Jesus' Brownie/Ice Cream Birthday Cake

  It's time for a Birthday Cake for Jesus. It needs to be our best and it needs to be special. We've done various things over the years (search if you'd like to see). Our Birthday family favorite cake is....Mike's Famous Ice Cream Cake. The younger two Gherkins want to decorate the top.....we thought of making a traditional cake...but Mike came up with this idea; which we executed together.

Cross, heart, blood at hands/feet, soldier with sword 

Bake your favorite brownies in a spring form pan. I like these (minus the peanut butter/honey) or Moosewood Brownies.  In any event

Preheat oven to 325*.

Mix up a batch of brownies. If using a prepared box mix get the 8x8 one.....eyeball it if using from scratch brownies (really depends on how much brownie YOU want).  If you have extra brownie mix make some Brownie Bites or a few Brownie Bombs.

Pour into a spring form pan - choose your size. I used 10 in and am baking 35* and checking.

Cool Brownie.

Top with 1/2 gal of favorite ice cream.

Scatter a lay of mix ins: hot fudge, hard shell, crumbled cookies, candy bits.

Top with another 1/2 gal of ice cream.

Personally, I would have added many more goodies between the layers of ice cream but this was RICH as was! 

Top with hard shell etc.....we let the kids decorate this as it's for Jesus' Birthday.

Freeze - overnight is best. We just did it for the day and it was fine.  It was YUMMY!

Remove from freezer 5 min before serving (unless, of course, you made this together Christmas a.m. to eat Christmas night).


Choosing Joy!
©2011 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Merry Christmas Y'all!

Choosing Joy!
©2011 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

The Gift of a Christmas Verse

I met Ginger when she was serving on Kadena Air Base's PWOC board.  She is a jewel. 

She suggests giving the gift of a Christmas Verse to each of our family members. I read this late and so may not have it done by tomorrow...but love the whole idea. I HAVE had and prayed special verses for each child and Michael through the years...but I've never made them a "gift" to share.  Ginger's idea of asking God to give you a verse from the Christmas story for each person is great. Read for yourself.  Ginger even offers suggestions for those of us who are behind the curve ball.  I've been working on this and don't know that I'll have 11 picked out - but I enjoyed thinking and reading this a.m. 

I LOVE Ginger's idea of keeping a little photo album with the verses we are praying for our children. I have these written in a journal but a little book could be nice....or maybe one more thing to keep track of. Anyway - check out the link. 

Ginger has another fun idea for a Christmas - A Grab Bag....

I haven't limited myself to the Christmas story. 2014

Choosing Joy!
©2011 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Double Chocolate Hot Cocoa Mix

Arielle and I have been busy today. Doing THIS....

Why? Because we are going to fill these jars with Double Chocolate Hot Cocoa Mix..... You can find the original recipe (more details), photos and directions at The Yummy Life Blog.  I plan to begin following this blog. I will go ahead and post the recipe as I've learned that links often disappear. Monica has other mixes too.

INGREDIENTS - makes 6 cups

• 2 C powdered sugar
• 1 C unsweetened cocoa (Dutch-process recommended)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 1 pinch of cayenne pepper
• 3 C non-fat dry milk powder
• 1 C mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

• Mix sugar and cocoa
• Add salt, cornstarch, and cayenne
• Add powdered milk 
• Add chocolate chips
• Store in air tight container

Monica suggests mixing it in a food processor. I don't have one. This worked well. 

Pour into jars

ONE MUG OF CHOCOLATE:  Fill 1/3 - 1/2 of mug with cocoa mix. Add hot water or milk and stir until mix is dissolved. 

POSSIBLE ADDITIONS: 

• Dissolve a caramel or such in a mug. 
• Add 1T to a cup of Chai Tea. 
• Top with marshmallows or whipped cream and sprinkle with cinnamon, shaved chocolate, or crushed candy canes.
• For a mocha drink, add a shot of espresso before the hot liquid. 
• For spiced cocoa, add 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice to mug.
• Spike with a T of peppermint/vanilla etc  flavorings
• Add a cinnamon stick or candy cane.

Monica has several choices of printable tags and beautiful photos on her blog. Of course, it wasn't as easy as expected here in Northern Japan. I couldn't find cayenne pepper. I couldn't find Dutch-Processed cocoa. I couldn't find card stock or sticker paper. I ended up using origami paper to cover the lids and am hoping that the tags with a rubber band will work.  I can't face attaching them all with mod podge. LOL NO Christmas wrap or ribbon at the local stores.....and I'm not about to drive to the base on these icy roads. LOL

One thing about a home-made gift from ME - you ALWAYS know it's home-made and not purchased. LOL 

After all this, I'm short. I made 8 batches. I'll need to buy some more jars...don't think I can face more Mod Podge...have I said that already....we may go with naked jars. 

The proof is in the tasting and the kids tell me this is "Much better than Ghiradeli!"  Michael and I like this too. It's tastes like a glass of HOT COCOA made on the stove with milk. Yummmy. I'm happy; controlling the ingredients is a bonus. Even Zander can have this. We had switched to Ahlaska or Ghiradeli due to ingredients for him.  I'm going to have to be careful as drinking too much caffeine will give me a migraine - which is why I use Rooibos Chai these days. I found it fairly easy to resist the Ghiradeli and Ahlaska.  

If you're local, yes, you may well be getting a jar...and if you aren't local....here's a little virtual gift. Make yourself a batch, have a cuppa on me.

Choosing Joy!
©2011 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Tastes Like Chicken

Stick with me and the title will EVENTUALLY make sense. 

I finally accepted the snow was not going to go away and that I would simply have to buck up and drive in it. NO ONE would drive WITH me - except Stacia. We wanted to get some groceries, some comfort food.....roast, chili, chicken pot pie fixins...... 

We braved the roads and got all the way to the gate when I realized I had left the wallet (with my id and CAMERA) at home. This happens from time to time when 40 something or others  alternate between online and local shopping. ::grin::  I was NOT going to take 30 min to get back home and then 30 min to get back to base (Yes, I DO drive like a granny in the winter and THAT is why I have had two accidents over here with minimal damage!). We went to Universe and Homac with our list. 

We decided to have Gyudon, Yakisoba and Ramen instead. ::snort:: We didn't find everything we needed (Michael and Jared did a quick run for us on their way home).  The funny thing about shopping on the economy is that I'm never 100% sure what I have.....tonight I had mystery meat in the yakisoba.....not sure what it was but it "tastes like chicken" and that works for us. LOL 

After amusing myself brainstorming most the morning, I had hoped to collect all these ingredients to make nifty little hot chocolate mixes for friends. Can't find Cayenne Pepper anywhere - off or on base..... I DID find little jars...but no card stock or sticker paper to make labels. I may have to use the mod podge stuff.....can't be TOO HARD! What could go wrong?  I thought of making vanilla or peppermint liqueur....but realized I don't have the time...which had me picturing the chaplains' wife passing out bottles of vodka and beans/candy canes. 

I have come up with a way to make "American Rice Balls" for our Japanese friends. I'll let you know if it works. I'm thinking Rice Krispy treat in a ball. ::snort:: 

In other words the day was fairly relaxed....the kids played, we planned and that's about it. 

Choosing Joy!
©2011 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Yukisan - 001

We were told the Japanese word for  "snowman" was "yukisan" (YOU KEY SAN).  Akiksosan has since corrected us numerous times. The correct word for snowman is "yukidaruma" (YOU KEY DA DLU MA).  Try as I might I can never remember yukidaruma without looking it up. ::snort::  Yukisan is sweet....and so we name our snowmen - Yukisan. This year in an effort to keep them straight I will number them throughout the winter/spring. LOL

Three families of neighborhood kids worked together to construct Yuikisan 001. Our children are the constants,  others came and went as they could.  (We find our  Christmas traditions make us much less stressed than the typical family this time of year - we have more time to play in the snow). ::grin::  See our First Japanese Christmas here and if you're a new reader you can read our thoughts about our  "Quirky Christmas Celebrations" too.

Nolan, Arielle, Zander and family A add finishing touches

Our kids and Family B pose with Yukisan

Yukisan 001

God continues to speak sweet thoughts to me about how to live a life that says WELCOME to those around me, especially to strangers, those outside His family.  As the kids moved their play around the block to the "sledding hill" our "Farmer who is really a Veterinarian" creates for them each year, I moved inside.

GREAT MELODRAMA

Sledding Hill will grow as the season continues

 I know the kids thought wimpy, tropically raised mom was COLD...and I WAS.....but an idea was also stirring in my heart. Family A had come inside yesterday for hot chocolate, snacks and games.  We don't know Family B and C well enough today to invite the kids in (one we don't know parents; the other isn't comfortable with their children coming inside)......I looked for a thermos and couldn't find it. I couldn't find hot cups either.  I was going to bake cookies but feared I'd miss the opportunity. I found a Polish Pottery tea pot, made a big pot of hot chocolate, grabbed some plastic cups and joined the kids.  I told them to stick the cups in the snow when they got hot. ::snort:: It worked. I'd best go buy some "supplies" and not risk my one  Polish Pottery pot outside very often.

Hot Chocolate Break

I've deleted lots of  words....and am debating what to say.  I have an insider view of interaction in the neighborhood and I'm seeing that we have a very rough pack of gals bullying tween boys. I noted trouble earlier but thought it was all Zander's perceptions. He IS socially awkward and his perceptions are usually "off" (it's a spectrum thing)....but it's not only Zander. There's another boy obviously targeted. This winter I plan lots of love and relationship building. Maybe some sort of segregated clubs....not sure....maybe Arielle would be willing to head up some sort of "nice young lady" club or mentoring program...since the roughest are younger than she. Certainly not ALL the young ladies in our neighborhood are like this - but several (5) are.  We want to use the opportunity we've been graced with to show a different type of family interaction. We want to live His love for these kids...be His hands and feet....and I want to see results NOW. ::snort:: 

I am deleting the rest of this post. ::snort:: But to be clear, I am NOT saying young women should be second class or doormats,  or give in to male aggression etc ....I am saying it is not good to teach young boys to hit aggressive girls and girls it's o.k. to bully younger boys (as is the case) Honestly - parents raised in a pack mentality, raising young children will end up with this sort of thing. Why would we expect anything different? Why would I expect Christian values from non-Christian families?  I see the power of legacy as I watch the various legacies being lived out in these families.   I'm asking God to show us how we can impact these families and children....how we can be used to show a new norm. We ALL should be showing more grace and kindness - male or female.  It was atypical 20 years ago, when we began parenting, to worry  a girl would beat up your child (either gender) while they were playing.  Enough said - praying about how God will use our family in this setting...as HE placed us here.  I would love insight or suggestions of ideas to reach out...while protecting the hearts of our children as well.

Choosing Joy!
©2011 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Strange Sighting

G'ma strikes again! ::snort:: 

Can you tell what it is? It's a straw!!!! that wraps around your face and makes glasses....Stacia reports it to be a strange feeling to drink from it. ::snort::

And Deja, WOW.....you WARNED me. I put the seasoning into a glass jar for safer keeping as you warned me it was potent.....and I sniffed a bit...began to cough, sneeze, sinus' cleared all afternoon.....must have gotten some on my fingers which led to flushing my eyes. The boys were in the room and now have cleared sinus' too. What a WONDER....we can make turkey sausage AND clear our sinus' all winter. Thank you, my friend! We'll think of you with joy each time we use it.  I'm wondering if HEB ships. LOL

Choosing Joy!
©2011 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...