Unbelievable Deep Dish Cookie Pie

So, y'all that know me, know that I have a little tug of war going on inside.  You see, there is the big fat side of me who is desperately trying to be healthy and lose weight and then there is the other side of me - the one that has a slight obsession with chocolate - the one that has to have chocolate pretty much every day.  Well, my two sides have aligned.  You see, my sister found this blog, filled with low cal, healthier versions of dessert recipes, most of which include chocolate.  WOO HOO!  So, when I found this recipe, I was beyond thrilled and couldn't wait to try it.  So, what makes this pie "unbelievable"?  Read on and find out yourself.


Deep-Dish Cookie Pie

• 2 cans white beans or garbanzos (drained and rinsed) (500g) - WHAT?!?!? 
• 1 cup quick oats
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 3 T canola oil
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 and 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Blend everything (except the chips) very well in a food processor. Mix in chips, and pour into an oiled pan (I used a 10-inch springform pan, but you can use a smaller pan if you want a really deep-dish pie.) Cook at 350F for around 35 minutes. Let stand at least 10 minutes before removing from the pan.

As usual, ignore the horrible picture.  It doesn't have to be pretty to taste good.  Garbanzo beans?  Seriously?  I ate several servings and I still can't believe it!

I Love Spray Paint and I Hate Dye (A Story of Victory and Defeat)

Once there was a boring taupe table and boring taupe chairs with boring taupe cushions.  They all sat together on a boring gray concrete slab of a back porch.  There was no color there so everything was sad and boring.  Then the owner of the boring taupe table got an idea.  You see, the owner of the table, Mrs. FrouFrou, loved spray paint. 

So, she talked her sweet Hubby into taking said boring taupe table and painting it black.

So, the sweet Hubby took the sad table apart.  He cleaned it, taped off the top and spray painted it black.  Then he put it all back together again.

And for some reason, the sweet Hubby put the dirty pollen covered lazy susan on top of the table without cleaning it.  EWWW!  But Miss FrouFrou was so happy that the table was now painted black that she forgave the sweet Hubby and didn't even mention the fact that it totally screwed up the after picture. 

While the sweet Hubby was painting the table, Mrs. FrouFrou and he talked about sprucing up the cushions as well.  Hmmmm, she thought.  "What about dye?"  So she drove to Hobby Lobby and picked up a few bottles of dye.

She talked the sweet Hubby into soaking all the cushions that would fit into a huge tub full of a water, dye and salt solution, per the directions on the bottle.  After 20 minutes, the cushions were still the same boring taupe.  So, Miss FrouFrou and the sweet Hubby waited and waited and waited.  They kept checking the cushions late into the night, but they were still taupe.  The decided to let them soak overnight.  The next morning when they checked the cushions, they realized that they had turned a lovely pollen/urine color of greenish/yellow.  Hmmm.  The boring taupe cushions were no longer boring, just sickly looking.

YIKES!  Not exactly the green cushions Miss FrouFrou was going for.

But, Miss FrouFrou and the sweet Husband loved the sickly pollen colored cushions anyway and decided to keep them forever and ever, or at least until an extra $200 falls out of the sky to buy replacement cushions. 


So, the moral of the story is this:  Read all directions on the bottle.  The bottle clearly says in teeny tiny print, that it doesn't work well on Polyester fabrics.  OOPS!  That's what happens when Miss FrouFrou doesn't bother to put in her contacts so she can read the teeny tiny print. 

Father's Day at the Lake

Did everyone have a great Father's Day Weekend?  We did.  We spent the weekend with mom and dad for Father's Day.  It was nice and warm and beautiful outside

but the water was still a little chilly.  L couldn't decide if he was ready to brave the cold water or not.

We spent a lot of time floating around on top of the water and getting a little sun. 

Saturday night, Dad made plans to take the kids to the Demolition Derby.  I'm not sure about you, but the closest I've ever gotten to a Demolition Derby is watching one on Happy Days.

Remember this?  Fonzie's partner and girlfriend Pinky Lee got hurt during the derby. 

Anyway, Daddy and Hubby took J and E to the derby and they had a great time.

Grandad, J and E at the derby.

They each picked out their favorite cars.  E ended up picking that lovely green one behind them.  I'm pretty sure she would've preferred a pink car, but I don't think she complained too much about the lack of girly colored cars. 

She would've loved this one.

It was a great weekend with two of the best dad's in the world - my dad and my Hubby.  We are so blessed!

 

Stupid Garage Sale

It has been crazy busy whirlwind of activity in the FFB household since March.  Of course, we've been busy with the end of school activities, field trips, recitals, parties, etc.  We're also expecting company in two weeks so we're busy trying to get this house in shape.  Our attic, closets and playroom are packed full of crap stuff.  So, of course, I decided we should have a garage sale.  By the way, I love going to garage sales, but I HATE having garage sales.  So, for a week, I dug through toys and cleaned out closets. 

I found my overalls, the very same overalls I was wearing the day I met my Hubby.  Little did I know that he had a thing for girls in overalls.  Hmmm.  I kept them just in case I'm ever a size 8 again.  A girl can dream, right?  Only, I didn't wear mine with heels.  I wore mine with these:

only mine were brown. 

Needless to say, I ended up doing a lot of reminiscing in my closet.  I found some maternity clothes and some of my "fat clothes".  You have those too, right?  You know, the cute clothes bought in a larger size because your other pants got a little too tight and you needed something cute to wear out of the house.  Yeah.  I saw them and remembered how ridiculous they looked on me when I lost the weight.  So, I got the bright idea that I'd try them on to see how silly they looked now.  Let me just say that this was NOT the smartest thing I've ever done.  I mean, I know I've gained a little weight, but GOOD GRIEF!  The fat clothes didn't look so ridiculous anymore.  They almost fit.  YIKES!  That's so depressing!!!  So, what did I do?  I donated them.  I've got to get rid of them so I have no fat clothes to fall back on.  UGH! 

Anyway, the garage sale was a total bust.  Hubby and I roasted in the heat for seven hours before I finally gave up, admitted defeat and donated the crap leftover stuff to a local church.  UGH!  Any guess how much I made?  $60.  Seriously?  $60?  Totally not worth roasting in the heat.  AND, I probably would've skipped the trying on of the fat clothes if not for the stupid garage sale.  Yes, I said the "s" word.  Don't tell me son.  He'll call the bad word police on me.  Stupid garage sale! 

Marriage Proposal by Mural

I just had to share this video of the coolest marriage proposal I've seen in a long time.  

Jeff Gurwin recently proposed to his girlfriend, Caitlin Fitzsimons, by having a mural painted for her in New York City’s East Village; the piece — which references their shared love of Scrabble and her mom’s pug, Parky — will be up on Avenue A and Second Street for the next month or so.

Getting To Know You Thursday...Code Words and Catch Phrases

So, when I was in middle school, my friend Paula and I spent many hours hanging out together.  We would get ready at eachother's houses, borrow eachother's clothes, do eachother's hair and makeup to get ready to go out and chase boys.  Okay, so we didn't literally go out and chase boys, but we'd hang out in a big group and flirt and make googly eyes at eachother and stuff. 

Sometimes after the movies, we would walk over to Pizza Hut and hang out some more.  After sitting in the dark for two hours with our friends, and the bathroom at the movies being full of people, sometimes you had to depend on your best friend to "check you" and make sure that you didn't have a big ole popcorn kernel in your teeth or something gross hanging out of your nose.  We had one friend in particular who always asked, "Do I have anything in my nose?"  Her name was Monica.  Therefore, "Monica" became our code word we used for "Check me and make sure I'm okay" before this group of cute boys comes up to us.  You see, boys are still immature at that age and they tend to make fun of girls whether they like them or not.  So, if you were caught with spinich in your teeth or something hanging out of your nose, you were doomed for your high school career.  Poor Terry wet her pants in 7th grade and was tortured for it until her family moved a year later.   

Ummm, Monica?

So, my other question for the day is about catch phrases.  What do you think of when you hear "Eh, what's up, doc?"  Bugs Bunny, right?  Here's a few more:

"Kiss my grits!"  Flo from Alice
"I pity da fool"  Mr. T, from The A Team
"Shazam" Gomer Pyle on The Andy Griffth Show
"ughr?"  Tim the Tool Man Taylor from Home Improvement
"Zoiks"  Shaggy from Scooby Doo 

When you hear these catch phrases you pretty much know who's talking, right?  Well, I've noticed when my bloggy friends amaze me with their latest creative projects or post something really funny, I catch myself typing/saying the same thing.  "Oh my gracious!"  Y'all may have noticed that I use that phrase A LOT!  Another thing I say a lot is, "Seriously?"  I didn't even realize how much I said it until a friend pointed it out to me.  I often tell my Hubby, "I love you and I like you a real lot!" and I'm known for calling my son "Dude" a lot.  So, I just wondered if it's just me or do y'all have certain code words or catch phrases you're known for?  I'd love to hear them.  Please tell me I'm not the only one.

Things That Make Me Smile

My favorite season is fall, but there are certain things I love about every season.  As school winds down and our schedules are crazy, I realize that I need time to stop, take a breath and just smile.  I need to block out the fussing kids in the car and roll down my window and just take in the beauty of the things around me. 

I pass this every day taking the kids to school.  There is a small house and a large pasture and field fence that surrounds it all.  It's not particularly appealing during fall and winter, but I love that in spring, the fence is overgrown with wild flowers okay, weeds) and honeysuckle.  Isn't it pretty?

Another thing that makes me smile is the cottonwood trees.  Have you ever seen a cottonwood tree?

This is a cottonwood tree.  See the little white fluff blowing up in the air?  Those are cottonwood seeds. 

This is a close view of a cottonwood tree branch.  See those white puffs?  Those are the seeds.  They blow in the wind like snow in summer.  I can walk out my front door and see them falling like snowfall all around me this time of year.  It looks just like snow on a 90 degree day.  I love that!

So, what about this time of year makes you smile?

Monogram Tank

Well, it's been a little crazy around here the past few weeks.  We've had end of the year parties, field trips, carnivals, cookouts and as if we didn't have enough going on, a sick kid or two and some autism behavioral issues.  UGH!  But, somewhere during all the craziness, I did manage to find a few minutes to have some crafty time. 

What I realized while packing for the lake last week, was that E has a few cutesy outfits that I've made her, but she didn't have anything to wear with just a pair of simple shorts. 

This is how y'all usually see E...all dressed up.

This is more realistic for summer around the house.  A simple pair of shorts and one of her brother's t-shirts.  Yep, she might as well be a boy.  So, I decided to take my crafty time to applique something on one of the tank tops I bought last year that she never wore.  I picked a matching fabric from my stash, cut out her intials and used fusible web to attach it and stitched around it.

As you can see, it worked perfectly well to play outside and still look like a girl.....even with a dirt moustache.  That was a few minutes well spent. 

So, I'm Curious About Your Dreams

As the title says, I'm curious about your dreams.  I'm not talking about your goals and aspirations.  I'm talking about what goes on in your head when you fall asleep at night. 

Do you dream about the things that are going on in your life?  When L was diagnosed with autism, I dreamed about it for 3 months straight.  Even sleep was no escape from the stress of a new diagnosis and all that comes with it.  Do you dream about work?  Hubby talks in his sleep sometimes and it's usually something pertaining to work.  Do you have nightmares?  Maybe you dream somebody is chasing you or you dream you're in a scary situation, or falling from a tree.  You know they say if you ever hit the ground you'll have a heart attack.  It's not true.  I dreamed I fell out of a tree and I hit the ground and broke my arm.  No heart attack. 

How about the dream where you go to work naked?  I've heard people say that on TV, but I've never dreamed that. 

YIKES!

It's been said that dreaming is a reflection of your subconscious.  I wonder if that's true.  You see, it doesn't really matter if I'm having a nightmare about being chased by a tiger or dreaming about a field trip with the kids or a date with hubby or one of my many dreams that make ZERO sense, there is always one common thread.  I'm always skinnier in my dreams than in real life.  Not only am I skinnier, but I'm also toned and strong and well, kind of HOT! 

Yeah, something like that.  So, do you think my subconscious is trying to tell me to got off my behind and lose some weight?  Hmmmm.  Maybe so.  So, what do you dream about?