Week 2: Chocolate Peanut Butter Squares

lila — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:17:59 +0000

Ingredients

300g milk chocolate

350g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

225g butter

350g soft light brown sugar

175g rolled oats

70g chopped mixed nuts

1 egg, beaten

400g canned condensed milk

70g crunchy peanut butter

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C

Finely chop the chocolate. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Add the butter to the flour mixture and rub in using your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar, rolled oats and nuts.

Put a quarter of the mixture into a bowl and stir in the chopped chocolate. Set aside.

Stir the egg into the remaining mixture, then press into the base of a 30×20-cm baking tin. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix the condensed milk and peanut butter together. Pour the mixture over the base and spread evenly, then sprinkle the reserved chocolate mixture in top and press down lightly.

Return to the oven and bake for a further 20 minutes, until golden brown. Leave to cool in the tin, then cut into squares.

Week 1: Non-Alcoholic Christmas Cake

lila — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 22:37:25 +0000

This post marks the first of a new series I intend to do for 2012. I plan to cook or bake something new every week for the whole year! Christmas cake seemed very appropriate at this time of year, so I gave it a go. Overall, I found this recipe very easy to follow, although next time I need to remember to turn the cake over before it is iced, as the top of it was quite bumpy, as you can probably see from the photos!

Ingredients

325g (12oz) self-raising flour
125g (4oz) ground almonds
1 teaspoon ground mixed spice
225g (8oz) butter, softened slightly
225g (8oz) caster sugar
4 eggs
8 tablespoon milk
225g (8oz) currants
225g (8oz) sultanas
225g (8oz) raisins
125g (4oz) glazed cherries
125g (4oz) mixed peel

Method

Heat oven to 150C (300F).
Grease and line a 9 inch round tin. It is easier to remove the baked cake from a loose-bottomed tin.
Sieve the flour, spice and ground almonds together into a large mixing bowl.
Cream the butter and sugar together in a separate bowl with a hand-held electric whisk or in a mixer.
Beat the eggs lightly with the milk in a jug or bowl.
A little at a time, stir the flour mixture alternately with the egg mixture into the creamed butter and sugar.
Finally, add all the dried fruit. Stir it carefully and thoroughly until everything is well combined.
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin.
Attach a deep strip of tin foil or brown paper around the tin to stand a couple of inches above the top. This will protect the top of the cake from burning while the inside is cooking.
Bake in the oven for about 4 hours.
Check the cake after about 3 hours. If necessary cover the top for the remainder of the cooking time.
To check if the cake is cooked through, gently insert a thin metal skewer into the centre and it should come out clean.
When the cake is ready, remove the foil or paper and allow the cake to rest in the tin for a short while.
Carefully run a flat knife around the inside of the tin to loosen the cake. Gently push the loose-bottom of the tin up to remove the cake.
Place on to a wire rack to cool, removing the bottom of the tin and greaseproof paper, and leave to cool completely.
When cold, wrap the cake in greaseproof paper and tin foil until required for decorating.

Decorating the Christmas Cake

Roll out home-made or bought almond paste (marzipan).
Brush the cake with apricot jam and press the marzipan to the outside and top of the cake.
Add icing of choice to the cake, covering the marzipan completely.
Allow to set, then tie a red ribbon around the cake and decorate with holly or similar Christmas decoration.
If using Royal Icing, this can be pulled into rough peaks with a flat knife, once it is spread on the cake, to give a snowy effect.

The Power of A Good Friend

lila — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 21:00:51 +0000

Have you ever looked at your life and thought WOW!!!! I have some amazing people around me! I hope at some time you have experienced this, recently I had cause to say this when I thought about the amazing friends and family I have been blessed with. Specifically I was thinking about my girl friends from school. Some of the friendships I have with these girls dates back as far as 13 years ago! Without a doubt I love them like family. What is so miraculous though, is that our present day lives are all very different and in many ways we are geographically further away from each other than we have ever been, but the bond of love and friendship seems to be stronger than ever also!

But what makes this bond so strong after all these years? After all, it is so easy to drift apart and lose contact with one another as we get older, so why are we always drawn back to the same people? I can say that for us it is a strong spiritual bond that glues us together. We are from an assortment of different churches, and may not always agree on every little thing, but one thing that unites us, is the God we serve. Recently I had reasons to rely heavily on the prayerful support of my friends and once again they supported me in the way I needed. This is the real power of a good friend, the power to lift you up to the Throne of Heavenly Grace when you need it most.

Thunder Dog

lila — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 20:12:58 +0000

Blind since birth, the life story of Michael Hingson is truly amazing and enlightening. He overcame many challenges in life, to become successful both professionally and personally. The battles that face a blind person in a sighted world, are more than we can ever imagine, and many blind or visually impaired people rely on the help of a guide dog to assist them. The bond between a person and their guide dog is unique and based completely on trust. This trust was tested to the absolute limit on 9/11, as Micheal Hingson was working on the 78th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Centre when a plane flew into the building.

The story of how Michael and his guide dog Roselle narrowly escaped is amazing. The book takes us through the events of that day, and is mixed in with stories from Michael’s life that are both humorous and informative. I learnt a lot about guide dogs and the training they go through before they are entrusted to a blind person. When you read of how Roselle coped with the events of that awful day, and the extreme pressure she was working under, it is almost hard to believe its a true story! I fully recommend this book to you all.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

‘Max on Life’ by Max Lucado

lila — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 12:26:30 +0000

This was a very interesting and enjoyable book to read. Lucado uses a question and answer format to address many issues regarding life, eternity, forgiveness, finances, suicide and many more topical issues. While there are many questions that will remain unanswered until we reach Heaven, Lucado is able to give biblical references and explanations that reveal a little understanding of certain issues.

This is the type of book that once read, may sit on the shelf for a while until a situation arises when we need a reference for someone going through a particular struggle or difficult patch. Overall, quite a useful book, but not one of Lucado’s best.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The Principle of the Path by A. Stanley

lila — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 20:21:58 +0000

This is one of the most fantastic books I have ever reviewed. Without a doubt, there will be many of my friends and family who will be getting this book as a Christmas gift this year. Stanley uses very biblical principles and examples, to show us clearly how the ‘principle of the path’ works. The basic definition of the principle is this, “direction, not intention, leads to destination”. I had to read this a couple of times to grasp the understanding, yet it is a very simple concept. For example, I intend the lose weight this summer and my intentions are really genuine. However, my direction today involved eating a box of maltesers and a Chinese takeaway for dinner, with very little exercise during the day. If this behaviour continues, it will result in my destination of being the same weight, possibly even heavier! While this is a very small example, Stanley applies the principle in other more important areas of life such as our finances, marriages, raising children and so on.

In using king Solomon as a main example in the book, we clearly see that although the ‘principle of the path’ is a very obvious one, even one of the wisest men to live on earth lost his way at times, and did not see clearly where the direction he was taking was leading him. There are so many lessons to be learned from this book and I highly recommend it.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Regret Free Parenting by Catherine Hickem

lila — Wed, 25 May 2011 16:03:30 +0000

Regret Free Parenting is a great read for mothers (or fathers) of all ages. Whether your children are babes in arms, or fully grown adults, there is something every parent can learn from this book. Hickem writes from an obvious psychotherapist point of view, but in very easy to understand language. The book is broken down into seven keys principles for helping parents reach a point in their lives when they can say they do not regret the way in which they raised their children.

An interesting theme I picked up from the book was that regret-free doesn’t mean mistake-free! While we, as parents, are bound to make some mistakes along the way, we always have an opportunity to move forward and improve. It is recognizing what we are doing wrong, and fixing it, that makes us ‘intentional’ in the way we raise our children.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Tanya & Richard’s Wedding Video Blog

lila — Sat, 14 May 2011 23:20:28 +0000

A Winter of Strange Happenings

lila — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 20:46:43 +0000

Prolonged periods of snow, ice, no water, no electric, and burst and frozen pipes seem to have been an ongoing theme of the winter that we have just been through. It has definately been a memorable one. Even now as I blog, we have no water. Which is probably why I’m blogging instead of cleaning (which to a normal person might be seen as silver lining, but piles of dirty dishes annoy me more than anything).

If I have learned anything through these experiences, it is that we all have an ever increasing dependence on things, which are beyond our realm of control. Like the water I am so desperately missing. All I can do is use bottled stuff, and wait for the tap to run again. I cannot physically make water come out of the tap, I am depending on others to make this happen.

I suppose this principle is true in many aspects of our lives, even though we don’t realise it. Like our health. We can take precautions to look after our bodies, but essentially it is a greater power than us that has authority over it. Anyway, this was a bit random, but just gave me something to think about. Anyone else have any thoughts on our bizarre winter? Any life lessons learned? Would love to hear from you!

iBites

lila — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 20:29:21 +0000

This is the first of many recipes I would like to share with you in my new ‘recipes’ category. iBites are a lovely little traybake and very easy to make.

Ingredients

10 oz milk chocolate
4 oz Rice Krispies
1 jar of crunchy peanut butter or 1 jar of nutella
1 pack of mini-mallows

1 shallow baking tin
greaseproof paper

Method

Line baking tin with greaseproof paper
Melt chocolate in a large bowl
Mix in jar of peanut butter/nutella
Add Rice Krispies and Mallows
Spread into baking tin and allow to set in fridge overnight.
Cut into small squares and serve

MMR or not?

lila — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 22:14:12 +0000

Well, like many parents, we have spent the past 15 months taking trips to the doctors surgery for the wee woman to get all her vaccinations. Sometimes I often wondered if we rushed in too quickly in following the normal turn of events and maybe should have done some more research into each vaccination before allowing our daughter to get them. It never really weighed too heavily in my thoughts until the most recent vaccination was given – the MMR. This is the only one Tamar seemed to take a reaction to. High temperature, a spotty rash and generally being unwell and clingy, were symptoms we had never seen in Tamar before, it was terrifying to say the least!

As she started displaying these symptoms 2 days after the vaccination, it seemed logical to us that they were a reaction to the MMR. However, at the onset of the symptoms the doctor concluded it was chicken pox. Assuming the doctor was correct, we took the sensible precautions – keeping her away from other children, washing hands frequently etc This of course did result in disruption to normal family routine ie.One parent cant go to work for a week. A fairly normal sacrifice parents need to anticipate upon having children and we had no problem doing this. However, three days later, with no blisters developing, itchy skin or any other chicken pox symptoms, we concluded it could not possibly have been chicken pox after all. Which brings us back to the MMR. Although we can never be certain, it seems a fairly logical conclusion that a normally very healthy baby who gets sick 2 days after an injection, gets very sick due to the injection.

Despite the distressing sickness for a few days, this was probably quite a mild ‘illness’ in comparison to those Tamar may have had if she didn’t have all her vaccinations, and in many ways, I still agree with our decision to go ahead with them all. My real grievance is the lack of openness concerning the possible side effects these vaccinations have and the eagerness by many medical professionals to pin these symptoms on other illnesses. One suggestion has been made that many doctors wouldn’t admit these kinds of reactions are caused by vaccinations because it would add to the already questionable safety issues surrounding them, especially the MMR. But as parent, I would appreciate the truth that a vaccination causes these symptoms, and be able to deal with them accordingly rather than be panicking over a illness that isn’t really there in the first place.

Anyone else have an opinion or personal experiences they would like to share? Would love to hear from you!

Your Money God’s Way by Amie Streater

lila — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 21:38:54 +0000

This is most definitely one of the best books I’ve read concerning Christians and their finance management. Streater outlines 7 ‘money myths’ that keep Christians in financial difficulty. The easy-to-understand, direct language is the true success of this book. The reader is left without a doubt as to what is required of them to manage their finances in a biblical way. The author outlines plans to show how you can get out of debt; build wealth; gain financial freedom and stay that way for life! Although there are a lot of biblical teachings in the book, there are also many practical tips on daily expenditure and controlling the destructive behaviors that so often leave Christians in financial turmoil. I would recommend this book to everyone!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The Butterfly Effect by Andy Andrews

lila — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 22:22:05 +0000

This was a very unique book to review. Beautifully designed, it takes the form of a gift book, with short historical stories, used to show how the ‘butterfly effect’ can be seen in human behaviour. The Butterfly Effect is based on the idea that every single thing we do has an affect on everything and everyone around us. Andrews sums this up at the end of his book by explaining, ” The very beating of your heart has meaning and purpose. Your actions have far greater value than silver or gold. Your life and what you do with it today…..MATTERS FOREVER”. While I can see some biblical justification for this logic, in that every day we should be making a difference in our Christian lives, I remain unconvinced that this book expresses this in the correct way. For example, many of the stories are taken from American history, but I can think of a lot biblical stories from which the same principles can be drawn.

On the whole, the book could make a nice gift, but in my opinion we could not categorize it as a spiritual or biblical book. It is at best, inspirational, in the sense of encouraging people to live well and purposefully.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Out Live Your Life by Max Lucado

lila — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 20:04:02 +0000

An absolutely powerful book from Max Lucado! This is an excellent read for all Christians, whether mature or young in the faith, we all need reminded of the example which Christ set before us, and how we are to try and live up to that perfect standard. The book outlines the many different ways we should be witnessing and caring for those in the world around us.

The book really brought to my attention the way in which small acts of compassion (which if we are honest, we very often avoid in the name of convenience) can impact on someone’s life, and lead to a great witness for God. For example, walking up to a homeless person, handing them a gospel tract and walking away because you don’t like the way they smell, may not be the most effective type of outreach. Or waiting in the school playground for your children and purposefully avoiding eye contact with the woman who you know (from local gossip) to be single mother with a difficult past; for fear of becoming too friendly with ‘that sort’ of person, you avoid her all together.

The potential for witnessing in these situations is enormous, but we need to get out of our comfort zone first. Imagine the difference it would make if you genuinely looked at that homeless man, and asked his name, where he was from and showed an interest in him (in the same way God showed an interest in us, that we really don’t deserve). Buy him a coffee and sandwich and gave him a gospel tract. This may cost us ten minutes of our time, and a few pounds out of our pockets, but lets face it, it the Lord Jesus Christ (creator of heaven and earth and all things within them) was able to make time for this, I think we can too! Imagine going over to that single mother in the playground, having a good, genuine conversation and asking her and her child to your house for dinner some night. Can you imagine the opportunities for witnessing that could be presented in this situation?

There are many more suggestions of how we can ‘out live our life’ in this book, and I would thoroughly recommend it!

The Prophecy Answer Book by David Jeremiah

lila — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:16:19 +0000

A very interesting little book from David Jeremiah. He has written the book in a very sensible way, addressing questions that many people have and about the End Times. I would say that the book would be best suited to those who have little or no knowledge on these topics, as it gives answers in an understandable way, but does not go into great depth on any one question. The topics explained are Current Events, The Rapture, The Tribulation, The Antichrist, The Second Coming, The Millenium and The New Heaven and the New Earth. The size of the book is very compact (6 x 4) and would make an ideal gift.