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Valie

recipes

Hershey’s chocolate cake recipe (SO GOOD)

October 22, 2020

This is the most magical chocolate cake recipe in all the land… (hence the sparkles ;)) It has been requested at my house numerous times per year. My family goes crazy for it, this cake, but I’m not sure they realize the recipe comes entirely from the back of the Hershey’s cocoa box!

Hershey’s truly did a fantastic job with this one. We had it again tonight and it was, as always, a huge winner. (Well, at least for those of us who were partaking of sugar, ha! I can’t believe I did this, but I ACCIDENTALLY tasted a tiny bite of cake when I went to ice it. I totally forgot I was eliminating sugar this month. Really! )

Here’s the link if you ever need it:

https://www.hersheys.com/…/hersheys-perfectly-chocolate…

faith

the best promise ever made

October 22, 2020

From 3000 years ago to today (and many years more!), the heavens have reminded us of the BEST, happiest promise God ever made to mankind- that an eternal kingdom given by God would rule forever:

“..Once for all I have sworn by my holiness

I will not lie to David.

His offspring shall endure forever,

his throne as long as the sun before me.

Like the moon it shall be established forever,

a faithful witness in the skies…”

—Psalm 89:35-37, written by Ethan the Ezrahite, circa 970 BC or earlier.

Just 300 years or so later, more details were given about this eternal kingship: one righteous man would reign as King:

1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,

and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

2 And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,

the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and might,

the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.

3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,

or decide disputes by what his ears hear,

4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,

and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,

and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,

and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

—Isaiah 11, written by the prophet circa 700 BC.

And about 700 years later, a perfect and just man, God’s very own Son, came to earth to conquer and cast out the ruler of this world, Satan, and to free the prisoners from their slavery of sin and death. He did so by dying himself to pay for the sins of His people, and He conquered Satan by doing God’s will in bringing many sons to glory, into fellowship with Him. Now He is reigning from heaven and offers salvation freely to anyone who desires it. He testifies of this in a promise vision to John who wrote the book of Revelation:

I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. —Revelation 22:16-17, by vision of John circa AD 95.

Jesus, the reigning King of all, God’s righteous Son, is the one who satisfies my thirst today- that longing in my soul that cannot be satisfied otherwise. He is the living water, the one promised by God to make all things right in the world. He is my hope and salvation, the true and faithful one who has never failed and will never fail. His kingdom will reign for now and forevermore. One day- a day not so far from everyone of us- the night will be no more, and those who love and obey Him will be with Him forever and ever.

So while you still can see both the sun and moon, I implore you to hear Jesus’ most wonderful invitation:

“Come.”

reviews

a new toy: the calmdo air fryer

October 19, 2020

Tonight we made our first air fryer dinner ever: rosemary garlic potatoes (red, yellow, and purple ones!!), cauliflower, and chicken seasoned with Everything Bagel Crunch. I really loved the crispy potatoes the most! (Carbs are always good, ha!) Now I just need to find a few good recipes. 🙂

The CalmDo air fryer did an excellent job evenly “frying” my meal. I’m excited to use it more!

life: everyday

it’s never too late…

December 1, 2019

After teaching weightlifting (BODYPUMP) this morning, I filmed myself teaching for a new certification in BODYFLOW. Something about recording a video makes me nervous every time, even though I’ve been teaching fitness classes for years! Learning something new like a new exercise format is always challenging but exciting too. I loved being in school; I guess still love reaching a tangible goal to this day. 🙂

After teaching for nearly two hours straight, I grabbed a cup of coffee on the way home and made it until mid-afternoon for a somewhat celebratory steak dinner. It was fabulous. 🙂

On the way home, we stopped by the grocery store where I couldn’t resist purchasing eggnog (again). Eggnog is a common holiday drink in the U.S. that tastes like melted spiced ice cream. Every other year I have a craving to try it again, even though I’ve never ever liked it! ha. This year was the first time in my life that I not only found it drinkable, but wait for it… even tasty!

Lesson learned today? It’s never too late to try new things. 🙂

life: everyday

thanksgiving 2019

November 30, 2019

We had a most wonderful Thanksgiving at our house this year. I made the turkey using a new recipe: instead of baking it in the early morning, I put it in the oven at 11 p.m. Wednesday and had it roast on 200 degrees through the night. It changed my entire holiday cooking experience. I didn’t have to worry about the turkey being undercooked, and when we went to slice it, it was fall off the bone tender! It reminded me of Pakistan: the meat is extraordinarily delicious there because they salt it, then cook it for an extended length of time. I’ve decided I need to try cooking all my meats that way from now on. 🙂



Uncategorized

welcome

May 15, 2019

Welcome to this little corner of the www. I am so thankful you’re here! I hope you find inspiration and encouragement as we walk through life together.