Faith Friday- The Secret of Song

Ephesians 5:19

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁹ speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord,...

** I've always heard songs of the Spirit referred to as being Spiritual Songs. I like that better!** 

I've always thought that life would be much happier if we all would sporadically burst out in song and well choreographed dance. 

And how much better would it be to share the love of Jesus as well? 

 Think about it- I see someone I know in the grocery story and I want to share with them the wonderful sale I found in the produce section. Bring on a song about the Fruits of the Spirit- bananas are on sale!

Confrontations would take on a new light when we sing The Greatest Commands to the person we feel has wronged us.  

I've found myself singing in my head while driving down the road or doing the dishes. Personally, I love my Glee CDs from my sister. I'm not a big fan of the show, but those kids sure have some talent!

Most of the songs that Glee covers is recent pop songs, with a lot of Journey thrown in for good measure. The songs aren't all good, but they're not necessarily all bad either.

 I love be-bopping down the highway with my CDs cranked, singing at the top of my lungs. However, it's a little disconcerting when I hear my precious angel blessing (that would be my kids) sing, " Don't be a drag, just be a queen!" which is from a Lady Gaga song that Glee covered. 

Do they understand it? No. 

Does that make a difference when they sing it at the top of their lungs in the middle of Walmart? No. People are going to look at them and me and wonder. 

This is the song that my kids have been singing lately: We Are Young (this is the Glee version)

Hubby and 2 of the kids went on a baseball trip recently and this song came on the radio frequently. They came home singing the whole thing. Here's proof.

Yeah, it's cute and entertaining, but it's not the best song in the world for my 5 and 3 year olds to be singing. 

If we treated the verse above literally, then everything that comes from my mouth should be a song (which I love!) and should serve the purpose of encouraging and teaching others. 

I don't do that. Let's be honest, I don't thing anyone does that. It would look a little weird and might freak some people out. 

But the truth is even deeper. If the words from my mouth are a song to the Lord, that means that my thoughts are as well. I'd be constantly searching my mind for the perfect verse or song that would complement the situation at hand. 

So, I'm going to challenge myself to 3 things:

1. Listen to more uplifting music- I do have a plethora of Christian music. I should listen to it more!

2. Study more of scripture. I bet I can make songs myself! I do it all the time in my classroom and for my kids when we are practicing learning our verses.

3. Break out in song more frequently. Let's face it, I'm not easily embarrassed. I make a fool of myself in front of my students and kids All. The. Time! I shouldn't worry so much about what others think. Also, I'm pretty good at the song game. (When you think of a verse from a song that matches what someone just said) Why not play it with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs?

Who's willing to play the game with me?

** I just love this song and wanted to share it!**

Chocolate Cherry Bunt Cake

Easy-peasy! Took this to a Girl's Night and it was a hit!

chocolate cake mix

can of cherry pie filling

*glaze if desired*

**********************************************************************

1. Preheat oven to the box's directions

2. Mix the cake mix and the cherry pie filling

3. Pour into the bunt pan 

(make sure the bunt pan is as greased as a hog at the county fair!)

4. Bake- 

this recipe will take longer to bake than the box says. Mine took around an hour. Make sure to check the middle

5. Cool the cake and add the glaze according to the directions on the jar. 

No picture of the fully prepared cake. That's because it didn't last long!

Crockpot Vegetable Soup

Hubby is attempting to ride the healthy train, so I decided it was time I bought a ticket too. Lately Hubby has been eating steamed veggies for dinner, with a small side of whatever I made for the main meal. Well, this time he can have a big bowl and not feel guilty!

This was my second attempt at making veggie soup in the crockpot. My first attempt was part of a school activity with my students, and you can check out that post {HERE} on my school blog. I gotta say, I think the first attempt was better, but the second was still pretty dang good!

2 cans carrots

2 cans corn

2 cans diced tomatoes

1 can green beans

1 can kidney beans

1 can chicken broth 

(or use a can of tomato soup if you want it completely vegetarian)

chopped onions

basil

oregano

garlic powder

I used 2 cans of veggies that my family likes, and obviously your family might like different veggies, so use the veggies your family will eat!

I chose the spices based on what you'd find in spaghetti sauce- since I know those spices go together. 

1. Open cans (all)

2. Drain the carrots, corn, green beans, and kidney beans

* You don't have to drain them all, but we like a thicker soup.*

3. Dump all cans into crockpot and add spices to taste

4. Cook (high or low)

I added Alphabet noodles the last 30 min of cook time. If you add pasta do it toward the end.

It was yummy and healthy!

Fluffy Lemon Brownies

This is not a bar.  This is not a cake.  It's not even really a brownie, but I really can't think of a better description than that.  It really doesn't matter even.  What matters is this:  two ingredients.  Bam!

Stumbled across this recipe on Pinterest and nothing speaks to me more than easy dessert with few ingredients.  I highly suggest actually going to her blog to read all of the comments.  Her recipe was met with very, very mixed success.  I read all of the comments and took what worked the most for others.

You will need:
A box of Angel Food cake mix (best if it's the kind that only has 1 package of mix not 2 you have to combine)
A can of Lemon Pie filling (the 15ish ounce size, if 22 ounce use 3/4 the can)

Utensils you need:
bowl
rubber or silicone spatula
jelly roll pan (cookie sheet with sides)

First, you dump the mix and filling in.

  Then you have to stir it together.  This part is important.  DO NOT OVERMIX!  If you over mix your batter a kitten will die.  Okay, maybe not that, but bad things will happen.   Very bad things.  You should stir the batter until you mostly don't see dry cake mix.  It will be very light and fluffy.  If you aren't sure if you stirred it enough you probably should stop stirring.  Mine looked like this:

Lots of big bubbles.  Next spread it in an UNGREASED jelly roll pan or a half sheet cake pan.  I used a half sheet cake pan since I don't have a jelly roll pan.  It was a bit of a stretch in the half sheet pan but it does work.  It looks like the batter is too thin in places.  It will all be okay.  You need to use one of those pans.  Some people who tried it in a cake pan said it rose too much and got all over their oven.  Fun times.  Others said it was too gooey in the middle.

This wonderful creation goes in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Start checking it at 18 minutes depending on your oven.  Let it get just a little bit golden on the top.

Get really fancy with some powdered sugar.

Now here is something else important:  This is not a lemon bar!  It is not gooey!  It has a hint of lemon.  If you like lots of lemon add some juice or zest.

I haven't seen any in the stores but I Google-d and found out they make Key Lime Pie Filling...

Faith Friday

So tonight while at girls' night we talked about guys, and dating, and crummy relationships.  In the middle of this I realize that most of us don't have fairy tale stories even if we do end up with a prince.  Let's face it, most of those Disney princesses didn't have an easy time of it either.  If they didn't have an easy time of it, what chance do the rest of us have?

None.  Bad things happen to good people and bad people.  That whole it rains on the just and unjust thing.

We actually have an advantage over those Disney princesses.  Those princesses had to go through all of those awful things and not know if their dreams would come true in the end. Good news for us!  Our prince has already claimed us.  I don't know if I could do half the things I do if I didn't know for sure it would be all right at the end.  I would be an awful Disney princess.  But I have faith in Jesus, the Prince of Peace.  He has already won the battle for me and it makes it a little easier to go through some of the tough parts of life when I know I'll get my fairy tale ending.

Patriotic Cookies

Ever since Melissa taught me about cake batter cookies, I've been a baking fool! So, you'll notice the Cookies label on the side of the blog. If you click that label, you'll find different possibilities for cake batter cookies!

Here is one recipe I tried today!

Cake batter cookies:

1 box cake mix

1/2 cup oil

2 large eggs

1 tb water

3 cups fillers (nuts, chocolate chips, etc)

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1. Mix the cake mix, oil, eggs, and water

2. Add the 3 cups of fillers (I used white chocolate chips)

3. Spoon out

4. Bake at 350 for around 10 min

Depending on how much you spoon out, you could have a lot of cookies! I had a little over 3 dozen.

Unexpected Happiness

Sometimes good plans can go wrong. This is the story of one of my good plans, that ended up being a great realization.

Once upon a time, I was wandering through the Magic Land of Pinterest. In this wonderful magical land I found a quick recipe for some healthy frozen snacks. So, I bought the ingredients.

Fresh fruit and Greek yogurt

The plan was to lay the fruit out and spoon the yogurt over it. So, I did.

Next step was to freeze it. Once frozen, you'll have a fresh, frozen, healthy, bite-size treat!

However, did you know that frozen treats are hard to chew? And they might cause freeze-burn on your tongue?

I was distraught! I was disappointed! I needed saving from my well intentioned plans!

Enter my Prince Charming.... and his birthday gift for me.

(ummmm.... ignore the pizza boxes underneath)

My Prince (aka- my hubby) got this for an early birthday gift! Isn't he just the sweetest thing?

So, I popped those frozen treats into one of the cups, added some milk, and a scoop (or two) of vanilla ice cream and VOILA! It was F.A.B.U.L.O.U.S!

You can find this magic blender of happiness at Walmart. It was about $20 and worth every penny!

I'll be visiting the Magic Land of Pinterest again, this time looking for smoothie recipes!