Made to Crave

In the South, we like our food.

We celebrate with our favorite meal...we bring food to a family that is celebrating a new life or grieving one lost...we fellowship over it...food is kinda a big deal.

As with most Januarys, any number of people are making the decision to change the way they relate to food...believe it or not, that is why our country is tipping the scales. It's not just because we are moving less, food has become way more than it ever intended to be.

Lysa TerKeurst newest offering, Made to Crave, addresses the missing link between a woman's desire to be healthy and the spiritual empowerment necessary to make that happen.

The reality is we were made to crave.

Craving isn't a bad thing. But we must realize God created us to crave more of Him. Many of us have misplaced that craving by overindulging in momentary cravings or desires instead of lasting spiritual satisfaction.

Breaking the 'I'll start again Monday' cycle is possible!

Check out the replay of her live webcast today at 11 am, 2 pm, 7 pm or 9 pm and then sign up for email reminders about future webcasts in the coming weeks.

You might also be interested in the 30 day devotional that can be found at KSBJ.org

1 Corinthians 10:23
Everything is permissible but not always beneficial

Deuteronomy 2:3
You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn North

First Monday....

January 3rd....3 days into a new year.

But you know, today is the first Monday of the new year so TODAY is the day that gyms will be packed, new highlighters and journals will accompany morning quiet times and salads will be ordered at an alarming rate at lunchtime while bread and all things carbohydrate once again get the scarlet letter C.

What about you? Have any plans for new things this year? Goals, dreams, changes to be made? Be a better wife, mom or person in general? I've been that girl...2 years ago, to be exact.

And once again I'm reminded...if I make the Main Thing the main thing, 9 times out of 10, the other things fall into place.

How wonderful that I can resign from my self-appointed job as General Manager of the Universe. As if my believing that I had control over anything did anything...Ha!

Each year our pastor chooses a devotional for our church body to study together and the one chosen for 2011 is wonderful...3 days in, I might add.

Worship the King by Chris Tiegreen is meaty but concise. You'll either find yourself saying 'Amen' or 'Ouch', depending on the day.

He has 2 others that are worth a look as well: Walk With God and One Year at His Feet.

Looking for a few others that say what needs to be said but doesn't take forever to get to the point? Check out

Finding God's Will by Gregg Matte
Made to Crave by Lisa TerKeurst
From Head to Foot: All of You Living For Him by Annie Downs
Deeper: Living in the Reality of God's Love by Debbie Alsdorf

Happy 2011. Here's to a clean slate and endless possibilities. He has great plans for each one of you! Watch and see, Sisters, watch and see.

The Wonderful World of ITouch

For some reason, I really had a bee in my bonnet about the boys not having ITouches.

I think it had something to do with the cost and possibly the ability to connect to the internet, but none the less, they weren't an option for quite some time.

Until one of my brilliant children, that is definitely bound for sales someday, introduced the idea of selling their Nintendo DS systems and games to purchase said ITouch.

Well, that sounds reasonable and logical.

And I am happy to resport the ITouch hasn't been a problem at all. With firm guidelines set by Mom and Pop, parental controls, a parental passcode, and airplane mode (to turn off the wifi when needed), it's actually been nice not having to keep up with all the games as they are directly loaded onto the device. And we recently took a trip that didn't include a dvd player on an airplane and not having to deal with that at IAH security was quite delightful.

If you find yourself with a new ITouch in your home and are overwhelmed by all the app choices, take a look at the list below.

A lot are free and the rest are either .99 cents or under $5.

A lot of the apps offer a "free or lite" version for you to try it out and then you have the option to purchase the full version later. Look for those titles first.

Most of the EA games are .99 right now

I know that this list seems crazy long, but we have had ours for about 6 months and we rotate the games on and off. And some of these games were fun initially and then the boys grew tired of them. There are even some educational ones mixed in....yes, I am a former educator. Guilty as charged.

Angry Birds
City Story
Empire Story
Flash to Pass (flashcards)
Logos bible software
Restaurant Story
Sky Racer 2
WordWeb Dictionary
ArithmeTick
Asphalt 5
Bible Memory
Deer Hunter 3D
Cut the Rope
BackBreaker
Stick Skater
Baseball 2010
Doodlejump
Fall down
ESPN Score Center
Field Goal Frenzy
FIFA World Cup (version 11 doesn't work with itouch for some reason)
Find The Difference
Flashlight
Flick Fishing
Flicky Football
Flow Hockey 2
Hangman Classic
High Caliber Hunting
Holy Bible
IRate Lego Pro
Jet Car Stunts
Knights on Rush
Lemonade Tycoon
Madden NFL
Manic Marble Free
Labyrinth Lite
Tap Farm
Tap Store
Save Stickly
I Say Free
IRate Lego
Monster Truck Nitro 2
Monster Truck Nitro
NCAA Football
Need for Speed Shift
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit
Paper Pilot
Paper Toss
Parking Mania Lite
Pictureka
Pocket Weather
Razor Ultra Pro
RC Heli Lite
RC Plane
Real Racing GT
Red Bull X-Fighter Lite
Road to Mudness
Rollercoaster Extreme
Skee-Ball
Sports Car Engine
Star Wars The Force Unleashed
Tap Report
Tic Tac Toe Free
Tiny Chef
Touch Hockey
Traffic Rush
Uno
Warship Flight Deck Jam
Waterslide Extreme
The Weather Channel
XGames SnoCross
XPlane Carrier
2XL ATC Offroad Lite
2XL TrophyLite Rally
Flight Control
Rope and Fly
IKick

**now, most of the 'tap' games require wifi as does IRate , but most do not.
**I'm sure you noticed the abundance of boy games. Guilty. Not a lot of pink running around these parts

Do you have apps that you would recommend?

McCormick Recipe Inspirations

Have you ever found a really fun recipe that you wanted to try but were overwhelmed by the list of ingredients? Especially if some of the spices needed are not ones you use frequently?

I'm pretty sure I don't need an entire jar of fennel seeds and I'm 99% sure I have some spices that really need to be replaced because I've been known to view cooking as more of a one-time challenge and once I've conquered a recipe...I move on. Hence the endless jars of mostly filled spices.

Sorry...rabbit trail....moving on.

While I was doing battle at HEB last week, I came across these little darlins': McCormick Recipe Inspirations.

The new McCormick Recipe Inspirations collection puts flavorful twists on traditional recipes that will impress everyone at your dinner table. Each packet includes pre-measured McCormick spices and herbs and a collectible recipe card.

They offer 12 different recipes and I brought home the Quesadilla Casserole and Tuscan Chicken Stew.

I'm excited to try them and not add more spices to my very large spice graveyard. If only I'd these during football season!

Let me know if you try any of the other recipes

Cupcake Awesomeness for the Holidays

Hey there...I know I have been MIA. Football season is winding down and it's been incredibly fun....but mercy me, we just aren't at the old homestead much. Hence, no blogging to be done. Plus..you always know that if I'm absent, I just don't have anything I deem blog worthy at the time. However, can I share a pic of my football players?



Don't they look 10 feet tall?

Ok, onto some real news.

‘Tis the season for cupcakes! Below is a message from Jen and Monica at D'Lish Cupcakes.

Here are a few things going on at D’Lish this holiday season…

Monday, November 22nd:
*We will have our Pumpkin Cream Cheese and our Caramel Apple cupcakes available.
*Pick-up times will be from 11am-1pm and 5-7pm at either of our homes. (Rock Creek or Vintage Lakes)
*Please place your order by Saturday, November 20th. We’ll have boxes of 4, 6, or 12 available.

Friday and Saturday, December 3rd and 4th:
*We will be selling all our D’Lish flavors, including our Christmas collection, at the Rock Creek gift market. (14223 Winding Springs Drive, Cypress, TX 77429)

Hours are: December 3rd, 5-10pm and December 4th, 9am-4pm. We will be taking orders for our holiday gift boxes. Each box will include Red Velvet Rudolph, Let it Snow, Sugar and Spice, and Santa’s Cocoa. Price will be $12 per box.

Thursday, December 16th,:
*Holiday gift boxes can be picked up…. These make great gifts for teachers, neighbors, co-workers, and friends.
*We will send out an e-mail with photos of the gift box early in December. Please place orders by Monday, December 13th.

We are also offering limited bookings for holiday parties in December. Please contact us at d-lishcupcakes@hotmail.com for more information.

For our customers who need to expense orders for business needs, we are now offering payment via PayPal. We would like to reserve this option for corporate and large orders.

D’Lish is finally entering the 21st (or is it 20th??) century. Become a fan of D'Lish Cupcake Catering on Facebook by clicking here We are getting our page organized, but there are a lot of photos you can check out now.

Make the season a little merrier with D’Lish cupcakes!

Jen and Monica
D’Lish

D-Lish Cupcakes Available Today!

D-Lish Cupcakes were featured at the Gyspy Market yesterday and they have extras to sell today.

And they are offer fabulous bundle pricing!! 4 cupcakes for $10 or 6 for $15.

Please see their note below and give them a try. You won't be sorry!

Good morning friends! We had a great day at The Gypsy Market yesterday. Unfortunately, due to miscommunication we will be unable to sell cupcakes we planned to sell there today. Sooooo, we need to sell 200 cupcakes today! If you did not have a chance to see us at one of our fall markets, this is a great way to try some D'Lish variety! The complete list is below! They are $3.00 each, can be purchased in any quantity, and can be picked up at my house any time today! Please call my cell by 1:00 if you would like us to reserve any for you (832-594-4955). After 1:00 we will be delivering any that have not been reserved to local businesses/offices as samples. Please pass this along to anyone you think might be interested. Thanks!

Monica
D'Lish

Here's what we have. Our menu is attached with descriptions of each cupcake!

Raspberry White Chocolate Mousse: 14
Boston Cream Pie: 9
Cranberry Orange Cheesecake: 7
Raspberry Lemonade: 1
Mint Chocolate Cheesecake Swirl: 7
Tiramisu: 8
Strawberry: 16
Pina Colada: 4
Dulce de Leche: 21
Creme Brulee: 9
Red Velvet: 38
Caramel Apple: 3
Carrot Cake: 25
Coconut Cream Pie: 1
Chocolate Lovers: 26
D'Lish Original: 11

D'Lish Cupcakes

It's no secret I really enjoy gift markets. Granted, most in this area have some of the same vendors that I know and love dearly, but I still like to pop in and take a peek to see if there is anything I just cannot live without.

Plus, I get the chance to love on my friends who are uber creative and have booths at these markets.

There was a Christmas in July market this summer at a nearby church and I discovered 2 gals that are taking cupcakes to a whole 'nutha level.

Mercy me. These cupcakes are the perfect trifecta: look amazing, smell delightful and taste like nothing I had ever tasted.

May I introduce you to D'Lish Cupcakes?

Monica and Jen are the co-owners of D'Lish Cupcakes. They bake these darlin' treats in their own kitchens in Spring, TX.

They offer cupcake catering for all occasions: private parties, birthdays, corporate events, weddings and gifts (I took a box of 4 to a friend as a housewarming gift, SCORE!)

They offer a myriad of unique flavors. Here's a few: coconut cream pie, pumpkin cream cheese, cranberry orange cheesecake, caramel apple, strawberry (with real strawberries pieces, yum!), dulce de leche, pina colada, raspberry lemonade, mint chocolate chip, and their signature d'lish..which is the ultimate chocolate cupcake with turquoise frosting.

What I loved about these gals is they have taken the cupcake and dressed it up by thinking outside the box. Their flavors are uniquely theirs and they have a hint of decoration that is the perfect touch.

Take a peek at the pictures below and see if you can resist. If you can't, email them at d-lishcupcakes@hotmail.com and asked to be added to their email mailing list. They will email you what shows they will be at and also when certain flavors are available.