Painting & Sweet Potato Tacos

One thing that I love about the end of the school year is being able to spend more time doing fun, creative activities.

After an afternoon of painting and playdough, I decided to make a purchase to hopefully help boost the quality of my pictures (my creative outlet). I have been wanting one for a long time now and I am so excited to start using it! I especially bought it for food photography but I am sure I will find other uses too! Start looking for more clear photos from me in the future.  If you haven't guessed yet (or seen the picture posted directly below), it's a tripod! (Yes, I realize the picture OF the tripod is slightly blurry... hence the reason I bought a tripod.)

Dinner tonight was one of my all time favorite recipes- Sweet potato tacos! The flavors between all the veggies, beans, and spices, compliment each other perfectly! 

I would consider this a cheap and easy meal, but not exactly fast, due to the excessive amount of chopping involved.

But it is worth it! Especially if you designate your husband as your sous chef and assign the chopping to him... while you do "everything else" (open the beans and measure the spices... that's about it). 

Sweet Potato Tacos

Adapted from Skinny Bitch- Ultimate Everyday Cookbook

(Print Recipe)

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons safflower oil

1 large sweet potato (or 2 small), peeled and cubed

1 red pepper, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon oregano

1 15-oz can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 large tomato, diced

salt and pepper

8 small tortillas

1 avocado

1 handful chopped cilantro

Directions:

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the sweet potato and saute until almost soft. Add the red pepper, garlic, and all spices. Saute 3 minutes. Stir in the beans and tomato and cook 3-5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Slightly toast both side of the tortillas in the oven on broil (this will only take a few minutes- watch them carefully!) Spread the sweet potato mixture on the tortillas. Top with avocado and cilantro.

Nate informed me the other day that I had created 23 blog posts so far. Then he proceded to say that he didn't know I had that many ideas. HA! That's why he is designated sous chef.

If you are looking for inspiration, or ways to be more creative, I suggest you create some finger paintings yourself. Then make some sweet potato tacos. I'm pretty sure that is the magic combination for boosting your creativity. Lets hope so anyway. Otherwise, I might not make it past this (my 25th) blog post.

Hummingbird Food and Painting

I just made hummingbird food (thank you to my mother-in-law for reminding me it's hummingbird season- I almost forgot!) I love watching humming birds come to the feeder... and hopefully will have some pictures of them soon! Hummingbird food is simple to make.

Just bring four parts water to one part sugar to a boil (no need for any artificial dyes!) Don't use any other sweetener, sugar is the one that most closely resembles nectar. After it comes to a boil, stir, remove from heat, and let it cool before you put it in the feeder. I made a 2 cup batch, so I boiled it with a half cup of sugar. When it starts to get warmer, I will only put a small amount in the feeder at a time. I have read that bacteria grows really fast because of all the sugar in the hummingbird food. They can get sick from it if you don't change it often enough. In fact, I just found this chart here to refer to when deciding how often to change the food.

High temperatures		Change nectar after
71-75		6 days
76-80		5 days
81-84		4 days
85-88		3 days
89-92		2 days
93+		change daily

In the middle of the sweltering summers here, I will only put a tiny bit out so I can change it every day!

On another note, Nate built a table for our potted garden plants. We haven't put the pots on it yet, so this is how we used it this morning :)

Notice Lilly on her cushion... she wouldn't have it any other way.

I also went and painted pottery today with my friends Lisa and Rebecca... oh Bec, how we miss you! It was my first time ever and was scared to do anything too creative. SO, I used a special effects paint to cover my entire vase. I'll post pictures once I get it back. Lisa made a cute dog treat jar for her puppy Lacey.

And Rebecca made a ring holder for all her diamonds :) and tie clip holder for her hubby.

Since my uncreative piece didn't take too much time, I had fun taking pictures while they finished painting.

As I always say, SUNDAY FLEW BY! It was a great day but wish it lasted longer. I am looking forward to painting pottery again sometime and will be a little more daring! I am also eagerly awaiting those hummingbirds so I can try to take some pictures.