The Ronald McDonald House sent us this picture of Noah when he dropped off the first batch of pop tabs. Now we have just as many so it is time to go again! (on the floor you can see a huge garbage bag full too!) This is amazing! And I am so excited about all of the families that will benefit from everyone collecting their tabs!
My bean story...
To liven up the summer I am cooking much more than I normally do (before I rarely cooked), and I am trying new recipes! Well, I found a recipe for apple, raisin oatmeal that cooks overnight in the crockpot. I was so excited about it because I just knew that Noah would love it! When he got home from work we went to Kroger to get two ingredients that I needed. Neither of us knew what a vanilla bean was, but we knew we needed it for the oatmeal. We ended up laughing in the isle becaue ONE bean was $11! We had no idea, and for a new recipe we didn't want to risk it. We kept thinking that maybe the oatmeal needed just a piece of the bean or something like it. We ended up going home without the bean, and we ended up laughing all night about that overly expensive bean. So if you see us growing a garden, you know that we will be growing vanilla beans!
The story may not be as funny when someone else reads what happened, but we were rolling!
Tomorrow we are going to check and see how Walt is doing. He is moving well, so that keeps me from worrying, and my only complaints are the normal ones for someone who is pregnant. I am hoping to share some pictures with you because we are getting a sonogram to check Walt's growth...just to be sure that he is doing well and that there is no reason to worry.
Praying for your appointment tomorrow and all good news!
ReplyDeleteLoved the picture of you and Noah on the Fourth. Looks like you were having a good time! Walt is getting big! :)
Haha. You can substitute 1 TSP of vanilla extract for the vanilla bean. Actually, the way to make vanilla extract is to soak the bean in vodka. Apparently, you can make several batches from one bean b/c they are supposed to be pretty strong. The only time I've used a vanilla bean is when I made Panna Cotta for a friend. You basically scrape the inside of the bean into the cream as it's heating up. I thought the little black specks would distribute evenly like in ice cream, but they ended up just clumping up at the top of the Panna Cotta and looked really ugly! The next time I made it I used vanilla extract and it turned out fine and looked much prettier!
ReplyDeleteLOL that was too cute! I didn't realize they were so expensive either.
ReplyDeleteAm looking forward to seeing pics of Walt too. Am praying for you ALL! He's due in August, right?
I HAD to laugh at this one. Vanilla beans ARE crazy expensive! You can just use some vanilla extraxt instead. I'm sure it calls for the bean because you get kind of an infusion of flavor from it. But I'm still tickled at y'all hunting for the bean and realizing it's no typical thing! :) Hope the appointment went well. Can't wait to see pictures! Oh, and I have some pop tabs for y'all. I'm collecting a small pile on my kitchen window sill!
ReplyDeleteyay for an ultrasound and hopefully an uneventful appt!
ReplyDeleteWho knew a vanilla bean was so expensive! Did you just put vanilla extract in there instead?