Recipe: Black Bean Burritos

I have this fantastic book called The Best Kept Secrets of Healthy Cooking by Sandra Woodruff. It was recommended to me by a former co-worker and has been a pretty good guide in trying to make changes to our diet at home. I probably don't cook from it as often as I should, but there are definitely times I turn to it and I check there for new recipe ideas frequently.

I recently whipped it out for one of the easiest recipes I've got. My doctor pointed out at my last appointment that there is virtually no protein in my diet. When it's just Mason and I, especially at dinner we tend to opt for easy things. While I try to keep those relatively healthy, it's a small sandwich or bowl of cereal. Every now and again, we'll make something Alan doesn't care for. However, we generally steer clear of meat. This recipe fills both requirements. It's quick, easy, relatively light, and it has plenty of protein.

Black Bean Burritos

1 1/2 C. cooked black beans, or 1 15-oz. can, drained

1 tsp. Chili powder

4 flour tortillas (8-in. rounds)

1 cup frozen whole kernel corn, thawed

1/2 C. bottled salsa

1/2 C. shredded non-fat or reduced fat Cheddar cheese

-Place the beans and Chili powder in a pot and mash lightly with a fork or potato masher, leaving slightly chunky. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 2 mins or until heated through. Set aside.

-Warm the tortillas and lay on a flat surface. Spoon 1/4 of the beans along the right side of the tortilla, stopping 1 1/2 in. from the bottom. Top with 1/4 of the corn.

-Fold the bottom edge of the toritlla up about 1 inch. Beginning at the right edge, roll the tortilla up jelly-roll style. Repeat with the remaining ingredients to make 4 burritos.

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9X13 inch pan with nonstick cooking spray and arrange the burritos seam side down. Top with salsa and cheddar cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes. Afteward, try topping with lettuce, chopped tomatoes, sour cream, or scallions as desired.

Nutrition facts per burrito: 286 calories, 50 g carbs, 1 mg cholesterol, 2.5 g fat, 8.1 g fiber, 15 g protein, and 467 mg sodium*.

*I use reduced sodium beans, the Heart Healthy tortillas (not necessarily whole grain, but not made with lard either), and the cheese made with 2% milk because it still melts where the nonfat stuff doesn't. That might alter this information. Also, I don't use bottled salsa, I use the fresh prepared salsa from Harmons. This last batch I got was the hot stuff, and just fair warning, it was super spicy (but so good for these!).

Wordless Wednesday: Swing, swing!

While we were at a charity hockey game, Mason found some alternative methods of entertainment. Sure, watching Dad play was fun; the chair swinging was just better!
(19Jan08). For more Wordless Wednesdays, take a look at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Seeing Red

One night last week, we were out in our yard doing some weeding. We love to save this task for after dinner because the our house faces east, so by this point in the day our front yard is fairly well shaded.

Typically while we weed, Mason is riding his bike in front of the house or playing in the dirt, and the dogs are dozing in whatever sunshine they can find, or next to one of us while we curse the morning glory.

Well, this night wasn't particularly typical for a couple of reasons. First, my fantastic neighbors across the street let Mason come over and play with their kids and a few other neighborhood children because they were working in their own backyard. He loves spending time with their cute and fun kids so it was really generous of them to invite him.

Also this same neighbor also warned us about an older woman who takes a nightly walk down our street and will confront you if your dogs are off-leash outside, and she's really aggressive about it. Alan and I both hate confrontations about this because we know the leash laws for our area, and people frequently express strong opinions about our dogs. (For example, we once had a woman at the off-leash dog park attempt to remove Samson's electronic collar after she had told Alan she believed "bark collars" were abusive. Alan tried to tell her it was not a bark collar (dogs bark--can you train it out of them?) and that, on the say-so of our dog trainer, we were using them because we needed our dogs to be off-leash obedient for their training.)

Anyway, not too long after our neighbor's description of what happened to her, the walking lady approached Alan. I happened to be across the street checking on Mason and Samson had followed me and decided what I was doing wasn't interesting enough for him so he was going back home. Apparently, this lady was walking by just as he finished crossing the street back into our yard and plunked himself down. She felt justified yelling at my husband to get our dogs on leash because "it's the law!". Alan immediately replied it is not the law in our area and he would do no such thing as long as they were not behaving in an aggressive manner. She threatened to call the police department and told him that she had been bitten by a dog exactly like ours so she doesn't like them and they need to be on leash.

It's probably a good thing I wasn't there. I have a big mouth that gets me into trouble, combined with a firm knowledge of police department and animal control procedures. At the very least, I have a feeling the police would have been needed for an in-progress civil problem.

I have a huge problem with people who feel comfortable telling me how to handle my dogs unless I've asked them to (like a trainer). My dogs always follow commands given by me or my husband and don't engage in threatening behavior (they don't bark or charge at passersby, they don't chase cars, and they have never bitten outside of commands to do so). We have invested a lot of time and money into training to make this possible. Furthermore, our dogs are always supervised when they are out in the front yard. We recognize that while negative behavior isn't typical of them, it is still possible and they need to be watched.

For us to be threatened, in our own yard, for circumstances that have never occurred at our home, is absolutely infuriating to me. If the dogs had even looked up from their nap when she walked by, she may have been justified. In this case she was not and I'm still angry about the whole confrontation. I understand that not everyone likes dogs, and some people are legitimately terrified of them (especially dogs as large as ours). I'm not asking her to walk up and pet them, I'm just asking her to keep her mouth shut when she walks past as long as there is no problem!

This is a long story to make this point: if you have a pet and aren't familiar with the animal ordinances in your area please take the time to get familiar with them so you aren't "caught" as we were. We had vaguely checked into the law when we first got Rio, but we never had a need for the specifics until last night, and so we weren't entirely prepared for this woman's tirade. Next time she walks by, we will be.

Here are links to some of the animal services sites for the Salt Lake Valley Area and beyond: Salt Lake County Animal Services, Davis County Animal Control, Utah County Animal Control, Draper City Animal Services, Murray Animal Control, Sandy City Animal Services, South Jordan Animal Control, South Salt Lake Animal Services, West Valley/Taylorsville Animal Control, West Jordan Animal Control, and I couldn't find a direct website, but here is the contact information for Midvale City if you want to reach their Animal Control. They work a lot with South Jordan Animal Control, so their information may be very similar. Also, here's a link to Cottonwood Heights for Adopt a Pet; I think their animal related items may be under Ordinances, but they don't have a dedicated page for Animal Control yet.

Our vicious beasts: Rio on top and Samson on bottom

72 hr. kit challenge, week 9

In case you are participating and hadn't noticed, I'm also placing an overview sort of list on the right hand side of the page so it's ready to go!

Also...I confess. I could add another reason to the list of reasons I'm special. I just realized this morning that everything my workplace has provided is with the intent of creating a 96 Hour Kit for all your family members. So there will be a number of items coming up for day 4. I'm trying to decide what to do and would love some input. I think maybe I'll just skip anything that is an instruction for day 4, and maybe go back when we're all done and do something to upgrade. Is anyone else on board with that?

So, continuing on. This week, we should be gathering a sturdy pair of shoes for each kit. Pick something that will be comfortable should you end up walking a lot, and something that will protect your feet in case you are walking over rubble or other potentially dangerous materials. Don't be like me and insist that flip-flops are all-purpose shoes! Happy shopping/gathering.

Date Knight Movie Review

Before we were married, one thing we did all the time was go to movies. Alan and I have very similar tastes in movies. Every now and again, I go really girlie on him, but not too often. We are usually up for at least one summer blockbuster, even in the post-Mason world. When the opportunity for date night comes up, more often than not, we'll go see a movie. (Which is not say we've seen more than a few since Mason was born.)

A couple Fridays ago, this led us to the opening night of The Dark Knight. This movie has received a lot of hype, I think, because it's just one of those summer releases. The death of Heath Ledger after finishing this film only further heightened all the hype, but I certainly don't think that's the whole reason for it.

Even if Heath Ledger were still alive, I would have gone to see it. I loved Batman Begins and I really love Christian Bale. He's a solid, methodical actor who is not too hard on the eyes. His performance is as dark and stoic as this version of Batman should be. Bruce Wayne is told (in a very foreshadowing manner by Harvey Dent) that "You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain." This is a distinction he appears to be really struggling with as the body count in Gotham City mounts, and I would guess an overall theme of the brooding aspect of his character and the portrayal is so spot-on that you feel his doubt, loneliness, and uncertainty but at the same time, his need to take action because he is one of the few who can.

Heath Ledger is super creepy and very entertaining as The Joker. Even the phenomenal reviews given don't do his performance justice. It has to be seen to be believed. There were a hundred tiny little quirks in his performance that made you chuckle or made your jaw drop.

All the other characters are rock solid as well. I was skeptical about watching Gary Oldman in anything post-Sirius Black, but he is just as good here as he was there, albeit this time as a conflicted mangement-level police officer rather than a wrongly convicted wizard criminal. I was also not too sure of Maggie Gyllenhaal because I usually don't like her much, but she brought a tough element to Rachel Dawes that I liked a lot better than Katie Holmes' version. Finally, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman were both almost scene stealers. I have never seen either of them in a movie and not liked them and they both continue to be favorites of mine.

This movie is dark and it goes very fast. I will probably have to see it at least a dozen more times to catch everything I missed; but the movie is good enough I would have no problem watching it over and over again in rare and precious down time. I read a review that says the director, Christopher Nolan (who has never made a movie I don't like, by the way-The Prestige is one of my favorites!), doesn't let up. The way the movie is cut just slowly ratchets up the tension until all the characters reach a peak that can only be described as pure chaos. That review was the so correct. There are a few little sassy comments that make you chuckle, but for the most part the story is dark and deep. One major theme was rules we live by. By making rules, are we just setting ourselves up to break them, or are they successful guidelines? And just what does it take to break a person so completely their rules disappear? One of my favorite lines: "Madness, you know, is like gravity...all it takes is a little push."

I don't want to say too much that would ruin the movie for anyone else. I will say, though, that my favorite thing is the fate of the Batmobile. The special effects were all absolutely solid. My least favorite part was the (brief) gutted and burning fire truck. On the whole, this movie was 152 minutes well spent. However, this movie is not for the squeamish. While it isn't overtly graphic, the ideas are well enough conveyed that more sensitive types wouldn't be sure what to do with all the chaos.

Friday Fives: You're Special, Sunshine!

So Alan and I have spent an unusual amount of time together lately, what with the camping trip and ganging up on our neighbors (see a later post... I will link to it once it's posted) and all. As a result, I've noticed something about him that others might not know: he really likes to tease me. Sometimes it is to blow off steam when he's frustrated, but usually I give him enough material to keep him amused. So this Friday, I give you Five Reasons My Husband Thinks I'm "Special".

1. Cold medicine can't keep me down. He still likes to tease me about the night shortly after we were married, when I actually woke him up to advise him that "I took a bunch of cold medicine and now I can't sleep." I'm not sure what I was expecting. Maybe one of those sweet late night conversations we had when we were dating? He told me that was nice and went right on sleeping. I'm sure this particular moment is still a little fuzzy around the edges for him.

2. I can't sleep with a blanket tag by my face. The blankets must face the right direction. Also, they must be somewhat evenly distributed. I can sleep in all manner of layered clothing, but anything more than a sheet and a comforter (even when they get kicked over to me and are doubled up) drives me nuts. It should be noted Alan was the one who actually made this discovery--I was unaware of this behavior and I have unconsciously passed it on to Mason.

3. I organize by color. I get excited when there is something to organize. Our home office filing has always been color coded. When I was a bank teller, the money in my bottom vault was wrapped in color-coded rubber bands by denomination. My recipes are arranged in categories in a 5X7 binder, and each category is color-coded. I recently had to learn what kind of fire apparatus runs out of which fire station in the valley; I made flashcards and guess how they were organized? Each fire department in the valley had its own color. He brings home new multi-colored Sharpies and I actually giggle with excitement instead of groaning about the project that probably lays ahead. I also used to have an alphabetical system for DVDs and CDs, but both those have been tossed out the window since we had Mason.

4. I eat like a little kid. I love chicken fingers, macaroni and cheese, and cereal. I've been finding relatively healthy ways to enjoy these things as an adult (and a parent), but I think he's rather amused I go to all the effort. When he asks what we had for dinner while he was at work and gets a reply of "Rice Krispies and Frosted Mini Wheats mixed together", I think the only appropriate response is shaking his head. Keep in mind, I'm the same girl who went with him last summer on a wine tasting/fresh seafood eating vacation. His only stipulation was that I didn't order chicken fingers everywhere we went.

5. I have "girly" moments. I'm typically not the girl who asks for help easily or readily admits that I'm afraid of something small. Please don't confuse this for me saying I am not the mom who can conjure up all kinds of deadly and bloody what-ifs in the most simple scenario (I totally do that--maybe that could be a separate list). However, things like spiders don't usually freak me out. That is, until he has me reaching down in the sprinkler box and then announces I should wear gloves because he has seen a Black Widow down there recently. (He got to finish winterizing that year by himself and it took hours for the "creepy crawlies" to go away). If I can't reach a bowl at the top of the cupboard, I ask for his help without thinking it through (he and I are the same height, so he probably can't reach it any easier than I can). He has told me how to work our barbeque about 18 times and I don't remember so I only grill when he's home to "show me how" (take over). I can change my own tire. (Meaning I have the knowledge, but not the strength to crack the lugnuts so he ends up doing it). Oh, and don't forget the screaming when the grasshopper landed on me while we were weeding last night. At least I wasn't standing up; then there would've been dancing too, and I would have to add a #6 about my clumsiness.