In the Kitchen

I <3 to cook and bake, try new recipes and create my own concoctions! Sometimes they are good and other times they are.... well...."tasty". This is a very neutral term you see....everything has flavor right? ....whether or not it is a good flavor or bad :P In our family "tasty" is a more gentle way to say "you don't need to make THAT again" :P I am in no way going to tern this blog into one of those cooking blogs. I have far to many other things that I would rather spend my time doing. But, just for sheer fun every now and then I may post a recipe :)

This morning I was about to start breakfast and Luke piped in that he had a hankerin' for some fried apples. Hmmm...fried apples and apple/pecan pancakes...that sounds good! Luke joined me in the kitchen this morning and fried up some amazin' apples!

I very highly dislike that recipes are always written out with the list of ingredient and then at the bottom are the instructions. You have to scan back and forth, back and forth from top to bottom. It's quite tedious. I kind of understand that you want to be able to see at a glance all the ingredients required but I personally would prefer to have the process alongside the ingredients! So since this is my blog, I can do it how I like right! :D

APPLE PECAN PANCAKES

Mix together: 

1 Egg

1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 Cup Rolled Oats

1 Cup Milk

1 T Baking Powder

1 t Baking Soda

1 T Sugar or Honey

Dash Salt

2 t Cinnamon

Shot of Vanilla Extract  

Chop 3/4 Cup of Pecans to desired fineness and add to mixture 

Heat CAST IRON griddle till a drop of water sizzles when splashed on the service.

Grease griddle with some kind of fat product. I like to use bacon grease!

Apply 1/3 cup of batter to griddle and cook till bubbles on the service of the pancake begin to pop.

Cook on opposite side till the edges are no longer gooey. 

FRIED APPLES 

Luke did this process for me! He is such a cool brother! :) 

Slice apples 

Heat a skillet and apply a hardy layer of butter.

Arrange Apples in the skillet.

Apply a good coating of Cinnamon Sugar, flip and repeat.

Allow apples to fry till beginning to caramelize, flip and repeat. 

Make sure that you don't get the skillet so hot that the sugar burns! :/

Scoop apples into a bowl including the syrup that has formed in the skillet!

Server over pancakes! 

ENJOY! 

Seriously....you don't even need maple syrup on these! :)

Little things...

Yesterday Luke and I ventured out to find some critters to photograph within the bounds of our camp. From the general view there was not much moving but a closer look revealed that an abundance of activity was underway by little things.

All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

1. He gave us eyes to see them,
   And lips that we might tell
   How great is God Almighty,
   Who has made all things well.

Colossians 1:15-22

Jesus Christ is the visible manifestation of God!

Jesus Christ is the firstborn of every creature!

Jesus Christ is the Creator of all things!

Jesus Christ holds all things together!

Jesus Christ is the head of the Church!

Jesus Christ is the preeminent One!

Jesus Christ has made peace through His blood!

Jesus Christ can present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight!

Thankful for a friend

Have just been reminded recently of how very blessed I am to have this girl as my friend!

People usually speak of peer pressure as a bad thing...but when you have godly friends "peer pressure" from them can be a very good thing! :) So thankful for this godly friend!  

Wherever He may guide me,

No want shall turn me back;

My Shepherd is beside me,

And nothing can I lack.

His wisdom ever waketh;

His sight is never dim;

He knows the way He taketh,

And I will walk with Him.

- Anna L. Waring

The Glory of the Cross

Here promises were exchange for fulfillment, shadows give way to reality, sin is judges, forgiveness is offered, wrath is propitiated, grace is enthroned, death is defeated, life and immortality come to light, Satan received his mortal wound, the glorious victory of righteousness is assured, the kingdom of darkness received its deathblow and the kingdom of His dear Son triumphs. The cross separated darkness from light, the temporal from the eternal, the carnal for the spiritual, death from immortality, perdition from life, hell from heaven. It is the foundation of the salvation of God, the only hope for mankind, the pinnacle of Christ's self-giving love for man.It is the manifestation of the holiness and righteousness of God in relation to sin. It brings reconciliation, redemption, restoration, and the eventual realization of glorification. It brings praise and glory to the one and only God who Himself actualized it!

This is the glory of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ! 

Infinite Plan

"In infinite wisdom God designed salvation; in infinite grace and at infinite cost God procured salvation in Christ Jesus, His only begotten Son; in infinite power God sent forth the Holy Spirit to actualize salvation in the individual; in infinite compassion God instituted missions - first through Israel and now through His Church - in order that helpless and hopeless mankind might hear, know and believe the Good News of the infinite salvation of God for mankind." - George Peters in A Biblical Theology of Missions