Month: August 2018

Easy Chocolate Shell Recipe

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Now, when I say this is easy, I mean you can make this recipe with one hand tied behind your back and your eyes closed. It’s really easy!

2018-08-20 02.12.02

EASY CHOCOLATE SHELL

 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips  
 1 level tablespoon refined coconut oil 

1) Place chips and coconut oil in a microwave safe container.
2) Heat on high for 20 seconds.
3) Stir.
4) Repeat steps 2 and 3, until smooth and combined.
5) Store in the refrigerator a small canning jar, or other microwave-safe container. Reheat as above, 20 seconds at a time.

I’ve only made this once, but it came out really well. Even the Saxophone Player liked it. I like the fact it uses coconut oil, instead of shortening. I think that pretty much makes it health food, right? 😉 

FYI: This is an adaptation of the recipe in the video below, which uses dark chocolate. I didn’t have dark chocolate on hand, so I used milk chocolate. Knowing milk chocolate has a higher fat content, I adjusted the chocolate to oil ratio. If you like the coconut smell, you can use unrefined coconut oil. 

 

Saturday Evening Post 8/18/18

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There are certain things I am just not going to do anymore.

Overall, my yard this year is a bit of a wild mess. Not a lot to share, but I wouldn’t want to season to pass without mentioning it.

  • The weather has been very hot and humid. Reminds me of summer in Ohio.
  • Rain has been helpful. Hopefully, it helps relieve this drought, but for now watering is only allowed two evenings a week.
  • Had already planned to keep the garden small, but I am very glad I listened to a friend who said, “Just go throw some seeds out, anyway. Go on!” As a result, I have two tomato and four summer squash plants. No tomatoes or squash, yet, but that’s OK. At least something is growing.
  • Doug planted some more pintos this year, and they are doing great. I think he’ll actually have enough for a pot of beans. Well, a small pot.
  • I did plant lots of flowers—over 20 zinnias and several sunflowers. They are doing very well!
Baby sunflowers.
Baby Girl.
  • I have a wild tomato. It comes back year after year. It’s kind of a crazy thing. And, it’s more than one plant. In fact, one day I thought I was pulling out weeds, but it was actually a bunch of seedlings all growing together. I managed to separate the roots and have eight more tomato plants.
2018-08-15 15.06.01

My wild tomato.

 

  • Last week I tossed some green onion seeds and marigold seeds in some dirt. They’re coming along. I don’t know what chance the marigolds have of blooming before the first frost.

    2018-08-15 15.06.54 HDR

    Green onion seedlings. So delicate!

  • I have three other pots with some good soil that are begging for life. I was thinking I’d plant something hardy that will survive the Autumn cold. Any suggestions? Kale comes to mind. It likes the cold. My parsley lived well past frost last year. Maybe, I try that.
  • One bit of fancifying to the garden this year: Doug redid the border for my flower bed. It looks so nice!
    Zinnias in early summer – and Doug’s lovely edging.
    Zinnias now.

Though we haven’t had the time to play in the garden much, we do get to play in it with Lucy more. That’s pretty awesome. She doesn’t mind the untrimmed edges and overgrown grass. She doesn’t notice the weeds. She always loves to look at the flowers and give them a sniff. Then, she’ll grab the flower head with her little fist to pick it. She is a charming brute with those little buds.

My little strider.
Off to do some watering.
“May I see your flower, Lucy?”
Still working on her bubble-blowing technique. 😉

 

P.S. This little guy isn’t playing outside this summer, but as active as he is at five-months, I’m guessing he’ll be running around soon!

 

 

Hey, Jude

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We must not take our salvation in Christ for granted.

“I must write…urging you to stoutly defend the truth that God gave once for all to hHis people to keep without change through the years.”

Once we are saved, yes, we are never required to say the Prayer of Salvation (Romans 10:9), again. However, that doesn’t mean we have permission to compromise Christ’s righteousness through our sin.

“Some godless teachers have wormed their way in among you, saying that after we become Christians we can do just as we like without fear of God’s punishment.” 

However, once we have believed, our life is meant to be an ever-growing, living testimony of that confession.

“But you, dear friends, must build up your lives ever more strongly upon the foundation of our holy faith, learning to pray in the power and strength of the Holy Spirit. Stay always within the boundaries where God’s love can reach and bless you.”

If your life today is not a living testimony of Christ, I hope you’ll stop and pray. Repent. Be restored to a place of right standing with Christ. It is possible, you know, to fall away from that great Salvation Christ won for you on the cross at Calvary. I don’t think you want that to happen.

Scriptural reference:
The Book of Jude (KJV)
The Book of Jude (TLB)