Day 25: 30 Day Picture Challenge

Day 25 - A picture of your day.

My days mostly consist of looking at these two faces…

They will stare at me and climb all over me until I pay attention to them.  Just like children…

Day 24: 30 Day Picture Challenge

Day 24 - A picture of something you wish you could change.

We are definitely dog people.  I adopted Louis from the Tulsa SPCA, and we adopted Jack from friends that were trying to find the homeless puppies a family.  I definitely recommend adopting dogs from shelters rather than buying them from breeders.  It is horrible to hear about the puppy mills and how those dogs are kept.  There is a lot of animal cruelty by breeders.  Plus, there are plenty of pets that need homes without having to breed more.  Too many animals get put down because the shelters cannot find homes for them all. 

My boyfriend received a brochure the other day about cutting back eating meat.  It talks about just cutting your meat consumption in half can spare hundreds of animals from a lifetime of suffering.  It is really sad to think about all the animal cruelty,and the pictures are horrible of the factory farms.  Because the pictures and facts are pretty horrific and literally make me sick to my stomach, I won’t divulge into all that information. 

The brochure gives some tips for changing your habits without completely changing to a vegetarian/vegan diet:

• Substitute marinara for meat sauce
• Eat bean burritos instead of beef or chicken tacos
• Although all factory faming involves cruel practices, you can spare more animals by avoiding eggs, chicken, turkey and pigs.
• Years of eating less meat and eggs will prevent more suffering than a brief stint on a vegan diet.
• You can order a free booklet for more ideas at OpposeCruelty.org/guide. 

Feel free to also check out the brochure and website here.

Black Bean Brownies

I saw Brittany from A Healthy Slice of Life make these Black Bean Brownies, and I wanted to give them a try.

Ingredients

• 1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 3 eggs
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8x8 square baking dish.
2. Combine the black beans, eggs, oil, cocoa powder, salt, vanilla extract, and sugar in a blender; blend until smooth; pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top of the mixture.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until the top is dry and the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 30 minutes.

I hardly ever use the blender.  So, I had to dig it out of the top cabinets, which means moving all the dog treats and liquor out of the way and finding something to use as a step stool.  After about ten minutes of trying to get out the blender, figuring out how to put it together and cursing myself, I dumped all the ingredients into it.  It will look a little something like this at first…

But then, it will turn into this…

 

Then, if you don’t use the blender a lot, you try to remove the glass pitcher from the base and everything will immediately start to leak everywhere!  Ugh!  Luckily, I realized what was happening and managed to get some of the batter into the pan.  (I may have scraped some of it off the counter… Don’t judge) Top it off with some chocolate chips, and it’s good to go.

 

30 Minutes later…

 

Well, it looks pretty normal.   The real taste test is my boyfriend.  I didn’t tell him they had black beans in them, but I did say they were a little different.  He tried one and immediately said they were a little dry.  I think this might be because I still haven’t figured out our oven.  It bakes everything super fast, and I have to adjust accordingly.

Anyways, I told him there were black beans in the brownies.  He just sort of laughed and said ok, whatever.  BUT, they were a little dry.  Not bad, but not amazing.  I know they weren’t that good because he only ate a really small brownie and usually he will eat half the pan.  So, maybe I will try them again and cook them for less time, but probably not. 

Day 23: 30 Day Picture Challenge

Day 23 - A picture of your favorite book.

I love, love, looooooooooooved this book when I was a wee girl!  I made my parent’s read it over and over and over. 

Now, I can read it to my niece and nephews.  The end still gets me!  :)

Day 22: 30 Day Picture Challenge

Day 22 - A picture of something you wish you were better at.

I used to play the piano pretty well, but I don’t practice anymore.  I wish I could still play, but I’m no good.  I guess I should set some time aside to practice!

My boyfriend plays the mandolin and guitar.  Plus, he just started playing the banjo.  He wants me to start playing again too.  I guess he thinks we can have some sort of jam session. 

Pho Winner – Norman, OK

Unfortunately, my boyfriend is having truck problems.  So, we have been sharing one car.  I had to pick him up from school last night.  Since we were already by campus corner, we decided to eat dinner out around there.  After our pho experience in Oklahoma City, we decided to try the pho in Norman.  The name of the restaurant is Pho Winner.  I think we were a little hesitant because besides us there was only one other couple in the restaurant.  It’s not the best sign when there are not a lot of people in the restaurant.

We decided to order some spring rolls as an appetizer.  It comes with three for $3.  Eh… They were okay.  Nothing special.  The sauce was not really that good.  It tasted like creamy peanut butter.  Literally, dipping the spring roll in creamy peanut butter.  Not very appetizing.  We just used soy sauce instead. 

I ordered the tofu and egg roll vermicelli bowl.  It also came with a little side of soup?  I’m going to be honest… I had no idea what the soup stuff contained.  Maybe it was sauce?  I’ll have to read the menu better next time.  It was really sweet and not really hot.  A big surprise when I was expecting hot and savory.  Was I was suppose to put it over the noodles???  IDK. 

The vermicelli bowl was HUGE and had a ton of noodles!  I didn’t eat all the noodles, but I really enjoyed the greens, sprouts and cucumbers under the tofu!  It was delish!

My boyfriend order a pho.  I think it had flank in it? 

He really liked it.  He thought it was just as good as the other pho restaurant in Oklahoma City.  He just dumps the plate of sprouts and herbs into the soup bowl.  He order the regular size and still couldn’t eat it all.  You definitely get plenty of food.  If my boyfriend cannot finish off a meal, there is a ton of food on the plate. 

Overall, I think we will be back.  My boyfriend has really gotten into the pho. 

Ch-Ch-Check It Out!

My friend, Jocelyn, has a blog that I didn’t even know about!  Check it out!  She is much more interesting than me!

http://enthusiasticrunner.com/

I went to college with Ms. Jocelyn.  Even though she was a Canadian, we voted her into the sorority.  Totally kidding!  We love Canadians… sort of… :)  She is always traveling, and you never know what she is going to do next!