Christmas in January

Because I slacked off for over a month on my blog, I want to make it up to you... December was a busy month for the Bells, which is the reason for my poor blogging performance. Now that Christmas is over, I am already eagerly awaiting Christmas 2012. Here's is a recap of the Bell's first married Christmas together, as well as some organizational tips and creative projects for next year!

First Christmas Tree: Real of course! The hubs picked up this

beauty at a local Christmas tree farm. She was just the right size. This year's decor included white lights, a box full of Christmas ornaments gifted to me from my mom, and of course presents. My mom is a collector of the Radko and Old World Christmas ornaments because they have TONS of glitter, and they sparkle like no other ornament out there! I mean, look at that tree... the ornaments are practically jumping out of the photo they are so colorful and bright.

If you are a new collector of ornaments, like me, and not ready to spend hundreds of dollars at once on these fine, elegant but fragile beauties, I have a few tips:

Tip #1. Purchase a few ornaments each year. Collecting is fun, and every Christmas season brings the delight and desire to find and seek a few new ornaments. Embrace the fact that you cannot have everything you want right away! Also, if you take a trip, try to pick out an ornament or momento to hang on your tree, It will personalize your tree and serve as a reminder of your trip every time you pull it out of the ornament box.

Tip #2. Speaking of ornament boxes -- you need one. And not one of those crummy cardboard boxes that rots from the heat of your attic and falls apart after three years. My favorite ornament box comes from Container Store, the Wing Lid Stackable Bin. It comes with dividers inside and holds up to 75 ornaments. It is made of sturdy plastic and will keep your pretty danglies in perfect condition until next year... and the next... and the next... !

Tip #3. Try to invest in a few quality ornaments by Christopher Radko or Old World Christmas. The trick is to ALWAYS buy Radko and Old World ornaments AFTER Christmas. On December 26th, all ornaments and other Christmas supplies are usually 50% off, and there are always plenty to pick from. Scout out the stores in your neighborhood selling your favorites prior to Christmas, and then plan a shopping trip on the 26th to purchase them for half off! My favorite Dallas stores include Mary Cates and Co., The Ivy House, and Neiman Marcus.

Wrapping Paper: My inspiration for wrapping paper this year was "brown paper packages tied up with string." The idea stemmed from this Do-It-Yourself example from a blog called "Happiness Is"... I just loved the simple paper and the adorable strings and decorations. Here's how you can get this look yourself for next year. Start with a roll of brown kraft paper. It's soooo inexpensive! You can get a 50 foot roll from your grocery store or local post office for about two dollars. Then, invest in some cute decorations and strings at Paper Source, the go-to store for all adorable D.I.Y projects. Your friends and family will be oh-so-impressed.

Stockings: I invested in a new creative project to get me through the rest of this year and back to Christmas again. I am going to needlepoint stockings for my family. Nevermind that our family is just me and the hubs. We don't even have a fireplace in our home. But, I found this Strictly Christmas stocking on sale and had to have it. I decided I may as well get started on our stockings for when we do have a fireplace of our own. I went to a local needlepoint store to get my husband's name painted on the top cuff. The sales ladies also helped me select the thread colors and other necessary items. You can see that the canvas is painted with really bright colors and the background is white. When it is finished, you will see that this stocking is going to have much more muted tones, a beige background, and fewer ribbons and bows (it's going to be a man's stocking). It's a great rainy day project and great to do during our trips out to the country. When I finish the needlepoint, I'll show you the completed project, as well as how to get it finished and turned into a real stocking! Check out your own local needlepoint store for canvas stockings. There are plenty of great artists, but after a lot of research my favorites are Strictly Christmas, Rebecca Woods (for colorful, whimsical designs) and Deux Amis (if you are into religious and nature designs).

Some other fun things from the Bell's First Christmas:

Beech Family Christmas Eve and Christmas Story Play. Baby Jesus was a REAL baby this year! Welcome Baby Michael to our extremely large and growing family!

Trip to Colorado which included family, skiing at Wolf Creek, snowmobiling and even four-wheeling in the snow! Please excuse the ugly orange hat that the hubs found in the Lost 'n Found at our ranch.

Merry Christmas Hubby! He loves his new Tahoe, and I enjoy riding in it. :)

Best Pot O' Beans

I have a confession... I have slacked on my blogging for over a month. But... I'm back! And the good news is I have some great new recipes for you to try that are easy to make and store well in the fridge or freezer. I love having a spare dish or two in the freezer that allows me to whip up a meal when I am short on time.

I grew up in a house where homemade pinto beans were sure to show up as a side dish in at least one meal per week. Why so popular? Plenty of protein, easy to prep, and kids love 'em. Now that I have to feed big hungry bear every night, I picked up my mom's tradition, and I make a pot almost every week. The best part is, beans refrigerate for up to two weeks and they freeze well too. I've got my recipe figured out just the way I like it, but you can add or subtract ingredients to your taste!

Ingredients:
- 1 pound bag of pinto beans (or any other kind of bean -- white, red, or northern)
- 1 yellow onion chopped (special tip to follow on how to prep in advance!)
- 1-2 cloves of garlic, depending on how much you love garlic
- 2 teaspoons of salt
- 1 teaspoon of pepper
- 1 can Hunts tomato sauce (second best option is 1 can of Rotel)
- 1 teaspoon of oregano (optional)
- 1 slice of bacon or cut up sausage dog (optional)
- 6 cups of water

First and foremost, if you don't already have one, you need a Crock Pot. How are you supposed to go to work all day then spend 4 hours making a pot of beans? Forget about it. The Crock Pot is these best way to simmer a dish for hours while you have your mind on other things. Here is the one I use -- Rival 6.5 quart slow cooker...

Step 1 - Wash and soak the beans. While soaking the beans is not a requirement, it makes them nice and plump. Your beans will turn out fine without soaking, but they will not enlarge and the bean itself will not be as soft when consumed. This happens because the beans are dried before packaging and they only soften with the re-absorption of water. Washing the beans IS mandatory because the package of beans almost always has tiny morsels of hard black dirt either on the beans or mixed throughout. It's a fact of life. I wash and soak simultaneously. Three options here:

A. Best Option: Soak beans for three hours (or overnight is great too!) in room temperature water. The best way for beans to reabsorb water is to give them plenty o'time to do their thing.
B. Second Best Option (my usual method): Boil a kettle of water. Pour over beans already in crock pot, and place lid on top to keep steam in. Soak beans for about an hour.
C. Last Resort but still works: Parboil the beans. Boil water in a pot and flash boil the beans for about 15 minutes. The beans will soften but won't be super plump.

Whatever you do, after soaking the beans, you must drain or strain the water out (dirt WILL rise out) and start over with fresh water.

Step 2: After rinsing, put the beans back in the crock pot. Combine all other ingredients. Did I not say this was so easy?

Here's a little trick... Almost every ingredient on this list, including the beans, can keep in the pantry for a long, long time... Except the onion. I learned a little trick from my mother-in-law on how to preserve onions. I buy them, peel and chop them immediately, then store them all cut up in a ziplock baggie in the freezer. Just take the bag out of the freezer, bang it on the counter a few times to break up the pieces and start cooking with frozen onion. This trick works EVERY TIME with EVERY MEAL that calls for cooked onion. You can saute it, and it works just like regular onion. You can throw it right in the crock pot. So that's my shout to my family in East Texas; thankful for you teaching me tricks like these!

Step 3: Cover crock pot with lid and set timer for 8 hours on low heat or 4 hours on high heat. I prefer 8 hours because the flavors have more time to meld and soak into the beans.

Step 4: Serve with rice or almost any meal you can think of!

Enjoy!