FAIL BLOG!

Yesterday I made these really delightful almond cupcakes (I didn't have time to take pictures - I had a lot to do while making cupcakes... oh multitasking), and the recipe called for a salted caramel frosting. Anytime I hear "salted" and "caramel" together, it make me think of the salted caramel hot chocolate you can get from Starbucks (which is DELICIOUS). So I was all about trying this new caramel frosting.

 

I will shorten the caramel frosting story: 3 tries, 2 different recipes, and a text message later I finally asked a friend to buy me caramel frosting! I just plain fail to make my own caramel frosting, and I think I will stick to my own recipe I found last fall... you don't have to boil sugar.

Malcolm (the wonderful man that he is) asked me if I had taken pictures for the blog. He has asked me this before after fails, and whether I have or not their is a piece of me that wants to go, "Why on earth would I show the entire internet world (my 3 followers) what a failure I am? I have plenty of success that are way more worth the time to blog about." And almost every time, this wonderful man I married reminds me of what a great correlation their is between our failures in light of God's grace - I can't help but agree.

 (I will just post pictures of the fails I have documented... please enjoy.)

Ah yes, apple fritters. I don't think I had the oil hot enough, so they just soaked up a ton of it (as you can see the powdered sugar soaking it up). Malcolm and I felt sick after eating them.

I think all of us have at least a little portion of us that doesn't want to fail. We all want to show that we put together people who don't need help or don't mess up. We don't want people to see that we trip, slip, fall, dribble (I dribble water all over my face quite often) our way through life because that's simply not cool. 

But if we step back and take a look at the big picture we will see that EVERYONE has failed! Romans 3:10-12 says, 

"As it is written: 'There is no one righteous, not even one;there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.'"

I think I blogged about this one already, but it's alright. I made 5 jars of chicken broth and put them in the freezer. I didn't leave enough space at the top (like the directions told me to), so when they expanded in the freezer the jars cracked. We lost 3 good jars to cook's error that day...

And if that wasn't blatant enough, it goes on to say in verse 23, "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..."

It doesn't matter how smooth we are (or seem to be), because we can never be smooth enough. 

It doesn't matter if we try to be really (even REALLY) good people - it's just never enough. I have a handful of examples, but one of my favorite examples is if all of human kind lined up on the east coast of the U.S. and we're all going to swim to Spain. Olympic swimmers could probably make it farther than any other, but could they make it all the way across the Atlantic Ocean? (Answer - NO) I would make it up to my knees in water before I would give up! Either way, it doesn't matter how much or how little good we do - we just can't be perfectly perfect that is required to get to God.

I was really into reading Chronicles of Narnia (still finishing the books), but I was inspired to make Turkish Delight after reading The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. It was suppose to be sticky, but solidified. After a week in the refrigerator, mine stayed runny. After some research, I found out that it is really hard to make, and homemade Turkish Delight is a rarity. I was bummed.

It's not enough that we have had Godly people raise us or even in our lives because in the grand scheme of things we are responsible for ourselves. The first part of Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death..." Just like if you work a job and earn wages for your time their, your money is yours. It may go towards and effect (or affect? I'm terrible with English) others around you, but the check is made out to you. It's the same with our wrongdoings (or sin). If you have sinned (which we all have), then you have earned death - which is a spiritual separation from God and an eternity headed to hell - to be honest and frank with you all.

Baking cookies usually require a dainty touch or even a hint of carefulness to hands - which I swear I just don't have! Here is a keen example of this. These were candy cane cookies I baked last Christmas. It is a lot harder to twist cookie dough to look all pretty like than it looks in the books! I don't know how my mom made so many beautiful cookies at Christmas.

Talk about a fail blog! We have failed miserably! But, it doesn't have to end there. Romans 5:6-8 says, "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

We didn't do anything to earn God's favor, or to even prove that Jesus should die for us. He just did it! 

You know Romans 3:23 I mentioned earlier? Want to see the verses that sandwich them?

Romans 3:22-24, "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

(*gaping mouth*)

Now let's finish Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

These were some of my favorite cookies as a kid. (I will probably blog about them sometime, because they do turn out to be tasty.) But I feel like every time I make them I forget to grease my cookie sheets - which I have decided that if a recipe says you don't have to, I will ignore them. These cookies ALWAYS stick to the cookie sheet and then I'm forced to serve them in crumbles rather than cookies!

 We don't have to stay in the failure of our sin! God has a marvelous gift ready for us all, but we need to receive it. We must individually chose to open this gift.

Romans 10:9-13 explains how we open this gift,

"That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, 'Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.' For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'"

Opening this gift is not just agreeing with what I've been talking about intellectually. It's a personal choice to put your faith in Jesus Christ and to follow Him as an act of your will. Though emotions may follow your choice, opening God's gift is not a mere emotional experience. 

If you haven't made this choice to open this gift that God is presenting to you, you can make that choice today. Choosing to follow Christ doesn't mean every day will be rosy and perfect, but He does promise to give you a full life of meaning and purpose, filled with true peace, satisfaction,  and love that is beyond what anyone or anything can offer you.

I was into this big fresh fruit into cupcakes phase last spring (which I had some AMAZING outcomes), but after this fail I took a step back. These are blackberry mango cupcakes. I took a recipe for mango cupcakes and adapted them. I really am no good at trying to figure out my own recipes! As you see them here, they came out looking a lot like they do now, just more brownish (which made them look even worse)! They didn't even taste all that great. This is by far one of my biggest fails in cooking!!

If you want to make that choice right now, you can pray right now. Prayer isn't anything fancy - it's simply just talking to God. God knows your heart. He really isn't concerned so much with the right word combination as much as is with the attitude of your heart. Here is a suggested prayer:

Lord Jesus, I'm a failure when it comes to being good enough. I want to have a real relationship with you - one that I can know you personally. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I ask you to come into my life as Lord and Savior. Thank you for forgiving me and giving me eternal life with you. Please make me the kind of person you want me to be.

If you prayed that, you can know right now that your eternity is set! You have a relationship with Christ that can't be taken away, and you have entered into a big family of people that will love you - me being one of them! I also encourage you, if you have made this decision, please tell someone today - tell me if you feel comfortable doing so!!

Here are some links to help you get started:

•If you still have questions about making a decision or if you made this decision but have a lot of questions go to www.everystudent.com or http://eternityimpact.blogspot.com/p/god-solution.html

•If you want some resources to help you get started in this new relationship you have begun today, please visit www.startingwithgod.com

Bearing Fruit

I am so proud of my garden! My garden this year has been through some "hard knocks" (or however you would write that) this summer, but they are fighters! I lost my first batch of plants to a great misunderstanding (I wrote my instructions wrong, and my lovely plant sitter gave everything 2 tablespoons of fertilizer every day for a month - needless to say they were fried). So these got a late start to the year.

The tomato plant almost completely died after having it in my possession for about 12 hours (close to the quickest kill ever), but was completely revived! Now I have many many green tomatoes growing. 

AND I HAVE BANANA PEPPERS COMING IN!! I have only recently developed a taste for banana peppers (and pickles for that matter - no, I'm not pregnant). They have really made my Subway sandwich near perfection, and I'm excited to see what I can do with some home grown ones.

And I just saw a little bell pepper come in too!

I have really enjoyed watching these plants produce it's produce. And knowing I get fresh chives when I want them, and strawberries are possible to have, it's been a highlight to the end of my summer.

Why am I blogging about my garden on my baking blog? Well... it fits better here, and I might bake with them sometime. But more over, I wanted to share what God showed me with the plants today.

 

I was sitting on my couch thinking about how cool my plants are, and how I'm proud of them like they were small children getting 100% papers and a smiley sticker on their spelling test.  I was just thinking about how excited I get when it produces fruit. I don’t get angry at the plants when they don’t produce fruit in my timing, but instead I wait in anticipation for when it come along. I get excited when I see a new flower starting to open on it, because it’s the sign of a potential tomato or pepper. And I rejoice at the growth it takes. Rushing it won’t help anything – only the time it needs will do.

God is the same way with us. He doesn’t get angry when fruit doesn’t come up in a certain time frame – because He knows just what we need to see fruit happen. He doesn’t get anxious to see the flowers turn to peppers or tomatoes. He simply rejoices in what takes place, knowing that fruit will come and will be best in it’s timing. 

All we need to do is abide in Him, and we will produce much fruit (John 15:5). But we can't expect fruit in our timing - only is God's. Don't beat yourself up, like I often do, when I think I'm not meeting up to God's standards. For the fact is we can't meet up to God's standards, that's why God sent His son.

Romans 5:6-8 says,

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

And Jesus said in John 3:16-18 says,

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son."

See? Jesus has already taken care of the standard we couldn't take care of. If we truly believe in Him, then we don't have to worry about meeting the standard. We can instead can live in His power to produce what He desires of us. Here is another promise:

"...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6)

Isn't that good?! You don't have to worry about your growth. JESUS is in charge of it!

Here's the best one in my opinion:

"What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe--as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow." (1 Corinthians 3:5-7)

Let Them Eat Cupcakes

I haven't blogged in a while - I figured this would happen. After going into the full swing of campus ministry hasn't left me much time to think outside of ministry (which is completely fine to me)! Adjusting back to ministry has been a little bit of a challenge - including my first couples weeks coming home and crashing on the couch. I would barely want to cook, let alone blog about it!

Students at DCC

Though the work has been exhausting, I still am blessed and excited to have outlets to bake!

One of the new challenges this semester has brought in my baking has been baking dairy-free. Both my good friend, Hedy, and dear student, Meghan, can't have dairy - thus I gladly adjust! I could be selfish, look at all the recipes that need dairy, and tell myself, "Well, it's only going to be one person who can't eat them. Everyone else will like them!"

Hedy with her reason for not having dairy - totally worth it!

But what if I have that attitude in other areas of life? For example, almost any time I prepare for a talk either at Connect or at a retreat, I struggle with myself on whether I should or shouldn't share the Gospel - even if it's only a few verses on what Jesus did for us. "Everyone here is already a Christian, " I think. "They know this already. I could use the time to speak on the main point."

The main point?! Jesus IS the main point, right?! Why on earth would I leave out the Good News just because the majority already knows? Not to mention, should we as Christ followers ever be tired of hearing how God Himself came to earth, lived a perfect life in the midst of temptation, died for OUR imperfect lives, and rose HIMSELF from the grave to conquer death?! I think not! (If I were an old English man, I would say NEIGH!)

So, just like I would accommodate any talk I have to share the Gospel for even that one who needs Jesus' free gift, I will gladly find and bake recipes without dairy! And boy have I found some GREAT recipes!!

First, I said earlier how I would tell you about the Babycakes Mini Cupcake Maker - today is the day my friends.

 

Behold, the cupcake maker!

I REALLY LIKE my cupcake maker! Seriously, baking is so easy and fun. I don't have to worry about preheating and then, even more important, turn the oven off before leaving the house. You plug it in, let it warm up (which takes about 5 minutes or less), and then dump in your batter. You can make around 40 or so cupcakes for one cake recipe. In the summertime, it makes baking in the heat far more tolerable then turning on the oven. AND you can make more than just cupcakes! Sometime I'll add some of those recipes at a later time, but now, unto the dairy free goodness!!

Applesauce Cake

(from allrecipes.com)

 

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 1/2 cups applesauce (I kind of make these heaping, or even add an extra 1/4 or 1/2 cup)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup shortening (I used regular oil)
• 2 eggs

I just dump it all in a bowl and mix, then bake it up at 350º! There is a frosting I tried once that you can also try that you can find on the link above. It's a little too tart in my opinion for the "spiceness" of the cake.  Make sure if you go off the website's recipe that you read the comments below.

Nairobi Chocolate Cake
(from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 3/4 cups white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup water
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup water (I used mint chocolate soy milk once and it was great)

1. Preheat oven to 350º and grease either your cake pans or line cupcake pan or do what you need to for what your making.
2. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, salt, cocoa powder, 3/4 cup water, and vegetable oil in a mixing bowl and beat it up (with a mixer not your fists). Then add the eggs, vanilla extract, and 1/2 cup water and beat it again.
3. Baking  it in oven should take about 30 minutes in cake form, and shorter as cupcakes I imagine (I make these in the cupcake maker, and they take about 5 minutes). Bake until an inserted tooth pick come out clean.


Then I made this frosting with it, which I changed from this recipe:

• 2 cups sugar
• ¼ cup (½ stick) shortening (Crisco)
• ¼ cup chocolate soymilk (or almond milk, but I bought a mint chocolate soy milk)
• ¾ cup unsweetened pure cocoa powder
• ½ t. vanilla 

Mix it all together to where it's well mixed and fluffy looking.

Pie Cake:
(from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
• 1 (21 ounce) can pie filling

Mix it together and bake in a greased pan at 350º for about 40 to 50 minutes. I really love this recipe! It's easy and tasty, and you can use any can of pie filling - I've used cherry and mixed berry so far. If you want more of the fruit, make sure you fold it and not use your mixer. I use the mixer - I like the broken up fruit stuff. 

Chocolate Crinkles Cookies:
(from The Great Cookie Book, but you can also find the same recipe here)

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

1. Mix together cocoa, white sugar, and vegetable oil. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into the cocoa mixture. Cover dough, and chill for at least 4 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 350º.  I greased my cookie sheets. Roll dough into one inch balls. Coat each ball in confectioners' sugar before placing onto prepared cookie sheets.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Let stand on the cookie sheet for a minute before transferring to wire racks to cool.

Let me tell ya, these are AMAZING and a huge hit! PLEASE make them!!

Joyfully Accepting Depression Cupcakes

Malcolm and I were away for 2 weeks traveling for support raising and Thanksgiving/family time, and we just got back on Sunday - just in time for Monday's couple's night!! I LOVE couple's night for multiple reasons, but one of them is that I get the chance to try out new recipes on a few guinea pigs.

Since we just arrived Sunday with not a ton of time to go shopping yet, I almost caved and didn't make my traditional cupcakes (I LOVE making cupcakes, which I can explain more of at a later time). But then I thought to myself,

"Hmmm.... maybe I shouldn't take this as defeat, but rather as a challenge...."

And, thus, I took the challenge!

If you haven't discovered allrecipes.com, you really, truly need to! Whenever I need to use up stuff in my fridge, or if I want to make something specific but don't have certain ingredients, I use this website. So I typed in for ingredients I didn't want: milk, eggs, sour cream, sugar. Ingredients I wanted: flour and brown sugar (I seriously pretty much had nothing). I wasn't expecting too many recipes to show up, but much to my surprise quite a few recipes popped up!

Quite a few recipes with "war" and "depression" in the title. During times where there were rations on food, or money was short  and what not, human ingenuity still thrived - if not greatly increased. Just because times were hard didn't mean that the sweet tooth stopped calling out, or that birthdays didn't happen. People truly used bleak times to still make delicious things.

Tuesday in my quiet time, I came across Matthew 9:27-31, and for some reason it made me think about how it's like making depression cupcakes. Two men cry out to Jesus to help them in with their blindness. I can only imagine their life to that point to be bleak indeed - stumbling around in darkness with no real way to take care of their needs. But in their despair, they had the sweetest thing of all. They had faith that Jesus, the Messiah, could heal them.

While I was reading this, I thought, "Gosh! These guys could see more clearly than I can!" I get so wrapped up in myself, my circumstances, my issues - but I don't give them back over to the Lord. I don't see Jesus as healer and completer always. I have so much, but lack everything in those moments because I don't trust my Savior! Another thing that got me was how Jesus, after healing the men, told them not to tell anyone. But the men couldn't keep what happened to them to themselves! Jesus tells me to tell THE WORLD about Him, and yet I get scared and keep Him to myself. What the heck?!

So this is what I decided: I need depression cupcakes. I need to see every day that I can lose everything, barely have anything to live on, have my rights and liberties taken from me and I would still have the sweetest thing in the world - JESUS!! 

Mark 8:36 says, "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?" 

Lord, help me to continue to rely on you. Help me to realize daily my need for you, and that you are my sweetness in every situation and in every circumstance.

Depression Cupcakes

(from allrecipes.com Depression Cake II recipe)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 2 cups hot water
• 2 tablespoons bacon grease (I used butter since I haven't made bacon in a long time, but isn't that cool how resourceful they were in the day?? I love it!)
• 2 cups raisins (I have a thing about dried fruit, nor do I keep it on hand. So I didn't use it. I reading some comments on allrecipes that someone just added a bad of frozen fruit and it turned out good. May be worth experimenting to you adventurous folk.)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves (You may want to cut this down because you can definitely taste it. I didn't mind it really.)

Put your brown sugar, hot water, bacon grease (or substitute), and raisins (if using), over medium heat. Bring to a boil for 5 minutes, then set aside to cool. 

Either preheat your oven to 325º, or plug in your cupcake maker (since I use my cupcake maker, and I forget to count how many that makes... you're on your own). The website says this recipe can make two 8x4 loaf pans, and I also saw that someone would make this in a bundt  pan. The batter is a bit sticky, so much sure you use baking cups, or grease and flour your pans.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves. Add the ingredients from the saucepan and mix until well blended.

If you do this cake, it says it takes 45 to 50 minutes. Each set of cupcakes in my cupcake maker took about 10 minutes or a little less since it was a little thicker batter. What I liked about making these in the cupcake maker it that it made the edges a little crispier than a normal cupcake since I didn't use baking cups. I like spice cakes to be a little crispy.

While I was cooking up the cupcakes, I made this super easy caramel frosting. 

Okay, it may not be technical caramel, but it tastes like it and it doesn't include melting sugar (I tried to do the melt sugar way... I failed, needless to say) or boiling sweetened condensed milk for hours (which I wanted to try, but I'm usually so short notice on what I'm going to bake, so I never have time to try it).

Caramel Frosting

(From Yahoo Answers - yes, I'm one of those people who type in their question into Google instead of using key word searches. Hey! It works, and it gets the job done.)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup evaporated milk
3 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

In a saucepan over low heat, heat butter and brown sugar, stirring until smooth.

Stir in evaporated milk.

Let it cool like Luke's hand. (Get it? Cool Hand Luke? BAHAHA! Alright, bad pun.)

Gradually, add powdered sugar and vanilla. If you have a sifter or some way to sift it, the frosting will turn out a lot smoother. I did it for the first time this last time make this frosting, and I must say it made quite a difference. I just used a wire strainer thing and it worked... I did get more powdered sugar on my stove top than usual though.

Beat till a soft spreading consistency. I think it spreads better after it gets to room temperature. But if you're last minute baking like I do, I usually just put it on top anyway and it tastes great. I'm not one who cares too much about how it looks. I care more if it tastes awful than looks funky. Anyway, it will just be drippy and not stay right on top of the cupcake.

The most joyful depression cupcakes you ever did make!

It All Started with an Apple Pie

Most teenage girls start their baking escapades with cookies, but I think many bakers first moving onto "bigger recipes" recipe is apple pie. I remember making it for the first time...

 This was my first baking frenzy in Durango, CO. Two of my three creations were a hit, one of them being the apple pie. 

And it stuck! From then one, I was known amongst my friends as the apple pie maker. I would try other things here and there, but the apple pie came easily and highly requested.

"Remember, remember the 5th of November" pie - I had just watched "V for Vendetta" and was a little excited for the actual 11/5.

Thanksgiving Pies

I had made hand turkeys in a class (a college class, mind you), and it inspired me to put it on the pies.

I even made mini pies! I was so stoked!!

In my Sociology classes in college, began feeling like I had to have at least an average job in order to be a real woman - since we have equal rights, I should do it! But the truth was that I liked (and still like) being a girly woman who enjoys cooking and cleaning. I'm pretty sure I wrote at least 2 college papers on apple pie, and I made it a handful of times for class (hooray for potlucks)! Each time I would try to reiterate the need and goodness of the "household wife" in our world today. Thank you, apple pie!!

I soon came to the realization that baking was not only fun, but relaxing as well. Almost like therapy...

 

My first holiday not with family was a very emotional week, and ended up "baking my feelings". I'm pretty sure the above picture was just a portion of what I made for a Thanksgiving meal with friends.

After a year or two of baking only apple pie, I expanded

But the baking of pies developed into baking other delicious goodies, like thumbprint cookies, cobblers, and homemade cake.  

Rhubarb pie I made for girl's bible study.

Do you guys know how easy homemade cake it? I thought for the longest time that sense they have box mixes for cake that it meant cake was difficult. Not the case! I also thought that sense frosting is sold in the stores that it was difficult to make as well. Also not the case!

One of the first homemade cakes I ever made for Ashlie's 1st spiritual birthday

All the lies I believed for so long... to think I thought I had to be special, magnificent, and extraordinary in order to make anything amazing for the taste buds! I thought I had to be a cooking/baking "rock star" in order to be worth listening to, when, in reality, if I like it and took the time to learn it, it was possible. 

I thought this whole lattice thing on top of pie was suppose to be hard... and maybe it is. But if you really want the lattice, then a make-shift, non-pro one will do!

I'm starting to realize more and more that this whole baking journey is a lot like my journey with God showing me more of who I really am. I thought that I had to preform well, be good enough, prove my existence in order to prove I was a Christ-follower. But the reality is that I don't have to prove myself to God. He knows exactly who I am and what I was created for - which is to give glory to Him in everything I do! AND I have the Holy Spirit living in me to give me the ability to do what God has called me to do. 

I'm a big fan of aprons! I'm so messy when I cook and bake that my clothes wouldn't last long with out them. I also am a fan of cleaning my hands, and my aprons help double as a towel.

So when Philippians 4:13 says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me", that's the truth and a promise! You can do all things through Christ, and you can be who Christ has made you can called you to be. In those truths there is so much freedom, and so much fun in store!

 So this blog isn't anything out of the ordinary, or suppose to be to show off my skills, and it probably won't be anything revolutionary or new cooking/baking recipe. It's just to share with you what I'm baking, share what God teaches me through it all, and to show you that, if you want to bake something, it's really possible to do it! (Golly, that sounded so cheesy, but I do mean it.) AND if you have any recipes to try, I would love this to also be a place of exchange - cause I LOVE new recipes!!

NOW (without further rambling on my part) my apple pie recipe! (This started off of recipes I found on cooks.com, and has morphed into my own thing since I kept forgetting which exact recipe I used the first time.)

I put the pumpkin next to the pie to make it look more festive/ Fall-ish, but this really is an apple pie. Look! I made a leaf out of pie crust!!

 Basic Crust Recipe (which I use for every pie pretty much):

2 cups flour

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup oil

Mix together. Roll out and place in pie plate. Makes enough for 1 pie.

(I sometimes make the crust and then put it in the fridge while I'm making the filling, and take it out and roll it right before I put the filling in.)

Filling:

6 to 9 Apples (cut them however you'd like)

2/3 cups sugar

3 Tbsp flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1 Tbsp butter, softened

Mix together (use your hands, makes you feel good) and put in pie crust.

Topping:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

 1 cup flour

 Mush together and crumble on top of pie filling. (I don't usually cut the extra pie crust off if it comes out of the pie pan. I crumble the topping on top, then fold the extra on top if I have any.)

Bake pie at 375º until the crust is a golden brown color and the filling is bubbling. It would be a wise decision to bake it with a cookie sheet underneath it. Sometimes it "runneth over" and burns to the bottom of your oven - doesn't smell too good later. Once it's done, allow a little time for the pie to rest from it's baking journey so you it cuts a bit more nice like, and you don't scald your mouth.