Elaine's going away party

It seems that here lately at work, we are losing quite a few nurses. One of our favorite traveler nurses, Elaine, overstayed her contract in order to help us out when we were short nurses. We really got to know her and we are going to miss her witty,wonderful personallity. In a way she kinda reminded me of my mom. So goodbye dear Elaine...I hope that you come back to us one day. :)

Here's a few pics that I made look special for Elaine when I finally send her the CD I promised her! :)

Funky Town

Dustin has taught Olivia a new song. She loves Funky Town. These kids are destined to be goofy when they grow up. :)

Yummy Beans

So, one night I made some beans for one of our potluck meals at work and snuck in some ground pork and didn't tell anyone cause I thought they'd be grossed out. As it turned out, everyone loved the beans and I've made this recipe tons of times before and it never tasted this good, so pork has to be the secret. Anyhow, I thought I'd put the recipe up so that I wouldn't forget it and be able to share it with others. Trust me, you'll love it and it's so simple. This would be a great crock pot recipe if you wanted to do dry beans instead of canned ones. :) Enjoy.

You will need:
2 cans Bush's pinto beans
1 can kidney beans
1 pkt ranch seasoning ( I buy it in bulk, so just measure accordingly....don't worry, if you add too much, it will only add to the flavor)
1 can rotel tomatoes
1 32 ounce low sodium chicken broth
2 cups seasoning blend (or 1/2 cup chopped yellow onion, bell pepper, and cellery)
1 lb ground pork
1/2 tsp Slap ya Mama seasoning (I really think this is one of the things that made the flavor so good too because a friend left it out and it didn't taste as good...I found mine at Super 1 Foods)
Salt/Pepper/Garlic Seasoning to taste

*see below for crock pot version

Begin by scrambling the ground pork and seasoning blend on hi heat. Cook until done. Drain if you want, but I like to keep my grease to add to the flavoring. Actually there wasn't that much grease believe it or not.  Add in the packet of Ranch once it's all cooked and stir. Lower your heat to medium.

The mixture will kinda get a thickness to it...thisis normal. (It's just the ranch thickening the juices up).

Add the rest of the ingredients to the pot and simmer on medium to low heat for 10-15 minutes.

Cook some corn muffins up and serve! The juice in this picture looks a little odd, but believe me, it's the most awesome juice ever.

*Crock Pot Version of Yummy Beans

For the crock pot version, I'd use 1 lb pinto beans and 1/2 pound kidney beans. Sort and clean the beans and throw in crock pot with the rest of the ingredients. I might add 2 cups of water or 2 cups chicken broth to compensate for the beans soaking up the juice. Cook on low for 6-8 hours until tender.

If you want to use can beans but put it all on the crock pot, cook on low for 4 hours.

Sibling Love

So getting a picture of these two both smiling at once is impossible. As you can see, if I could combine all these pictures, I might get one good picture. But, I love every one of these and had to share them. As you can see from my side pics, this is where I got them from. :)