Brownies!

I love brownies. I have yet to get a good result making them from scratch. Even with a box mix sometimes, I can mess that up. Anyway, the other day I came across a recipe from another blog called SkinnyTaste. They are called Black Bean Brownies. Basically all they are is a box brownie mix, made with pureed black beans in place of the oil and eggs. Check out SkinnyTaste if you want the recipe.
So I pureed the black beans in the blender.

You want them smooth. Then I just mixed them into the box mix and poured it into a pan.

See...it looks like regular brownies. And you know, the batter tasted just like the regular brownies, so I was very very hopeful for these things to turn out.
Here is the finished product.

After I let them cool, I cut them into little squares. They came out with a very fudgy texture. The bottoms were a bit gooey, so I dusted them with powdered sugar.



Honestly, today, the second day, they taste even better. If someone told me that they were made with black beans, I wouldn't believe them. Now, the calories are still up there with the beans. But they are much lower in fat and much higher in fiber. I mean basically, if you are going to eat brownies, this is just a more nutritious way of doing it. They aren't as sweet as normal brownies. But really, no one would know that there are black beans in them. I was pretty impressed!
I have heard of the black bean brownies for a while now. And have been wanting to try them. I am glad that I did! They are gooey, but fudgey. Try them!

Weekend Review

We didn't do a whole lot, but it sure didn't feel like a weekend. Saturday was miserably cold. We had gotten a bit of snow overnight, so it was a pretty day. But very cold. The kids and I didn't do much. Dylan watched movies and I got some more stuff packed up. I really should show you a picture of my dining room. It is a cluttered mess. But at least stuff is packed and ready to go. I can deal with the boxes in the dining room for a few more days. At least I can stick all of that stuff in there though. Saturday evening, we went over to moms to help her out with something. We had a couple of free pizzas coming too us from Papa John's so we collected and went to mom's with pizzas in hand. Is there anything better than free pizza? Not a lot, no. We didn't stay too long, because with the winds and the re-freezing we were afraid the roads were going to get worse. It took us about 45 minutes to get home compared to the 20 or 25 it normally takes.
Sunday we went up to Ryan's parents for lunch. The boys and I came back home in time for Ethan's nap. While he was napping, I went back to work on packing. I worked on the upstairs this time. I know it may seem like this whole packing thing is taking me forever. Well, yes and no. It does take twice as long as it should with kids under your feet. There are some days when I wont mess with that stuff at all and then there are others where that is all I will do. If I had 2 or 3 days of no kids at all, Id have this house all packed up and ready to go in those 2 or 3 days. But working around these 2, can be a little more time consuming. I will get there. Honestly, there isnt a whole lot left. I will be able to keep myself busy for a few days doing it, but so much of it is last minute stuff. If I knew exactly what day we'd be moving then I could decide just how much of that last minute stuff I could live without for a couple of days. But until I know for sure, there is just some stuff that I cant put away.
Oh! Food! I came across a recipe the other day online. It is for what they call "black bean brownies." Im not sure if I would call it a recipe, because its only 2 ingredients and it is beyond simple. I hope to give it a try here in the next few days. I will let you know how they turn out. I want to make hamburgers tonight for dinner. I am always looking for a way to make really great hamburgers at home. I just haven't found it yet. That's what I need to go do right now though. Search the internet for yet another hamburger recipe.
Hope you had a nice weekend!

I want a nap...Oh, and 6/52

Today was Dylan's field trip to Skyline chili. I mentioned it earlier in the week. It went fine. My grandparents got here a little early and watched Ethan. So Dylan and I went to walmart before we had to be at Skyline. I needed to get some juice and valentine cards for Dylans party on Monday. So we made a quick trip and headed to Skyline. All of the kids sat together and they had the parents sit off to the side. The kids seemed to enjoy themselves a lot. They each got to choose what they wanted to eat and drink. Dylan chose a hot dog with cheese. Thankfully none of that weird chili stuff that goes on top of the hot dog. Ick. None of the parents ate! It was a little early for Skyline. It was about 10:30 when the kids were eating.
Like I said though, they all seemed to have fun.
I snapped a picture of Dylan with my phone. Its not the best picture, but I am using it as my week 6 photo because this was the highlight of the week.

Why do we save?

With all of my packing, I also had to un-pack the attic. When Ryan and I moved into this house, we had been married for less than a year. I still had stuff at my mom's place. A lot of so called keepsakes ended up in this attic. We were 2 people combining keepsakes. So now,we are trying to pack things and move, some stuff has been in our attic from the beginning. It had been up there for 6 years. (Or so). I came across some of my stuff that for some odd reason, i saved. Now, I have no idea why I just didn't get rid of them at the time. Since I haven't seen most of that stuff in 6 years, I am more than ok with getting rid of it. Well, most of it. There are 2 very full boxes of stuff that Ryan needs to go through. Some of it, I can see him saving. Most of it though, I wish he'd just toss it because once again, it will go into the attic never to be seen again for more years than I can count.
I wonder why we save some of these things. Why do we see some things as keepsakes and other things as trash? My idea of a keepsake is often different from Ryan's idea of one as well. Photos, yearbooks. A few things from the kids. That's about all I am interested in saving right now. I'm sure his list is much much longer. I have found myself getting into a habit of getting rid of things before they have time to sit around. It drives Ryan insane. The clutter of things is beginning to get on my nerves with each year that gos by. I'm going to be an old lady, living by myself, with bare white walls and nothing to sit on, haha! Like as soon as the kids outgrow something, I'm ready to sell it or donate it. Now! Before it has time to sit around and get shoved into a closet somewhere. If I could manage to be more organized with the crap that we do have, I think I would be more relaxed about having stuff stick around for a while longer. But I have a problem finding a place for things. Finding some where for each thing to be, and be out of my daily way. Since I'm horrible at organizing, my solution seems to be to get rid of it. Right or wrong, it just seems easier I guess.
How do you decide what you should save and what you should get rid of?

Weekend Review

Overall it was a decent weekend. Dylan spent the weekend with my dad. He left on Friday afternoon and was back on Sunday afternoon. Saturday Ethan and I didn't do anything. I wanted to, but Ethan spent most of the morning in a rather bad mood. So we just hung out here and I let him have his bad day. After his nap that day he was a bit better. Ryan brought home pizza when he was done working and we enjoyed a late dinner. Sunday morning woke up late (Ethan too!) and after breakfast headed out to the flooring store to finish up our order for the 'new' house. Later that afternoon was when I went to get Dylan.
Do you remember a few posts back I complained about there possibly being a snake in the attic and I swear I saw a snake skin? While I was gone on Sunday, Ryan went up to empty that part of the attic. It was a long piece of blue caulking. No snake skin. Caulking. Imagine my relief! There is not a snake in my attic!
Today was ok. Its ending on a crappy note. Ryan took Dylan to school so Ethan and I stayed back and got groceries later. Now, I am tired...for some reason. Honestly there is no reason why I should feel this tired. But I am. And I am extremely irritated. For a few reasons. As for the rest of the week, Wednesday, I have to be in class with Dylan. Then on Friday, Dylan has a so called field trip. I'm sure the kids will be totally interested, but for crying out loud...the field trip is at Skyline Chili..If you don't have a Skyline around, its just like Gold Star Chili. Barf! Like I said, the 5 year olds will love it. Me? Not so much. But whatever, its about the kids and the experience. I still have a lot around here I could get done. More packing. Tomorrow, I must must must get more accomplished. Saturday I slacked, when I shouldn't have.

Week 5 of 52

A sunrise from Friday morning. I think it was Friday, haha!

Well after uploading, blogger must have messed with it. Its less blurry than what is uploaded. Ugh. Blogger stop messing with my stuff!

A first

On Tuesday evening we had our first ever parent-teacher conferences!! Granted it was only preschool, but woohoo! There wasn't anything that surprised me. It helps going into class once a month. He is doing well academically. As far as the behavior goes, she calls him impulsive. And I totally agree with her and know EXACTLY what she means. So again, no surprise. The behavior is something that has been going on for a while, but I have yet to figure out how to prevent it or stop it. Although, she did say that she was seeing a bit of improvement.
We got to see some of his work that they have saved back and put into a binder. Some of the things he comes up with is pretty interesting. The preschool is working on what the local school district's kindergarten class is working on. That makes me feel good. If he can control his impulses a bit more, then he should be good and ready for kindy next year. The conference was only 15 minutes, but still, it was interesting and I was glad that we went ahead and scheduled one.