Black Bean Brownies

This morning after soccer I went back to my apartment and hurried and got ready for the rest of the day. I had to hustle because most soccer days I move slower than a snail after I get back. But this morning I had to come up with a snack or treat to bring to my Nutrition class, hence more of a hustle. I made brownies and it definitely isn't healthy but I try to justify it because it's got black beans in it. So the other exciting thing is that the purpose of the black beans is a substitute for flour. So this recipe is gluten free!
This isn't the first time I've used this recipe either. Last year my friend P and I made it so he could take it to share with his class too. He had to bring something that incorporated beans but the problem is that he doesn't like beans so we found this so he didn't have to taste them but rather hide them. It was fun but we didn't mash the beans up super well so he said there were chunks of beans. My recommendation is that you mash it so you don't find any fragments of beans. The batter shoud be smooth. This may sound sketchy but don't knock it until you try it. This recipe is from the website www.hip2save.com . Enjoy and Happy Friday!

Black Bean Brownies

Ingredients:

1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained or 1 1/2 cups cooked dried beans
3 eggs
3 tablespoons coconut oil or vegetable oil
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8×8 pan. Place beans in food processor and process until mashed. Add eggs, vanilla, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, sugar and oil. Process until smooth. Pour into pan and sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Bake for 30-35 minutes.

*If you don't have a food processor, you can also use a blender. That's what I used.

I wish I had a picture of these because they really did look good but they were eaten too quickly that the only thing left for a picture would be an empty pan....well maybe next time.

Oven Baked Caramel Corn

Something I love to do is cook or bake or anything that will fall into that category for that matter. Before leaving for his mission, my friend suggested I check out his sister-in-laws' blog because she posts recipes on this new blog of hers. So with that inspiration kick, I want to start posting more recipes. No, this won't be a food blog but it will include more food. I also want to post recipes because I struggle in finding certain recipes when I need them and I'd like to try to gather them or keep them all in one convenient place You'd think I'd just create a recipe book but to include pictures is better I think.
Last semester at school, I thought about how good caramel popcorn sounded. I hoped on Pinterest and scrolled through their recipes until the results were no longer caramel popcorn. Narrowed down the top appealing pictures/descriptions and chose one. Then I started making it while we watched a movie and it was finished right before the movie ended, go figure. But hey, it was still good. So, recently I've been wanting to do it again and so here it is.

Oven Baked Caramel Corn

Ingredients:

- 16 cups popped popcorn (3 microwavable bags)

-1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

-1 cup brown sugar, packed

-1/2 cup light corn syrup

-2 teaspoons vanilla 

1. Preheat oven to 250F degrees. Line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper or use a silicone baking mat. 2. Place popped popcorn on baking sheet and set aside.

3. In a saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar, and light corn syrup. On medium-high heat, bring to a rapid boil and boil for five minutes, stirring. Remove from burner and stir in vanilla extract. 

4. Pour caramel over popcorn mixture and stir to coat. Put in oven for 15 minutes. Take it out and stir it. Repeat this every 15 minutes for an hour. 

5. Let cool on baking sheet. Once caramel corn is cooled, break it up and enjoy.

*Recipe found on deliciouslysprinkled.com*

This recipe was tweaked a little. The original had you add nuts and instead of 2 teaspoons vanilla, you put in 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 teaspoon butter extract. But butter extract wasn't something I had plus I didn't want to go out of my way to get some when this is the only recipe I'd use it in.

I remember enlisting my friend P's help in pulling it out and stiring it. He was a good sport about it. Plus the closer it got to being done, the more we justified eating the popcorn that accidently dropped on the table. It is really good and was worth the wait and process. I wish I had a picture of this. Next time for sure.

Rendezvous

One weekend S invited us to go to the Rendezvous in Wyoming. It was super fun and I'm glad I could go. You were able to get into the fort if you were wearing clothing from that time period. So his mom brought a whole bunch of trek clothing. We played a whole bunch of games and got to play soccer. Super super fun weekend!

School Pictures

I love pictures! Here are some pictures from the beginning of the semester.

S and I right before heading into B's Endowment.
Right before the first week of school. 

First Manti Temple trip of the semester

First week with no homework....hours of free time = hours of Minecraft

School

I'm pretty excited for this semester. The first day I just sat in on the classes and they pass you the syllabus and they give you all of these due dates. This was a little overwhelming because a lot won't be homework but it will be projects and quizzes. Yikes! But you just take it one day at a time. You stay on top of things. You turns the nerves into excitement to get things done.
In my sewing class the other day. I anticipated it would be a pretty fun class, I enjoy sewing quite a bit. I know how to sew my basics. I'm pretty confident about it ya know. But then as she went around the room and had people talk about their past experience, I felt as though I wouldn't be able to sew a small button. These others were saying they have made wedding quilts and someone made all of their own dresses for their high school dances. Definitely humbled. I have a lot to learn. So I'm excited to learn new things and realizing this is a really neat opportunity to learn from others. So here I am also multitasking, thinking about the sewing projects I get to decide to work on. I'd really like to make a dress and so I have some ideas for it. Thank goodness for tutorials!

(Hand-Painted Front Zip Lemon Dress)

(Embroidered Fit and Flare Dress)

(Lime Lace Pencil Dress)

I really like her stuff. Credit for these pictures and tutorials. Follow the link: Merrick's Art

Cali

I had plans to post this sooner but now is as good of a time as any before it's too late. Just before school started, one of my best friends offered to take me and my other friends to go to San Diego with him. He served his mission there and wanted to go before things got busy again. I love these pictures. I will hopefully get some more pictures from my friends. We visited people that he taught. This trip was so much fun. We went to the beach for hours and then after being so burned, we went to the temple the next day. It is beautiful. There is so much more I would say but I feel very fortunate to have gone. We are family. Everyone around us.

Visiting a family S taught. They were so sweet.

At the temple still, waiting for K to help someone take a picture.

Hoover Dam

We met up with S's friend L and had breakfast and
then headed to the beach.

S and K with mermaid tails

Pho and Boba

San Diego Temple. S and I did a session
and the others did baptisms.

Went to Julian and got some pie.

Had to stop to take a picture. It was sooo hot!

The view from someone's backyard/porch

Hoover Dam

The beach! We literally spend most of the day here.

K and I standing in front of a cooling
station at the Hoover Dam.

The Happiness Project

Today in Relief Society we had a fantastic lesson about the Book of Mormon. We discussed how powerful it can be in our lives and what it's purpose is. At the end of the lesson they challenged all of us to read it again and this time with a specific purpose in mind. This may not be the norm for some people but I LOVE it when I get a Book of Mormon challenge. They gave us our own copy and they challenged us to be done by December 5. So....as I have mentioned before, I don't think people really read my blog but if you do, I challenge you to join me in this. Either find your own theme this time or join me with this one. It's called The Happiness Project. The promise is that we will find greater peace and happiness through reading. Some quotes they gave us:

"If you will study the scriptures diligently, your power to avoid temptation and to receive direction of the Holy Ghost in all you do will be increased." - Thomas S. Monson

"The Book of Mormon is an endless treasure of wisdom and inspiration, of counsel and direction."
-Boyd K. Packer

"Don't yield to Satan's lie that you don't have time to study the scriptures. Choose to take time to study them. Feasting on the word of God each day is more important than sleep, school, work, television shows, video games, or social media." - Richard G. Scott

They had figured that in order to make it, you read 2 chapters a day. That's not bad at all. In reading you can find answers to your questions, feel peace, find something you need help improving on, find/recognize God's blessings, etc. It will bring you happiness.

I have read this book before and I know it's true. Everything about it. It brings me peace and has given me guidance. Those in the book were actual people and events happened the way it says. I know that the prophet Joseph Smith did translate this through the power of God. Enjoy!

If you don't know what I am talking about and you want to know more you can go here: https://www.mormon.org/

Day at the Lake

Yesterday we had a family reunion at Rockport Reservoir. We had family here from Idaho and New York. The weather was perfect. There was a slight breeze which made it kind of hard to paddle if you got out too far from shore. But it was sunny up to the end and then it threatened to rain. We brought up lunch and of course mingled. My cousins all have kids since they are a bit older than my siblings and I and so we have fun with our little second cousins. I played in the mud which sounds kiddish but it was fun. It reminded me of the beach and the little ones tried to make mud castles which didn't work too well but it was fun trying. It was cute to see their faces light up when you got a big scoop of mud and then dropped it from higher and it would splat everywhere. We brought up paddle boards and kayaks. I'd never been on a paddle board before. My uncle got me out there and my legs were super shaky. He made it look so easy. But he was kind and encouraging and I made it. It was a running joke that when he first sent me out there I almost got as far as the buoy and the wind kicked up and I about fell over. So the tease was that he sent me out to my death. It was fun. We also saw the Tour De Utah bike race go past us. I wish I would have gotten a picture of them.

Yep, that's my uncle behind me photobombing

One Week Left!

Gosh I remember when the summer started and although the weeks were great, it seemed as though the number of weeks were increasing. At least it felt that way. Now we are down to one week and I can still remember some of my kiddos from the first and second week. As the weeks have been winding down, more of my coworkers have left to be done for the summer. Now we have just enough people to finish with two counselors in each group. At the end of last week, we got a picture as staff. We are only missing Kenzie because she is setting up for her new classroom at the elementary school she now works at.

As you can see, we tried to make a pyramid. Last minute my knee slipped and I was fully laying on Caroline. It was so funny we couldn't stop laughing. 

                            

Great Weekend!

Haha something I have realized is that I am the worst at finding good/creative titles for my posts. Does it really matter though? I guess not as long as I post right? This weekend really was great though. Friday, my sisters and I had sort of a girls night out. After we got home from work we went to Traverse Outlets and went shopping. Something I've learned is that I don't enjoy frivolous shopping. I have to have a plan of what I came for and then I like to go in and then out. As you can tell, I enjoy taking pictures with sunglasses on. I am picky about what kinds I buy and so I try a lot on and normally walk out of the store empty handed with only pictures to show I tried. We got dinner and then went to the Escape Room. It seemed a little sketchy at first because it was a trailer that was parked in the parking lot of a diner, not to mention it was 10 pm. They gave us 45 minutes and they locked us in and we had to use the objects around the room to solve puzzles to get the key to get out of the room. It was really fun. We didn't make the time limit but it was only because we didn't know how to use the locks. We had everything else ready. It was a fun night.
The next day I went to a baptism that one of my best friends invited me to. I didn't know the person but I really enjoyed it. I haven't been to a baptism in a while. After, we went to my old house and got permission to walk through it. It is a lot smaller than I remembered. Then again, I was a lot smaller then too. We went around SLCC and caught some Pokemon and I learned about the gyms. I can't wait to get it on my phone. We then went to Panda Express for lunch. Pretty much a great morning.
That afternoon I went up Big Cottonwood Canyon to a Brighton Camp reunion. We celebrated 95 years. I met some awesome people. We did activities and some crafts. Something I really missed was singing camp songs. I got my dose of it again and I loved it. We slept in the bunks in the cabin I was in charge of when I worked there. We were going to sleep outside by it was a little rainy and there was lightening. The next morning we went to the branch up there. They hold meetings and the current staff spoke in sacrament meeting.
Yeah, so today isn't technically included in the past weekend. Tonight M and Dad took me to "Taste of India". I've never had Indian food before. They gave us their take of chips and salsa. It came with 3 sauces; one brown, one red, and one green. The green one was spicy. I have to say, I didn't really enjoy it which made me very nervous about the dish I ordered. It was called Chicken Saag. It doesn't really look good but let me tell you, it was wonderful. They served it with some really good rice. It's fried chicken in a creamy spinach sauce. Holy Yum!
Try new things! Have an adventure!

Welcome Back!

              I know it was just a little more than a month ago since I wrote but I realize that I like to hop online to see blogs I follow and it kills me when they don't write for awhile. Well here I am now and for that I am apologizing to you but mainly to myself because I really don't think people read this. But things happen, life goes on and some days I don't write in my hard copy journal. It could have been a great day, a lesson learned, a quote found or something equally as important and I definitely miss out on reading it years later when I want to remember it and now I can't. SO as the case always seems to be, I'm recommitting myself to doing better.
              For my birthday this year, I got a photo book from one of my best friends and I absolutely LOVE IT! I was looking through it, as I honestly do often, and I love seeing this particular picture. I'll admit I love all of the pictures in the book but this one has stood out to me recently. It may look a little blurry since I took a picture of it from the book via my phone and my hand could have been shaky. I just don't have a digital print of it.
             Today's post is really just scatterbrained thoughts if you hadn't already noticed. I got out of work early today and a thought I've had, is how blessed I am not only me but all of us. I know I know, it sounds real cheesy. But really think about it, what do you enjoy? Maybe it's not even something you enjoy right now but will be something better later. An example of that is work. It's bittersweet. I love kids and love their enthusiasm and energy but by the end of the summer, like now, I am worn out. But it's a blessing in disguise because they teach me new things every day. Yeah, sometimes people compare my job to herding kitten and they apologize that I have to do it but they definitely keep me on my toes and if nothing else, they are the ones that are missing these neat opportunities to be around some incredible kids . Associating with their parents has taught me what kind of parent I'd like to be (and sadly sometimes what I don't want to be) I often think about what I was like when I was a kid. If I were to be my own camp counselor for a little version of me.
              Maybe I just find deeper meanings in things. Pictures are worth a thousand words but maybe this pictures' words remind me that each day is important. Life has so much meaning. Be grateful for the little moments. Recently our neighbors little baby past away of SIDS, within the same week neighbors from our old ward lost their son due to his heart problems. Life still goes on. Embrace those around you. Help those around you. Humble yourself to see the real blessings you have. We have so much to be grateful for. What's a post without a cool quote right?
"Being humble means recognizing that we are not on earth to see how important we can become, but to see how much difference we can make in the lives of others." - Gordon B. Hinckley
Well that's enough of my ramblings today. Until next time.

Happy Father's Day!!

This guy is incredible. I could end the post there, be all said and done. But really, I love him so much and so grateful that he is my Dad. He has taught me so much and still does every day. He cares about people and is the most social butterfly (in the most manly way intended of course haha) Love you so much Dad! Happy Father's Day!

Day 4

This morning we went back to Nauvoo and we did a mini handcart trek. It was only one mile and it was cool because it consisted of hills and some rivers to cross. We went through a field with cows and they just stared at us and watched us pass. We also went to Carthage jail. It was a neat place, if you can say that jails are neat. :) We went back to Nauvoo and went into more buildings. My favorite place was the post office. They told us that since it cost by how much paper was being sent, people would write one way on the paper an then turn it and write again. It would be confusing but I might try sending something like it to someone. It was odd because the weather turned on us very quickly. It was beautiful weather and then after we came out of one building, it was overcast and raining cats and dogs. We also went to a fudge place on main street. Then we went on a tour of Joseph Smith History which includes a tour of houses he lived in, from the Community of Christ church because they own some of the property. As part of the tour we saw their graves.