Budget Bytes: (not) refried beans $2.75 recipe / $0.31 serving

Budget Bytes: (not) refried beans $2.75 recipe / $0.31 serving: Have you ever had refried beans that were so good that you wanted to just eat them plain out of a bowl? If you've been getting them out of ...

I made these Not Refried Beans today. I am so pleased with the results that I wanted to share with you here!

I followed the directions exactly, using the full amount of jalapeno and chili powder, and it wasn't at all too spicy. I was way too impatient to smoosh the beans by hand-- and holy cow, a two-pound bag of dried beans makes a LOT of beans-- so I used a food processor to make them all nice and creamy.

We put them on flour tortillas to make burritos. I added cheese and hot sauce to the burritos. They were absolutely delish, and the kids loved them too. Afterwards, my daughter had another bowl of just the beans with shredded cheese sprinkled on!

I mentioned that this recipe makes a ginormous amount of beans.. I have some in the fridge for the next day or two, and more in the freezer. I'm told that you can freeze them in burrito form for convenient microwavable burritos. Like the ones at the store, except yummy and unprocessed.

The whole Budget Bytes blog is amazing.. I have also made pumpkin smoothies and hummus from recipes on that blog. I love how they cost everything out, and the step by step pictures are really nice too.

Google Voice

I've just started using Google Voice, and so far I am really liking it. Here is my quick 'n dirty overview:

• You get to pick from a list of phone numbers
• You can use your existing cell phone number
• Very easy to set everything up from the Google Voice website
• Your one number can be used with multiple phones-- so theoretically this could be your phone number forever and ever regardless of how many times you get a new phone or new carrier
• You can call and text from the site or from your phone
• You can set up groups that get unique greetings
• Excellent call screening that can be turned off or on, or can be customized depending on what "group" the person calling is in
• You can add a call widget to your website, so that when people click it, google voice will call you and then call the person. They never see your number. 

I am one of the last people in the world without a cell phone (well, in a first world country, anyway), so the most awesome thing for me is that I can text from the website. People are always saying, "text me" and I have to go into the whole "I don't have a cell phone" thing. Now I can send and receive texts. Yay! Also, if I ever do get a cell phone, I can continue to use google voice, simply adding the new phone, and my phone number will not change. Win!

Good reading about Google Voice:

LifeHacker: How to Ease Your Transition to Google Voice

Google Voice's Youtube Channel

Google Voice Blog