I'm not sure it'd shock anyone too badly to find out that every other journal entry from my mission starts with, "Well, it's been a month," or "Well, it's been several weeks." Really. But between the holidays and a camera that's been in the shop for repairs, I've had a hard time feeling too inspired to sit down and hammer out a blog entry. I'm back now, though. Promise :)
In the name of blooming where we're (trans)planted, we've been trying to find things to do here that we wouldn't necessarily be able to do in Houston. We were able to find a Christmas tree farm about a half hour away, so we drove out there and had fun running around between all the trees to find and cut our own. The weather was perfect and the boys had so much fun playing and being crazy. This is about the time the camera fell out of my pocket and jammed the lens, so that's why we have no pictures from the holidays. I'll fore go the thousand words for each picture missed, though. Suffice to say, we had a great Christmas up in College Station and a fun time just being home with Daddy. Tom had some time off for the holidays, so it was nice to not have too much to do. Honestly, our big feat for the time was getting our closet cleaned out and organized. (You'd be more impressed if you knew what it looked like before, though!)
Then I turned 29.
Aaaand then I joined a gym. I was a little concerned to begin with, as the wellness center here is pretty much the only workout facility around. It's really nice, don't get me wrong, but I don't really need underwater treadmills or a cushioned maple basketball court. Add on exorbitant membership fees AND $20 per week in childcare and it just wasn't working for me. Fortunately, I stumbled on to another gym that's a little more tucked away and a lot more affordable. So, that's what I do every day for two hours. Partially because the boys and I both enjoy it and partially because there's not much else to do around here. It works out well, though. (So to speak.)
I've been taking Logan to get his four allergy shots every week. It's not fun, but he's been a champ. I feel like we're starting to see some progress as far as his appetite goes and just his allergy symptoms in general. Hopefully after a year or so of this, he'll be able to go off of the additional meds that he takes every day. We're still looking at another good four years of weekly shots, though. We'll re-test next July to see if there's been any improvement with his food allergies. As a side note, however, I've found some awesome recipes lately. The whole egg-free baking thing is really a pain. Add the fact that Logan is a dang picky eater on top of that and food is generally a struggle at our house. I've been trying to find ways to add in more fiber/protein to his diet. This recipe is perfect for that. Now, before you get too sicked out by the ingredients list, let me assure you that in spite of a) being made with black beans and pureed prunes baby food, and b) having 18 grams of protein and 21 grams of fiber in the recipe, these are AWESOME. (You're totally grossed out, huh?) Seriously, though. You should try these. My kids loved them and I thought they were really good too.
Black Bean Cupcakes
Sugar 1 and 1/4 cups
Prune puree 1/2 cup (two of those little plastic Gerber tubs)
Water 2 tablespoons
Canola oil 1/3 cup
Black beans, drained, rinsed and pureed one 15.5oz can or 1 and 1/2 cups of cooked beans)
Vanilla Extract 2 teaspoons
All purpose flour 1 cup
Cocoa powder 1/2 cup
Baking powder 2 teaspoons
Baking soda 1/2 teaspoon
Cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon
Mini-Chocolate chips - 1/3 cup
Yield: 12 regular size cupcakes and 12 mini cupcakes. (or 16 regular size)
Procedure
1) Preheat oven to 375F. Grease or line with paper liners 1 regular size muffin tin and 1 mini muffin tin.
2) Drain the black beans from the can, rinse it well under running water and puree it in a food processor/blender using approximately 1/4 cup of water. The puree should be very smooth without any lumps.
3) To this also add the sugar, prune puree, 2 tablespoons of water, canola oil and vanilla extract. Process/blend it again for another 2-3 minutes. Transfer it to a large bowl.
4) In a small bowl whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.
5) Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients in 3 parts. That is, first add 1/3rd of the flour mixture to the bean and prune puree, mix it well. Then add another 1/3rd and then the last 1/3rd of the flour mixture. Fold in chocolate chips. Having some lumps is fine. I found that using a wire whisk to mix the batter worked well than using a spatula. The batter was in the consistency of pancake batter. Initially I felt that the quantity of the wet ingredients was way too much, but once I started mixing it to the flour I was relieved to find out that the proportions were getting right.
6) Fill the muffin wells 2/3rds full, around 3 tablespoons of the batter. For the mini muffin tin, just use 1 tablespoon. I placed both the muffin tins in the same rack. The mini muffins were done by 9 minutes and the regular size muffins around 14 minutes. Oven temperatures may vary so check for doneness by inserting a toothpick in the center and it should come out clean.
7) Cool in pan for 5 minutes. Slide a knife around the edges of the cupcake and invert the tin slowly. The cupcakes will fall down, cool them on a rack. Frosting is optional.
Notes: Use Baker's Joy or some other non-stick spray if not using paper liners. Unsweetened applesauce can also be used instead of prune puree. Cupcakes are better once they've cooled.
Anyway, there you go. If you're feeling adventurous, I highly recommend this recipe. If you're interested, this and other really great vegetarian/vegan recipes can be found at http://www.egglesscooking.com/.
Let's see... the short list of other things that have been going on:
- We bought a new (to us) car. It's a 2007 Mazda5 touring and I love it. It's a good compromise car. I can totally understand why people love their minivans and all, but I drove one in high school and feel pretty meh about them. I know we've come a long way since the wood panel caravans, but still. I'm opposed to paying that much for something I'm not crazy about. (Imagine the windows tinted.)
- Dallin's been to the ER 3 times for dermabond and steri-strips. (Two chin gashes and an eyebrow.) Finally, we got some of our own. Thanks Nancy!
- Logan is in love with puzzles and can put together a 36 piece puzzle in under a minute. We're pretty sure he's got a photographic memory. Case in point: We have a lot of puzzles. We have about six that are all the same size and dimensions, but have different pictures on them. I was cleaning his room up one evening and found a puzzle piece hiding under his bed. I tossed it on to the train table where it landed, face down. The next day, we were sitting on his bed talking and he asked me to hand him the blue planet piece. I looked around, unsure of what he was talking about. I saw the puzzle piece on the table exactly where it'd landed the night before, pointed and said, "That?" "Yes, please." I picked it up to hand it to him, turned it over and what was on it? A blue planet.
- We got a wii and spend too many evenings playing mario kart. There's something therapeutic about it. Let me know if you want to be wi-fi friends.
- The guy who lived across the street from us OD'ed and died a few weeks ago. Yikes.
That's kind of all I can think of for right now. There are some other things in the works, but I'll get back to you when there's more to report. Right now it's all kind of hypothetical. (Not to be cryptic or anything.) Anyway, that's the latest. I'll try to be better about posting and now that my camera is finally fixed, I'll be able to start taking pictures again too!
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