Do I ever eat anything healthy?

OK.  So those pictures are finally going to be posted tonight.

First off, we have a snickers cake.  This one did not have nuts in it because one of my brothers doesn't like nuts.  I love nuts (especially peanuts and pecans).  It was an amazing cake.  We had it two or three weeks ago.  I think it was gone in two to three days.  Our family has a very dominant sweet tooth.

(Someone started cutting it before I had time to run and get the camera.)

YUMMY! This was my first piece. Haha.

The second cake is a cake I made.  I got a recipe from a facebook friend.  It was for this melted ice cream cake.  My mom thought it was going to be an ice cream cake when I told her, but the melted ice cream is actually added into the mixture with the cake.  I meant to make it for her for Mother's Day.  The baking was slightly delayed due to me not having the ingredients.  I was able to make it for her just days later.  She was gone and came home to see it sitting on the table.  She was very surprised.  It tasted amazing.  I would totally make it again.  I will try to put the recipe up tomorrow.  Here it is......TaDa!

(I even set the table.  Can I get a high five for that one?) 

The other food I happen to eat quite frequently on Saturday mornings is chocolate chip pancakes.  The picture below happens to be a few I prepared for my self only a couple weekends ago.  They were quite delicious as they always are.  What kind of pancakes do you like?



Now that's what I am talkin' about!



I have one last food to share with you tonight.  I went to Orange Leaf with my family.  It is one of the many self-serve frozen yogurt places in town.  I get a little bit of a huge assortment to flavors.  Tonight I tried a new one.  No, this will not be used as one of my new summer things because it was not daring at all.  I tried the kiwi frozen yogurt.  I love fresh kiwis and absolutely fell in love with this ice cream.  I am definitely going to go get it again.  If you have an Orange Leaf near you, please try the kiwi.  If you like fresh kiwis, I am sure you will never live to regret it.



My bowl of frozen yogurt.  Once full.  Now empty.



And yes, I do eat eat healthy food.  

Amen

A prayer before the meal is a simple and generally quick gesture done before each meal. Prayer does not only occur at the dinner table.  God is obviously omnipresent and hears you whenever and wherever you speak to Him.  He is really an amazing God!

Last week we started a new series in Sunday school at my church.  We are going through the book--Don't Waste Your Life.  It is written by John Piper.  I definitely recommend it to you.  Anyways, this morning I began to cultivate a new view on prayers before meals. 

Normally when the food is set out at my home, I am pretty hungry.  I can barely wait to get to the good food.  Usually my mom has prepared an amazing dish.  When homework is not too constricting, I help out as much as possible.  Everyone rushes to the table to sit down.  Someone says a prayer and we all begin to consume as much as our stomachs can hold.  I feel like for me (and maybe you too) that this prayer is just a kind of ritual. Do you understand what I am getting at?  Like I don't think people generally take as seriously or really think too much on this prayer.

Today in Sunday school we talked about having a cross-centered life.  Our teacher mentioned Matthew 6:33.  This verse says: "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."  Many people seek the pleasures of the world and set God on the back burner (to use a kitchen term).  When I say most people, I am definitely including myself.  I am just as much a sinner as anyone.  The fact of the matter is this: if the thing of first and utmost importance to us is the cross, everything else we could ever want is given to us by God. 

You see, the prayer before each meal should not be taken lightly by any matter.  No prayer should be taken lightly.  Go deeper than just the food itself sitting in front of you on a plate.  Go to the root of the situation.  This was part of what our teacher said in Sunday school this morning.  Think of the ability that God gave the person who made the food.  Think of how creative God is.  He made all those amazing tastes and taste buds to communicate it all to us.  Think of how dull the world would be without all the amazing tastes of food! When you have this mind set, how could you not thank God with sincerity for the food you are just about to eat?  Instead of practically inhaling your food, eat bite by bite enjoying what you have been given.  

The last thing I encourage you to do other than rethink your prayer before meals is to have a cross-centered view on life.  Think about the verse I mentioned.  There is no reason to strive over the things of the world.  God will give you all you need if you just have Him as your focus.  Hope you had a great Sunday! 

God bless you as you begin a new week. 

Recipe Book

A recipe book. It sits alone only with others of its kind on the shelf. Some people are intrigued by it and pick it up. They take a little look at each recipe. Other people who pick it up only look at the pictures. Some people will never pick up the recipe book. Then again, others leave it open like they understand it. To those people, it is only a decoration. Friends in my life can be described in these ways. I am the recipe book.  I have had those friends and acquaintances that just know a few certain things about me. Some “friends” of mine just care about interesting things about me or things pertaining to them. And the “friends” that leave me and others open for decoration, those are the worst. Those are the ones that end up leaving someone with heartbreak. They seem to know and care about you, but they don’t. I have known my share of these people. Then, there are those special ones. The special ones that genuinely care about you. They know your highs and lows. Those are the kind of people that treasure their cookbooks. They spend time in them often to learn new things. As the cookbook, that special friend is brought joy by learning things about me. That person brings me joy because they are pouring time into me. Quality time is being spent. Genuine friends will be that other cookbook sitting next to you on the shelf in the kitchen.  They will never leave you no matter how others treat you. They are friends to treasure.


This is a chapter from a short autobiography I had to write for school.  It could be edited a little to make it flow more smoothly, but I hope you enjoy it!


(p.s. Dear best friend,
When you read this, I hope you will notice that you are one of the ones I was talking about at the very end. You are special and I know you will sit up on that kitchen shelf with me forever.  Even if nobody comes by and looks into our lives or tastes our great food, we will always have each other and God as our best friends.  I love you.)

A Look into the Future

OK. I have been a little busy the past two weeks. Mainly this week. Finals started today at school and will be going through Friday. Studying is at a high as is the stress level. I hope you are having a good an stress free week.
Don't worry. I have eaten since I last wrote. I am just storing up all kinds of information to tell you when I have the time. I made a new cake recipe a few days ago  and will be making another one in a day or two. I also found a small stack of recipes from magazines I meddled through. Slowly, I hope to get you some of those that I found. The pictures look great and the recipes themselves sound just as amazing. I am hoping to do a lot of cooking this summer.
One of the things I have planned for this summer is traveling. Besides cooking, traveling is another one of my favorite activities. I will take pictures of the food I eat and let you know how it tasted. Food can be a hard thing to look at without craving it for yourself. I guess I am speaking that from experience. I will try to put recipes up when I know them. I encourage you to try new foods this summer. Get crazy in the kitchen and make something great. You never know if you like something until you try it.
My challenge to you is to set a goal to try at least 10 new things this summer. It can be any kind of food. I don't think it would be right for me to set a goal for you and not complete it myself. I will also take on this goal. You get bonus points for extra things tried. If you are really outstanding in trying exotic things, I will thrown in a high five. That should get you motivated.

GO FOR IT!

Now I am off to write myself a note reminding me of my new goal. Bye!

(I will have pictures up in the near future.)

My day has been made.

My little brother brought me home a box of sour patch kids tonight.  You don't know me if you don't know that I LOVE Sour Patch Kids.  I hope you like them too because they are amazing.  A girl brought like a 5-pound bag of them on our mission trip last year.  She let me have a couple handfuls and it made me REALLY happy.  Now that I have a box tonight, my day is complete.  It is kind of the simple things in life that make my day great.  It can be anything from talking with my best friend to a box of Sour Patch Kids... 

Hope you had a good Wednesday!

Seis de Mayo (I meant to do this yesterday)

Instead of having our Mexican meal on Cinco de Mayo, we had it yesterday on the 6th.  One day off is not all that bad.  My mom made up that ground beef and then we could do whatever we wanted.  I just piled everything on my chips.  I had beef, cheese, salsa, and sour cream.  I really like refried beans with melted cheese on the top but we didn't make that the other night. 

I love Mexican food (and I am sure I have already told you that).  One of my favorite Mexican restaurants is Agave.  I will tell you about that amazing place during another blog...

Did you have Mexican food on Cinco de Mayo? What did you eat?

I am sorry if I repeat myself on different blogs.  I can't remember sometimes what I have said and what I haven't.  :)

Adios!