Friday, November 23, 2012
I Can See Clearly Now (or - I Got A New Windshield)
Thursday, November 1, 2012
The Sacred Meal The Ancient Practices Series (Review)
The Sacred MealThe Ancient Practices Series
By Nora Gallagher, Phyllis Tickle
Published by Thomas Nelson
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Dangerous Favor
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Things I Learned From Betty Lou - You Need a Hot Skillet
Friday, May 25, 2012
Here Sits a Dreamer
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Green Velvet Cake Bites
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 :-)
Friday, March 2, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
Banana Pudding
Make sure you are prepared. I obviously was not, so these chocolate graham crackers are my substitute for vanilla wafers. You gotta love me!
Here is Plan-B in case this pudding was a flop:
Triple Chocolate cake eventually covered in chocolate whipped icing. I'm sure we will figure out something to do with it....
Anyway.
Banana Pudding
1/2 c sugar
1/3 c flour (scant measure, mine got too thick too fast; may reduce to 2 tbsp on the do-over)
3 egg yolks (save the white for the top!)
2 c milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 ripe bananas
vanilla wafers (I prefer Nilla wafers. Use what floats your boat. Or what you have on hand!)
3 reserved egg whites
dash of vanilla
1/2 c sugar (scant measure)
Whisk sugar and flour together in a saucepan. Add egg yolks, milk, and vanilla. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly (important!!! keep stirring!) to prevent lumps. When sauce begins to thicken, remove from heat and set aside.
Place vanilla wafers (or graham crackers) in the bottom of a round casserole dish. Layer 1 sliced banana on top. Add or reduce bananas as you wish. I prefer fewer bananas, but added more for this experiment. Pour half of the sauce over the wafers and bananas, then repeat; wafers, banana, sauce.
Set aside. Now to the topping.
In a very clean (read zero oil residue) dry bowl, beat the reserved egg whites until slightly stiff. Add the vanilla, continue beating. Add half the sugar and beat some more. Add the last half of the sugar and beat until blended and the egg whites form very soft peaks. I realize that most meringue recipes call for cream of tartar. Not going there. My Nanny never used it and hers is what I am looking to recreate. If you want to use it, please do - all food creations belong to the creator and can be adapted as one sees fit. Dollop meringue on top of pudding - all the way to the edges of the bowl. Sprinkle with sugar before popping it in the oven to brown to meringue. 350 degree oven - DO NOT LEAVE UNATTENDED. When it decides to brown, it will brown VERY quickly.
This is wonderful freshly made warm, but also very good straight from the fridge.
Enjoy!
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Easy Peach Cobbler
Easiest cobbler recipe ever! I think this recipe came from my mom - I remember having it when I was young(er) and loved it then too! This is the only cobbler recipe I ever use.
This takes literally less than 10 minutes to get into the oven. Doesn't get much easier!
1 cup self-rising flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 140z can of sliced peaches
1 stick of butter (not margarine)
Preheat over to 350 degrees. Melt the butter in your baking dish. The easiest way is to place the butter in the baking dish and put it in the oven while preheating is happening.
Mix together the flour and sugar with a whisk. Slowly add the milk 1/4 cup at a time, mixing well between additions.
Once the oven is preheated, pour the batter in the baking dish. Spoon sliced peaches on top, then drizzle the juice over the whole thing.
Bake until golden brown (approximately 1 hour). Careful! It's awesome, but very hot for a very long time!
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Today...
I took my children to school because their bus was unaccounted for. This morning was the first time I've been down Old Springville Road and Deerfoot Parkway.
To my friends who live near me - I am so very grateful that you are here to read my post.
To those who are seeing video and pictures - it's far worse "in person."
To the young girl who is staying with us - I am so so very glad that you are with us and we got to have cheeseburgers together. And I am glad you are here to tell me you don't like strawberry cheesequake Blizzards :-D
My heart goes out to all those who have suffered loss this week. Prayers for your peace, safety, and speedy provision. Much love you all!
Peace
Friday, January 20, 2012
When blind eyes are opened...
Psalm 146 ESV
Put Not Your Trust in Princes
1 Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
3 Put not your trust in princes,
in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
4 When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;
on that very day his plans perish.
5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
6 who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;
7 who executes justice for the oppressed,
who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free;
8 the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
Today I had the opportunity to spend some time with a young man who is on a radical journey with God. He is scheduled to have surgery in a few weeks. Surgeons will removed 50% of one lung and 20% of another. Keep him in your prayers.
I have watched this man grow over the past months since his diagnosis. He has been through fear, pain, suffering, guilt, the whole range of emotions. I cannot explain to you what happens when I listen to him talk now. God shows up so intently; I feel what's in this man's heart. He knows what he's living with now is a result of poor life choices and he accepts that (Jesus can heal him, pray for that). He also accepts that his Jesus loves him and intends to work mightily through him. I believe that! He opens his mouth and Word comes out. I love it! He's destined to preach.
He speaks of reaching those who are doing the things he used to do.
He speaks of telling them how much he hurt his body with what he's done.
He speaks of telling them how much Jesus loves them and can save them.
He's going to do it. Jesus wants him to.
And I want to watch him let Jesus work through him to reach the world.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 2012
You are the man!
Do you need a Nathan?
Do you know who Nathan is??
2 Samuel 12.
We all know that David was a man after the heart of God. He truly loved God and he did some really great things. Read his story. He also had failures. Some REALLY BIG failures. This time read the part of David's story where he steals another man's wife, impregnates her, then to try and fix things, has the husband killed, marries the woman, and is trying to live happily ever after.
Does this sound like a mess?
Yes, just go ahead and say, "Yes, it does."
2 Samuel 11 tells us that it displeased the Lord. Nathan the prophet was sent to confront David about his sin.
Nathan addresses David with a parable, this one describing in veiled imagery what David had done to Uriah. David was angered at the "man" in the parable, even says that this "man" deserves to die because of his actions and lack of pity.
Then Nathan delivers this awesome line, "You are the man!" (see, you thought this was a new saying. Turns out, it's been around for centuries!)
David did his sin in secrecy. He thought no one knew. God always knows. God always knows.
David needed accountability for his sin. God sent Nathan to bring the sin to David's sight. God didn't kill David for his actions, but He did hold him accountable. The baby born of David and Bathsheba's affair died. A mighty price to pay for one's sin...that he didn't recognize as being...sin .In his mind, he thought he had fixed it.
What do you need to take away from this story? You need someone to whom you can be accountable. It doesn't matter if you are a new Christian, been going to church since before you were born, or somewhere in between. You need someone speaking into your life that can say, "Hey man, we need to talk about what you did," and YOU LISTEN AND CORRECT YOUR ACTIONS. A wise man will take the lesson and learn from it. A foolish man will blame someone else. The evil man will act like it never happened. A man who will not be accountable for his actions, well, he's not someone you need to follow.
Find a Nathan or two to keep in your life. You need the accountability. Be the man!