Black Bean and Corn Succotash

This recipe is definitely a keeper. It makes the perfect side dish and can be served in many different ways. Give it a try and see if you agree!

Black Bean and Corn Succotash

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 small red onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

6 ears fresh corn, kernels removed (or 10 oz bag frozen corn, thawed)

1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

3 green onions, thinly sliced

3 tsp dried cilantro (or 3 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped)

Juice of one fresh lime (about 2 Tbsp lime juice)

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the red onion and cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds.
2. Add the corn and 1/2 cup of water; cook, stirring occasionally until tender, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the black beans and tomatoes and cook until just heated through; about 5 minutes longer.
4. Remove from heat; stir in the green onions, cilantro, and lime juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Notes:

This side dish can be served hot or cold. And it makes a great filling for pita bread sandwiches! It's very versatile.

Do you remember Sylvester the Cat saying, "Suffering succotash!"when we were kids? Well nothing to suffer here. Good stuff - I promise. :-)

DIY Minecraft Pig Costume

Our family recently went as Minecraft characters for Halloween, and as promised here's your step by step photo tutorial for how to make a DIY Minecraft Pig costume PLUS bonus instructions for a DIY Minecraft Diamond dog costume and how to make your Minecraft Diamond Sword and Pickaxe really glow.

Supplies Needed for Minecraft Pig Costume

• Cardboard box the size of your child's head (should be a cube sized box rather than rectangular - ours came from Crazy 8)
• Paper packing tape
• Scissors
• Pink spray paint
• Pink paint sample cards
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Hot glue gun
• Sharper marker
• Foam and/or pool noodles

Instructions for Assembly

First, peel any shipping labels off the box. Then, cover the box with paper packing tape, ensuring all seams are covered, and any areas where the box previously folded are reinforced.

Then, have your child try the box on his head and let him use a pen to mark the inside of the box where the eye holes should be. These will just be for general placement. You'll need to use your judgement to make sure that the eye holes are actually centered on the box!

Draw and cut out 1 1/2 square eye holes in the box using your child's markings as a general guide. Have him try the box on again to make sure that you've got them in the right place. (You can always cut them larger if need be!)

Take the box to an area outside and spray paint it pink. You'll need to use several light coats of paint, as cardboard tends to soak up the paint on the first coat. Let dry.

While the box is drying, measure out 1 1/2" squares on the pink paint sample cards and cut out. These will be used on the two sides, back, and top of the box. Our box was not large enough to accommodate 1 1/2" squares for the front side (face), so I measured and cut out 1" squares for the front side.

Using the Minecraft pig face as a guide, place the cut out squares on the front side of the box and glue with hot glue.

I chose to use 12, 1 inch squares in a grid to replicate the pig's nose, and 2, 1 1/2 inch squares for the whites of his eyes. I placed the other 1 inch squares in a checkerboard pattern over the pink background. I used the Sharpie marker to create the black part of his eyes.

To create the other three sides and the top, I glued the remaining 1 1/2 inch squares in a checkerboard pattern on those sides. This mimicked the pattern on our purchased costumes pretty well.

Making It Fit

You'll note that a box on your child's head will tend to slip and slide around quite a bit. In order to fix this problem, we opted to glue foam to the inside of the box somewhat like how a batting helmet works.

First, I started with cutting regular foam into squares and then gluing it into a double thickness before gluing it into the inside back of the box.

Then, I glued an old pool noodle (which had previously been made into a light saber, hence the duct tape) around the lower perimeter of the box.

And here are a few photos of the finished product along with its Steve, Creeper, and Enderman purchased counterparts.

And here are a few photos of the costume in action:

BONUS: How to Make a Minecraft Diamond Dog Costume

Supplies Needed for Minecraft Diamond Dog Costume

• Blue T-shirt that will fit your dog (we used size 3T for our 24 lb Tibetan Terrier)
• Silver glitter T-shirt paint
• Diamond glitter T-shirt paint
• Diamond pattern for reference
• Ruler
• Pencil

See little Smitty in the photo above? He was our Minecraft diamond! His costume took about 5 minutes to make. :-)

First, crop and print this diamond pattern out at 8 1/2 x 11 size and then insert the paper inside the shirt to use as a guide. Then, using the pattern as a guide, draw the diamond onto the shirt using a pencil and ruler. (This is very easy - it's all straight lines!)

Trace the pencil lines with silver glitter paint.

Freehand "glow" marks with silver glitter paint.

Fill in the interior shapes with Diamond glitter paint. Note: this paint looks white until it dries. 

Set aside to dry thoroughly.

Here's the finished product in action. Diamonds are a girl's best friend and dogs are man's best friend, so I think we're covered here! For the record, Smitty is everybody's friend. ;-)

BONUS BONUS: How to Make Your Diamond Sword and Pickaxe Really Glow

• Foam Minecraft Sword and Pickaxe
• Battery-operated Halloween glowing wands
• Chenille craft sticks

This was probably the easiest of all the projects this year, but it was well worth it. The boys really wanted to carry the Minecraft sword and pickaxe with their costumes. I always want them to have something that glows for safety's sake. So, we compromised! The grandparents had purchased the boys these fantastic glowing wands that changed colors and did all sorts of neat tricks.

I simply used chenille stems to attach them to the sword and pickaxe, like so:

The boys both opted to set their wand color to blue to keep with the Minecraft theme, but these wands glowed all night. Win-win!

If you're interested in other Halloween costume tutorials, check out these tried and true Harris Sisters Free Patterns and DIY posts:

Poodle Skirt Costume Tutorial

Red Riding Hood (Adult) Free Sewing Pattern

Red Riding Hood (Child) Free Crochet Pattern

Cupcake Costume Tutorial

Juice Box Costume Tutorial

Superhero Crazy Hair Tutorial

Shopping Your Closet/Goodwill for Halloween Costumes

Shine Bright Like a Diamond

For 2014, the boys had their hearts set on being Minecraft characters for Halloween. You'll note that I've linked to the Wikipedia explanation of Minecraft out of courtesy because there is a good chance that long time readers of the blog may have no idea what in the world this is. :-)

Reader's Digest explanation is that Minecraft is a video game that the boys (along with other kids their age) play. Of course, the last time I played a video game, it told me that I had died of dysentery on the Oregon Trail. THAT was a little traumatic, and I have not since played video games. But, I digress.

Anyhoot, we were lucky that we could purchase the majority of these costumes this year. The main character is Steve:

And the two "bad guys" are a Creeper and an Enderman. Ryan and I were game to be those two. 

However, Jaxon wanted to be a Minecraft pig. You may have read about his fascination with pigs previously on the blog. 

I would need to make that costume and also a diamond costume for our pup Smitty. (They mine for diamonds in the game.)

Here is the DIY photo tutorial for both the pig costume and the diamond dog costume.

Here's Steve and Minecraft Pig hanging out in the backyard:

Oh no! An Enderman has appeared! (Hey, that's what they do.)

Grab your diamond sword and pickaxe!

A Creeper!

Hey, look! We found a diamond!

If you can't beat 'em! Join 'em!

Happy Halloween from the Walkushes!