Delectable Cinnamon Rolls

YUM! That's all I have to say on these. Here is the recipe (adapted from The Stay at Home Chef):

Dough:

• 1 cup warm milk
• 1 tbsp instant rise yeast
• 2 tbsp white sugar
• 1 tsp salt 
• 3 tbsp butter (I used unsalted) softened
• 1 large egg
• 3 cups flour

If you have a mixer with a dough hook, you can use that. Otherwise, you can use a whisk then knead by hand.

Combine all ingredients except flour. Once combined, add in flour. You want your dough tacky, but not sticking to your hands. Once you have your dough formed, lightly grease a glass or plastic bowl, place the dough in, cover with a towel, and let it sit for one hour (it should be about double in size - but don't worry if it's not). 

Once the dough has risen, lightly grease a baking sheet and pound the dough out across the whole baking sheet - make sure it's not too thin!

Filling:

• 1/2 cup butter (I used salted)
• 1 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbsp ground cinnamon

Melt 1 stick of butter (1/2 cup) and cover the top of the dough with the butter. 

In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle on top of the butter (on top of the dough). Spread evenly.

Very carefully roll tightly lengthwise (you want it to be long, not short). Use a knife to cut the log into 12-13 equal slices. They should be about one inch thick.

Grease a glass 9x13 pan and place the cinnamon rolls into it. Cover with a towel and let rise 30 minutes.  *IF YOU'RE SHORT ON TIME, TURN ON THE OVEN ONCE THE ROLLS ARE PLACED AND ALLOW THEM TO SIT UNTIL PRE-HEATED. THEY'LL TURN OUT FINE.

Bake at 325 degrees for 14-16 minutes until lightly browned. 

Glaze:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp softened butter (I used unsalted)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup milk

Combine the sugar, butter, and vanilla. Add milk a small bit at a time until the glaze is to the consistency of your liking. The more milk, the thinner the glaze. 

Glaze the rolls while still warm. Allow to sit 2-3 minutes before cutting. Serve immediately or store up to 5 days.

Keep on Keeping On

These past few months have been rough. Schedules are all over the place, I am at the tail end of a 90 day jury duty summons, and life just seems busier than normal. Add some extra sensitivity on my end from being pulled in a million directions and I'm a mess. I am moody. I am crying all of the time. I feel like I can't finish anything I start.

But in the middle of this mess, I find myself seeking God more quickly than in the past, and more often than I ever have. I'm finding myself drawn to hear Him, drawn to seek his guidance before acting. And let me tell you, that feels good. The moment that I stop to ask for help or clarity has often saved me from saying something I know I'll regret later. I'm a bit of a hothead, so that in itself has been so tremendous for me.

So why bother putting this out there? Because I feel strongly that when others see Christians struggling with the same things they are going through, it helps to shed this awful reputation we have for being hypocritical or "holier than thou". Being real and being honest about our struggles and giving credit to God for pulling us through helps to not only tell of Jesus' love, but to show it.

If you can learn anything from this hot mess that I've become - learn this: God answers prayers. Jesus is where you need to put your strength. When you stop to pray, when you give it up to God, you'll see his grace and his love and you'll be given the strength to pull through.

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

**The original recipe can be found here.

Over the weekend, I made Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies. I try and bake for my co-worker's birthdays, and this was a request made by one of them. I was a bit nervous to try it, and after a little tweaking of the original recipe (found above), I came up with my own.

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks of softened butter (30-45 seconds in the microwave - DO NOT MELT)
• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 3 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2/3 bag chocolate chip
• 1 package Oreos

Directions:

• Place Oreos in freezer 1 hour before baking 
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Cream butter, brown sugar, and sugar
• Once creamed, add in eggs and vanilla and mix until well combined
• Add flour, salt and baking soda to batter and mix until just combined
• Add chocolate chips and stir no more than 10 times (you do not want the dough to get runny)
• Create an even number of large balls of cookie dough. Place one ball on top of a frozen Oreo and one ball under the Oreo
• Seal the edges by gently working the dough around the Oreo until all edges are sealed and you cannot see the Oreo
• Place on a greased or covered cookie sheet and bake for 14 minutes
• Allow to cool 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack

After 10 minutes of cooling on the cooling rack, I quartered the cookies. They are very rich, and this recipe made 27 cookies, so by quartering them, I was able to serve more people! Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Clusters

OMGoodness. My neighbor gave me this recipe and it's become my new go-to for a quick and delicious treat. Enjoy!

1 cup Karo Syrup
1 cup white sugar
1 cup peanut butter
2 tbsp melted butter
1 tsp vanilla
6 cups Corn Flakes

Melt sugar and Karo Syrup together over medium heat until well combined. Turn off heat (do not remove the pan yet). Add peanut butter, melted butter, and vanilla. Stir until well combined. Remove from heat and stir in corn flakes, until well coated. Use a tablespoon to drop onto aluminum foil or wax paper. Allow to set (10-15 minutes) before serving.

Praying to be a Submissive Wife - On International Women's Day

Yesterday was International Women's Day. According to the official website, www.internationalwomensday.com, the day "celebrates the social, economic, cultural, and political achievement of women." So how did I, a working mother in her thirties, celebrate International Women's Day? I prayed for God to lead me to be a more biblically submissive wife.

Wait..... rewind....what?! That's right. I finished up a phenomenal book, 'My So-Called Life as a Submissive Wife' by Sara Horn over my lunch hour, and prayed that God would help me to be a more submissive wife. On International Women's Day.

Before you judge me, read on. This year, instead of making New Year's Resolutions, I set goals for myself. All of them are in the quest to help me grow, get healthy, and really discover God's desire for my life. The first thing I'm doing is reading the Bible through in a year - twice. I laid out a chronological plan for myself on January 1st, and then a good friend invited me to join a Bible Study she was hosting that ironically enough took us on a separate reading plan to get through the Bible in a year. So of course I said yes. In addition to the Bible reading, I set a goal to read 20 books for fun this year. I love to read and in the past few years, I've let other distractions like mindless television and games on my cellphone take precedence. This year, that changes. There are other goals -but these are the two that are important to this post, so we'll stick to those.

In my Bible reading, I'm discovering that men and women were NOT created equal. God created each for a purpose, and I firmly believe we're made to balance each other. Let me be clear - I am not using the Bible as a basis to say women shouldn't earn the same as their male counterpart in the workforce. In fact, I firmly believe that pay should be based on job performance, qualifications, etc. and not on gender. But it is clear that we are not meant to be everything to everyone and that men and women have different roles to fulfill, and that will not look the same in my relationship that it does in yours. It simply means that we all have strengths and weaknesses, and we're built to be the best that we can be when we work together.

Ephesians 5:22 - 33 reads, "Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands out to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church - for we are members of his body. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery - but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband."

This is where most people become outraged. But I ask that you pause a moment and reflect on what the Bible is really saying. It is NOT saying to do whatever the head of the household says, regardless of the repercussions. It is NOT saying that wives are to blindly follow a heathen. Rather, the Bible is saying to honor, respect, and love your husband the way that you honor, respect, and love God. And to husbands - love your wives as Christ loves all humankind. So that means you respect, honor, and love her.

Submission is not this dirty word that our society has turned it into. Eight years ago, when I married Josh, I had the word submit removed from our vows. I was caught up in this worldly view that submission is a terrible and weak notion. I regret that because I'm learning just how strong and powerful submission can be. Submission is the act of lovingly putting others before your selfish desires. It is allowing someone else to lead while you support. In the same breath, it's also the act of speaking up when you are called to. It is not a silent act. It is one of encouragement, partnership, and love. It is freedom in it's ultimate sense.

I am a very strong-willed person. I am outspoken and I hold fast to 'my way' of viewing things. I'm insistent that others hear how I feel and almost pushy in insisting they change their views to mine. And I feel terrible about that. Now I see that where I have been this force to be reckoned with, I've actually weakened the power of the others around me. I've not given them a chance to lead or teach me. I've done a disservice to myself and to those around me. And for that, I'm truly sorry. I find myself questioning the times I've made decisions for my family without the consensus of my husband. About all of the times I've thought that 'I'll just fill him in later' or 'if he doesn't like it, he doesn't have to participate'. What if, in those moments, I was taking away a true moment for his intelligence and his will for our family to shine? What if his way was really more in line with His way?

So, on the day after International Women's Day, I'm here, in my own head. Praying that God uses me to spread His message. Praying that God will allow me to be a biblically submissive wife. One that supports her husbands, trusts in his ability to lead the family, and encourages the family unit as a whole to seek God's will and desires in all we do. After all, it is my first duty as a woman to love God, love family, love my neighbors, and love myself.