Easy Black Bean Fiesta Tacos

I have not quite figured out the art of meal planning/prepping/scheduling so meals are usually done last minute. I have a very extensive Pinterest board devoted to crock pot meals and freezer meals but I have not acted on it quite yet. As I was looking through one of my pins (20 Costco meals for $150), I was inspired to make tacos this week. Unfortunately, I did not have tomatoes, shredded cheese, lettuce - the normal toppings. I looked at some of the comments on the taco recipe and people suggested beans, lentils, shredded zucchini, etc. So I decided to improvise with what was in my pantry and fridge and I think it actually tasted better than the usual fare.

Easy Black Bean Fiesta Tacos

Ingredients

• Approx. 20 carrots, diced
• 1-21 oz can of Bush's Grilling Beans Black Bean Fiesta
• 2 lbs ground beef
• Generous shakes of onion powder and garlic powder (to taste)
• Approx 25 cubes of Colby Jack cheese
• Tortillas, tortilla chips, and/or taco shells (I used all three.)
• Toppings: black olives, sour cream

Directions

• Brown meat in a saute pan/skillet and drain when fully cooked. (I cover the pan to help cook faster.)
• Add carrots and 2 T of water to a sauce pan. Cover and cook until soft (maybe 10 min).
• Heat the Bush's Beans in a sauce pan.
• Drain meat and add Bush's beans and carrots to the meat.
• Mix in onion powder and garlic powder.
• Once fully mixed, reserve some for the baby. 
• Add cubed cheese and simmer until basically melted.
• Warm taco shells according to package directions. 
• Serve with olives, sour cream and tortillas or chips or shells. 

Baby Version

Servings - 2 adults, 1 preschooler, 1 baby and leftovers for lunch for 2.
I think it took about 30 minutes to prepare but I was not paying too much attention.

If not spicy enough (ahem Pumpkin Dad), add sriracha sauce to taste.

Birthday Board

We created a birthday board inspired from Lolly Jane, which has the full tutorial. We loved the idea of displaying the birthdays that are coming up so as not to miss any, especially as the family grows. We created this for my grandparents in their living room colors.

We followed Lolly Jane's directions for the most part but we do not have a vinyl printer and I didn't want to buy vinyl letters so instead...

Pumpkin Dad had a great idea to create the "Birthdays" title out of a thin piece of wood from Hobby Lobby. We liked the look of Lolly Jane's M and M board so we tried to create something similar. He created a template using Microsoft Word to spell out BiRThDaYS, making sure the letters were the perfect size (through trial and error) for the board we used. He painstakingly traced the letters with an Exacto knife. After sanding and painting the letters, the board and the month circles, he used wood glue to attach the letters and the months. I love how the letters really stand out.

I used a white extra fine Sharpie paint marker to write the month initials and the names. I do not recall if it was an oil based or water based Sharpie. I wanted to highlight my grandparents' birthdays so I used stars for theirs and circles for the rest of the family. Pumpkin Dad then drilled holes into the board and each of the circles and then attached them together with eye hooks. I love the idea of using eye hooks because it makes it very easy to add more birthdays to the board.

My grandparents loved the gift. Thanks to Lolly Jane for such a great idea!

Disney's Frozen 4th Birthday Party

We joined the numerous other families that have celebrated Disney's Frozen with a birthday party. Thank goodness for Pinterest and other blogs that have provided so much inspiration and printables!

Houston has an amazing party warehouse store called Arne's Warehouse. Whatever theme your party has, Arne's will most likely have something for you. Between Arne's, Party City, and Hobby Lobby, I was able to find what I needed for Pumpkin Girl's 4th birthday party.

The Invitation

I used assorted blue cardstock, 2 snowflake stamps, and blue and white ink. I printed a free Frozen invitation from Party and Prints on regular paper. I cut it out and Pumpkin Girl and I used a glue stick to glue it to the blue cardstock. Next time I will try Mod Podge because the glue stick didn't hold up very well. On the back of the blue cardstock, Pumpkin Girl and I stamped an assortment of blue and white snowflakes.

The Decorations

I used the Frozen Scene Setter and Frozen Wall Decals (from Target) to decorate the house. I set up the table with Frozen Confetti and blue and white snowflakes made with cardstock and a snowflake punch. I taped silver and white snowflakes to the mantel and kitchen island/bar. I tied Frozen balloons to gazebo stakes (metal rods) and lined the walkway to our house but the wind popped the balloons before the guests arrived. :( Oh well. They looked nice while they were up,

The Food

Most of my food was inspired directly from Rambling Renovators. I printed off her menu and taped it to my fridge to make sure I served everything that I wanted. We used Frozen place cards from Rambling Renovators to identify the food.

Snowman cheese sticks: string cheese wrapped in blue washi tape and decorated with black and orange Sharpie markers

Olaf's nose: baby carrots

Olaf's arms: pretzel sticks

Anna and Hans' sandwiches: PB and J and Costco chicken salad sandwiches cut into fourths

Sven snacks: cubed watermelon, cubed cheese and crackers

Snowman buttons: black sixlets and M and M's (pretzel and almond because I wanted to try them)

Frozen waters: Frozen slush punch from Rambling Renovators

Frozen hearts: strawberries dipped in white Wilton candy melts - we had such a difficult time with the candy melt. My dad decide to run warm water over the strawberry with the candy and then smeared the candy on which worked, thankfully. Next time we will do melted chocolate!

Trolls: grapes

Kristoff's ice: blue jello served individually in 2 oz blue disposable shot cups

Frost bites: marshmallows steamed until shiny (electric kettle) and then dipped in blue sugar (add 5 drops of blue food coloring to 1/2 cup of sugar) - Pumpkin Girl and I had a good time making these

Melted waters: Frozen water bottle labels from Delicate Construction wrapped around 8 oz bottles - I printed the labels on regular paper and used clear packaging tape to seal them so they would be waterproof.

The kids were not really eating any of the food until I brought the food over to the table and asked them if they wanted Olaf's arms or Kristoff's ice, etc. Then they were so excited and wanted everything. :)

The Cake and Ice Cream

I went very low key for the cake and served boxed cupcakes. We made Blue Velvet and Blue Raspberry cupcakes. We baked half of the cupcakes in ice cream cones. We topped the cupcakes with homemade buttercream frosting and silver cupcake gems. I used a 2" circle punch to punch out these cupcake toppers from Homeketeers printed on white cardstock and attached with Scotch clear tape to lollipop sticks.

We served neopolitan ice cream into the 2 oz blue cups. Cover with plastic wrap and place in freezer until ready to serve. We placed them in a baking dish to make it easier to bring out.

The Favors

We wrapped washi tape around the top and bottom of white favor boxes and then we stamped the top with blue snowflakes. We filled them with M and M's and Hershey kisses with Frozen character stickers on the bottom. I used a 3/4" circle punch to punch out these stickers also from Homeketeers printed on sticker paper. My husband, Pumpkin Girl, and I put the stickers on the bottom of blue Cookies and Creme Hershey's kisses.

We also made favor bags filled with Frozen pencils from Five Below or Party City, Frozen stickers from Arne's, silly straws (on clearance at Target), stencil rulers, a bouncy ball (Arne's or Party City) and a Disney's Jake, Sofia or Doc McStuffins play pack (from Wal-Mart). I also gave the girls Frozen snow globes (Arne's), Frozen lip gloss and Frozen nail polish (from Five Below). I gave the boys a 12 pack of glow sticks (Target or the Dollar Store).

The Games

We played bowling and Pin the Nose on Olaf. I gave the bowling winner a 2-pack of water guns and the Pin the Nose winner a Frozen activity book. Technically, Pumpkin Girl won Pin the Nose and the bowling winner was second, so we gave the prize to the 3rd place winner. :)

We had a great time celebrating Pumpkin Girl's 4th birthday party with friends and family and Pumpkin Girl was so excited by all of the Frozen details, especially the wall decals and the scene setter.

The next day, on her actual birthday, we went to the Kolache Factory for breakfast with my dad before he had to drive home, played with her new toys and ate more cupcakes. Happy 4th birthday, Pumpkin Girl!

Disclaimer: I am only including links to the products I used to reference what they look like and in no way am I being compensated for them.