When Negative is Positive

I like contrasts and that is precisely what the title is!  It was also inspired by a comment my dad made when I let him know a result was negative.

OK, the story...
I somehow went from being very healthy, to being rather sick.  More accurately, I have been sick more than well since July of this year.  The reason at least partially has to do with the amount of stress I was under and that the stress has not exactly gone away yet.  The stress has lessened some in some areas, worsened in others, but overall, is still very present although less intense.  Anyway, I have been getting sick nearly every single weekend (as in respiratory infection with low fever and worsening of the ever-present cough that won't go away--nothing major, just annoying). So, last week, by Tuesday afternoon I finally was feeling better from the previous weekend's illness.  Yay!  Then, Thursday morning woke knowing I was starting the next round early.  Sigh.  I continued on with plans to go to Nebraska to be with family and finally have a mini-vacation of sorts since there was no chance for one during the summer.  I got to Lincoln Thursday evening, woke Friday morning feeling worse than ever.  By Sunday, I was so tired I fell asleep after church and before lunch, then fell asleep again after lunch and slept 3 more hours that afternoon.  Sunday evening, I was coughing so hard that my mom asked if I thought I had whooping cough...no.  But being curious, I looked up the symptoms of whooping cough (otherwise known as pertussis) and the description was an exact fit of what I was dealing with.  I figured chances were pretty slim that I actually had whooping cough since I was not aware of any exposure, my immunizations are all up to date, and it is rather uncommon, etc.  But, I also know others who had gotten it even though they'd been vaccinated.  So, once back in Iowa, I got in to the doctor and got checked just to be sure.  The tests results came back today-negative.  Yay!  So, being negative truly is positive! :)

Now, to figure out what I do have and get it to go away.  This cough has made me aware of abdominal muscles I didn't know I had...and that is in spite of my abdominal muscles actually being in decent shape from doing Pilates, stabilization and core-strengthening exercises regularly.  Between the cough, fever, headache, congestion, and lack of sleep from the cough, I really don't feel well.  Getting anything done is a major undertaking.  Hopefully, I can rest enough this weekend to start getting well again. :)

Recipes

Recipe 1: Tortillas

Here is the recipe for the tortillas I made awhile back.  It is based on the recipe I grew up making and although I did modify it a bit from the original, it is still mostly the same.

Tortillas
3 cups flour (I use 100% white whole wheat flour)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter (5 1/3 tablespoons)
1 cup warm water
Mix together dry ingredients.  Cut in butter.  Add water and mix.  Roll into circles and bake on medium heat griddle.

This made ~10 tortillas for me this time.  I froze the extras and so far, they thaw fine. :)

Recipe 2: Black Beans

This recipe is still in process as I've only made it twice and am not really working from any recipe at all-just making things up as I go along.  Thus, this is subject to much change!

So far:

Sort and rinse 2 cups of black beans

Cover beans with several inches of water and allow to soak overnight.

Drain and rinse beans, pour beans into crock pot.

Cover beans with several inches of water

Season to taste-options are endless! :)

I use:

2 teaspoons chili powder

2 teaspoons cumin

2 teaspoons onion powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Cook until beans are tender and desired consistency.  Once beans are soft, add salt to taste.  I use 1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt for this amount of beans. I have been cooking the beans on a combination of low and high for several hours.  I let them get so soft that they look like refried beans but I don't have to mash them or do anything with them.  Easiest way to make refried beans from scratch!   

These freeze and thaw very well!  

Notes: you can probably cook more beans at a time, but they spatter so much steam the way it is I've been afraid to try a larger batch.  Because they spatter steam, make sure nothing that can be damaged by water is near the crock pot.

Home made black beans!