What I've Been Up To

Happy belated 4th of July, blog world! Here at the Nation household we enjoyed a nice quiet night at home the night before the 4th sitting on our back porch and watching a huge fireworks display put on by the Corvette Museum! We couldn't have had a better view of the beautiful festivities.

This is not an actual pic of our view - but you get the idea!

On the 4th, we headed up to Louisville to go to a family cookout at Chris's aunt's house. It was a perfect summertime feast -- burgers, watermelon, corn on the cob, baked beans, and homemade ice cream. Yum! It was great to take a day trip up and spend some quality time with his family.

Thursday I took off from work to spend some time with my family in Franklin. Me and Lucy picked up Nana and drove out to swim with Grace and Cole at their house. It was SO hot outside, we really didn't spend much time outside of the pool. Including Lucy! Who knew the girl liked to surf?

Friday I only had a half day to work, but I woke up and got a migraine {ugh!!} so I stayed home and slept til 11, and then felt better. Chris and I had a nice weekend of eating out, watching movies, and being lazy.  Tonight, we had one of our favorite dinners - black bean dip & tacos.

Chris LOVES when I fix this bean dip. If you are ever looking for a quick easy recipe to go with tacos, you should give this a try. I also use it to make myself double decker style tacos {soft + hard shell with a layer of beans in between, yum!}.

Don't judge me for the amounts of sour cream I use. It is my favorite condiment!

We had a similar dip at a local restaurant so I did my best to recreate it. We like it!

Black Bean Dip

Ingredients
2 cans black beans
1 block cream cheese {I use 1/3 reduced fat}
shredded cheese
diced red onion
sliced jalepenos

Directions
Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, mash the black beans to a creamy paste. Add cream cheese to beans and mix together until blended. Bake bean mixture in 8 x 8 or small round dish for 20 minutes. Before serving, top with shredded cheese, diced red onion, and sliced jalepenos. Enjoy with tortilla chips.

I have a VERY busy week at work - I will be catching up on the time I missed last week plus 3 of my co-workers are on vacation which means I'll be helping out where I'm needed in the office. Phew, I'm getting tired just thinking about it!

Happy Monday! :)