The Days Ahead

Sometimes, I think I could wish my life away; this is one of those times. If wishes really took us places that were tangible and real, I could for certain wish today away. I wish I could take you to a memory that is safe and keep you there forever. I wish I could stop time the day we realized what friends we were and keep you from harm. I wish I could keep you in the balmy crisp days of summer. I wish I could have taken you with me. I wish I could protect you from every person who has tried and succeeded to break your heart. I wish I could keep your heart from breaking. I wish I could take away your pain and wear it myself. I wish I could catch every tear before it seeped through your eyelashes and spilled onto your porcelain cheek. I wish I had all the right words to soothe you. I wish things were not as they are. I wish you were closer. I wish I was closer. I wish I could make everything better again, that I could make the thunderous roar of the storm turn mute and warm you with sunshine.

But I can’t. I cannot save you. I am glad I can’t. If all my wishes turned true, you would not understand life, or the beautiful gift of grace and redemption that our Savior has given us. If I could save you, you would have no need for Jesus, and neither would I. My best friend…I really do wish I could go back to this day...







…and stay there a while. But then what use would we have for the days ahead of us? Let’s explore them dear friend, though they may be filled with pain, they also hold hope of joy. I love you.

The Joy in Baking

Something to know about me is that I love to cook, and especially to bake. It is very therapeutic to me and I find great joy in being able to create using food. I would like to say that cooking is my hobby.

I found a picture of a most beautiful dessert that I wanted to try, but I must admit it looked to be a daunting task. The picture was just so perfect! I decided to put my baking skills to the test, and came up with this...

The only thing different about my cake from the original, is that is is slightly sloping downward on one side and the piping is not the greatest (I am not perfect). I thought I would add the recipe here and some of my suggestions for the recipe seeing as this was a big hit at a bbq I attended. It is a great summer dessert full of light, lemon, and fresh fruit flavor.

Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Torte

Ingredients:
1 package (16 oz) pound cake plus ingredient to make cake
2 lemons
1 ½ cups boiling water
2 packages lemon gelatin
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese
1/3 cup cold milk
1 container (12 oz) frozen whipped topping (thawed)
1 package cheesecake instant pudding mix
1 kiwi, peeled, sliced and cut in half
1 cup blueberries

Directions:
1. Prepare cake according to package directions.
Line a 10X15 pan with parchment paper. Pour batter into pan, spread evenly. When done, cool 10 minutes by taking the edges of the parchment paper and lifting out of pan.
2. Zest lemon in small bowl and set aside. Juice both lemons. Pour boiling water into small bowl, add gelatin and 3 Tbsp of lemon juice; reserve excess for filling. Stir gelatin until dissolved.
3. Invert cooled cake onto cutting board. Remove paper. Prick cake at ½ inch intervals with a toothpick. Slowly spoon gelatin mixture over cake, making sure to reserve about 2 tbsp of mixture. Trim cake ¼ inch around the edges and discard. Cut the cake crosswise into 3 equal layers.
4. In a bowl, combine cream cheese and 2 Tbsp lemon juice. Whisk together. Add milk and whisk until smooth. Spoon whipped topping over cream cheese mixture, and sprinkle pudding mix over as well. Mix all ingredients together using a rubber spatula. (mixture will be thick).
5. Place 1 layer of cake on a platter. Using a cake decorating bag and tip, fill with cream cheese mixture and pipe a straight border around edges. Place 3-4 scoops of filling in the middle and spread evenly to border. Top with second layer of cake and repeat. For third layer, pipe a decorative border around edge, spread evenly with remaining filling in center.
6. Arrange kiwi slices on cake. Add blueberries to reserved gelatin mixture (if it has settled, microwave for 5-10 seconds). Spoon blueberries over top, sprinkle with reserved zest. Garnish if desired.

My suggestions:
To make this cake slightly not as bad for you, I used sugar free fat free jell-o mix and sugar free fat free pudding mix. I also used Cool Whip "free" and 1/3 less fat cream cheese (neufchatel). A 10X15 pan is a rather large pan, but I used a 7 1/2 by 11 1/2 (ish) pan and my cake was still very thick (a little more than an inch) and I had to cut each layer in half almost. I would suggest using a large shallow baking pan to bake the cake in. If you do not own a piping bag/decorating tip for the piping work, you can buy a cake decorating tip at any craft store for about 99 cents, and then you can cut the tip of a ziploc bag to creat a homemade decorating bag.

Let me know how it turns out if you decide to make it and/or if you have suggestions of your own :)

*recipe revised from one I found in a pampered chef cook book

Numero Uno

I guess I will explain the title of my blog to start out with, that seems like the thing to do. It comes from a piece of Romans 14:4 where Paul is discussing the weak and the strong.

"To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand."

Isn't it lovely that we do not have to worry about completely falling because the Lord is able to make us stand? We do not have to questions whether we will stand or fall in any circumstance because we will stand. Even when you think you have hit rock bottom, you have not. God catches his loved ones before they are consumed by the fire.

I can not do it alone. I am able to stand because he is able to do it.