Black Bean and Papaya Salsa

This is my second most requested recipe. It's perfect for a picnic or a backyard barbeque. Healthy too. We tend to lick the bowl clean!

Ingredients:

3 Tbl oil

1/4 cup lemon juice

handful of fresh cilantro

3 green onions

red pepper

papaya (fresh or canned)

cooked black beans

tortilla chips (optional)

Place oil, juice and cilantro in food processor and puree. Add roughly chopped green onions. Pulse a few times. Add red pepper cut into chunks. Pulse until pepper is much smaller; tiny if used as a dip, chunkier if used as a relish. Add pieces of papaya. Pulse a few times. Lastly, add beans. Pulse only to mix, you don't want to break the beans. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to meld the tastes.

Serve with tortilla chips or as a relish with chicken or fish. My favorite way to serve this is to place a layer of the salsa on a plate, slice a grilled chicken breast and artfully arrange on top. Your guests might even think you had this dinner catered.

Patriotic Ribbon Badge

I can think of a dozen uses for this over-the-top ribbon badge; wear it to the parade, top a package, embellish a hat, award it to the winner of the egg toss, or just make your refrigerator look patriotic. Okay, so that's five uses, but I'm sure you can think of the rest.

Materials

1 1/2" poster board circle

grosgrain ribbons (patriotic colors)

large plain button

small star shank button

pin back or safety pin (optional)

magnet (optional)

Tools

hot glue gun

wire clippers or strong scissors

Cut red ribbon in eight 4" lengths. Cut striped ribbon in eight 3" lengths. Cut white ribbon in eight 2 1/2" lengths. Place a thin strip of hot glue on one end of each ribbon and line it up with the other end to form a loop.
Glue the red ribbon loops to the back of the poster board circle. Glue close to the perimeter at the points of a compass (north, south, east and west). Fill in the spaces with the other four loops.
Turn the poster board circle over and glue the striped loops to the front side in the same manner as the red ribbons, allowing the ends of the red ribbons to show.
Repeat for the white ribbons. Leave a little of the poster board showing.
Cut two long pieces of red ribbon and two slightly shorter pieces of white. Cut the ends at angles and glue them onto the back of the rosette, making sure that the angles face each other.

Cut the shank off of the star button. Hot glue the large red button onto the middle of the rosette. Glue the star into the middle of the red button.

Sew a pin back or safety pin on the back of the rosette in order to wear it or glue a magnet on the back to display on the fridge. Or do both!

Best Pop Ever

If you find yourself without a Father's Day card or the ones at the store are lame, I have come to your rescue.

Materials

2 pieces of cardstock

1 piece of cardstock scrapbook paper

double stick tape

Tools

paper cutter or scissors

glue stick

The first step is to download and print this and this on white cardstock. Change your page set up to "borderless letter" otherwise some of the end photos may be cut off. The first download gives you an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper with photos of various foods called "pop" in polaroid frames.

Cut the paper in half length-wise.

Place a piece of double-stick tape on the back edge of "popcorn" and carefully line up and adhere it to the front edge of "corn pops". You should have a piece of paper 4 1/4" x 22 1/2".
Score the center (on the front) with either a bone folder or a table knife. Score on the front, 3 1/2 " from either end. Turn the card over and score on the back side, 7 " from either end. Fold on score lines. You should now have an accordion folded card. Trim top and bottom, if necessary. Don't fret if the card isn't folded perfectly, the cover will make that much less noticeable.

Cut 2 pieces 3 3/4" x 4 1/4" from card stock; perhaps a piece of scrapbook paper. Glue the pieces to either end of the accordion. Print the photo of the "tootsie pop" on white card stock and cut out. Glue it to the front cover.

Place a photo of the best pop ever into the frame on the last page.

So Many Pops

I was amazed, on a trip to the grocery store, at just how many foods have either "Pop" or "Dad(dy)" in their names. Perfect for Father's Day. So this is a twofer. Buy as many "pop" foods as you can find or afford. Put them in a suitable masculine container (bucket, cooler, tackle box, etc.), wrap it up in cellophane, or just download this picture and make it into a card. Or do both!

I hope you come up with a suitable poem such as:

Pops and Dads, they're quite a few,

But none can be as sweet as you.

Okay, okay, not my best, I'll agree. You'll do better, I know.

Did you see how I made this digital photo look like a polaroid?

This Really Isn't Kansas Anymore!

Paint your shoes to spruce them up. We are going to go Dorothy one better with her plain red shoes. We'll use the whole color wheel. Who knows where you might go when you click these heels together.

Materials:

a pair of light colored shoes

acetone

various colored permanent markers with medium or large tips

fine tip permanent black marker

gold or silver leaf markers

Wipe the shoes with acetone to remove any protective coating. Make a checkerboard stripe with a black marker near the toes. Draw a heart toward the arch of the foot. Fill in blocks of color. Outline the blocks in black. Use a small black marker to add patterns such as spirals and dots to the color blocks. A gold or silver leaf marker adds a little bling. Jimmy Choo eat your heart out.

Tips:

You can reapply the color to refresh the shoes. I've had a pair that I painted two years ago. I recolor them from time to time. They still look good.

I didn't put a protective coat of wax on my shoes as I was afraid that the solvent in the wax would smear the markers and it didn't seem necessary. You might try it in an inconspicuous place if you want.