Dreams Are All True While They Last

Dreams are true while they last, and do we not live in dreams?

Alfred Lord Tennyson

What a coincidence that my last blog post was about dreams! Today I just received word that  my YA novel in progress Lovely, Dark, and Deep has been awarded an Honorable Mention from Alabama Writers' Conclave in their First Chapter of a Novel contest. And this story is all about dreams, but definitely not in the ordinary sense.

None of my dreams are ever in the ordinary sense, so I have plenty of material for Lovely, Dark, and Deep!

Now, I just need to finish my Sweet Music on Moonlight Ridge sequel, titled The Witches of Moonlight Ridge, which I'm determined to have finished by the end of summer, then get busy on Lovely, Dark, and Deep, a YA supernatural mystery.

Edgar Allan Poe said:  All that we see or seem , Is but a dream within a dream.

What Did You Dream Last Night?

Last night I dreamed that I was jogging toward home from The Rowan House, a restored home circa 1854 on Hwy 119, and I had some folded money in my hand. A cute, short guy with dark hair jogged up beside me and started talking about how he supposed I was a Democrat and he was a Democrat too. Then he went into this long discourse that was so far-fetched I couldn't follow him about Democrats in the UK! Just then I saw a wooden leg lying beside the road, and I thought it looked like something we ought to keep, but I couldn't stop to pick it up because the Democrat was so engrossed in his great conversation, and I was trying to follow what he was saying! And I thought it would be hard to jog all the way home carrying a wooden leg.

What did you dream last night?

Some Facts About Beans

Mr. Bean is one of my favorite guys.

In his book, Navajos Wear Nikes, A Reservation Life, Jim Kristofic says Navajos eat beans every day. He was talking about school lunches, but I decided this sounded like a good idea for everybody. so I'm eating more beans. It's a good book, by the way.

                                                                   The Pinto Bean

This food is very low in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Protein, Phosphorus and Manganese, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber and Folate.

For lunch today I'm having a bean burrito from Taco Bell...

And I'm trying, with minimal success, to keep it out of my lap and off the front of my shirt.

...and some Mexican Rice from Taco Bell.

I love Taco Bell rice!

                                                    

For desert I'm having peanut butter pie from Rusty's Barbecue, a home-town epicurean extablishment serving gourmet barbecue and various scandalous desserts. I don't know for sure if the peanut is a bean...but I think so. A legume, I think.

Oh! This is sooo good!

I don't often blog about food, but because I'm extra hungry today, and haven't blogged at all for a while, and because this lunch is so tasty and delightful, well, I'm blogging about lunch!

Here's a scrumptious recipe I found on the Internet at Scarletta Bakes .

Pinto Bean Blondies

2 c. pinto beans (I used well-drained, rinsed, canned beans.)
1 c. unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 c. light brown sugar, packed
1/3 c. maple syrup
1/3 c. light agave nectar
1/2 tsp. salt
4 large eggs

1 c. cashews, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 350°.

Place chopped cashews on a rimmed sheet pan and toast for 8-10 minutes or until golden and fragrant. Set aside to cool.

Line a 9″ x 13″ baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, place the beans, melted butter, brown sugar, agave nectar, maple syrup, vanilla extract, salt, and eggs. Process until smooth and remove to a large bowl. (Note that you should process the mixture long enough that the beans’ skins are in small pieces; you’ll still see little bits of skin in the mixture, but you want to get the pieces as small as possible. I processed for approximately 2 minutes.) Stir in the cashew pieces. Pour the mixture into the lined pan and bake for 47-50 minutes. Cooked blondies will be set and dark on top and at the edges, which should be pulling away from the pan.

Allow blondies to cool to room temperature before unmolding.

Bon Appetit, Y'all!