Been Busy!!

We have been a bit busy!!! We are hosting 2 Chinese Exchange Students for 2 1/2 weeks. It has really been fun and we are really enjoying having them!! We picked them up on Friday around 12:30. Staying with the normal we had hamburgers and baked fries for dinner along with cantaloupe and strawberries. One of the girls put strawberries on her burger!! They both ate every bite. On Saturday night we had Chicken Fajitas, spanish rice and refried beans. They LOVED the rice!!

Spanish Rice

2 TBS. oil
1 cup uncooked rice
1 onion, chopped
2 cups water
1 10oz. can rotel
2 tsp. Chili Powder
1 tsp. salt

Heat oil in skillet, saute rice and onion until rice is browned, stir in water, rotel and spices. Cover and simmer 30 minutes.

Sunday night we had Red Beans & Rice with Sausage and cornbread. This recipe is from a friends blog.....thanks Christa!!!

Easy Red Beans and Rice

1 pkg your favorite sausage, sliced
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 - 1 bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans of red beans
1 Tbs. cornstarch
Cooked rice *if you want a wow flavor, substitute the water for chicken stock (in the box).. MUCH BETTER with this dish
Tony Chacheres, or seasoned salt

Brown the sausage a little bit Add onions and peppers to sausage and saute *hold back garlic until after onions and peppers are cooked down a bit. *I do this b/c the garlic would burn and taste bitter. open the cans of beans, DO NOT DRAIN! Dump it all in juicy syrupy stuff and all. Look in the bottom of the can, you'll see a little bit of bean sediments at the bottom.. fill the can about 1/3 of the way up and add tablespoon of corn starch and dissolve completely *stirring up those little bean bits off the bottom of the can. Add corn starch mixture (rosey cloudy pink color) to skillet and stir it up.
Season with Tony's or whatever seasoned salt you like. (*be careful with seasonings if you have an extra spicy sausage). Stir, cover and bring it up to boil for a minute and lower it to a slight simmer for about 15 minutes.
(The function of the corn starch is to change the liquid from watery to more of a gravy consistency.. if yours is still too watery, add some corn starch to a little water, dissolve it and then add it to your pan. never put dry corn starch into your food - it will make gummy clumps. If you have the opposite problem and it is too thick, add chicken stock or water to thin it out. no problem.)