Rice and Bean Salad

3 cups cooked brown rice
2 cups cooked black beans
2 cups cooked cannellini
1 red onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
4 oz green chilies, chopped (opt)
1 cup frozen corn,
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup tamari
1/4 cup water
1 tsp Dijon mustard
Hot sauce to taste



Mix vinegar, tamari, water, Dijon mustard, and several dashes of hot
sauce in a jar; shake well to mix.

Combine all salad ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Shake
dressing and add to salad, mixing gently. Cover and refrigerate for
at least two hours, preferably overnight.

Full

They say that humans use only 10% or less of our brains' capacity, but apparently I am the exception. I'm convinced that I have used 100%. My brain is full. I simply cannot remember or deal with one more thing!

Last night, Nick went to the store for an Angel Food cake mix. I had to make a cake for E to take to the allergist's office today for an Egg Challenge. The store didn't sell a mix! I didn't want to make it from scratch because we bake gluten-free and I don't even keep wheat flour or white sugar in the house. I didn't have a choice, so I asked Nick to get a small box of cake flour and a small box of white sugar.

As is typical, I didn't have the energy to bake last night, so I procrastinated. I ended up beating a dozen egg whites at 1:00AM and trying to sift the flour and sugar five times! I don't even own a sifter so Nick pulled one out of the kids' play kitchen stuff. :)

So...I got the cake in the oven and let it bake for an hour.

Since I had a bunch of egg yolks staring at me, I decided to make a banana cream pie. I rarely bake anymore and J had commented awhile ago that he'd never really had pie except pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving and he doesn't even like pumpkin pie! My mom used to bake all the time and I baked when I was growing up, and I felt sad that my kids hadn't even tried some of these homemade baked goods!

Nick had gotten a premade pie crust, so I stirred away and made the filling. I was hurting and was getting cranky, so I asked him to come back downstairs and help. We baked and worked on the computer together...and I think it was going on 4:00 AM when we got to bed.

This morning, shortly before E's appointment, Nick looked at me and said, "E had to be off of antihistamines before this challenge, right?"

My jaw dropped. I'd completely forgotten about that!

I begged him to call the doctor for me, but he refused. So I called the office and left a ranting message about how I'd stayed up half the night making the cake but that my brain just doesn't work anymore and I'd forgotten to stop E's allergy meds! Thankfully, the nurse was so nice and said that I was actually the second person that had called today saying that they'd forgotten to stop the meds.

I used to be efficient and organized. Those days are long gone. Thankfully, we'll be finished with school tomorrow which takes away so much pressure. Maybe my brain start functioning again over the summer. I have to hope so...

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