Christmas Countdown

Christmas countdown has already started, YEAH!!!!!!! A fellow blogger Kelly-Ann over at Beautiful Girlhood Here has been doing Christmas posts on fun ideas for crafts, food, and more! She has done some great posting, so if you have a minute go and check out some of her posts! If you love Christmas( like I do) then you'll have a fun time getting some ideas there. Thanks!!!!

Inspirational!

I'm sorry about the absence of my regular posting. I don't have a camera available to me right now, but I stumbled upon this the other day and thought that it was such an inspirational quote. So many girls forget that God wants our hearts so that we may draw close to Him. And when the right time comes, if our obedience has been faithful, God will reward you and bring the person He believes deserves your heart. How beautiful is that? To know that God loves you enough, to want to know us and hold our hearts in His hands. Like a father wants to make sure his daughter gets a husband he thinks deserves her. So God wants the right man for all the princesses of his kingdom. Just remember, that you must obey God, and treasure Him with all your heart. So start by asking God to take your heart and treasure it today!!!

Pray!

I don't know if many of you have heard about the Philippines and the destructive typhoon that hit the islands. Keila over at http://lovejoypeace3.blogspot.com did a wonderful job and posted pictures and a video about this crisis. We would ask that we all as prayer warriors for Christ would lift these people up. It is a very hard time as many lost loved ones, their homes, and are starving and thirsty. May God open a door for his salvation to be shared to these people.

Veterans Day 2013

Click on the poem above to read it!

Melt in your mouth Lemon Cookies!

Another recipe for you ladies to try. It is a recipe for Lemon Sugar cookies. I hesitated at this, mostly because we make original sugar cookies and I wasn't to sure if my brother's and sister's would like them. Anyway if you want a dessert that melts-in-you-mouth and that is fluffy, soft and soooo delicious this is the one. Start off with 1 stick of butter at room temp.

Next a 1/4 cup of shortening.

1 cup of sugar.

Next zest 1 whole lemon and spoon up the peelings, this should amount to 1 tbsp. 

Mix it all together so that it looks creamy about 4 minutes.

Crack in 1 egg..

and pour in 1 tsp of vanilla. Mix it again so that the egg is in incorporated.

Next comes your flour mixture, I did this all before hand in my mixture, but you can just do it in a bowl.

2 1/2 cups of flour, 2 tsp of cornstarch, 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder....

And a shake, shake of salt.

So once you have your flour mixture done, start incorporating it into your "wet" mixture. You can pour it in while the mixer is going, or just dump it all in.

Next scoop your dough into an airtight container and refrigerate it for 1 to 2 hours. The longer you let it set, the better the consistency.

Preheat your oven to 375', and pull out your dough from the fridge. Your dough should have a sugar cookie consistency now. Roll the dough out on a floured surface, and then cook them for 8-10 minutes.

Meanwhile you can get started on your frosting. 1/3 cup of butter( room temp) 2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp of lemon extract, 2 1/2- 3 Tbsp of fresh lemon juice. Mix this all together till light and fluffy. Simple ingredients but delicious frosting!

Once your cookies come out, let them cool before frosting. Once cool, frost them, and if you would like, decorate them with some simple colored sugar sprinkles.  Another delicious dessert recipe, especially for those Lemon lovers!!!!!

What A Sweet Reminder

Isn't this just the sweetest thing to be read. It brought such a sweet sensation to mind to know that our Heavenly Father is up in Heaven working diligently on a place for you and me! And the glory of knowing that He is coming back, and that all those in Christ will join Him in that home forever. Praise the Lord!!!!!! Thank you Jesus for your loving promise!

A New Haircut!!!

 So....  this year I really wanted a change with my hair, ( ponytails and flip-through's were getting a little boring), plus I have never  had a "style" before. And so since I'm a little older( with my birthday past) my Mom agreed and helped me find a style that I liked and I got it cut! I wanted something that I could play around with, you know curl, blow-dry, and such :)

This was me back in June. Sort of the before and after shot, quite a change with my braces off and a new haircut!

I took this during one of my cooking tutorials. The stylist did a great job, and I have loved having the change.

Skillet Cake, Delicious Frosting, and Autumn Sprinkles.

 Here's another cooking demonstration for all you ladies. This simple cake is done licky-split, and is soooo moist and delicious! One factor is that you "need" a iron skillet, though I have never tried it in another type before. So if you do, then let me know :) First you start by putting your skillet on med-high heat and drop in 1/2 stick of butter.

 Next pour in a 1/4 cup of oil.

 2 tablespoons of coco powder.

 And last a 1/2 cup of water.

 Whisk it all together, and bring it to a bubbling boil.

 Take it off the heat and add in 1 cup of flour

 A couple shakes of salt

 1/2 tsp of baking soda.

 1 cup of sugar. I know bad bad, too much sugar. I think I only did 3/4 cup of sugar and you couldn't tell a difference.

 Next whisk it together as best as you can. It will result in a crumbly and very uncake-like mixture.

 Not to worry, add in 1 egg, and 1/2 tsp of Vanilla extract.

 And to bring it all together a 1/4 cup of buttermilk. Now not too many people have buttermilk lying around, and so not to worry. An easy substitute is your amount using regular milk and a tsp or so of vinegar.

 Mix it all together!!!!!!

 Much better, now it looks like chocolate cake!

 My tools used for this cooking tutorial.

 Put it in the oven at 350' for 15-20 minutes.

 While the cake is cooking, make your frosting. In a saucepan put in 1/2 stick of butter

 Pour in 3-4 tablespoons of milk ( depending on your consistency)

 2 tablespoons of coco.

 Stir it all together and bring it to a lovely boil.

 Take it off the heat and add in 2 cups of powdered sugar.

 I crushed up some walnuts/pecans about 1/2 cup and put that in as well. Lastly a 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract. Mix it all together, and when your cake comes out pour it on while its still hot!

 Soooooo yummy!!!!! This is one of those must-try cakes!!!! It serves my entire family, and that's 10 in all!

I put on some sprinkles just for show :) Hope you'll try it!!! Remember, it's easy, fool-proof, delicious, and moist!!!!http://willowbirdbaking.com/2012/04/25/gooey-chocolate-skillet-cake-ice-cream-sundae Here's the link for the recipe!