God Sent Us a Savior

If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us a doctor.

If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist.

If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist.

If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer.

But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.

- Roy Lessin

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I finished finals! Thank God! Hallelujah! I am home for a whole MONTH! There are so many exciting and fun things happening over break, so I will be sure to post about them as they happen. One of my favorite things to do when I get home is to bake. My guilty pleasure/stress reliever at school is to peruse through all types of baking blogs and find recipes that I want to try when I go home. So, when I got home on Tuesday, I was bored and sitting around the house waiting for my siblings to get home from school. (Why were they in school in the first place? They knew I was coming home. They should have skipped and thrown me a celebration...because I was home AND finished with exams. What were they thinking?!)

Anyways, I had already had some delicious Nutella and a big lunch, so I decided that I needed a lighter dessert. I settled with these from Skinny Taste which is this awesome website for recipes that are lighter, yet still tasteful. One of my personal favorite aspects of this site is the nutrition information that is posted for each recipe.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

2 tbsp. butter

1/2 cup white granulated sugar

1/2 cup unpacked brown sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups quick oats

3/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line the cookie sheet with aluminum foil.

In a bowl, stir flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon to get your dry ingredients.

Next, mix together the butter (after you soften it) and the sugars. Add in the egg and vanilla. Tada! Wet ingredients.

Combine the oats into the flour and stir to mix it all together. Yum, I love oatmeal in the colder months.

Then combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and completely mix. Add the chocolate chips.

Use a tablespoon scoop to scoop them onto the cookie sheet and place in the oven for 8-10 minutes until the edges are golden brown.

I like the lightness of the cookie. It is light on butter and substitutes applesauce in to make the cookies moist. The combination of the cinnamon with the applesauce with the chocolate is pretty darn good if you ask me. And, you cannot go wrong with oatmeal. Enjoy! Hopefully, I will be able to post some more of my creations that result from my baking adventures over break :)

This recipe makes about 28 cookies.

My Music Mania

Little Bird by Ed Sheeran 

listen. just do it.

Andes Mint Cookies

Christmas is 15 days away! I could not be so excited. I only have two more exams left, but they will be my hardest ones. So to give me some motivation to push through, I thought I'd post this recipe, in anticipation of Christmas baking!!!

I made Andes Mint cookies a few weeks ago when I was home for Thanksgiving. The cookies were soft and moist and full of the delectable little mint chocolate chips. They also stored well. Personally, I think I need more chocolate in my desserts, but that could be because I'm a chocoholic. I would definitely recommend making these for a cookie exchange or for a night of movie watching! I originally found this recipe from one of my favorite baking blogs, Nutmeg. You can find the link here. It's also on the back of the Andes Mint packages, so you will have it with you!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (one stick) butter (softened - I popped it in the microwave for a few seconds)
3/4 cup of brown sugar (I used light brown)
1/2 cup of sugar
2-2/3 cups of flour
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. vanilla
1 10 ounce package of Andes Mint Baking Chips

Before baking, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Then blend together the butter, sugars, eggs, baking soda, baking powder, and vanilla.

Then add the Andes chips and the flour until thoroughly combined. Your dough should look something like this deliciousness:

Place balls of dough on the cookie sheet and bake until browned around the edges. I think mine took around 8 minutes.

This is what they should look like when you take them out of the oven. :)

Yum. I love the combination of chocolate and mint. The texture of these cookies is what really got me. Moist and delicious!! Merry Christmas everyone!

The Weekend in Pictures

Friday: frisbee, White Christmas at the Paramount, Phi Mu, Chi Alpha land

Saturday: prayer, baking, hanging with the house, sampling desserts, Abundant Life Banquet, Christmas Dessert Party

 

Reminders

Today is a reading day, which means that there is absolutely NOTHING that I have to do. Good. 

Today is a reading day, which means that exams start tomorrow. Eek. Shriek. Run?

Notes to self:

1. God is God and I am not. Phew. He is in control of this next week. 

2. A week from now, I will be completely done with my third semester of college and halfway through my second year. That is absolutely crazy. Slow.down. I am not ready to be a second semester second year. Enjoy the time that you have here, even if it is spent in the midst of studying and stress. 

3. I have awesome friends. I had an incredible weekend. A huge part of me is really sad to leave Charlottesville, which makes me think back to first year and realize how much has changed. I could not get out of here fast enough. I am thankful for how God has placed wonderful people in my life to change my perception and perspective at school and in this culturally rich city. 

4. Be thankful for the stud. Fireplaces, food 3 times a day, all my favorite people, and encouragement, all centered around the acknowledgment and reminder that Jesus is life, not grades, not success. 

Oh, and in case, you haven't noticed by now. I tend to make lists a lot. You might as well get used to it.

Philippians 4:6 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."