Right now I want to write about Red Beans and Rice.    Have you ever tried it?   It’s Cajun cuisine.  It’s delicious.  This is the recipe I came up with after reading several recipes for Red Beans and Rice and modifying those so I could use ingredients I had on hand.

Red Beans and Rice

1 Tbs. olive oil

1/2 med. onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 lbs. smoked sausage, chopped into 1/2 in. pieces

1 15 oz. can Red Kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 14.5 oz. can stewed tomatoes, undrained

1/2 tsp. Cajun seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup white rice, cooked

Heat oil in medium sized skillet or pan, over medium heat.  Chop onion, garlic and sausage.  Saute onion in oil 1-2 minute.  Add Sausage and garlic to onions and saute 3-4 minutes.    Add kindney beans, stewed tomoates, Cajun seasoning, and salt and pepper to taste.  Stir, then bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and let simmer 15 minutes.  Prepare rice according to package directions.

Serve red bean mixture over rice.  Yield 3 servings.

This recipe is not very spicy at all.  In the future I think I will add several shakes of hot sauce and/or red pepper flakes to the recipe to give it a little heat.  Authentic Red Beans and Rice is spicy and is cooked all day because you’re supposed to use dried beans.  Mine is a lazy version.  Maybe someday I will make “real” Red Beans and Rice and tell you how it goes.  As for now, I really like this recipe and I hope you will too!

The Sunday after Christmas, Chris and I drove to Barstow to have a little reunion with two of my best friends from high school: Blair and Tricia. We managed to get to Barstow early enough to go to church in the ward I grew up in. Very few people recognized me, but I’m used to that now. It’s the dark hair. I had fun seeing a lot of the people who play a huge roll in my childhood memories, and it was nice to share it all with Chris.

I was so excited for my friends to finally get to meet Chris and for me to finally get to meet Tricia’s two children. I loved every minute I got to spend with Blair and Tricia and their beautiful families. The entire time it was comfortable and easy, like no time had passed since the last time we saw each other. Chris got along great with the husbands and said that he really enjoyed himself. We played games and of course we ate at Del taco, but mostly we just talked. I have really been blessed with some amazing friends and I am so glad I got to spend a little time with them.

Me, Tricia and Blair.

We also went bowling, which is where this picture was taken.

This is my beautiful friend Blair. She is someone I honestly strive to be more like. In my eyes, she is perfect. I love her very much.

This is my gorgeous friend Tricia. She is one of the strongest people I know. She's real and down to earth. I hope to be half the woman she is. I love her.

I hope this will be one of many reunions for us. Our Christmas was perfect this year. I hope yours was too.

Hello, this is Chris. Our microwave was taking up almost all of our available counter space, so I put up a shelf over the sink and put the microwave on it. I also mounted a light for washing dishes under the shelf, and I mounted the power strip on the wall for all our other appliances. How nice.

Jane really likes her gifts!

The pants fit perfectly

Do I look like a magazine model?

Now that’s home improvement.

“Hidden”  and  “What’s Wrong With It”

Listen to them on the music page! They are getting better and better.

Here is a video of me recording some bass tracks to the song “What’s Wrong With It”. This will give you a good idea of how I play and record my own music. It’s a blast! I really like the way the video turned out too. Check it out.

The video only shows me playing the bass, but for those of you who are curious, I plug my guitar into an effects pedal, which is plugged in to a mixer, which is plugged into the computer. That’s how I record all the guitar and bass parts. I record the drums by plugging them directly into the mixer (I have a small electronic drum set)