Blue's Clues

At the moment, Lili's favorite show is Blue's Clues. And since it's on Netflix, she can watch it over... and over... and over again. This morning, when Blue put her paw print on the screen, Lili sighs deeply and says, "Not Blue's Clues again!" I think she was hoping they were going to do something other than the norm... "Blue's Clues". I love her!

Chocolate-Pecan Toffee Torte

This past Saturday, I made Chocolate-Pecan Toffee Torte from my wonderful cookbook, NBC Sunday Night Football Cookbook. Like the last cooking adventure, this recipe was done by a Philadelphia Eagles Chef. And since I've been doing all dinners from the book, I thought I'd give a dessert a try.

There are 3 differnt layers to the Torte, and here is what each one calls for.
Pecan Layer
- 1 1/2 cups pecan halves
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 Tbs all-purpose flour (if you grind your own wheat, that works just as well.)
- 2 Tbs unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces

Chocolate Layer
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 6 oz semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 Tbs corn syrup
- 1 Tbs unsalted butter

Toffee Cream Layer
- 1/2 cup plus 1 1/2 Tbs granulated sugar
- 2 Tbs corn syrup
- 2 cups half and half
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 Tbs instant espresso
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- 4 Tbs cornstarch
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar
- 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, at room temperature
- Whipped cream
- Chopped toasted pecans

The resipe is kinda long to type it all out, so if you would like it, please email me or message me on Facebook.
But here are some of my side notes.
- I would say, if you are don't this for when having company for dinner, make it the day before. Because it's better if it sits overnight.
- I seemed better to freez it rather than it being in the refrigerater.
- And if you are not a big coffee fan, you might want to cut the espresso in half, because it's very coffee'y.
- It's very, very rich. Even thought it says cut it into eight pieces, I cut it into sixteen.

Everyone in my fam loved it! I'd say this is a redo!

Bon Appetit!

OJ and the Glory of God

Monday night, I read the chapter five in Pierced by the Word, called "How to Drink Orange Juice to the Glory of God".
In a paragraph John Piper says:
"So I draw this somber conclusion: It is sin to eat or drink or do anything not for the glory of God. In other words, sin is not just a list of harmful things (killing, stealing, etc.). Sin is leaving God out of account in the ordinary affairs of your life. Sin is anything you do that you don't do for the glory of God.
But what do unbelievers do for the glory of God? Nothing. Therefore everything they do is sinful. That is what I mean by saying that, apart from saving grace, all we do is morally ruined.
This, of course, raises the practical question: Well, how do we "eat and drink" to the glory of God? Say, orange juice for breakfast?
One answer is found in 1 Timothy 4:3-5:
[Some] forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.
Orange juice was "created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe... the truth." Therefore, unbelievers cannont use orange juice for the purpose God intended-- namely, as an occasion for heartfelt thanksgiving to God from a true hear of faith."
Later he says;
"Believing this truth in the Word and offering thanks in prayer is one way we drink orange juice to the glory of God."
I must confess, most of the time I don't pray before a meal, or really offer up any kinda thanksgiving to our Father. This was very convicting. How often do I stop and pray? Not much...

♫I Can Only Imagine♫

I must confess, I haven't been listening to worship music at all lately... been listening to a lot of KJ-52 or Red.
But the last few weeks the course of I Can Only Imagine has been suck in my head. Don't get me wrong, I'm not upset I can't get it out of my head... it's an amzing reminder. "Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel. Will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of you be still. Will I stand in your presence or to my knees will I fall. Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all." Man, just reading it, I'm tearing up. Surrounded by His glory! I can only imagine! Scratch that... I can't imagine what it's gonna be like. It's to much to grasp. Am I going to dance or be in awe? Am I gonna sing, or will I be able to speak? Will I even be able to stand? Or will I just fall on my knees? What a day that's gonna be!
Here are the rest of the lyrics to the song.
I can only imagine

What it will be like
When I walk
By your side

I can only imagine
What my eyes will see
When your face
Is before me
I can only imagine

Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel
Will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of you be still
Will I stand in your presence or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine

I can only imagine
When that day comes
And I find myself
Standing in the Son

I can only imagine
When all I will do
Is forever
Forever worship You 

A Snapshot from Life

03/12/2011 - How often do we look like this when we don't get what we want, even if that thing is something we should not have... (I was not torchering her FYI, Kel took something away Brina didn't need to have, just as I was taking the picture. My poor baby!!!)

It's All About God

Last night I read this part in Pierced by the Word, and thought I would blog it.
John Piper says,
"That is why we exist -- to display the glory of God. Human life is all about God. That is the meaning of being human. It is our created nature to make much of God. It is our glory to worship the glory of God. When we fulfill this reason for being, we have substance. There is weight and significance in our existence. Knowing, enjoying, and thus displaying the glory of God is a sharing in the glory of God. Not that we become God. But something of His greatness and beauty is on us as we realize this purpose for our being -- to image-forth His excellence. This is our substance."
It reminds me of the verse 1 Corinthians 10:31, "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
When I read this, it made me want to jump up and worship our wonderful Creator!

Why God's Forgiveness?

I'm reading two books right now. For my morning quite time, I'm reading Choosing Forgiveness by Nancy Leigh DeMoss, then reading Pierced by the Word by John Piper before bed. I'm not going to post something from every chapter like I have done before, but I'll post little quote that really stood out to me.

Last night I read meditation 2 in Pierced by the Word. It is called "God is the Gospel", and John Piper starts it off with this.
"Have you ever asked why God's forgiveness is of any value? Or what about eternal life? Have you ever asked why a person would want to have eternal life? Why should we want to live forever? These questions matter because it is possible to want forgiveness and eternal life for reasons that prove you don't have them.
Take forgivenss for example. You might want God's forgiveness because you are so miserable with guilt feelings. You just want relief. If you can believe that He forgives you, then you will have some relief, but not necessarily salvation. If you only want forgivenss because of emotional relief, you won't have God's forgiveness. He does not give it to those who use it only to get His gifts and not Himself."
Later in the chapter he says, "Forgiveness is precious for one final reason: It enables you to enjoy fellowship with God."
Wow! I don't know about you, but I sure have done this. And really, we aren't thinking of God at all. It's all about ourself! Me, me, me. There's a big difference in wanting relief, and wanting fellowship with God. And I hope next time, when I want God's forgiveness, that I'll be able to remember this, and check my motive behind it.
Also, I would really encourage you to read Pierced by the Word by John Piper. It's an amzing book! The chapters are meditations, and they only take 10 -15 minutes to read. But wow! That are so deep, and very convicting. It's a great book of truth!

Gotta Do What Ya Gotta Do...

For months now, I have tried and tried to get Snuggs to stop scratching my bed. I have bought him a condo and a scratching post. But that didn't help. Then I googled to find tips on how to get cats to stop scratching an area and start scratching the post. A few tips I found were;

- play with them by the post and show them that they can scratch it. (tried that)

- place it by their food and water to show that it is theirs to mess with (tried that)

- place by the area they scratch the most showing them they can scratch this aswell (tried that)

And last;

- wrap foil around the surface that is being scratched and place post next to it.

This is what I am attempting now. If this does not work... I am not sure what to do next. Because as you can see from the pictures, my sheets are getting messed up. They look like this on 3 of 4 corners. Thank goodness there is another covering under the sheet and the mattress is not damaged! 

I just wrapped the corners last night, so well see how this goes.... But do any cat owners have better idea's? I'd love to hear about them!

A Snapshot from Life

03/10/2011 - Every night is espresso night!

Something Sweeter Than Honey

I just started reading Choosing Forgiveness by Nancy Leigh DeMoss, and she has a Spurgeon quote in there that I love. So I thought I would share it with the blogging world....
"To be forgiven is such sweetness that honey is tasteless in comparison with it. But yet there is one thing sweeter still and that is to forgive." -C. H. Spurgeon