Homemade Brownies

Want to come over for a glass of milk and a brownie?

Several months ago, I tried a Martha Stewart recipe for homemade brownies...it was supposed to be quick, easy, and come out tasting oh-so-yummy. After one bite, my hubby said, "what's wrong with these?"... and I knew I wouldn't be making those again! I didn't really like them either. We gave up on trying homemade recipes and decided to only make the boxed kind of brownie mixes.

Recently, my friend Meredith posted a recipe for her homemade brownies. They looked easy, and I decided to try them last night. Here's the picture:

These brownies are so delicious! They are fudgy and moist, just the way they should be. And, they are at least an inch thick. This recipe was easy and quick, and the brownies are delicious. My hubby loves them, too! Try them when you get a chance - here's the recipe:

Brownies
2/3 c butter
1 1/2 c sugar
1/4 c water
2 c milk chocolate chips
2 c semisweet chocolate chips
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

• In a heavy saucepan bring butter, sugar and water to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
• Stir in the milk chocolate chips until melted, cool slightly. [Note: The richer and smoother the chocolate, the fudgier the brownies are. I made this with some leftover premium fondue chocolate and they were the fudgiest brownies ever!]
• Beat in vanilla.
• In a mixing bowl beat eggs. Gradually add chocolate mixture.
• Add dry ingredients. Stir in semisweet chocolate chips.
• Spread into a greased 13x9x2" baking pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
• Cool on wire rack.
• Cut into bars. (Hint: For straight cuts, use a plastic knife.)

My note: I used all semi-sweet chips, and they were great. I want to try them with dark chocolate, too.

Some New Kitchen Tools!

Last month, I hosted a Pampered Chef catalog show.  Here's the story...

My sister-in-law recently joined Pampered Chef as a consultant, and I wanted to help her business as she started out.  Since she lives in OR, and I am a thousand miles away in CA, I couldn't do the regular kitchen show.  So, I opted for a catalog show.  It was super easy on my end...all I had to do was input email addresses to her PC site, then it automatically sent a fancy invitation via email.  And, to make it even easier, all the guests could order online.  After a little bit of follow-up, I had collected enough orders for the show to qualify, and I was set.  I received all the items this week. So, for hosting the show,  I paid under $20 and I got over $60 worth of products. Yeah! One of my new tools is the ever-popular Food Chopper (I always wanted this, but never wanted to pay full price). I already used it once, and it's great!! 

Truth be told, I love Pampered Chef items.  I've gone to probably a dozen shows, and hosted 3 myself.  All the items I've ever gotten have been high quality, and they've lasted as long as I've had them.  The biggest complaint I've heard about PC is the price...and I agree, the stuff is more expensive then what you'd pay at WalMart or Target for the same item.  But, I've found the products to be worth the money. 

So, if you live near Portland, click here to book a kitchen show with my sis.  If you live far from Portland, you can host a catalog show and still have a great time!  

Easter Fun

Here is a cute picture of SIG on Easter.  He is "playing catch" with another little boy in the backyard.  Don't you just love the cute hat?

We enjoyed a fun get-together hosted by some good friends of ours, along with a number of other friends they know as well.  It was a relaxing, comfortable time filled with delicious food, fun games, and good fellowship.   

Cute Pillows

I made these cute pillows for my 1-yr-old last week!  

I was in JoAnn Fabrics one day buying some ribbon, and I saw a 1-yard scrap of this cute Pooh fabric that was discounted half price.  I couldn't resist getting it, and thought I could figure out something fun to use it for.  Then, I got a 24" pillow form, and sewed a cover for that - when I gave it to SIG, he cuddled right up to it and layed down like he wanted to take a nap...so cute!  Then, I used the leftover piece to make the smaller pillow, and just stuffed it with pillow filling.  He loves them both, and plays with them in the living room all the time.  

Painting Revelation

Its always great to see how scriptural reflection can be embodied by an expression of artistic creativity. The DVD, Painting Revelation, is just that and so much more:

See here for reviews.

Are you Hungry for ... rhythm?

Easter Cookies

I got this cute recipe for Easter Cookies at church.  It sounds like a fun activity to do with kids.  Although mine is too young to quite understand, I'm going to make them anyway. 

Easter Cookies

Read the whole recipe before starting.  Try to do together Saturday night before Easter Sunday.  Preheat oven to 300 degrees. 

Ingredients:

1 cup whole pecans

1 tsp vinegar

3 egg whites

1 pinch salt

1 cup sugar

You need:

Bible

zipper baggie

wooden spoon

mixing bowl

cookie sheet

wax paper

tape

Place pecans in zipper baggie and let your child(ren) beat them with the wooden spoon to break into small pieces.  Explain that after Jesus was arrested, He was beaten by the Roman soldiers.  Read John 19:1-3. 

Let your child smell the vinegar.  Put 1 tsp into mixing bowl.  Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross, He was given vinegar to drink.  Read John 19:28-30. 

Add the egg whites to the vinegar.  Eggs represent life.  Explain that Jesus gave His life to give us life.  Read John 10:10-11. 

Sprinkle a little salt into each child's hand. Let them taste it and brush the rest into the bowl.  Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus' followers and the bitterness of our own sin.  Read Luke 23:27. 

Add one cup sugar.  Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us.  He wants us to know and belong to Him.  Read Psalm 34:8 and John 3:16. 

Fold in the broken nuts. Put wax paper on the cookie sheet.  Drop cookie dough by tsp onto wax paper.  Explain that the mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus' body was laid.  Read Matthew 27:65-66. 

Put cookie sheet in the oven.  Close the door and turn the oven OFF.  Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door.  Explain that Jesus tomb was sealed.  Read Matthew 27:65-66.  

Go to bed! Explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight.  Jesus' followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed.  Read John 16:20 and 22.  

On Resurrection morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie.  Notice the cracked surface and take a bite.  The cookies are hollow! On that first Resurrection Day Jesus' followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty.  Read Matthew 28:1-9.  

He has risen! HALLELUJAH!

*If you make these, please post comments and tell me about it! 

A Day at the Park

One of our favorite things to do during the day is go to the park.  Thankfully, we have several nice parks nearby.  These pictures are from one just a mile away, where we go often.  This park has a nice playground, lots of grassy areas, and even a little zoo (think 1 old donkey named Salsa with a very swayed back, 1 big fat pig, a couple goats, half dozen ducks and roosters that run around) to walk through - nothing big, but fun for the kiddos.  Here are a couple pictures from earlier this week. 

Here is my 1-yr-old SIG...he was standing up so well, and I thought, "How cute to get a picture of him by this big tree"...and wouldn't you know that by the time I get the camera out and snap the photo, he sits down!  Oh my...

Don't worry, he really did have a good time that day... thought you can't tell from the look on his face...

Aahhhh, that's better.  Here's his regular smile!  

Another park nearby has a bigger playground, a huge lake to walk around, and a ton of ducks and geese that love to be fed.  Some of the ducks are a bit territorial and can get mean if they are teased.  There's also a brand new water park called Splash that we hope to get passes to this summer!  

Some of SIG's favorite things to do at the park - swing and swing some more!  Sometimes I think he could swing for hours without stopping! :)

How to Forfeit Easter: small lord + a small spirit = a small life to live

Here are some initial questions and encouraging thoughts to consider about the relevancy of the risen LORD, and the indispensability of his life to the sort of life that we are created to live, including how we are to maximally live it:

Do I honestly think that the risen LORD Jesus is relevant to my existence?

Do I mostly "live" by striving to make it through what seems to be an unimportant and unempowering sort of life?

Do I feel, think, and choose as though Jesus came, died, and has now left all his followers alone in order to fend for ourselves and attempt to live meaningful sorts of lives until we ourselves die and go to heaven?

Might there be a connection between a shrunken view of my life and its purpose along with a small view of Jesus' life lived in and risen by the power of the Holy Spirit?

A few years ago I discovered that it had been a habit of my own thinking to live my life as though the importance of Jesus' life only amounted to him coming to earth and climaxing his life by dying on the cross for my sins. That's it. And that somehow was maximal good news to proclaim as gospel. A wonderfully sacrificial and a tenderly gracious choice by Jesus to be sure! But I lived my life as though the resurrection of this same Jesus was just a divine afterthought, a sort of "plan b" or at best a mere effect of a cause.

Similarly, I found that a shrunken view of the resurrection unquestionably left me with a minuscule view of the Holy Spirit and his ministry to us today. The New Testament declares that it was the Spirit of God almighty that raised Jesus from the dead! Should it be at all surprising that if I had a malnourished view of the relevancy and importance of the risen Jesus that I would almost inevitably live as though the Spirit's work somehow died and was buried with Jesus?

To say it differently and perhaps more theological, I lived as though Jesus' life, ministry and teaching were simply intended to absolve us of guilt, impute justification and forgive our sins. Of course, I believe that his merciful work on the cross did do that perfectly. But that, thank God almighty, is not the end of the story.

Hallelujah! The LORD has risen!

And Jesus has risen not just as a miraculous fact of human history, but as a triumphant despising and ridiculing - a full blown championship! - over the power of death, the power of sin, and the power of hell itself. This is the "for all nations" blessing of good news intended for all peoples!

A power-oriented first-century culture of Jesus' time understood this power-oriented significance. Their worldview was not raped by a preoccupation with what could only be detected by sight. They understood and lived in a wise knowledge of reality that testified about the realism of demonic activity, angelic forces, and a supernatural, trinitarian God who performed supernatural, trinitarian activity in real-time with the involvement of human persons.

Thankfully, this same God is not some construct of the first, second or third century. This God is alive and fully intentional in his interactive relationship with human persons that are made in his image. As Francis Schaeffer said many years ago,

"God is here and He is not silent!"

Tis true.

Yet so often we live in the shadow of the cross alone, where God does not appear to be here and he is seemingly silent. Granted, there are seasons where God does remove a feeling of his presence from us in order to mature deeper habits of character in us (Read St. John of the Cross, for example). But the ways of God tend to be such that He is a constant presence that enriches our very existence with his relational interactivity. Yet, even a baby can genuinely experience the constant, if not background presence of a mother without being perpetually breastfed.

And so, how do you not forfeit the blessings of Easter?

1. Confide, with maturing knowledge, in a really truly good God, a Father who honestly loves people for who they are not for who they should be (Brennan Manning).

2. Follow after - no, run persistently after! - and seek to adopt in order to adapt your life to the sort of flourishing life that you are created to have, a life that is in the power of the risen Jesus.

3. Mindfully live in the reality that the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is honestly present to you in order to enable you to access the fullness of Jesus, the fullness of his life-giving-life, the fullness of his ministry, and therefore the fullness of stepping into and remaining in the God-soaked reality of the Kingdom of God.

Remembering Matt Peterson

I found out last week that one of my childhood family friends died suddenly.  He, and two others, were riding their bicycles on a road near San Francisco when a car struck them.   He was killed on impact, one rider died at the hospital, and the third survived with injuries.  Read about the accident here and here. They were hit by a sheriff's officer who may have fallen asleep. 

When I was young, my family spent many weekends at Matt's family home in AZ, with his parents and two sisters.  We enjoyed many fun times, and my brothers and sister all have some wonderful memories of those years.  I didn't keep in touch with the kids after my family moved from the area, but their friendship impacted me very deeply. 

Matt's older sister Mary help start Maggie's Place, a house of hospitality for expectant women where they can receive support and preparation for parenting, as well as strive toward personal growth. 

I am praying that Matt's parents and sisters are comforted by the Lord in this time of grieving.  Along with his family and friends, I honor his life.  I'm also praying for the officer that hit him - surely he needs the mercy and grace of God in this dark time.  

Read Matt's obituary here. 

To my family - please post memories you have of Matt and his family! 

33!

I turned 33 this month, and my hubby (what a hunk!) treated me and my girlfriends to a night out at The Melting Pot for a sweet chocolate fondue dessert.

Here's a picture of us
Thanks, girls, for a fun and relaxing night! I love you all :)

Jamie's story

Last year, Jamie Gillentine, one of the pastors at our church (the Anaheim Vineyard Christian Fellowship), had a severe diving accident.

Listen to (or download) the talk about his journey and how God brings healing and uses the compassion of the church. (You can also get this talk through the "Vineyard Anaheim" channel in iTunes; search for the "Beautiful News" track).

You may also be encouraged by this video that illustrates the process of his recovery.