10 THINGS THAT MADE ME HAPPY THIS WEEK

WELCOME NEW FOLLOWER, HELENE :D

17 October - 24 October, 2010

"For your ship to come in, you must first build your dock."  Unknown (And I really tried.  All I found was game and boat/dock  info.)

#1  I have really enjoyed experimenting with using pured beans for oil/butter...  I made banana bread - 1/2 cup butter + 1/2 cup pured white beans.  Worked great.  And pumpkin chocolate chip cookies - 1/2 cup shortening + 1/2 cup pured white beans.  They were a bit more cakey, but for no shortening we will keep doing it.  I have found it takes a bit longer to cook my foods with beans, and they do not brown as much.

When I puree a can of beans (I have done black and white) I get 2 1/2 cups cups puree.  I use what I need and freeze the rest in silicone 1/2 containers.  When they are frozen, I peel them and put each one in it's own zip lock.  Then I put all the small bags in a large bag.  (Just like I do with my browned hamburger.)  They take about 2 hours to defrost in my bowl, and I used defrosted beans in my pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.  It worked great.

#2  Earlier in October Doug was working 7 days a week :(, so his boss gave him some days off :) 

I am happy Doug took Monday off.  We just stayed home.

#3  I love (LOVE) my down comforter and fleece sheets.  (Yep, it's winter-y.)  (I do not love/use them in the summer.)

#4  Are you following the daily deals, yet???  

We went to Wheeler Farm for play date using our discount coupons we bought at the end of September.  (It was $7.00  for 2 tickets to their kid activities and include a pumpkin.  For the 8 of us that went it was a SAVING of $28.00.  We paid $28.00 for all 8 of us.)  We had TONS of fun - and VERY wild children.  They were all so red from running and chasing thru the mazes.  (Even Layne took a nap during "quiet time" :)

#5  Are you following the daily deals, YET?

On Wednesday night we went to Provo for the fun Halloween Cruise on the Provo River.  Tickets are $7.00 each, with 2 and under free.  We got ours for $3.50 each about 1 month ago :-)

CLAS Ropes Course is located at 3606 W. Center Street in Provo.  Their web address is http://www.clasropes.com/ 

We really had fun.  It is very family friendly (read not scary).  Perhaps even cheesy.  But clean.  And a fun night time Halloween event.  BE AWARE THAT TRAFFIC IS HORRENDOUS WITH THE CONSTRUCTION!

(Although the Halloween cruise is almost over, they are also doing a Christmas one :)  And they have other stuff, too.)

(I had a funny conversation with one of my followers this week.  We were talking about restaurant coupons and I said I wanted to pay $10.00 for $20.00 for Famous Dave's.  They said, "Yea, right.  Who would do that?"  Do they READ my blog???  I will tell you the ones I love.  Trust me ;)

#6  SO happy BYU won.

#7  On Saturday we had our church women's group SUPER SATURDAY.  I know that the trend has been to not have craft activities.  Gotta say I love them.  I went with 2 daughters and we enjoyed our day.  (AND completed all projects.)  Many women were making hand crafted Christmas gifts.  And home/family organization helps.  It was a fun (and well planned) day.  So glad that I participated.

#8  I ate out twice this week. (O.K., Maybe not so happy.)

I ordered my first restaurant panini. (Lunch before the farm.  We used coupons.  Thank-you, Emily.)  It was dry and boring.  I am happy I can make my own.

On Saturday night I tried a new(er) hamburger place with Leslie, Hilary and Christy.  It was o.k.  TRAINING TABLE is still my favourite.

#9  I found these fun little hard boiled egg shapers.  They are from Japan and I bought them on eBay for about $13.00 for all 6 shapes.  I looked for awhile for the best deal.  If you are interested in who I used, let me know.  As always, mine can be borrowed.)  They are fun to eat, and the eggs are getting eaten.  (The picture will go in our lunch cookbook:)

To make them, you boil your eggs as usual.  As soon as they are done cooking I run warm water over the eggs as I crack/peel them. I peel them under warm water, and they are not too hot to handle.

Once they are peeled, stand it up in the case and put the lid on.  Just chill at least 1/2 hour.

I used extra large and think they are too big.  (I also thing large can be a bit too small, so I will keep egg shopping.)

#10  I finished one of my pumpkins.  It was cheaper than I thought it would be.  (I would not have spent more.)  The dot stickers were in a pack of 4 at Hobby Lobby - and I had a coupon.  They were $4.50 with tax.  The ribbon was 1/2 of at Hobby Lobby ($2.00).  The pumpkin was from last year after Halloween sale. ($2.00)  And the stand was $3.00 at the D.I.  (I will spray paint the cement part next week.)

(Because the dot patterns are each 1 sticker, I will wrap pantyhose around the pumpkin to store it.)