More Twin Talk

The last time I did a post on twin talk, they were only speaking in short phrases. Now they speak in complete sentences, but are still similarly difficult to understand. What is fascinating to me, however, is that Baby Hippo, who grew up learning both regular human English and Twin Talk, has become a convenient translator. He's bilingual. For instance, the other day in the kitchen, Twin B said this to me: "Mom, tan you tut dis in too-aires?" I asked him to say it to me over and over again, but I just couldn't get it. Baby Hippo was sitting right next to him, so I said, "Baby Hippo, what does Twin B want?" And he said, "He said he wants you to cut it in stu-aires! Oh, I can't say it ee-doh!" But as he said the word "stu-aires", he made the shape of a square with his fingers, thus communicating with me that Twin B wanted his sandwich cut into squares.

Here are just a few more phrases you might need to learn if you ever come to visit.....

1. Tan we payla peelah? Can we play the computer?

2. Tan we pay wit pah-lay dough? Can we play with play dough?

3. Ih Daddy doe-ing to da toe? Is Daddy going to the store?

4. Tan we det some upteem? Can we get some ice cream?

5. Tan we wats deSPITaboh me? Can we watch Despicable Me?

6. Dat's a Chinchmitch tee! That's a Christmas tree!

7. Dear Hebney fah-der, Tane dee Daddy doe tah wort. Dear Heavenly Father, we're thankful Daddy goes to work.

8. I'm feeling a li-loh bit tit. I'm feeling a little bit sick.

9. Luwt I tuh-low! Look what I colored!

10. Mom, dis is weally duwt. Mom, this is really good. 

11. Mom, he not lelling me pah-lay wit him! Mom, he's not letting me play with him!

Potato and Corn Chowder

 

This is just an easy, hearty soup that even the teen-age carnivore boy loved. And instead of dicing the potatoes, I just scalloped them in the food processor really quick, and in order to better disguise the celery and onions, I grated them in the food processor. Also, I completely forgot to add the corn, which, for the amount I made, was about a gallon... of corn. Rather strange that that happened. That is why the photo of the soup lacks color and character. Some kids were glad, some were sad, but no problem, I just added it later. Oh, and of course, I didn't add the bacon. Had the teenage boy but known that it was supposed to have bacon, but didn't, he would have hung his head low. Better to leave some things unsaid.

And from now on, unless I completely change up a recipe, I'm just going to give you the link. It's just as easy for you to click as to scroll right? Okay, good. So HERE is the link. Enjoy!

Black Bean Boyfriend Brownies

 

This recipe is a modification of the original "Boyfriend Brownies" at allrecipes.com, my all-time favorite recipe site. For some reason I was really attracted to the name. It's just cute. Turns out that the author's brother's girlfriend used to make these for him, or something like that. Thus the name.

When I posted this recipe to facebook, the first question that was asked was, "Why add black beans?" Well. Let me tell you why. Black beans benefit the digestive tract, help regulate blood sugar, improve cardiovascular health, decrease cancer risk, improve nervous system health, and are rich in molybdenum, a detoxifier, and a potential reducer of impotence in older men. To read the details of all these benefits, you can go HERE if you want.

There are TONS of black bean brownie recipes out there, and I think my mother and I have tried them all. None to our satisfaction. Most of the time the kids wouldn't even eat them... sometimes not even the dog..... Wait, no. We didn't feed our dogs brownies. Dogs can die of chocolate. Anyway, these black bean brownie recipes were also health recipes, with no sugar, or flour, or butter usually. So that's why they were nasty, obviously.

What I wanted to create was a black bean brownie recipe that my kids would love, and not realize that they were ingesting black beans. So no, this is not a health-food brownie, but it's a healthier brownie than it would have been otherwise. Why not have your kids eat a tablespoon of black beans every time they snack on one of your brownies?

So what I did was take my favorite brownie recipe in the world, cut some of the flour, and add a cup of pureed black beans. The problem with my original attempt was that the only black beans I had were the ones I had made for dinner the night before, which I had seasoned with onions, bell peppers, salt and pepper. I really didn't think it would make a huge difference though. It turned out that anyone who didn't know they were eating the previous night's bean soup couldn't detect anything wrong, but the ever-discerning taste-buds of the 17-year-old girl claimed to have sensed a slight onion taste in the brownies. I think she was just being a little bit delusional and dramatic. But who cares anyway. The other 7 kids liked them, so that's all that matters.

Here's the recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients

½	cups all-purpose flour
½	teaspoon baking soda
½	teaspoon salt
¾	cups white sugar
2	T water
⅓	cup butter
1	cup semisweet chocolate
	chips
2	teaspoons vanilla extract
1	cup pureed black beans
2	eggs
1	cup semisweet chocolate
	chips
½	cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl; set aside. Grease and flour a 9×9-inch baking dish.

2. Combine the sugar, water, and butter in a saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and stir in one bag of chocolate chips and the vanilla extract until the chocolate has melted. Pour the mixture into a mixing bowl, add black beans, and beat in the eggs one at a time until smooth. Fold in the flour mixture until incorporated, then fold in the remaining bag of chocolate chips along with the walnuts. Pour into prepared pan.

3. Bake in the preheated oven until the top is dry and the edges have started to pull away from the sides of the pan and knife inserted into center comes out with a small amount of bownie on it, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into squares to serve.

Being Vegan: Questions answered in pictures

I adopted the vegan lifestyle for about 6 months back in 2009. I lost 12 pounds within those few months and the improvement in my health was able to be measured medically through blood testing. You can see the before and after comparisons HERE.

(Me, a few months ago, just because there were too many words without pictures) 

That being said, once I became pregnant with Baby Hippo, I started to seriously crave McDonald's hamburgers in my first trimester. Some said that that was proof that my body wasn't getting what it needed. I say that it was my body going back to what it had known through the previous eight pregnancies to combat nausea.... hamburgers, french fries, and sickly sweet vanilla shakes. Those are some of the foods I used to ease my morning sickness when I was 18 and pregnant for the first time, and since then, when I get morning sickness, those are my go-to foods. But do you really think that was what my body needed? I think not.

After I delivered Baby Hippo, I immediately went back to a vegetarian diet, which is different from a vegan diet in that I added eggs and diary. The change was that I again removed meat from my diet.

Currently I'm mostly vegetarian. If I go out to eat, and nothing looks good on the vegetarian menu, I'll order some seafood, or if someone brings our family a meal which includes meat, or, if I attend a party, I'll eat some meat, but in my home, I still don't purchase or prepare meat. If the older kids want it, they can ask John to buy it and cook it themselves.

During my vegan months, I was inundated with questions and concerns about the vegan diet. Some wondered where I would get my protein, calcium, and iron, even though they themselves never pulled open a produce drawer, drank 6 sodas a day, and never stepped foot outside to exercise. I wasn't sure why my health had become such a concern to them all of a sudden. Even so, I armed myself with enough information to answer people's questions, that is if they weren't interrupting me, and hopefully I eased their minds as to the status of my health. Although I'm not vegan anymore, I still think it's a great way to live a long healthy life, and since my daughter, who introduced me to the vegan lifestyle, recently shared this very simple and informative graphic with me, one of the best I've seen, I'd like to share it with you.

Thanks for listening and enjoy.