Wednesday, March 5, 2014

This Year's Valentines

This year's Valentines were easy peasy!  My daughter wanted to give her friends moustaches and my son wanted to give his friends bubbles.  To beef up the bags a bit, we also added a few Hershey's kisses.  It couldn't have been easier.  Or cheaper.  Score TWO for Mommy!!




 Rie Bonanno Photography 2014

Rie Bonanno Photography 2014

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

RBP Red Beans and Rice




RBP Red Beans & Rice


Monday's in New Orleans were traditionally the day to do laundry.  The women of the time would put a pot of red beans on the stove and leave it all day while they washed clothes.  More often than not, my Mondays are busy playing catch up from all the activities over the weekend.  This recipe is my go-to recipe for our busy Mondays.  You just dump everything into the Crockpot, turn it on, and leave it.

Ingredients:
1 large can (30 oz) Joan of Arc red beans
1 regular can (16 oz) Blue Runner cream style red beans 
diced onion*
minced garlic*
1 Hillshire Farms Turkey Kielbasa Sausage
2 bay leaves
2 dashes of Worcestershire Sauce
2 TBSP butter
handful of instant potato flakes
1 beer
salt and pepper to taste

*Use as much or as little as you like.  I like a lot of onion and garlic in most of my dishes, so naturally I put a lot of these in my red beans.

This recipe is an adaptation of my Aunt Judy's recipe.  I try to make it a bit healthier by using the turkey sausage, but I guess once I add the butter, potatoes, and beer it probably isn't. The butter and the potato flakes are used to thicken the liquid.

Chop up the onion, garlic, and sausage then put in the Crockpot.  Add both cans of beans, bay leaves, Worchestershire sauce, butter, potato flakes, salt, pepper, and beer.  Stir to mix well. Cover Crockpot and turn on low.  Cook all day.  Serve over rice.  The New Orleans way is to serve it over sticky white rice, but I use brown rice...again, to try to be healthier.

Enjoy!!


Wednesday, January 22, 2014

The H Family

I was given the opportunity to photograph the H family again.  Their little boy has really grown since I first started my business.  He is going to be a big brother some time this spring and I think he'll rock his new job.  2014 is going to be a good year for this family.  I couldn't be more happy for them.




The F Family

This family was one of my very first photography clients.  They saw me shooting a session in a park and asked me right there to do a session with their daughter.  It was one of those "being in the right place at the right time" moments.  They are always so sweet and gracious.  I'm honored that they keep calling me to photograph them.  









Tuesday, January 21, 2014

The D Family

The D family was new to me this year and I absolutely loved them.  These boys were so full of energy and I really had fun on our 'adventure' through the park.  They got a kick out of the secret trails and tunnels we explored.  I had a lot of fun and I hope to have the opportunity to photograph them again. 





Monday, January 20, 2014

The C Family


I was thrilled to have the chance to photograph this family again.  Little Miss Cutie Patootie is THE sweetest girl ever.  She was so easy to photograph and so polite.  Her Mommy and Daddy are doing such a great job with her.  She will grow up to do good things.




Sunday, January 19, 2014

The C Family

After several tries to schedule a photo shoot, we finally nailed down a date and I got to shoot the very special C family.  These kids were great to photograph.  I asked them, they did it.  And Mom and Dad, well these two are some of the hardest working people I know.  I'm happy I could capture these sweet memories for them to cherish.

 It couldn't have been an easier shoot!