Mystery revealed

  It’s been raining all day long here.  Good thing I have a lot to do indoors!  The kids are happy that they get to watch tv and build forts, tho Dylan keeps bringing up a bike ride getting Avery all riled up for nothing. Literally, it’s been raining all day.  I see no bike ride in their future.  Avery doesn’t really watch tv all that much yet, but this morning I caught her watching for a minute or so like this: (take note of my beloved Fluidity bar and Dylan on the couch in the background)

Rain, Rain, go away.

Our special guest came bearing gifts!  Well, not gifts as I shall pay her for efforts.  I requested that she bring me as many of these babies as possible.  Yes, I’ll admit.  I have a problem.  

These are AMAZING.

Lunch today was the same as yesterday, but I’ll post the recipe today.  Wouldn’t ya know it, the one time I don’t post a recipe – I get a request wanting the recipe!  Dang it, Derek!  It’s okay – not your fault I was being lazy this morning.  So here it is:

Black Bean Burgers Ala Trishy
  Ingredients:

2 cans of black beans, drained and rinsed

1 carrot, grated (could do more if you want, but I’m lazy when it comes to grating carrots)
1/2 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds), but if you can’t find them – unsalted sunflower seeds would be a lovely choice
1 TB olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

Mash up the black beans in a large bowl using a fork or a muddle or even a meat tenderizer would work!  Don’t mush them up so much that they become paste like.  They should be more of a chunky texture.  Then add the rest of the ingredients and mix it all up.  Preheat a frying pan coated with cooking spray.  Wet your hands (to prevent it from sticking to you) and form the mixture into patties (it will yield 5-6 patties).  Fry them until each side is golden brown.  I like to gently smush them down some with my spatula while they are cooking.  We topped them with cheese, guacamole and a tomato on a 100 calorie bun.  You can do whatever toppings you want though! 

Onto the news of the day – the mystery mission we are on.  Ever since we moved here, we have had it in the back of our minds that we wouldn’t stay here forever.  While we love our house, the lakeshore and the distance from town were not quite as appealing.  So, we’ve decided to list our house for sale!  So now you’re probably wondering how we will continue to have “Our Life on a Lake,” right?  Well, we are on the lookout for new lake properties that are closer to Brainerd.  We realize we have a tall order, but we will try to remain hopeful that something will work out.  We need to sell our house before we can move on and that will probably be the hardest part.  But you never know – we could be surprised!  When the time comes, we will definitely miss this house, our neighbors (sorry Lingy!  We wanted to tell you before we posted it here, but well, it’s raining and I didn’t feel like going outside today! LOL) and this area in general.  The kids have loved this place very much, but we think they would love to have a better lakeshore where they can swim freely and also have a shorter commute into town for school and activities.  I know their driver will LOVE that more than anyone!   So anyway, I spent a good portion of the day staging and taking photos for our listing.  BIG THANKS to Auntie Susan for keeping the kiddies occupied while I did all this.  Let me tell ya – it was no small feat.  This place doesn’t always look so magical, if you can believe that! Ha! So here are the pics I took today:
My helper!  She makes a mean teepee.

We have a helper down!  I repeat, a helper down!

And that’s it for today’s photos.  I did pull some old photos of our yard to send to our realtor.  They may or may not include the wild rice.  I’m sneaky like that. 

Well, dinner is marinating, so I better get to preparing it!  Have a lovely evening!