Black Bean Brownies

I have a bulletin board that I chat at where I learn all kinds of things. Some of these tidbits are really, really useful. Some things I wish I could bleach from my mind (two girls one cup comes to mind. No. Don't google it. Trust me. You don't want to know).

A couple days ago, they were talking about a new brownie. A low calorie, easy to make brownie. Instead of adding the eggs and oil to a brownie mix, you add a can of pureed black beans. Most of them swore it was just as good as regular brownies.

After a trying day yesterday, I was ready for chocolate overload. However, my fat clothes are starting to feel a bit snug, so I didn't want to gain a bunch of weight from my binging. Perfect time to try the black bean brownies.

To make, I just needed a can of black beans and a brownie mix. I chose Betty Crocker because it is totally nut/egg free. I don't worry about that for my kids, but my niece is allergic, and I was thinking to future family get togethers when I did this experiment.

I drained the water out of the black beans because that stuff is always so gooey and freaky. Then, refilled the can (still filled with beans) with water. Dumped all of that into the blender. Blended it til it was perfectly smooth. I then added the dry brownie mix, and mixed til it was all incorporated.

Pour into a greased pan and baked at 350 for 30 minutes. It made 24 brownies. My guesstimate is that each brownie had 93 calories and .5 grams of fat. That is AMAZING! A regular betty crocker brownie has 9 grames of fat.

I fed them to the family last night. I didn't tell them what was different, and just fed them to the kids. K and M could tell a difference, but said they were good. All five kids (I'm babysitting my nephew for a few days) scarfed down two brownies each, and probably would have eaten more if I'd let them.

I could also tell a difference. I will admit I didn't like them nearly as much as the "real" brownies, but they were definitely a good substitute. They were better the next morning too.

Out of Time

For Mother's Day this year, I got my Mom, my MIL, and my Grandma Jane each a gorgeous hanging basket. I decided to get my Grandma Doris a flowering cactus because they are a lot lower maintenance. Grandma Doris never seemed to have time to take care of the baskets, and was always at work. She always talked about retiring, but never seemed to actually do it. She swore that with the downturn in the economy, business was bad enough that she was really going to do it. She and my grandfather had plans to go on a church history tour this summer, vising Palmyra and other similar places.

I ran out of time Mother's Day weekend, and didn't deliver her flowering cactus to her. Two weeks later, she was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer and kidney failure. I visited her that weekend, but didn't bring the cactus then because I thought that a plant that needed care would be too overwhelming to her. I did give her a gorgeous bouquet of cut flowers, but there was a bunch of other arrangements, and I'm not too sure she felt good enough to appreciate any of them.

When I bought that cactus, I never imagined that it would outlive her. But, I found myself watering it today, and thinking about how she died last night.

I'm sad that she's gone. She was a sweet, enthusiastic, wonderful person, and my world seems a little dimmer today without her.

I saw her on Friday, and she was in terrible shape. She was on a lot of painkillers, and only briefly woke up. She tried to say she loved us, but I'm not sure how aware and conscious she was. My grandfather was in a mild state of panic. He didn't want to let her go, and didn't want to face life without her. When they'd left for the hospital, she'd said that she was scared to death. He replied that he understood how she felt. She was a little angry and said she didn't think so. I think his situation was almost worse though. I can't imagine being 80 years old, in relatively good health, and watching the love of my life dying. Knowing that I was going to have to face life without that person. Watching them suffer, and feeling helpless to do anything. Knowing I'd face death eventually as well, but without a spouse there to hold my hand. While I'm sure my grandma WAS scared to death, I think my grandfather was even more scared.

I'll mourn her loss, but I am happy that she is no longer in pain. I'm not sure what I believe about the afterlife anymore, but I would like to think she still exists, and is with her family and loved ones. More than mourning her death, I think I'll mourn for my grandfather's sake. I think death is much harder on the living. I'm not sure how he'll deal with this.

Las Vegas!

A couple months ago, J's sister, Jody, and her husband, Jai, approached us about going to Las Vegas the last weekend in July. Their wedding anniversary was that weekend. Jai's brother and his wife (Tim & Trish) also were celebrating an anniversary that weekend, and were going to be there as well. It sounded like a LOT of fun, so we signed on.

Jai and Jody used their time share condo time, and we paid them a small bit of money for our share of our lovely two bedroom, two bathroom condo with a full kitchen. It was ON Las Vegas Blvd, but a good 4-5 miles south of where all the hottest action is. I considered that to be a good thing though- it was calm and quiet.

We had an absolute blast! Friday night, we saw "Hangover". It is a hysterically funny movie about Vegas. Saturday, we hooked up with Tim & Trish. They flew in that day and were staying at a different hotel. We ended up going to a show called "Ignite". There were pretty dancing girls, awesome goth music that brought back memories of high school, some cool illusions, and best of all, FIRE!!!! I love fire. We had a blast at the show. Antonio met us before the show, and then stopped to talk to us afterwards. He was a very nice guy, and very good looking. I thought he looked better without the contacts, but ya gotta admit that the contacts give stage presence, eh? (this is a singularly unflattering picture of me, but oh well!)

This is Tim & Trish, outside of their hotel.


This is Jai and Jody with Spongebob, at the Excalibur Hotel.Jim and I in front of Treasure Island.
We did a TON of walking. According to the pedometer on my cell phone, we walked 7 miles on Saturday, 11 miles Sunday, 7.7 miles Monday, and 4.3 miles Tuesday.

We did not do much gambling. I won around $5 from $1, but then lost $5 at video blackjack, so I stopped. Jim won around $50 in blackjack, but then quit.

I felt so lucky to go on a vacation with such a fun group of people. Jai and Jody and Tim & Trish are such fun, entertaining people. We shared a lot of laughs. We have quite a few fun inside jokes that I will laugh about for the rest of my life. I hope we can do it again.

The post in which embarrassment cascades

Gah! Have you ever had something mildly embarrassing happen, and you have a stupidly emotional reaction? Then THAT emotional reaction is way, way, way more embarrassing than the original awkward moment? Yeah, me neither.

At least, I wish that were true.

Tonight I decided to go to my ward's enrichment night. This is something of an oddity for me, given my inactive status in my church. So, I hadn't been to a social activity like this in a good long time. Because people don't generally stop attending my church, I am a bit of an oddity. So, going in, I was already feeling a bit awkward and self conscious.

I found a place to sit, and was talking to everyone. Everyone was being extra nice, probably hoping to fellowship me back to church. Plus, I am incredibly witty and entertaining to be around (ha!).

We were served dinner, so I set my purse under the table, and got in the food line. When I got back to "my" seat, it had been taken by a latecomer. Of course, this person had no clue the seat had been claimed. I didn't want to make a big deal, so I tried to find another seat. The other seats I asked about were taken, but they were still in the food line. By the 8th or so seat I asked about, I was beginning to feel really self conscious and awkward.

For some idiotic reason, this made me cry. I haven't cried in quite a long time, so I probably had bottled up emotion. I know I wasn't upset about the seat situation. It was an honest mistake.

I didn't want to stand there like an idiot, crying for no reason, so I left the room.

Well, this is not how a relief society activity is supposed to go, particularly when you have an inactive member show up, and I could tell people had noticed, and felt bad. I had a couple of ladies find me and try to talk me into coming back, but I was feeling like a serious idiot at that point.

Of course, this was the ONE TIME I actually brought my purse inside, so I'm good and trapped at the activity. I finally talked one of the ladies into sneaking in and grabbing my purse, and I snuck out and left.



Wugh.


I hate it when that happens.

High Uintas

J had his heart set on going to Washington Lake, in the High Uintas this last weekend. We left just after noon on Friday, and got up there by 4. Unfortunately, the Washington Lake campground was packed. The hosts told us it's been totally sold out since June 17, when the campground opened.

So, we found just some place to camp the first night. It really was lovely, and nobody close by. There was a neat beaver dam nearby.

Early the next morning, we packed up and sweet talked the hosts to sell us a spot that hadn't been vacated yet. While we waited, we hiked to Shoestring Lake. It was gorgeous with a ton of blooming lilypads, and lots of salamanders and frogs.
Wild columbine:



We got a really gorgeous spot at Washington Lake. The mosquitoes were absolutely ferocious, and would only respond to the most powerful deet based repellent out there. Even so, our kids look a bit lumpy and swollen today.J and the kids did a bit of fishing. J caught the most, with S catching a couple, as well as K. K caught this beautiful albino trout. J felt it wasn't large enough to keep, so all but 3 fish went back. Two of those were sick, so J and the kids had to fight over one fish. It all worked out ok though.

We had a wonderful time.

Mutant Garden

I can't believe how much everything is growing in my garden. It seemed like it had a really slow start. When I first planted, everything seemed so far apart and tiny. This picture was taken about 2 weeks after we planted.

Now, it's just HUGE. I think I'm about to have zucchini and crookneck squash coming out of my ears. If you are local, and want some, you'll have to let me know.

Got a food handler's permit

A good friend of mine has a side business of snow cones and shaved ice. I had no idea there was a difference, and said so. She schooled me real quick by letting me have one of each. A snowcone is coarsely ground ice with the flavoring dumped on top. A slushy is a slightly watered down version of a snow cone. I got to try a shaved ice a few days ago, and that really is dramatically different. She swore there was a huge difference, and I have to admit I laughed to myself and thought, "Whatever!" She's right. A shave ice is like snow with flavoring. Totally different texture.

Anyway, she's wanting to have K work with her at some events. Because I am a bit uncomfortable with K going off on her own, I end up being around for a bit, and if things get busy, I can't help but jump in. To be up to snuff, every employee has to have a food handler's permit, so she asked that K get one.

I figured if I was taking her to Farmington to get one, I may as well get one too. Davis county has an online pdf with all the information you need to know. I've had K studying it for the past few weeks. I browsed through it today, figuring that things haven't changed that much since I was 16 and getting it the first time around.

Back then, you had to go in and take a class, then take the test. Now, you study the material at home, and they have a small room where you can take the test.

Those poor women had no idea we were about to descend upon them. I did try to make it as untraumatic as possible. I tied... er.... secured safely in a stroller the younger two kids. Everyone was full of energy and enthusiasm after a 30 minute car drive and promises of Krispy Kreme donuts if they behaved. We paid for the test ($10 each), and she looked at my kids bouncing off the walls and suggested that we take the test in their conference room instead of their test room (I'm sure the other people testing wholeheartedly agreed with this plan).

The younger three talked a mile a minute while I took the test. I managed to block them pretty well, and finished in just a couple minutes. The receptionist seemed surprised to see me so quickly, but scanned my test. I got 49/50. Yay me! I got an amazingly UNFLATTERING photograph of me on a card, and I was done. K took about 10 minutes longer, and got 43/50. Her photo is only slightly more flattering.

We then got Krispy Kreme donuts and lived happily ever after. The end.