My Matching Men

My guys were just so cute yesterday in their matching church outfits!  (Too bad they had to look into the sun during the picture).  P.S. You can tell we were running late because we were getting in the car to drive to church.  We usually walk.

My Papa Jim

While my parents were here visiting in May, Andrew and I took a road trip with them down to Newport News, VA to visit my mom's dad.  I call him "Papa Jim" because he felt like he was too young to be called "Grandpa" when his first grandchild was born.  He is now 85.  He lives in the memory care wing of a really nice nursing home, but the one person he never forgets is his one great-grandson, Andrew.  He adores Andrew.  During our whole visit he kept saying "I like that little boy" and "He's a smart little boy".  

Here's our four-generations photo

Andrew loved playing with Papa Jim's canes

Andrew and Papa Jim had some time to hang out on the back patio and roll a tennis ball around.

When you're in Virginia, you have to do some kind of historical sight-seeing.  We went to Fort Monroe, where Jefferson Davis, the president of the confederacy, was imprisoned for two years after the Civil War. 

Andrew and my dad checking out a big old cannon in the fort

I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to photograph my child sleeping.  We shared a room with my parents, but Andrew was still able to sleep really well on a twin-sized inflatable mattress we brought.  I was so relieved that it worked!  Sleeping child = happy mom.

Andrew takes in the sunset over the water

This was Andrew's first time at the beach since he was a baby.  He wouldn't go into the water, but eventually came up with a game of picking up rocks or handfuls of sand and throwing them into the water, then running away from the waves.  He finally got caught by a wave and got soaked, but was a good sport about it.  Here he is with my mom looking at the water.

My parents put together a world map with pins showing many of the places Papa Jim has been in his life.  As a retired captain in the Navy, he's been to a lot of places!  He and my Grandma Olive also took up traveling as a hobby once he was retired and they were empty-nesters.

Andrew had fun playing with Papa Jim in his room while we worked on the map project.  

Andrew discovered Papa Jim's clip-on tie collection (you can see it draped over the back of his couch in the background).  Despite being 85 and living in a place where all the other old people walk around in sweats all day, my Papa Jim wears trousers, a button-down shirt, and a tie every day.  When he goes outside he always wears a hat (he calls it his "chapeau").  What Not To Wear would be proud.

I couldn't help taking another sleeping-Andrew photo.  This was the last day of our trip, right before we headed home.  He was so tired that he fell asleep without the car even running.  We were parked at the gas station and I was talking on the phone.  One minute he says "hi" to Paul on the phone, the next minute I look back and see this:

The Natural State of My Kitchen

(Yes, our bathroom is directly off the kitchen--lovely, I know)

Here it is:  the natural state of my kitchen.  This is about what the kitchen looked like the last time the missionaries arrived for dinner at our house, only that evening there were several full (reusable) grocery bags on the floor and at least one Andrew sock lying around.  I reached an all-time low that night by not even having dinner started by the time the missionaries got to our house!  Yikes!  The missionaries here are really cool, though, and I think I made it up to them by feeding them some pretty tasting hamburgers and then ice cream cones for dessert.

What to do if you over-cook your dry beans

First, let me write that my parents left Wednesday after visiting for a week and a half, and we had a great and busy time.  I have so many photos to post and blog about that I can't even begin to do it, so instead I'll post about other random stuff.  Sound like a plan?

So, what do you do if you over-cook a whole pound of dry beans because you foolishly follow the directions on the package?  You can make the following recipes.  Both turned out really great.  I used kidney beans for both of them, though one recipe calls for black beans and other for pinto.  I don't think it really matters what kind of beans you use.  I used my food processor (thanks, Bonnie!) to mash the beans for both recipes.

This first recipe can be found at http://www.naturallyknockedup.com/healthy-grain-free-brownies/  Pay no attention to the name of the blog.  I think I found this recipe doing a google search for homemade larabars months ago.

These are not as sweet as your typical brownie, but very moist and delicious.  I added the optional walnuts, but I think I'll leave them out next time because the texture was kind of weird since the brownies are so soft and moist and the walnuts are so hard.

Healthy Grain Free Brownies

2 cups black beans (or 1 can of no salt added)

3 lightly beaten eggs

1/3 cup melted coconut oil (or melted butter)

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup honey (or other equivalent sweetener) 

1/2 cup chopped up bittersweet chocolate (or semi-sweet chips if you don’t mind the added refined sugar in them)

1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts -optional

Making these could NOT be simpler. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease an 8×8 pan. Toss all but the final 2 ingredients (the chopped up chocolate and walnuts) into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Fold in the chopped chocolate and walnuts. Pour into the pan and bake for about 30 minutes.

This recipe is one I acquired years ago at a Relief Society meeting about food storage.  

Andrew devoured this stuff.  

Spiced Bean Cake

¼ cup butter or margarine

2 eggs

2 cups mashed, cooked pinto beans

1 cup flour

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp cloves

2 cups diced apples

¾ cup raisins

¼ cup chopped nuts

1 ½ tsp vanilla

(optional-4 Tbsp cocoa if chocolate cake is desired)

Cream butter or margarine with eggs. Blend in beans. Sift together dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture, blending well. Fold in apples, raisins, nuts, and vanilla. Pour into greased 9x13 inch pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes, or until cake tests done.

This recipe is a high-protein snack. You can substitute 1 cup of applesauce for the diced apples and butter.