Baking from a Box

 

 

These delicious cookies are the compliments of cleaning

 off some shelves in the laundry room.

 

I emptied the cupboards along one wall of the laundry room

in preparation for installing new cabinets.

One of the cupboards held miscellaneous odds and ends

of cans, boxes, and other food stuff I do not access very often.

 

Obviously we had not accessed the cake mixes lately

because when I had them all laid out I counted them and found:

 17 cake mixes, 2 brownie mixes, 1 scone mix, a box of stuffing,

and a Lasagna Hamburger Helper I use in soup.

 

Except for the stuffing and Hamburger Helper, they were all given to us by my mom. 
 Being the Grandma that she is, she likes to buy things for us that are
treats for the kids and/or things I would not typically buy for our family.
You know, things like: Pop Tarts, chips, candy, kids' cereals, and cake mixes.
My family loves to see what is in Grandma's bags of goodies when she comes to visit.

Anyways...I decided I needed to use up some of the cake mixes so I made:
Cake Mix Cookies
This is the recipe that Bethany used when I first taught her how to make cookies
and it's one we return to now and then when speed is essential
or we just want something a little different.

Cake Mix Cookies

2 boxes of cake mix (pudding type, any flavor)                 2 eggs

2/3 C. margarine, melted                                                   1 1/2 C. chocolate chips

1/4 C. water

 

In a large bowl, combine cake mixes, margarine, water, and eggs.  Dough will be stiff.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Roll into good size balls and place on a cookie sheet.  Bake for 8 minutes at 350*. 

You can mix and match cake mixes such as: Red Velvet with Chocolate (cuts down on the red a little), or Chocolate with a Yellow Funfetti.  A carrot cake mix can have raisins added instead of chocolate chips or M&M's can be added to a chocolate cake. Red Velvet Cookies are pretty rolled in powdered sugar and then baked.  Be creative!

 



{Red Velvet/Chocolate rolled in powdered sugar

and Yellow Funfetti with chocolate chips}

 

*********************

There is a funny family story that goes along with these cookies:

 

When I was growing up, we never used mixes for anything.

We always baked from scratch which certainly tasted better and was probably healthier.

My dad, in particular, was opposed to the taste of things that came from a box.

 

A few years ago we were at a park and I had a container of Cake Mix Cookies

along to go with our picnic.  My dad was particularly enjoying these cookies

and returned multiple times to sample the delights.

He finally stated, "These are really good cookies."

Knowing his aversion to cake mixes,

I laughingly informed him that they were made from a mix

and that he was not allowed to take back his words of praise.

 

He survived the experience but when those cookies are around

 we often remind him that he should not

be enjoying the cookies that came from a cake mix.

 

 

 



 



 

Finding the Plumb Line

 

I guess I have lived just long enough to have seen enough extremes and fads pass before my eyes.  That may say something about my age or it may say something about how long it takes the pendulum to swing from one side to the other.  It seems like that swing encompasses the generation to generation exchange of about 20 years.



When I was in college, the big trend in teaching was toward writing.  A child was to be encouraged to write without regard for punctuation, spelling, or any other form of mechanics that would bog them down.  Writing was emphasized in classes outside the English department.  By the time my children has begun school, the educational pendulum had swung toward testing. Educators had figured out that being creative did not create a prepared work force.  Art, music, and other enrichment classes were then dropped and everything centered around doing well on standardized tests. 

Before I had children, there were certain "movements" that emerged that had prescribed child raising methods. If you do A, B, and C then your child(ren) will turn out just right.

If the parents did things perfectly then the children would turn out perfect.

The fruit was often hurt souls and rebellion so now the pendulum has swung toward grace and self actualization.

 

In the past, the church at large, was inwardly focused.  They had their own agendas that took up their time and energy.  Their doctrine and its implantation was their focus.

Now the swing is toward taking care of people's needs clear to the four corners of the world. The only doctrine that is needed is to take care of the poor and to place the lonely in families. Come as you are, no change is necessary, is now the overreaching mantra in response to an overbearing hierarchy that would only see benefit in doing things their way.

 

 

When home schooling first showed up on the fringe of education, it was viewed with great suspicion.  The passage of time showed it to be a viable means of educating well-rounded children.  Then it became the only means (in certain minds) for Christian families to raise their children.  No matter what challenges faced a particular family or the availability of other perfectly good alternatives, it was the one and only way to go. 

As the ideas of how a typical home school family looks and operates have changed

so has the realization that this method is not for every devout family.

 

 

Not all of the ideas developed in the swinging of the pendulum (either way) are bad;

some of them are very good and the proper response when things have gone wrong.

It will be interesting to see when the pendulum swings the other way in many areas of life

and what the extreme response will be in each situation.

We see it not just in our own lives but also in the government and their interaction with other countries, the courts, and in ministries.

 

 

In responding to one extreme, people often loose their common sense.

They forget to stop the pendulum in the middle and often ride clear to the other side.

My encouragement is that we learn to jump off before we hit the other extreme.

 

If home schooling does not work for you, then find an alternative.

If your private or public school does not work for you, then take a look at home schooling.

 

If an educational method focuses on one extreme then you will not produce a well rounded adult.  If a method emphasizes testing over character then something needs to change.

 

If the church's only mission is to care for physical needs then it might as well be a governmental agency.  If the church only spends its energy focusing inward

then it needs a broader outlook on the mission it has been given.

 

If parenting were a step-by-step process that worked the same for every child and every

family then someone should have figured out the magic formula by now.

 

God gave us common sense.  We need to use it.

If something does not line up with all of scripture, then we need to take a step back,

and sometimes step off that particular train.

We need balance: grace and truth mixed together in equal amounts,

freedom and restraint bound together.

 

With God's word as the plumb line, let us not stray far from the center.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moving Through the Days in 10 Easy Steps

 

 

1. My right hand went AWOL and I sure missed it.  It is really hard to do things one-handed and the pain was very exhausting. I am thankful things got better in just a few days. This is how I looked after Miss T fixed my hair for me one morning:

On second thought, my hair never tends to be very well behaved, so I probably look like this most of the time anyways.

2.  Miss T is busy taking pictures of flowers for her Spring Festival project.  Some of her positions while taking pictures are worthy of being photographed:

 

3.  The almond orchards are beautiful; it's like looking at a sea of white.  Our beautiful weather almost makes me feel guilty when I hear of the east and Midwest getting yet another winter storm.

4.  Our neighbor's chicken left us a gift under the edge of our deck.  Rudy carefully checked them all and quickly fried up a treat.

{fried rice}

 

5.  This is what our oldest kids look like after a weekend sleepover that included very little sleep and lots of hard work and hard play:

 

6.  My dryer also went AWOL the DAY AFTER the sale was finished and I had not ordered a new laundry set.  Part of my hesitation was fueled by indecision and part by having to store the new set until the laundry room project is finished (it's not even started yet!).  Amazon Prime came through with our new element and we were back to our laundry routine.

 

7.  It rained quite a bit.  Praise the Lord!

 

8.  My guys gave the kitchen floor a good scrub.  I'm glad they have a daddy that knows how to "do" floors.

 



 



9.  This smart guy had the highest individual scores on the Academic Decathlon team from his charter school:

 

10.  Simply because I could not resist sharing two of the pictures I came across while compiling pictures for a graduation slide show:

How did the years slip by so fast?

 

**************

Sometimes Biblical understanding gets a little convoluted around here.

We were reading in 2nd grade history about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln

praying for their country.  My student piped up with, "Wow! They knew God too?

I didn't know God was that old."