A Choice.....

This weekend is Easter. Much of the world is focused on candy, eggs, bunnies, egg hunts and baskets overflowing with gifts. To me, this is the most important day of the year. The day that quite literally changed my life for all eternity. Better than my anniversary (which is pretty hard to beat considering I'm married to the best man in all the world), better than the days I get to celebrate the little lives God trusts me to nurture. Better than the day we celebrate the very birth of Jesus, the Son of God.

This day is the day we remember that a 33 year old Jesus made a choice no one else could make. A choice to allow the heartbreak of being mocked by people he had grown up with his entire life (some of which were family). A choice to accept the blame for something he was innocent of. To undergo a brutal physical beating so severe it would make his face unrecognizable. To accept a shameful death on a cross next to a murderer and a thief all the while being innocent of any crime. All because He saw a Joy that was set before Him. An end to His painful means.

You.  Me.  We are that Joy for Him. We are the reason He willingly gave over His very life and let His body be so abused. For the promise of  the POSSIBILITY that He would have a relationship with us.

He is in love with us. We are His greatest love. He laid down His life for the CHANCE that we could love Him back. After all, we still have the ability to choose. A free will. There is no guarantee that we will love Him in return...........or even acknowledge Him or His huge sacrifice.

Yet He gave Himself anyway. It was the only way. The only way to be certain we would be able to have relationship with Him. With God. There is no other way we could approach a Holy God in our sin soaked state. In all of our humanness. He chose to make a way for us to come close to Him. To BE the way for us. Because He is in love with us.

So, as everyone is busy coloring eggs and making meal plans, I take time out to really focus on that incredible choice. I could never have made that choice. I love my husband. I mean, crazy, head-over-heals, truly, madly, deeply love him. But I know myself. I could not have let any of that happen to me for the possibility that he MIGHT love me back.

I am amazed. And humbled that the Son of God is so in love with ME that He could make that choice. That is what I celebrate this weekend.

So I have a fun little cookie recipe to share with you. I've been making these every Easter with my kiddos for the past 7 or 8 years. It's become a tradition they look forward to as much as they do egg hunts and it is a perfect reminder of the choice that was made and the reward we now enjoy because of it. So here ya go:

Easter Cookies

To be made the evening before Easter

• 1cup whole pecans
• 1tsp vinegar
• 3 egg whites
• pinch salt
• 1 cup sugar
• zipper baggie
• wooden spoon
• tape
• Bible

Preheat oven to 300 degrees (this is important, don't wait till you're half done with the recipe!)

Place pecans in zipper baggie and let children beat them with the wooden spoon to break into small pieces.  Explain that after Jesus was arrested, He was Beaten by the Roman soldiers.  Read John 19:1-3.

Let each child smell the vinegar.  Put 1tsp vinegar into mixing bowl.  Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross, He was given vinegar to drink.  Read John 19:28-30.

Add egg whites to vinegar.  Eggs represent life.  Explain that Jesus gave His life to give us life.  Read John 10:10-11.

Sprinkle a little salt into each child's hand.  Let them taste it and brush the rest into the bowl.  Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus' followers, and the bitterness of our own sin.  Read Luke 23:27.

So far, the ingredients are not very appetizing.  Add 1 cup sugar.

Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us.  He wants us to know and belong to Him.  Read Psalm 34:8 and John 3:16.

Beat with a mixer on high speed for 12 to 15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed.  Explain that the color white represents the purity in God's eyes of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus.  Read Isaiah 1:18 and John 3:1-3.

Fold in broken nuts.  Drop by teaspoons onto wax paper covered cookie sheet.  Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus' body was laid.  Read Matthew 27:57-60.

 Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door and turn the oven OFF.  Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door.  Explain that Jesus' tomb was sealed.  Read Matthew 27:65-66.

GO TO BED!  Explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight.  Jesus' followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed.  Read John 16:20 and 22.

On Easter morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie.  Notice the cracked surface and take a bite.  The cookies are hollow!  On the first Easter, Jesus' followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty.  Read Matthew 28:1-9.

I hope making these simple cookies with your kiddos will help you  remember the choice He made for all of us and cause you to wonder......what will your response be?

Happy Easter!

p.s.  if you would like a cute photo how-to of making these check out The Lucky 7's blog.

One down..........a million to go!

Well, last Friday was the long awaited Swap Day. If you remember the last time I wrote I mentioned that I volunteered to organize a Meal Swap between myself and 4 other lovely ladies I know. We got together and spent time talking about what our families likes and doesn't like, any allergies we would need to know about, when and where we would swap and all of the other details involved in the swap. I am happy to report that we had a lovely time visiting and exchanging our frozen meals. I am excited to try each and every one of the meals the other ladies made. They all sound delicious. I finally got the new blog I created for the group up and running. (if you're curious, you can check it out here)

I love to host these wonderful ladies here at my house. It's a treat for me to share my gift for hospitality with them. One swap down....a million more to come as far as I am concerned. I can't wait. I am already working on my choices for the next swap.

I've had several requests for the dessert recipe I made for this last swap so I thought I would share it with all of you too. Feel free to adapt the ingredients if you wish to accomodate a more natural diet by using sucanat or other natural sugars and whole grain flours...I used whole wheat in mine.

Apple Bars

(Betty Crocker's Everything You Need to Know Cookbook)

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 large egg
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 2 small apples, peeled and chopped
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• Spice Glaze (below)

Heat oven to 350*. Grease bottom and sides of 9x13 pan.


Mix brown sugar, oil, milk and egg in large bowl. Stir in flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Stir in apples and walnuts. Spread in pan.

Bake about 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 30 minutes in pan on wire rack. Drizzle with Spice glaze. Cool completely. Cut into 2"x1.5" bars.

Spice Glaze  

• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1-2 Tbsp. apple juice or milk

Mix all ingredients until smooth and spreadable.

I love to make these after we've been apple picking at our local orchard. What a yummy autumn treat!

Mmmmm.......muffins!

Hi there-

My kids, like most, go through spurts where they will eat the same thing for breakfast every single morning day after day for weeks on end, then just when you have them all figured out they suddenly don't want that thing anymore. This is what it's been like in our house for the last few days, so in an effort to make something different than the norm for breakfast, I went searching through my favorite recipe website (http://www.allrecipes.com/) for ideas. That's when I came across a real winner. I just have to share this wonderful healthy recipe with you! You're going to love it.

Health Nut Blueberry Muffins
3/4 cup all purpose flour (I use unbleached)
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup oat bran
1/4 cup quick cooking oats (I used rolled)
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup blueberries (frozen works well)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 banana, mashed
1 cup buttermilk *
1 egg
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract

-Preheat oven to 350*F. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan, or line with paper muffin cups
-In a large bowl, stir together the flours, sugar, oat bran, oats, wheat germ, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Gently stir in the blueberries and nuts. In a separate bowl, mix together the mashed banana, buttermilk, egg, oil and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix just until blended. Spoon into muffin cups, filling all the way to the top.
-Bake for 15-18 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the tops of the muffins spring back when lightly touched.

*I substituted 1 cup of 1% milk with 1 Tbsp. lemon juice for the buttermilk and it worked great.

I've also swapped out the blueberries for 1 cup of pumpkin and added a little cinnamon and nutmeg and they were delicious! My kiddos liked them best, I think.

Now go enjoy some muffins with your tea! Mmmmmmmmmm............

Homemade Mayo...

What's for lunch? Hmmm...know what sounds good to me? A tuna sandwich on whole wheat bread with fresh tomato slices....mmmmmmm. Know what stinks? When you're imagining what it will taste like and your mouth actually begins to water so you go to the pantry, dig out the tuna, lightly toast your bread and reach for the mayo....................only to find that you have none. Drat! That's what happened to me a few days ago. I finally settled on peanut butter and jelly with my 6 yr old, but it wasn't the same. Nothing could have measured up to the taste of that tuna sandwich that day.

The subject of our being out of mayo came up several times in the following days until one day when I noticed a little cookbook on my shelf I hadn't used for quite a while. It's called Snackers by Maureen & Jim Wallace.

I made myself a cup of tea and settled in my chair for a browse of this little book. Full of helpful tips on eating healthy, whole foods and (as you can see on the cover just above) more than 200 recipes using REAL foods instead of the many highly (and overly) processed foods we are used to today. I was intrigued by their recipe for homemade mayonaise and given our lack of the particular item at that time, I decided to test it out. How bad could it be?

I've never made mayo before, but I am a very experienced cook and I can follow a recipe like nobody's business so I gathered my supplies. Simple really: an egg, apple cider vinegar, salt, ground mustard and paprika and oil. It took me literally about 2 minutes to make approximately 1 cup of mayo. Now the real test.....how did it taste? I have to say, I could not tell the difference in the texture at all and the flavor was wonderful! If you preferred to leave out the spices, I'm sure it would be just as good (I would leave in the salt though). I'll include the recipe here for you to try. I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

Homemade Mayo

Place in blender:
1 egg, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. ground mustard, 1/4 tsp. paprika, 1 1/2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice) and 1/4 cup oil.
Mix at low speed adding an additional 3/4 cup oil in a slow steady stream. Use a spatula to keep the mixture moving as it thickens until all oil is added.

Makes about 1 cup of lovely mayonaisse.

Well, it's been lovely chatting with you. I'm going to retire to the kitchen for a bit. I've got a tuna sandwich calling my name. You should whip up some of that mayo and join me in your kitchen. Tea anyone?

Blessings,