Comfort food...black bean and rice soup.

This black bean and rice soup recipe is so filling and warm, it is perfect for these cold winter days. Plus, as with all my recipes, it is so easy and cheap to make. An added bonus with this soup recipe is it can feed a whole family...or if there are only two of you, like Dave and I, it will last for days. We never get sick of it either. Add some spice in your bowl the next day to mix it up a bit...

This time Dave and I added a 1/2 cup extra of brown rice to make it a little thicker, like chilli. It's delicious both ways...here's the recipe for the thicker version we made this time...

1 c brown rice
16 oz salsa
32 oz vegetable broth
20 oz refried black beans
2- 20 oz cans of whole black beans

Cook brown rice and 2 c of water to boiling, simmer with lid for about 30-35 minutes. In large soup pan mix broth and smashed refried beans. Add rice, salsa, and whole beans and heat.

Add a little cheese on top or mixed in if you want. Sometimes Dave eats his with some crackers. Enjoy!  

Thanksgiving and such...

Remember the chocolate pecan pie recipe I shared with you all on Thanksgiving? Well mine turned out amazing this year, even though I didn't have my Mama to make them with. Dave was sweet and helped out, because it's more fun with two people. I ended up having enough filling with the recipe I posted for two pies, and since the only crusts we found the night before were in two packs...we won.

Once everyone digested a bit Dave and a few others played their guitars downstairs and put on a mini concert for the rest of us...

Friday was the Vienna Coffee House show which you can read about here.

Saturday was our last day in Knoxville and we finally got a day to just stay in our pj's all day and hang out with Dave's parents, little sis, and our oldest nephew :)

The whole family before we left (minus my Mother-in-law)

Saturday evening we left and stayed the night in Kentucky with one of Dave's friends (and bass player) from the Air Force. They spent the night catching up on life and music...

Sunday was the looooooong drive home. After all the traveling we'd done the 10 hour drive seemed extra long, especially since I was really sick that day and we got an extra hour tagged on from sitting in stand still traffic...

So that's the end of our crazy Thanksgiving trip!

Thanksgiving Trip Part 3: Knoxville

After a whirlwind weekend of Austin followed by Dallas we left early Sunday morning for Knoxville. It's a 12 hour drive from Dallas so I did a lot of sleeping, watching movies on the laptop, and more sleeping. I have always wished I could be one of those people who can read books in the car, because I LOVE to read! But I get extremely carsick, sometimes even when I'm not reading.

I love staying at my in-laws (especially after such a long day of driving) because the room in the basement that we stay in has the comfiest bed in the darkest room I've ever slept in. It's heaven. Oh and there's this picture that makes me smile every time...how cute is he?!

 Monday Dave had an interview with WVLT on the noon show...

 Later that night we got to go to my sis-in-law's basketball game, she made the middle school team which is pretty competitive there so we're pretty proud. We met baby Hudson, our new nephew, for the first time and he is beyond precious...

 If you look closely you can see Dave is wearing Hunter's cape in this one :)

 Wednesday morning Dave was on 106.1 The River's morning show with Bruce again...

 Late that night he had another interview with Karen and Dennis on The Writer's Block, we just love this show...

Sorry so many updates, but I have so many wonderful pics from the trip that I had to share, next up Thanksgiving...

Thanksgiving Trip Part 2: Dallas

So after our fun/quick trip to Austin, we headed to Dallas. Luckily Dave and I have family there that let us stay with them and I feel so bad we didn't get to spend more time with them. We practically ran into their house took showers and headed to dinner. One of Dave's old bosses from the Air Force wanted to take us out to eat before the show so we had to hurry, I threw my hair in a braid and off we went...

I always love the Opening Bell and this was the third time Dave has played there. I got to see my bff Jake who lives in Dallas now and we saw our friends Meredith and David.

...the next morning we hit the road again for a 12 hour drive to Knoxville, Tennessee!