Waldorf Bean Salad

So, I think I accidentally went Waldorf.... I'm sorry - I didn't mean to do it, it just happened!

A few weeks ago I wanted to make hummus so I bought some chickpeas in the bulk bin at Winco. (don't all the world's biggest problems start in the bulk section at Winco??) A week or so later when I started to think about actually using the chickpeas, I got them out to soak and .... well that seems odd... I don't know a ton about dry leguemes.... do chickpeas hatch? There appeared to be a different kind of smaller something - same color as the chickpeas, but looked like a BB pellet. Pulled out my trusty Betty Crocker Cookbook, flip to the section on beans and legumes and scan the pictures... ah ha! I got a handful of soybeans in my chickpeas!

As I was excited to figure out what it was, but.... now I had to try to sort them out..... auggh! I really just wanted to put them to soak - 2 minutes to accomplish - now its a 20 minute project. Wait! "NOAH!!! Come here! I have a job for you." So he takes a couple of bowls and starts sorting while watching a show on TV. End of story.... no! The next morning, Noah comes into the kitchen and asks if I have any more beans to sort... "I like sorting beans!" Wow - that's cool - and unexpected. But I hear that kind of activity is really good for the brain, or something like that - right? So a few more times he asked and I said I'd get him a few more beans the next time I was at the Winco bulk section.

So this afternoon, guess what I found! Noah, Hannah and Zak quietly playing in the sunroom with a bucket of beans... how waldorf is that! But don't worry - they were still surrounded with plastic toys!