Showing posts with label hope. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hope. Show all posts

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Day #54: Wheat Germ, Banana & Pumpkin Seed Muffins


Hello Friends! I am back from my short blogging break and ready to hop right back into our 100 muffins in 100 days adventure. Today I decided to make a super-healthy, packed-full-of-good-stuff, muffin-Wheat Germ, Banana, and Pumpkin Seeds. I added a heaping tablespoon of cinnamon to give these cuties extra flavor and to hide all the healthy stuff from my toddler ;-). They turned out great, and I even shared this healthy snack with my friend's Zumba class (Latin Dance/Exercise).
Tomorrow's Muffin: Blackberry Crumble

I encourage you to see the newly released movie, "Letters To God." My hubby and I went to see it on Friday night, and it was AMAZING. My heart has still not emotionally recovered from it. It was produced by Christian producers who worked on the movies, Fireproof and Facing the Giants. One thing that I was left with from the movie is that "HOPE IS CONTAGIOUS".
God has been teaching me over the past few months to daily put my HOPE in His promises & His unfailing Love. Some days I am pretty good at surrendering my fears, doubts, worries, and burdens in exchange for God's Hope. Some days...not so much...I fail miserably and walk around "hopeless". But the truth is, I am never without HOPE because I am never without God.

Psalm 130:5 "I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and ...in his word I put my hope."
"Hope is the thing with feathers - that perches in the soul - and sings the tune without words - and never stops, at all." Emily Dickinson.
My prayer for you is that you daily put your HOPE in God and that Your Hope spreads to everyone around you.
Thanks for reading my friends. You are prayed for and loved!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wheat Germ, Banana, & Pumpkin Seed Muffins

Ingredients:
oil or melted butter, for greasing (if using)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 cup superfine sugar
2 cups wheat germ
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
2 bananas
2 large eggs
2/3 cup skim milk
6 tbsp canola oil
1 tbsp cinnamon (my addition)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Farenheit. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan or line with 12 muffin paper liners.

Sift together the flour and baking powder in a large bowl. Stir in the sugar, wheat germ, and 1/4 cup of the pumpkin seeds.

Mash the bananas and put in a pitcher. Make up the puree to 1 cup with the milk.

Lightly beat the eggs in a large bowl, then beat in the banana, milk mixture and oil. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the beaten liquid ingredients. Stir gently until just combined; do not overmix.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pan. Sprinkle the remaining pumpkin seeds over the tops of the muffins. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, until well risen, golden brown, and firm to the touch. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes,then serve warm or transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Friday, November 6, 2009

HOPE and Wedding Baking Bliss!



May the God of hope fill you with all joy.
ROMANS 15:13 NIV

Today, I have been filled with HOPE. Hope in the Future God has for me! Hope in New Beginnings for two wonderful friends who are getting remarried tomorrow. Hope in the promise of the Joy that is found in the Presence of God. Psalm 16:11 says, "In His presence there is fullness of joy!" Yesterday, I was blessed with the opportunity to share my testimony/Savannah's story at the Feature Luncheon for our Women's Ministry at Church. I was quite overwhelmed beforehand as public speaking is totally not my thing. However, thanks to the prayers of my wonderful friends and God's amazing PEACE, I was able to share my heart with calmness and composure. This was the first time that I had spoken my "story" out loud, and as I was preparing it, many tears were shed. I am so thankful for this opportunity because it truly brought healing to my heart to talk about all the amazing ways that God has shown me His love this past year.

"Hope is more than a word; it's a state of being. It's a firm belief God will come through. Life brings rain. Hope turns every drop into the power to bloom like never before."-Holley Gerth

I pray that the rain in your life today brings forth beautiful blooms tomorrow!





I have included pictures of the wedding cake that I made for our amazing friends-my first attempt at decorating a cake for a wedding. I love the Jewel-toned Fall roses-they make me smile. The bottom three layers of the cake are (from-scratch) yellow butter cake with (from-scratch) caramel icing. The top layer is homemade chocolate cake. The icing is Wilton's recipe chocolate buttercream: http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Chocolate-Buttercream-Icing-1. I got the recipes for the cakes out of my new favorite cookbook-SOUTHERN CAKES http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0811853705?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwnanciemder-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0811853705



Thursday, September 3, 2009

Empty Hands and a Heart Full of Hope


I often tend to hold onto things and carry burdens as if they are mine alone to bear. Specifically, I have been holding onto the grief and loss of Savannah pretty tightly over the last few weeks. A year ago last month, we received the fatal "triploidy" diagnosis, and that is when the grieving process began for me. Now, I often find myself aching with a hurt that is indescribable because I miss holding her in my arms. My baby girl would be 10 1/2 months old, and I wonder if she would be crawling, babbling, etc..."I know" that I am not supposed to carry such a heavy burden alone. "I know" that God longs to take the burden from me. So, my prayer today and over the next few weeks is that I can keep giving this burden back to Him until there is no longer any grief left in my heart to hand over to Him. And, once I have done that....I can't wait to see what amazing gift He places in my empty hands :-)!
The following verse has become my strength throughout the past year because it reminds me that God promises to give me HOPE, and it is something that I can ask for over and over again!

Jeremiah 29:11" For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

"Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all." Emily Dickinson