Baking: Chewies

A messy kitchen is a happy kitchen, and this kitchen is overjoyed !

My moms friend Mrs. Deborah makes these amazing vanilla brownies called chewies. They are absolutely delicious. My husband was complaining of wanting something more to eat at like 10pm last night so I made him some.  I thought I would share the recipe with you. :)

Chewies

Ingredients:

1 stick butter, melted

2 cups brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla

2xL or 3 med-large eggs

2tsp baking powder

3/4tsp salt

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix all ingredients together.

Pour into a greased, floured 9 x13 pan.

Bake for approx 30min (until edges are brown)

Allow to cool 10-15min before cutting.

Now for pictures with the directions. :)

Mix all ingredients together.

Pour into a greased, floured 9 x13 pan.

Bake for approx 30min (until edges are brown)

Allow to cool 10-15min before cutting. 

Don't they just look yummy???

 Yes, I am terrible at cutting cakes, brownies etc. LOL!

Let me know if you try the recipe. I tell you, they are amazing and very BAD for you. LOL!

Ang

Chocolate Muffins

A messy kitchen is a happy kitchen, and this kitchen is overjoyed !

So yesterday, I made these Chocolate Muffins.. I didn't follow the recipe all the way as you will see below.. But I did for the most part. They were yummy!!!

Ingredients list:

2/3 cup of baking cocoa.
2 large eggs.
2 cups of flour.
1 cup of chocolate chips.
1/2 cup of sugar.
2 teaspoons of baking soda.
1 1/3 cups of milk.
1/3 cup of vegetable oil.
1 teaspoon of vanilla.
1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 400°F.

Coat muffin tins with non-stick cooking spray.

 In a large bowl, combine the cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and vanilla.

 

Stir in half a cup of chocolate chips. 

** I read the directions wrong and actually mixed in all the chocolate chips.**

In a separate bowl, combine the eggs and milk.

Add the egg/milk mixture to the other ingredients until moistened.

** At this point I tasted the batter and it didn't taste sweet enough to me. So I added about two tablespoons more sugar to the mix**

 Scoop the batter evenly into the prepared pan.

Sprinkle with the remaining chocolate chips.

 **I just sprinkled some extra chocolate chips on the top... So I used about 1.5 cups of chocolate chips.**

Bake for about twenty minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack before removing from the pan. 

These muffins were sooooo yummy! Let me know if you try the recipe. :)

Ang

Priorities cont: Being an Excellent Wife

Some day's it is so hard to keep our priorities in life straight... This is because we are sinful man... Even though Christ now lives in us, we still tend to not fully rid ourselves of our old self... This for me can be tough sometimes...

As a wife, I know God has called me to put my husband first above everyone else expect God himself... This however, can be hard to do... I have friends and family who I like to spend time with as well... But, I realized recently that sometimes, I am caring more about the feelings and actions of my friends and  family more than those my husband. I am not saying, I should never spend time with family or friends or have a life outside of the house... No, that is not true.. But when my husband needs me.. I should be there for him.

• God created me to be my husbands helpmeet; to love and support him and to bring him joy. 

Genesis 2:18, 23-25 

"Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 

"The man said,
         “This is now bone of my bones,
         And flesh of my flesh;
         She shall be called Woman,
         Because she was taken out of Man."

For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed."

• God also commands me to submit and respect my husband. 

Ephesians 5:22-33

Wives and Husbands

"22Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

25Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.^a 28In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30because we are members of his body. 31“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband"" According to this verse, I am not only supposed to submit to my husband, but also respect him... 

What does respect mean? 

Respect. Verb:

1. to hold in esteem or honor.

2. to show regard or consideration for.

3. to refrain from intruding upon or interfering with.

5. to relate or have reference to.

What does submit mean?

Submit

verb (used with object)

1.to give over or yield to the power or authority of another (often used reflexively).

2.to subject to some kind of treatment or influence.

3.to present for the approval, consideration, or decision of another or others: to submit a plan;

4.to state or urge with deference; suggest or propose (usually followed by a clause):

verb (used without object)

5.to yield oneself to the power or authority of another:

6.to allow oneself to be subjected to some kind of treatment:

7.to defer to another's judgment, opinion, decision, etc.:

Looking up both of these words in the dictionary, this means I am supposed, to honor, show consideration and yield to my husband. 

• God has called me to be an excellent wife.

Proverbs 31:10-31

10 ^d An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. 11 The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. 12 She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life.
13 She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands. 14 She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar. 15 She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. 16 She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. 17She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. 18 She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night. 19 She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle. 20 She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. 21 She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet.^f 22 She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple. 23 Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. 24 She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant.
25 Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. 26 She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. 27 She looks well to the ways of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness. 28 Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: 29 “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.” 30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. 31 Give her of the fruit of her hands,
and let her works praise her in the gates."

The above passage shows me where I am GREATLY lacking as a wife...  I fail so much in comparison to this passage... But this is what God has called me to be, and excellent wife, who does my husband good and not harm all the days of my life. 

This doesn't apply to me, I am not married:

If you are a woman, not married yet... think of verse 12, God wants you to do good to your husband all the days of your life... That means now! Are you doing things that could hurt your future husband? Think about that... If you marry, the above passage is what God has called you to do... You can work on being an excellent wife now before you are married. 

I leave you with this:

Are you doing what God has called you to do as a wife or single woman? 

Do you fear the Lord?

Are you kind and gentle? 

Do your words show wisdom and kindness? 

Do you respect, honor and submit to your husband?

Do you do your husband (or future husband) good every day? 

Are you according to the bible, living the life of an excellent wife?

If you answered no to any of these questions, here is my challenge:
  Join me on the journey of becoming an excellent wife.

1. Look in the bible yourself what God has commanded to wives and woman.

2.  Write down the verses and really study them.

3.Pray about what you learn and ask God for his help!

4. Start small and Do it! (This is the hardest part!) Remember you can do all things through Christ! Don't try to do it on your own.

If you have any questions or would like ideas of how to be an excellent wife, feel free to comment.

Ang

Peanut Butter Muffins

A messy kitchen is a happy kitchen, and this kitchen is overjoyed !

I had fun baking these muffins. However, they failed to pass the taste test... I will explain more below.

 Peanut Butter Muffin Recipe

Ingredients list:

2 medium eggs, beaten.

2 cups of sifted flour.

1 cup of milk.

½ cup of peanut butter.

¼ cup of sugar.

2 tablespoons of butter, melted.

3 teaspoons of baking powder.

1 teaspoon of salt.

Instructions:

Sift together the flour, sugar, baking power and salt.

Add the peanut butter and mix thoroughly.

Combine the eggs and milk, then pour into the mixture.

Add the butter and stir until mixture is moistened.

Fill greased muffin pans about two-thirds full and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 25 minutes.

Now  at this point I tried the muffins and they tasted more like biscuits than muffins. So, I tried to make a frosting to kind of help.
I took some peanut butter.

and some brown sugar

and some milk.

I then put my weird mixture in the microwave for 30 sec to help the peanut butter melt enough to spread. I then put it on the muffins as a frosting.

The frosting tasted good, but the muffins still didn't.... :/

We ended up giving them to our puppies who enjoyed them... If you do try this recipe... let me know how it turns out! I am trying to think of a way to make them better.
Ang

Muffins

A messy kitchen is a happy kitchen, and this kitchen is overjoyed!

So suddenly I have this idea to make lots of muffins. I found 5 different recipes I want to try... So I will be posting pics and tips on the different recipes as I go. The recipes I have are for: Pumpkin Chocolate Muffins, Peanut Butter Muffins, Chocolate Chip Muffins, Mocha Chocolate Chip Muffins and Cinnamon Muffins. I cant wait to bake them. I am making the first recipe tomorrow.... It will probably be the peanut butter ones, because they sound healthier lol!


Ang

Baking: Pumpkin Spice Donut Holes

A messy kitchen is a happy kitchen, and this kitchen is overjoyed!

I made pumpkin spice muffins from the recipe below that I found on Pinterest. The hubby and I both totally loved them! I posted the recipe below. The only difference I did is that I cooked them in a normal muffin pan and had to bake them for more like 15min... I just cooked them till a tooth pick came back clean. Don't they just look delicious?

Let me know if you try the recipe.  :)

Recipe: Baked Pumpkin Spice Donut Holes

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Yield: 36 donut holes

Serving Size: 2 donut holes 

For the donuts:

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 1/8 teaspoons ground cloves
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup canned plain pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 1/2 cup low-fat milk

 For the Coating:

• 1 stick of unsalted butter, melted
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease a 24-cup mini muffin tin with nonstick spray.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cloves. In a separate large bowl, combine the oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin and milk until smooth. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Be careful not to overmix the batter. 

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until passes the toothpick test.

Remove the muffins from the oven and allow to cool for 2 minutes, or until just cool enough to handle. With the melted butter in one bowl and the sugar and cinnamon combined in another, dip each muffin into the butter then roll in the cinnamon sugar to coat. Serve immediately.

Source: The Craving Chronicles

*For a lower sugar version, mix two packets of splenda with one table one table spoon of cinnamon (this is for the COATING).

Pinterest & Cooking

Have you gone on Pinterest yet? If not, I totally suggest you go! I found all these cool ideas for cooking and making things! I spent over two hours on there last night.

Anyway, a great idea for cooking came out of it. Pre-made crock pot meals made in ziplock bags that all you do is take out of the freezer and put in the crock pot. The lady who came up with this idea, has all the info including what to buy at the grocery store and everything for 8 meals made in the crock pot. here is the   LINK to her blog post about it.

Anyway, so today using that idea, I made a chicken noodle soup meal in the ziplock (excluding the noodles because they would get all soggy). It was pretty easy... I baked a whole chicken last night for dinner, we ate half for dinner. I then de-boned the chicken and saved all the broth. The broth I put in the ziplock along with some chicken bullion, water and peas and carrots and of course the chicken. I also added an onion to the mix and some garlic and onion powder. It should be yummy. Next week I am going to make the meals from the blog post above so you will hear about those next week. Sorry I didn't have pictures of the whole process, but here is a finished picture. :) FYI what fits in a ziplock is just perfect for our crock pot its a 5qt.

Another note, because this was mostly liquid, i double zbagged it.

Anyway, I hope you had a good Sunday. :)
Ang

Apple Cinnamon Sticks

So I got this recipe from my friend Jocelyn at His Pursuing Kindness. It is amazing!! I made the cinnamon sticks this morning for the hubby and I. I made them completely sugar free for me, and made a glaze for the hubbys. To make them sugar free I replaced the sugar in the cinnamon sugar with splenda and did not put the glaze on mine.

Before: About to go in the oven

Before: About to go in the oven.

Glaze

After with glaze

After with glaze

After without glaze

Here is the recipie curtesey of Joycelyn:

Ingredients (the measurements are all approximations):
2½ cups flour (1½ cups all purpose flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour)
1 Tbsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
1-1½ cup milk (more or less)
4 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp oil
cinna-sugar (mix up some cinnamon in sugar/splenda)
½  an apple, peeled and chopped
glaze/frosting (optional)

Directions: 
1. Preheat oven to 425.
2. In a bowl, mix up all the dry ingredients. Slowly add milk until dough is formed. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour. If the dough is too dry, add milk very little at a time until its soft.
3. Put butter and oil into a pan and stick it in the oven to melt. While the butter is melting, roll out the dough and slice into strips.
4. Take the pan out of the oven and dip each strip into the melted butter until both sides are coated. After all the strips are done and placed into the pan, sprinkle the cinnasugar on top first and then the chopped apples.
5. Bake for 20 minutes.
6. When breadsticks are done, immediately drizzle glaze. Serve warm since the breadsticks turn pretty tough and hard once they start to cool.
This recipe was adapted from Tammy's Easy Breadsticks

One thing i did differently than the recipe above is that I used all purpose flour for the flour. I did not use a mixture of flours.  

For the glaze I used a recipie from the Betty Croker Cook Book here is the recipie:


1/2cup powder sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla
2-3tbs milk
(I added a hint of cinnamon to my ingrediants, as i love cinnamon.)


Stir all ingredients until smooth and thin enough to drizzle.

If you try it let me know!!!
Ang

This week: 12/9

~School~

I am out of school but have been studying for my teacher certification exams. I really want to pass the first time! I have to study about 20pages a day to get though all the material. I take my first exam in 32 days. Just a little over a month from now. I am worried, but at the same time I know God has it all under control!

~Life~

Lets see... Life right now is good. I am tired LOL! On black friday we bought a new TV. We had a 19" TV now we have a 32". There is a big difference! LOL! My hubby and I both race to the mailbox each day because we know our Christmas presents are coming in the mail and we want to be there and try to open them before the other says we have wait till Christmas. LOL! yes, we are silly.

~Pets~

My pets are their usual rambunctious selves. The cat has currently ate 3 lights off of our prelit tree. :/  He is such a silly cat! He has been taking his stocking off of the wall. Yes, we got our pets stockings. LOL! Cocoa and Jack are crazy and like to run around in circles, but thats ok LOL!

~Cooking~ 

As you have seen, I have been having fun cooking yummy meals for the hubby and I. Trying to eat healthy is hard. Lowering my carb intake makes me feel like I am starving!!! LOL!
Christmas Day: As of right now, I am planning on making a yummy ham covered in pineapples and splenda brown sugar, along with mashed potatoes and other bad for you but so yummy to eat foods. :D

~Reading~ 

I am currently reading the book Monster by Frank Peretti. So far it has my attention and I hate putting it down.

~Winter/Christmas~

Right now it is a lovely 41 degrees outside. But it actually isnt too bad. I have gotten used to it. :) The high today is 63 with the low being 37. Its pretty cold at night/early morning. But during the day the hot desert sun is out to keep you warm!

This year for Christmas I am not sure what we are going to do. As of right now, our plan is to enjoy our first Christmas together married alone. I am hoping to buy some old Christmas movies like frosty and Rudolf the red nosed reindeer to watch, or maybe we will just watch whatever ones happen to be on TV on Christmas. I will definitely miss my family!!!

~And Now a Peanuts Comic~

Stay warm and have loads of fun looking for snow flakes that are exactly the same. ;D
Ang

Cooking

Last night I made peanut butter blossom cookies for the hubby. :) Here are picks of them:

Batter

Kisses

Before

After

For dinner I made sweet and sour chicken. It was very yummy!!!

So far I know I got a 100% on two of three finals (two classes did not have finals) and I am 99.9% sure I made an A in all classes. :) I will know for sure on the 15th. I am so happy!

My Lunch

My Lunch

This is what I ate for lunch today. Its chicken breast, with mushrooms and spinach fried with a little bit of butter and some Parmesan cheese. :) Yumm!!!