him the same way only in blue.

 

Add eyes...

 

I ran out of black frosting for the mouths so most of them only got small lines, but I don't think Addie noticed. 

 

No Frills Manstyle Peanut Butter Popcorn

Hey. This is Katie's husband, so if my post is sparse on words like 'cute' and 'cuddly' and 'frilly', you understand why.


I'm hijacking Katie's blog to bring you a movie-night treat that's easy but tasty. To give you an idea of how easy this is, you need to understand that the 3 things I make best are instant pancakes, cereal (Cocoa Puffs is my piece de resistance), and Five Guy's.


So whip out your old fashioned popcorn popper, and let's get started.


The ingredients you need are:

1/2 c light corn syrup

1/4 c sugar 

1/2 c super chunky (or not) peanut butter

8 c popcorn

Light up your stove with a medium sized sauce pan. Combine the light corn syrup and sugar and bring it to a slow boil while stirring it constantly. Constantly is the key word here. If you aren't stirring, it means you're burning. Keep stirring until the sugar dissolves. At that point, you can turn off the heat on the stove and add the peanut butter to the sugar mixture. The peanut butter will thin out so it's easy to pour. Spread it out over the popcorn and stir it up. The whole process takes about 10 minutes. If you're feeling exotic, you can add nuts or candy pieces. Katie says it's not complete until chocolate is involved, so you can also drizzle some melted chocolate over the top if that's what you crave.

Free Cone Day

Tomorrow is Ben and Jerry's Free Cone Day. If you are in Salt Lake they have a location at the Gateway. I think we'll go check it out this year.  Click Here for more info.

Gap and Old Navy Coupon

Here is a coupon for 30% at Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, Gap Outlet, and Banana Republic Outlet. You get 30% off and 5% goes to Feeding America. I'm going to use it to get Addie some cute clothes for her birthday. This coupon is only good until Saturday.

Click Here for the coupon.

Vocalpoint is Awesome!

Look what I got in the mail today.......

And when you open it up......

A full bottle of Pantene Pro-V Shampoo! I love mail days like this. If you haven't signed up for Vocalpoint yet do so now! I love all of the free coupons and products they send. Click here to sign up.

If you want info on other companies that send you free coupon check out this post.