Things I Learned From Betty Lou - You Need a Hot Skillet

This is a new thing - we will see where it goes.

Nanny made cornbread almost every day for years. She slowed down when she got older, but I remember every day the butter beans and cornbread.  She would let me help and she would teach me how to make whatever she was making. Cornbread was no exception. Her first rule for the best cornbread?  You have to start with a really hot skillet. The batter won't rise as well if the skillet is cold. 

What's your spiritual connect with this?  Don't wait until you get to church to get fired up.  Get hot BEFORE you get to church and church will take on a whole new meaning. Understanding will be deeper and you will go higher...just like the cornbread.

Here Sits a Dreamer

Here sits a dreamer. Wrapped in blankets of gold, lights low, candles glowing, this dreamer sits. And writes. The dreamer dares to dream dreams that seem impossible. To the surrounding world, yes, impossible. 

The dreamer remembers the soft words spoken to her all those days ago, the Voice that sometimes is so faint the dreamer can barely hear. But hear, she does. And she remembers. She remembers the dreams and the destiny given to her by her God. In the still of the night she holds those dreams close and wonders how her destiny plays out- how do the impossible circumstances change? Did she hear the Voice correctly? He assures her that her dreams shall come true. He gently reminds her that His promises are "yes" and "amen." 

He reminds He is not a man that He should lie. The dreamer decides to trust what she knows she has been promised will come to pass. The Voice reminds her that she is His princess....

                                                                       ....and dreams come true, if you only believe....

Green Velvet Cake Bites

Yes, I know I have a blog and have been neglecting it terribly- life has been super crazy! My apologies, and I will try to do better.

Today we are playing with Green Velvet. Kind of like Red Velvet...but...well, you know...green.

Here is the basic guest list for this recipe:


1 Milk Chocolate Cake Mix (for the mix I used, you also need 3 eggs, 1 1/4 c water, and 1/3 c oil)
1 can cream cheese frosting
1 bottle green food coloring
2 tbsp cocoa (optional)
1 tsp vanilla (optional)
1 12 oz package white chocolate morsels
1 12 oz package semi sweet chocolate morsels
green sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9"x13" cake pan (I "floured" mine with extra cocoa). Combine water, oil, eggs, and cake mix and mix according to package directions (2 minutes). SLOWLY add the food coloring, and the cocoa and vanilla if desired. These pictures are from my first attempt, I used the cocoa and vanilla, and a whole bottle of the food coloring. Second test, I omitted the cocoa and used only 1/2 a bottle of food coloring, with only a minor depth of color change. Go with your personal preference on this one. Once food coloring is evenly distributed, pour into prepared pan and bake for recommended time (30-35 minutes) - check at 30 minutes- I found adding the cocoa, vanilla, and entire bottle of food coloring required 5 extra minutes baking time.




Isn't this an AWESOME green???

Once cake is removed from the oven, allow to cool. When completely cool, crumble the entire cake into a large bowl. Add 1/2 the cream cheese frosting. Remaining frosting can be refrigerated for later use. Or eaten with a spoon. Whatever.

Anyway....

Smush the crumbled cake and frosting together. I suppose you could use a spoon, but hands are much easier. Once thoroughly combined, roll this "dough" into balls and place on a cookie sheet or wire rack- temptation is to make them larger. Go smaller. The final cake bite is really rich and you don't want to overwhelm folks. Once rolling is complete, place the cookie sheet or wire rack in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to chill.

Melt one package of chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl, 20 second intervals, stirring often. Be prepared to work fast. Have plenty of paper towels, toothpicks, and couple of teaspoons, the sprinkles, and wax or parchment paper ready to use. Place a ball on a toothpick and dip into the melted chocolate. Quickly coat and gently "jiggle" to remove excess chocolate. Place cake bite on paper. Use the teaspoon to fill in the hole from the toothpick. Add the sprinkles and you get something that looks like this.


Oh happy day!!!
And just so ya know, when you add the whole bottle of food coloring, you can tell exactly who has had a cake bite.
You have been warned :-)