Recipes for Sweet Treats

Sometimes you are faced with an evening that just calls for baking. The house is quiet, no one is home, and you have four ingredients: coconut, butter, sweetened condensed milk, and graham cracker crumbs. The savory possibilities are endless. What do you do first? Call your mom for those tried and true recipes, then get to work!

I wanted to share the recipes for two of the gooey sensations I made last night. These are simple and effortless to make, but I assure you they are divine. They are a crowd pleaser at any party and final nail in the relationship coffin for any man. Trust me, they work. Here are the recipes and some photos:

Magic Cookie Bars:

•          Shaved coconut
•          Chocolate chips
•          Butterscotch chips
•          White chocolate chips
•          Sweetened Condensed milk
•          Graham cracker crumbs
•          1 stick of butter
•          Optional: 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 
  

This is so easy it’s almost embarrassing. Melt the stick of butter for 1 minute. Pour out about 3 cups (measure loosely) of graham cracker crumbs into a bowl and combine melted butter. Add a couple tablespoons of sugar if you have an extra sweet tooth.

Crumble the mixture into a deep-dish pan (you choose the size) and pack down for the crust. Pour the chocolate, butterscotch, and white chocolate ships over the graham cracker mixture, as much as you like. Coat the top with half a can of sweetened condensed milk. Sprinkle your share of coconut over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until the coconut is golden brown. Enjoy!

Raspberry Bars:

•          2 and a half all purpose flour
•          1 cup sugar
•          1 cup melted butter (2 sticks)
•          1 egg
•          1 tablespoon vanilla extract
•          1 jar raspberry jam (NOT jelly!)

 

Mix the first five ingredients together in a medium-sized bowl. Place half of the mixture in a deep-dish ungreased 9X13 pan and spread firmly. Scoop out raspberry jam and coat it over the crust. Take the remainder of the crust and spread it on top of the jam, kind of like a marbled, stained glass window. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Let it cool before serving.

I hope you enjoy! Great for Christmas parties. 

A Time to Celebrate - I GOT THE JOB!

Several weeks back I wrote a post about feeling like Gumby. Remember that gooey, green, play-doh type guy? Yep, I felt like him. Stretched and molded and pulled into directions I was not comfortable with. After a sufficient amount of hemming and hawing, I settled into the fact that this season of trusting wasn’t going to change – for a while at least.  

Well, I am writing to say the season of pulling and prying is over and a renewed season of faith is here!

Yesterday I got the call for a job offer I’ve been waiting for!

God provided in a pinch, as he always has and always will. And there I was, running up and down the tiny alleyway in front of my friend’s house screaming for joy. (Mind you it was freezing and I was wearing a t-shirt and thin pants).

I got the call while wrapping a Christmas tree with white twinkle lights and sparkly gold ornaments – my favorite activity. My first official line of business is to attend the Christmas party and meet the rest of the staff… my heartbeat.

It was so beautifully poetic that I was left in awe [again] of God’s grace. He meets us at the most intimate part of our heart and lays out a beautiful trail to follow. His plans are always good. His ways are always perfect, and his timing is beyond precise.

Who knew? Jesus is real and God is smart. More like Jesus is romantically and divinely involved in the inner most details of our lives and God is fully present in every moment from the beginning of time into eternity.

Perspective. Outside of a job, yesterday I gained perspective and a renewed faith that God is for me and Jesus loves me dearly. Wow. Not bad for a Tuesday afternoon.

[P.S. I accepted a Marketing Coordinator position at a company called Counsel on Call in Nashville, TN. Orientation is December 10^th!]

The Sticky Side of a Pursuer's Heart [For the Ladies]

I’ve been busting at the seams to write this all morning.  I woke up thinking about what angle I was going to take on pursuit and when I was going to get around to posting it. A laundry list of unanswered emails and unread blogs kept me from writing until now.

I’ve been a pursuer my whole life. I wrote Justin Timberlake an ungodly amount of fan letters and sent him several photos of my fat-faced twelve-year-old self in pursuit of his attention. As I grew up, my pursuits became a little more worthwhile through high marks in school to lead roles in musicals. Community has always been along my heartbeat, so seeking a solid unit of people to do life with has also been a part of every season.

Photo by Shatter Proof Designs

Through God’s grace alone my pursuits and desires have shifted over the years to match up to His – Godly community, seeing His kingdom on earth, and telling people about His sovereignty in my life. Pursuing, seeking, and running towards.

Fine. Perfect, actually. Go through a season, listen to God, follow Him into the next season. Pursue his calling.

Go study abroad in Spain and help with a college ministry. Perfect. Where do I sign?

Break up with your boyfriend and release him to me. Tight fisting and white knuckling this one. Long, drawn out hesitation. Finally release.

Quit your job and travel to 11 countries for my sake. Raise $16,000. Swell. That’s a tough one Lord, but I trust you.

Leave your job and community in Atlanta and move to Nashville. ::Heavy sigh:: Ok. Let’s go. The new pursuit begins!

But as a woman, what do you do when your heart’s interest is perked for a man? How do you calm that pursuer’s heart and wait diligently for their pursuer’s heart to be awakened? The latter part of my Christian journey I’ve walked side by side with God and chased His dreams for my life. With His guidance and direction, I’ve sought out and chased and gone after His best.

But when it comes to men, I desperately want to be sought after by them. And this is where I frankly don’t know what to do with this pursuer’s heart of mine. I don’t want to take their job or nullify their attempts at pursuit. I guess this is where patience and submission comes into play. How does that balance with my longing to seek?

I don’t have a pretty bow or tidy package to end this post, and quite frankly I would love any suggestions you might have for this angle of pursuit.

Any ladies out there struggle with this? 

Pursuit is an Action

pur·suit   [per-soot]

noun

1. The act of pursuing: in pursuit of the fox.

2. An effort to secure or attain; quest: the pursuit of happiness.

3. Any occupation, pastime, or the like, in which a person is engaged regularly or customarily: literary pursuits.

I love this definition – simple and straightforward. No confusing remarks, or complicated phrases; just an honest commentary on the meaning of this word. You see, the word ‘pursuit’ is actually a verb.

Part of the reason I think the art of pursuit is loosing stamina among my generation is because it takes dedication and heartfelt action. We are already so overly connected that we fear if we devote ourselves to yet another human being, it will simply implode us. I’ve found that the opposite is true. It actually energizes us because we are investing good fruit into someone else’s life – a truly selfless deed.

If you are having trouble with your kick starter and need an extra push, here are a few tips for some good ‘ol fashion pursuit:

• 1.     When walking into a large group, seek out the people who are alone. When you are in a setting where you feel comfortable and know a good amount of people, seek out the ones on the outskirts. Stop making every single social setting about you and your close circle of friends! Make an effort to seek out the ones who look uncomfortable and silently begging for someone to notice them. We’ve all been there before. Let’s make their initial group hang out not so terrifying.
• 2.     Upon meeting someone new, repeat his or her name. My mom always taught me to repeat someone’s name at least 3 times within the first meeting and conversation. This will help you avoid the embarrassment of, ‘what’s your name again?’ when you run into them outside of the initial meeting place. It’s a tried and true mnemonic device that just works.
• 3.     Focus on what the person is saying. I get terribly distracted, especially in a large group. Oh, so-and-so got a new haircut; Crap! I forgot to return her sweater; I need to talk to him about the next _____ concert; I haven’t seen her in weeks! This string of thoughts continues until I bring it to a screeching halt. All the while the person I am actually having a conversation with is pouring their heart out and I’ve missed it. Embarrassingly, I have to ask them to repeat it because, like a child, I couldn’t pay attention. Your heartfelt focus will make them feel valued and what they have to say is important.
• 4.     Make plans with a new friend, and follow up! I continually have a running list of people who I ‘need to meet up for coffee,’ but never seem to get around to meeting. They linger on that list, and I miss out on knowing them on a deeper level. A good way to bring this list down to zero is to set a date right then and there, while you’re standing with the person. Pull out your iPhone and see when you are both free. If it falls through it falls through, but at least you are writing their name on a time slot in your life instead of the ambiguous ‘someday’ list in the sky.
• 5.     Make this a normal part of your life. Now, obviously we can’t go around being besties with everyone. We can’t go to everyone’s birthday or have a life full of lunch dates and afternoon teas, but we can be intentional about how we spend our time and who with. In Blake Mycoskie’s book, Start Something That Matters, he suggests to schedule everything, down to your rest and rejuvenation time. This way you are having a balanced life, as well as making the most of your time. I think this can be a bit extreme, but he does have a point. If you make pursuit a normal part of your life, filling your time with meeting and pursuing new friends or colleagues won’t become so cumbersome or overwhelming.

It’s simply about taking the drama and awkward introductions out of the equation. We spend our lives meeting people; wouldn’t it be great if we knew how to confidently and easily make them feel welcome?