Serving God and Claiming His Promises (Recipe: Chocolate Fudge Brownies)

We all want to serve God in our lives, we want to obtain his blessings, how can we go about doing this?

The bible is clear that within the body of Christ, the Holy Spirit equips different people with different functions, just like our physical body has different parts that perform different functions. We see this in

1 Corinthians: 12: 8 – 10: To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,^a]"> and to still another the interpretation of tongues.

But again, all of us do not manifest ground breaking gifts like healing and prophecy! So how can we serve God? Especially in the lives of women, we have many responsibilities as wives and mothers, to our families which stand in the way of actively serving God! So what can we do?

Let’s take a look at Genesis 18: 17- 19: Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him."

Wow! What an amazing revelation! We can see here how Abraham was going to experience everything God promised him! Although God chose him, it was not enough to receive God’s promises, for that, he had to….direct his children and his family in the ways of the Lord, and to do what was right! Doesn’t this ease the burdens off us women, a little? To realize God’s promises in our lives, as chosen of God, all we need to do is to make sure that we raise our children in the fear of the Lord, and that we make sure our home is place where the presence of God is welcomed and cherished, where you teach your family to give thanks together before your meals, to pray together for your needs and to worship together. This is not only doable, but necessary for the blessing of your family! It is common understanding that the mother of the family is the one who is on her knees the most interceding for her husband and children, so it would not be wrong to say that it is quite possible for the mother of the house to make sure that her family receives God’s promises and blessings by directing them in the way of the Lord! This is not to say that men have no responsibility in this, but most of us know that women have great influence over their families, particularly their men!

Let’s pray for the grace as wives and mothers to be the women of God who bring the way of the Lord to our families so that the promises of God can manifest in our homes.

I gave in to my sweet tooth today and baked some brownies. I really enjoyed them so decided to share this recipe with you.

Chocolate Fudge Brownies

Ingredients:

Butter - 250gms

Sugar – 2 cups

Unsweetened Cocoa – ¾ cup

Plain flour – 1 ½ cup

Eggs – 3

Vanilla essence – 1 teaspoon

Nuts (Cashews or Walnuts) – ½ cup (Optional)

Salt – a pinch

Powdered sugar – 2 tablespoons (Optional)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

2. In a bowl, beat butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt.

3. To this add the flour and cocoa, beat well with a whisk, you do not need an electric beater for this.

4. Pour this batter in a non-stick cake pan or baking pan and bake for 25 minutes.

5. After the brownies have cooled well, dust with powdered sugar and cut into squares.

Favored! (Recipe: Bready Cheese Bombs)

The favor of God over our lives can make a huge difference in everything we do. It impacts our lives and the lives of those we come in contact with as well! The favor of God is so amazing that when you have it, even if you make mistakes, they can be made out to become blessings! There’s no going wrong when you have the favor of God!

A good example of this can be found with Abraham. In Genesis 12:10-20, we see how Abram and Sarai, had to go to Egypt because of a famine in the land that he was living in. Now Sarai, his wife was an extremely beautiful woman, and Abram was afraid that if he confessed Sarai to be his wife, Pharaoh would have him killed to take her for himself. So our smart man Abram lies to Pharaoh that Sarai is his sister, which then allows Pharaoh to take Sarai to his palace as one of his women. Now Pharaoh, very pleased with his new acquisition started showering Abram with gifts like livestock and servants. But then God afflicted Pharaoh’s household with plagues!

What a strange reaction from God isn’t it? Abram is the one who lied and gave up his wife to Pharaoh, but Pharaoh seems to be getting punished! When Pharaoh realizes what’s happening, he asks Abram to take Sarai and leave with everything he has. This means, Abram gets his wife back, plus all the gifts he got from Pharaoh. Let’s take a closer look at this….Abram lies, gives up his wife Sarai to Pharaoh, even accepts gifts from Pharaoh on this account, but Pharaoh gets punished by God for this, and in the end Abram walks away scot free with his wife and Pharaoh’s stuff!

How interesting is this! That’s favor! When God has favored you, He helps you correct your mistakes and even brings blessings out of them. No wonder the Bible says in Romans 8: 31: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Apparently, not even Kings! Another very significant point to note here is that his name is still Abram! This is the favor Abram enjoyed from God even before a covenant was established and his name changed to Abraham. At this point, all Abram had on his side was not even a covenant with God, but only an act of obedience! Abram had obeyed God and left his home to head to where God promised him a new home! Obedience to God can win His favor.

Let’s sincerely pray for the humility and wisdom to obey God according to His word. In doing this, we would have paved the way for his favor on our lives! Now who doesn’t want some of that favor?!


How about a nice snack for today’s recipe?


Bready Cheese Bombs

Ingredients:

White toast – 6 slices
Water – as required
Plain flour – 2 Tablespoons
Shredded cheddar cheese – 3 Tablespoons
Shredded mozzarella cheese – 3 Tablespoons
Powdered parmesan cheese – 1 Tablespoon
Chopped coriander leaves – 2 Tablespoons
Pepper powder – 1 teaspoon
Salt – as required
Oil – as required for deep frying

Instructions:

1.Soak the bread slices in water for 1 minute, then squeeze out the water and put the bread in a bowl.

2.To the bread add flour, the three cheeses, coriander leaves, pepper, salt and knead well to form a sticky dough.

3.Heat oil in a frying pan, roll the dough into golf ball sizes and fry till deep golden brown.

4.Serve with chilly sauce or sweet chilly sauce.

A Suggestion!

I'm not putting in my regular entry today, instead, I thought I would take this opportunity to extend an invitation to those of you who visit this blog. I would really like for this blog to be more interactive, and so invite you to post any questions you have, regarding things in the Bible, or our Christian walk in general that have caught your attention! Perhaps, our other visitors may have your answer or some valuable input....I could put in my two cents worth as well! We could discuss our views! I hope you are on board with this idea! God bless you all!

Oink! Oink! (Recipe: Ladies-finger (Okra) and Kidney bean (Rajmah) Masala)

If you’re wondering about the strange title, you’ll find out shortly….

How often do we think about the price of our salvation? When Jesus died for our sins, what was he procuring for us? Eternal life? Probably escape from eternal suffering! Does it not sound sooo much more heavier when we say that? Jesus did not suffer and die just so that he could spend forever with us, but he also wanted to spare us an eternity of suffering. How scary that sounds! Suffering for ever and ever with no end, wow! And all it would take to get me that could have been a little lie even, because sin is sin. This is quite clear in

James 2: 10: For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.

So apart from eternal life, what else do we get?

1 Corinthians 2: 9: "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him"

This sounds pretty awesome to me! But does it really? Do we really grasp the cost of what Jesus paid for? I believe that we really don’t! If we did, we would be like the merchant in

Matthew 13: 45-46: "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Do we give this much value to what we have in the Lord? Does it precede everything else in our lives? Personally, I cannot claim this! Many a times, I forget that what I have is so much more powerful and precious than my immediate needs here in this life! I wonder if this is what Jesus meant in

Mathew 7: 6: "Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.

Are we acting like pigs with pearls? Do we forget the magnitude of what the Lord has done for us and turn to attack him when things don’t go the way we want? If you won a return trip ticket to Disneyland or a all expense paid vacation, would you be complaining about the postage you had to pay for the vouchers to get to you? I don’t think so!

Do we fail to understand the value of what God has given us in the heavenly and behave rebelliously because we don’t get something of this world that we wanted? If so…then join me in saying OINK! OINK!

Let’s make it our sincere prayer to the Lord to reveal to our hearts, even fractionally, the value of our inheritance in him, so that we can treat it with the value it deserves, with endless thanksgiving!

Given it’s still lent season, am putting in another vegetarian dish, hopefully all you non-veg lovers will give it a shot as well!


Bhindi and Rajmah Masala (Ladies finger and Kidney beans)


Ingredients:

Cooked kidney beans – 250gms
Ladies finger (cut into long pieces) – 250 gms
Sliced onion – 1
Sliced tomato – 1
Tomato puree (paste) – 1 Tablespoon
Ginger-garlic paste – 1 Tablespoon
Cumin seeds – 2 teaspoons
Cumin powder – ¼ teaspoon
Coriander powder – 1 ½ Tablespoon
Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon
Chilly powder – 1 teaspoon
Water – 1 cup
Sugar – 1 teaspoon
Salt – as required
Split Green chilly – 2
Oil – 4 Tablespoons
Chopped coriander leaves – 4 Tablespoons

Instructions:

1.Heat the oil in a kadai, splutter the cumin seeds, add green chilly and ginger-garlic paste, sauté till the raw smell subsides. Now add onion and fry till onion is deep golden brown.

2.Turn off the flame, add cumin, coriander, turmeric and chilly powders. Stir well and turn the flame back on. Now add the tomatoes and cook till the tomatoes blend in. To this, we add the tomato paste and sugar.

3.Then put in the ladies finger and sauté. Add water and let it boil till the water becomes half. Now add the cooked kidney beans, followed by the required amount of salt. Boil it further, till you get a pasty consistency.

4.Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Forgiveness (Recipe: Creamy Paneer with Vegetables)

We all have had people who have wronged us! I have had conversations regarding this with many of my fellow Christian sisters and not one of them could say that they have not encountered this issue. People hurt us because of their own insecurities regarding who we are and how we make them fee about themselves. These can be mothers in law, sisters in law, in-laws in general….neighbours, close friends, colleagues…the list can be never ending! Even with our best intentions, people may misread them or even manipulate them to make us look bad. When things like this happen…all that blares through my mind is ‘I WANT THEM TO PAY!’ I cannot in all honesty pretend to be a ‘forgive and forget all’ kind of person. I am not! This is an area that is a personal struggle for me in the deepest possible way! These days I have learnt to rely on the Lord and his words to pacify myself, but forgiveness was definitely not my forte.

One day, a certain line in the Lord’s prayer dawned on me, Matthew 6: 12: And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

The condition to forgiveness seemed to hold my attention for the very first time! As I referred later to the entire chapter of Matthew 6, I noted an interesting point….following the Lord’s prayer in verses 9-13, despite everything he said in the prayer before the forgiveness part and after it as well, in verses 14-15, we see that the only thing Jesus tries to reiterate is about forgiveness!

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Does it not seem interesting that of all the important things that Jesus taught us to say in the prayer, he gives the most significance to forgiveness, enough significance to repeat it and spell it out clearly!

So what do we do with these feelings? How do we satisfy our urge for payback?

Romans 12:19: Beloved,^AN)"> never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written,"Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."

The Lord loves us too much to let us fight any battles on our own, especially emotional ones like these. So what’s his solution? I must admit, it took some teeth gritting to get on board with this one…

Romans 12: 20: To the contrary,"if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Wow! Now look at that! That’s an interesting form of vengeance isn’t it?! So my dearest friends, as children of the Most High, let us not fall into the traps of petty resentment and vengeance. Let ask the Lord for his power and grace to overcome evil with good so that we may be what the Lord interestingly points out in

Matthew 5: 13: "You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

Let us not lose the flavour we have been blessed with over something as petty as holding on to those grudges, lest we become useless to the Lord!

I am putting up a vegetarian recipe today…..hopefully it will be useful to those of you keeping up with the season of lent!

Creamy Paneer with vegetables

Ingredients:

Cubed Paneer pieces – 500gms

Oil for frying – as required

Thinly Sliced Onion – 1

Thinly Sliced Capsicum – 1

Thinly Sliced Mushrooms – 100 gms

Thinly Sliced Tomato – 1

Cashews (for making paste) – ½ cup

Water (for cashew paste) – ½ cup

Coriander powder – 1 teaspoon

Turmeric powder – ¼ teaspoon

Cumin powder – ¼ teaspoon

Diced Green chilly – 3

Full cream – ½ cup

Water – ¼ cup

Diced Coriander leaves – 2 Tablespoon

Salt – as required

Instructions:

1. Fry the paneer pieces, drain and keep aside.

2. After soaking cashews in the water for 20 minutes, grind the cashews along with the water to form a smooth paste and keep aside.

3. Take 4 Tablespoons of oil in a Kadai, add green chilly, then onions, fry the onions till golden brown, to this add the mushrooms and fry till mushrooms start to brown.

4. Now turn off the flame and add coriander, turmeric and cumin powder, mix well and turn the flame back on. To this add the tomatoes and sauté till the tomatoes are cooked.

5. Then add the cashew paste and cook well on a low flame, while stirring, till the raw smell subsides.

6. Now add the capsicum and mix well, followed by the water and salt as required. Allow this to boil for 5 minutes.

7. Turn off the flame, add the cream, mix well, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Humility that Welcomes Discipline (Recipe: Kerala Prawn Roast)

For many of us, especially in my case, taking criticism is really not easy.

Proverbs 12: 1: Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

It’s something else when the bible calls you stupid….this one has to be true! Those who don’t like to be corrected are stupid according to God! But apparently there are people that ‘love’ discipline! Can you imagine that? Many of us have a hard time admitting when we’re wrong most of the time….it’s hard to imagine someone who loves to be corrected alllll the time. You know what would be different about that person? They would have an amazing amount of ‘humility’. For example, if you were a computer programmer doing some work, and you had Bill Gates walk up to you and point out some flaws in that program you were working on, not many of us with any amount of sanity would shrug off the correction! This is Bill Gates! If anyone knows computers it’s got to be this man! In our minds, he is in a higher position than we have given ourselves and so it is easy to take correction from him! It’s easy to be humble with a man like Bill Gates, but what about your friend, your neighbour, your sister, your maid, your spouse or your children (surprisingly yes! They have a lot to offer in the ways of correction too!)?

The only way we can be open to correction is, if we can be humble and acknowledge that we are a work in progress and nowhere near perfect. The Lord can send you a word of correction through anyone, we have to be humble enough to receive it from any source.

In Number 22: 22-34, we see the story of Balaam, who angered the Lord and so had an angel sent out to kill him. Balaam’s poor donkey, who served him faithfully for years saw the angel waiting for Balaam with a sword and so tried to save him by swerving from the path. The donkey does this thrice and gets a thrashing from Balaam each time. Finally the donkey opens his mouth and tells Balaam what the deal is!

A donkey was trying to save Balaam’s life and God finally let the donkey talk to his master, to give correction to him! Discipline can come from any source, but what we need is the humility to be able to welcome it with joy, knowing that this will bring us one step closer to betterment.

Another interesting verse in the bible is,

Proverbs 22:4: The reward for humility and fear of the LORD is riches and honour and life.

In other words, if you’re humble, you can avoid being stupid and so achieve riches, honour and life. Our tendency to elevate ourselves, nurturing our ever growing pride, will surely cause us to stumble and fall, because we will think that we are right even when we’re not, losing the opportunity to be corrected and fail miserably in the process. Let’s ask the Lord for plenty of humility so as to never lose a single opportunity at correction!

I was thinking of going for a seafood recipe today!

Kerala Prawn Roast

Ingredients:

Cleaned and deveined prawns – 1 kg

For marinade:

Turmeric powder- ½ teaspoon

Chilly powder – ½ teaspoon

Salt – as required

Water for boiling – as required

For cooking:

Sliced Onions – 2 large

Sliced Tomato – 1

Ginger- Garlic paste – 1 Tablespoon

Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon

Chilly powder – 1 teaspoon

Coriander powder – 1 ½ Tablespoon

Cumin powder – ½ teaspoon

Garam masala powder – ¼ teaspoon

Split Green chilly – 3

Water- 1 cup

Curry leaves – 3 stalks

Diced Coriander leaves – 3 Tablespoons

Coconut oil – 4 Tablespoons

Instructions:

1. Marinate the prawns in the marinade ingredients and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

2. Place the prawns in a cooking pot with enough water to cover them and boil till all the water evaporates.

3. Heat the coconut oil in a kadai, add curry leaves, followed by green chilly and ginger-garlic paste. Sauté till the raw smell subsides and add onions. Stir till onions are well fried, they should brown at the edges.

4. Turn off the flame and add turmeric, chilly, coriander, cumin, garam masala powders and mix well. Turn the flame back on. Now add tomatoes and sauté till they’re blended in well with the onions.

5. Add the cooked prawns to this and stir well, followed by water and salt as required. Cook till the water is gone completely, stirring occasionally. Check for salt and add more if required. When the oil starts to separate and the prawn masala is getting a bit dry, showing a dark red or deep brown shade, turn off the flame. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot.

Ask and it shall be given (Recipe: Easy Tandoori Chicken Legs)

One of the most popular verses in the bible that is commonly used in general conversation, even among non-Christians or unbelievers is

Matthew 7: 7: "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

This appears to be a fairly straightforward message right? …..if this really worked our lives would be pretty much set! So how come this isn’t working for us? Before we get into that question, we need to look at the verses that follow 7, that is verses 8-11, in these, Jesus simply says that if you ask, you’ll get what you’ve asked for, seek and you’ll find what you’re looking for, knock on the door of opportunity and it will be opened for you. He then compares our human capacity for love, the love for our children, which is probably one of the highest degrees of love any person is truly capable of, with the love of God! If we who are mere of men, want to satisfy every request of our children, how much more eager would God be to fulfill our requests!

However, I found something quite interesting in verse 12! We’ve covered this verse in one of my earlier posts, but there is a very significant word that I believe is very much overlooked!

Mathew 7: 12: "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

Note how this verse begins with the word ‘So’! It almost appears like a condition….like when we sometimes explain things to our children. For example, I would explain to my daughter that a general rule of the house is getting to watch TV only if we finish our food. This rule applies to all members of the household and after explaining this rule to her, I would say, “So this means you have to finish your milk before I can put on your cartoon on for you.”

Jesus appears to do something similar here. He explains to us how easily we can get what we want, but then he tells us what our role is in this process to make it happen! This means, we have to give what others ask of us, we have to provide others with what they seek from us and we must open doors that we can for those who knock at it, only then can God release the same blessing in our lives! Again it is understood that this rule has to be applied with good reasoning! Jesus is clear in verse 11 about this,

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

The operative word here is ‘good’. This obviously means that we have the responsibility of making sure that what we give is good, and will not cause harm. So if you need to receive good blessings from God, start giving out some good blessings to others! I know we’ve covered something similar earlier, but as we cover this from different aspects in the word of God, we will develop a deeper understanding of how this rule operates! There are many many verses and parables based on the concept of doing to others as you wish to receive! We will hopefully see more of this in the coming days!

Let’s go for a popular chicken recipe for today!

Easy Tandoori Chicken Legs

Ingredients:

Chicken Legs (Thigh + Drumstick) – 6
Chaat masala – ½ teaspoon (optional)

For Marinade:
Curd – ½ cup
Ginger-Garlic Paste – 2 Tablespoons
Garam Masala – 1 ½ Tablespoons
Red Tandoori food colour – ¼ teaspoon
Pepper – 1 teaspoon
Salt – as required
Vinegar – 1 Tablespoon (only add this if your curd is not sour enough)

For roasting:
Oil – 2 Tablespoons

Instructions:

1.Marinate chicken legs with the ingredients for marinade and refrigerate overnight or over 24 hours preferably.

2.Preheat oven to 230 degree Celsius.

3.Brush a baking dish with oil. Take the chicken legs out of the marinade and squeeze out excess marinade. Once the chicken legs are in the baking dish, brush across the top of the pieces with oil. Now cover the dish with tin foil and bake for 25 minutes. Then remove the foil and bake for another five minutes. Continue baking for a little further if there is excess water in the baking dish. If the chicken appears to be browning too quickly, reduce the temperature after the initial 25 minutes.

4.Once the chicken is out of the oven, sprinkle some chaat masala on the pieces and serve hot.

Of the World (Recipe: Sichuan Beef)

The bible is very clear in telling us to be apart from the world, to be separate, not to follow the same patterns as the world.

Romans 12: 2: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

This is not as easy as it sounds is it? Personally, I have major struggles with setting myself apart from the world. How do I set myself apart? How do I know when I am falling into the category ‘of the world’? You would think that we would have to spend a good amount of time in pursuit of this answer….WRONG! The bible is just so amazing….it literally gives us allllll the answers! The answer to this predicament lies in

1 John 2: 16: For all that is in the world— the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world.

Wow! This sounds like a good litmus test for checking if we’re going in the way of the world or according to the will of God. If we find ourselves constantly giving into the desires of our flesh, be it lust, gluttony, slothfulness, addictions of any sort….then we should have alarm bells ringing in our head telling us that we’re heading in the direction of the world! Addictions need not be drugs, alcohol or tobacco….addictions simply mean anything that causes an obsessive compulsion in us…it can be watching TV, chatting online, movies, music….any of these things that we seem to spend an exorbitant amount of time on, without spending equal or more time on our responsibilities or with the Lord, can be deemed as addictions. Can you identify any addictions in your life? If we are giving into the desires of our eyes, this is another sign that we are going with the flow of the world. What do we mean by desires of our eyes? It simply means being lead by what we see. Making choices based on the lure of things as we see them! It can be people or things! And of course the world is full of attractive things, do we stop to think if it’s the will of God for us to have what we choose? If not, then we’re thinking like the world! Do we take pride in what we have? Proud of our wealth, our education, our looks, our spouses, our children, our home, our car, our jewelry, our vacations……do we take pride in having something that some one else does not? Then we are definitely part of the world! As we see in the above verse, all these things are from the world and not God!

Personally my life is full of the things listed above, I guess I’ve never realized that it was this easy to be of the world! But how fortunate are we to have an ever loving and forgiving Lord who will forgive us of these shortcomings if we confess them! Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to help us be better tuned to his directions and corrections so that we can avoid falling into this trap again!

I hope you like Chinese cuisine because today’s recipe is some spicy Sichuan beef!

Sichuan Beef

Ingredients:

For meat:

Beef – 500gms

Chilly powder – 1 teaspoon

Salt – as required

For marinade:

Ginger – Garlic paste – 1 tablespoon

Egg – 1

Soy Sauce – 2 tablespoons

Corn flour – 2 tablespoons

Plain flour – 1 tablespoon

Oil for frying – as required

For sauce:

Sesame oil ( if you have if not sunflower oil is fine) – 2 tablespoons

Diced spring onion bulbs – 5

Diced spring onion stem – 2 tablespoons

Ginger-garlic paste – 1 tablespoon

Beef stock – 1 cup

Soy Sauce – 2 tablespoons

Tomato ketchup – ½ cup ( I use Heinz, the taste of your ketchup should determine how much you use as some can be very sweet or very sour)

Pepper – 1 tablespoon

Dry red chilly – 4

Sugar – 1 tablespoon

Vinegar – 1 tablespoon

Corn flour – 2 tablespoons

Cold water – ½ cup

Instructions:

1. Cut the beef into medium sized square pieces and pressure cook with chilly powder and salt.
2. Marinate the cooked beef in the marinade ingredients and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
3. Fry the marinated beef and keep it aside.
4. In a Wok or Kadai, heat sesame oil, put in the dry red chilly, sauté for a few seconds, then add ginger garlic paste, when the raw smell subsides, add spring onion bulbs.
5. When the spring onion is light brown, add the fried beef and stir well.
6. Now add the soy sauce, ketchup, pepper, sugar and vinegar. Stir well and add the beef stock. Let it boil for 2 minutes. Then add the corn flour dissolved in the cold water, let it boil further for five minutes, till the consistency changes to the desired thickness. If you want it very thick, boil it longer, if not, till it’s as thick as you prefer it.
7. Garnish with spring onion stem and serve hot.

Heart of Giving (Recipe: Chicken Pasta Salad)

This is probably a sensitive topic for many people. Why is giving so important to give? How silly does it sound to begin with…giving to God…like he doesn’t have enough already! Isn’t he the one who is supposed to be giving us? Well giving isn’t just specific to God, when the Bible talks about giving, it’s quite general in what it says, we find in

Luke 6: 38: Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you."

We don’t find this verse specifying giving to God, but just giving. So who should we give to? I’ve found when many Christians talk about giving, they feel it applies only to their tithing or giving to the poor. But this is clearly not what the word of God says. This verse clearly explains that if you want to be blessed, you have to bless others first! If you want to receive, you have to give first! Not just to God, not just to the poor, but to everyone and anyone! This verse reveals one of the greatest secrets of prosperity, if you want to be blessed with anything, if it’s money, then give money to those who need it. Not just to someone below the poverty line…but even to a co-worker or relative you know is in debt. If you want to be blessed with health, use the health you have to help or look after someone who is sick. Whatever you want more of, find someone else with a similar need and try to help them get a step closer to realizing their need. In doing so, you will have taken at least five more steps closer to realizing your need! As we see in the verse, you don’t just get in the measure you give, although that is the basic measure used, what you’re going to receive as a result of your giving is pressed down, shaken together and running over the measure you used to give! But keep in mind that when you give, give from your heart, not because you have to, or because the bible tells you to, but because you have the heart of giving.

2 Corinthians 9: 7: Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

What a wonderful revelation! It pleases God and draws his favour on you when you give happily!

We have just touched the tip of the iceberg about giving in today’s entry, the bible teaches us about giving to God, giving to the poor and giving to others in a lot more depth, but we’ve just covered the basic principle here. If you feel that you don’t have the heart of giving, then just ask the Lord to change your heart to make it so! You know what he said…. Ask and you will receive!! So go claim that giving heart in Jesus name and all the blessings that come with it!!

Let’s go for a ‘not-so-healthy’ salad today!

Chicken Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

Boiled and shredded Chicken breast – 250 gms
Cooked Conchiglie (shell shaped) pasta (or any pasta of your choice except the stringy ones) – 3 cups
Diced Celery - 1 stick
Diced Capsicum – ½ cup
Cooked Corn Kernels – ½ cup
Mayonnaise – 2 Tablespoons
Cream – 250 ml (more if you prefer your salad more creamy)
Sugar – 1 Tablespoon
Pepper – 1 teaspoon
Salt – as required

Instructions:

1.Mix all the ingredients together in a salad bowl. Add the seasoning (salt, pepper, sugar), according to your preference, the measurements given are just the standard I use.

2.Refrigerate the salad before serving. This is a cold salad.


P.S.: If anyone has any doubts regarding the recipes or content of the blog, please don’t hesitate to use the comments option.

Never Alone (Recipe: Corn Fritters)

All of us go through days and moments that leave us feeling all alone. Even though we’re literally not alone, maybe we’re with our family, in a crowded office, in a shopping mall, in church or a crowded room and quite ironically, we are capable of feeling alone. The reason for this is that it is not possible to literally share what we are going through. Our problems are unique to us, no one else can experience what we do no matter how much we try to convey this with words or how big a tantrum we throw! No one else, except the Lord that is, the word says in

1 Samuel 16: 7: For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart."

The Lord can experience your heart, how much more closer can someone get to you? You are never alone, because the Lord knows exactly what your heart feels. You can never be lonely because not only are your feelings known exactly to the Lord but he is right by your side as well. There are sooooo many verses in the bible that vouch for this so I don’t feel it necessary to quote them all, but I will pick out one of my favourites:

Matthew 28: 20: …behold, I am with you always, even to the end of age.

Wow! Jesus was pretty good with words right? When we read his promises, they always seem to be dripping with love and has a way of making us feel love in a way no human can give. So why not let this love take over our feelings? Our loneliness when facing our problems makes us irritable and react to the people around us in a negative way many times. Next time we feel a bout of ‘no one understands me’, lets remember Jesus very much does and is holding your hand to blot out that loneliness. There is nothing you can feel that he has not felt on that cross, he made sure of it, just so that he could get you through it.

Isaiah 53: 5: But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.

How deep is that? Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace….so when he has already borne it, why are you carrying this burden again? We no longer walk with drooping shoulders and heavy minds, we walk hand in hand with Jesus, leaning on him as he holds us closely to his heart!

Am keeping the recipe for today really simple….

Corn Fritters

Corn kernels – 250gms
Corn flour – 2 Tablespoons
Plain flour – 125gms
Diced Green chilly – 1
Chopped Coriander leaves – 2 Tablespoons
Water- as required
Oil – as required
Salt – as required

Instructions:

1.Heat sufficient oil to deep fry the fritters in a frying pan.

2.Mix the corn, corn flour, plain flour, green chilly, salt, coriander leaves and enough water in a bowl to form a thick paste-like consistency.

3.Use a tablespoon to measure out spoonfuls of the mixture into the heated oil. Turn over the fritters to brown both sides. Fry till golden brown. Serve hot with tomato ketchup or sweet chilly sauce.

Leaning on God's Promises (Recipe: Banana Cake)

In our day to day lives, we often cling on to promises from the Word of God in the sincerest hope that it’s going to work. God promises to bless, to protect, to provide, to heal , to comfort, to satisfy, to prosper, to raise up…wow! This is going to be a long list…God really does promise a lot of things doesn’t he? So how much does He really mean to follow through on these words of promise? The Bible is quite clear of this in

Isaiah 55:10-11: For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Wow! How Awesome is that?!!! The very same God who said “Let there be light” to create light says let her be blessed, or let her be healed, or let her be comforted…through His many many promises in His collection of promises and love to you. And so, we are quite simply, without a doubt, blessed, healed, comforted, protected, prosperous ….and the list goes on! Now the question would arise as to why is it that a lot of these things are not manifest in our lives. If this is true then why is it that we don’t seem to experience all of this? It is understood that we experience some of these blessings without much effort on most days, but there are a few of these that we don’t see realized in our lives. The reason for this is that we experience the promises of God that we find easy to believe, our faith is pretty high when it comes to promises of protection, of rest, of comfort…well it comes easily to those of us who find it easy to expect it from God. Some other promises like healing and prosperity appear a bit challenging on a human level and so we project that same assumption on God’s abilities to follow through on them. Jesus says in

Mathew 9: 29: … According to your faith be it done to you.

As simple as that! If you can believe it….you can receive it, because God’s promises are never empty as His word clearly says. So let’s all throw those doubts out the window and try to remember who it is that has promised….if He can make the Sun and Moon with His words, then let’s not waste anymore time doubting them!

P.S.: A special thanks to all of you have sent me encouraging words about this blog. They have truly been ‘sweetness to my soul and healing to my body’! God bless you all abundantly!

Today let me share an excellent recipe for Banana Cake.

Ingredients:

Medium Sized Ripe Bananas – 3
Self Raising Flour – 2 cups
Sugar – 2 cups
Salt – a pinch
Oil/Butter (according to your health preference) – 1 cup
Milk – 50 ml
Baking Soda – 1 teaspoon
Vanilla Essence – 1 teaspoon
Eggs – 4
Powdered mix spice – 2 teaspoons
(4 Cardamom pods, 4 one inch Cinnamon sticks, 4 Cloves, a small piece of nutmeg (nutmeg is optional))

Instructions:

1.Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

2.In a bowl beat sugar, oil and eggs with an electric beater. To this add the salt and vanilla essence.

3.Dissolve the baking soda in the milk. Now mix in some of the flour into the batter and alternate with the milk. So first you put some flour, then pour some milk, then again some flour, then milk and so on till you’ve added all of it into the batter.

4.Add the mix spice powder and beat it into the batter. Now mash the bananas and add this to the batter as well.

5.Spread oil evenly with your fingers onto the baking dish to prevent the baked cake from sticking to the sides. Now pour the cake batter into the dish and bake at 180 degrees for 40 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 170 degrees and bake for another 35 minutes.

6.Please be sure not to open the oven door for the entire duration of baking, or the cake may fall. After the specified time, wet the blade of a knife and stick it into the cake, if it comes out clean the cake is done. Wait for it to cool before attempting to drop it out of the dish.

The Circle of Kindness (Recipe: Channa Masala)

Most of us struggle in our daily encounters with people. A lot of people I know feel particularly stressed about colleagues or bosses. Many of us also have touchy temperaments when it comes to our family, be it our parents, husbands/wives and particularly our children (guilty!). Shall we consider today what the Bible tells us to do in managing these issues?

Well to begin with, let me quote the all time famous verse:

Mathew 7: 12: So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them…

We can change the way people affect us by making a conscious effort to change the way we affect others. The Bible clearly shows that this is a cycle of sorts, if your good to someone, then others will be good to you or if you give to others, then you will receive likewise and so on…

So let start our days with the prayer that as Children of the Almighty and fellow heirs with Christ, we can bless the people we come across in our daily lives and not just tolerate them!

Proverbs 16: 24 says Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.

How powerful! When we are kind and patient with others, when we bless others with our loving words, we satisfy their souls and even release physical healing into their lives. A lot of us may not yet be equipped with spiritual gifts of healing but here the Bible shows us another way of releasing healing to others. To those of us who struggle with not having a strong enough anointing to bless others with, this offers a simple means of making that happen by releasing kind and loving words that can not only heal the soul but as the Word of God assures, the body as well!

So if you want some sweetness for your soul and healing in your body, start spreading that kindness around asap! If you want to have better days…..nothing can guarantee that more than surrounding yourself with satisfied souls, be it at work or at home! So let’s put on our kindness gear and spread the love like Jesus asks us to! This of course does not come that easily to all of us, however, as 1 Corinthians 15: 57 tells us, ‘But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’


I thought we’d go with something spicy for today’s recipe, this is one of my favourite vegetarian recipes:

Channa Masala

Cooked Channa (Garbanzo beans – these are bigger than traditional Chick Peas) – 300gms
Diced Onion – 1
Diced Tomato – 1
Tomato Paste – 2 Tablespoons (Not Ketchup)
Oil – 3-4 Tablespoons
Sugar – 1 Tablespoon
Green chilly - 2-3 (depending on the level of hotness you prefer)
Cumin seeds- 1 Tablespoon
Cumin Powder – 1/4 Teaspoon
Coriander Powder – 1 Tablespoon
Turmeric Powder - ½ Teaspoon
Chilly Powder – ½ Teaspoon
Ginger-Garlic Paste – 1 Tablespoon
Potato (boiled and mashed) – 1 Large or 2 small
Water- 1 cup
Salt – as per taste
Coriander Leaves (chopped) – 4 Tablespoons (the more the better)

Instructions:

1.Heat oil in a cooking pot, add the cumin seeds and sauté, followed by the ginger garlic paste.

2.When the raw smell of the ginger-garlic subsides, add green chilly as well as diced onions and sauté till onions are golden brown.

3.Turn off the flame and add Cumin powder, Coriander powder, Turmeric powder and Chilly powder.

4.Restart the flame, sauté the onions in the spices, now add diced tomatoes and stir around till tomatoes appear soft or well cooked.

5.Add tomato paste, sugar and water, mix well. Now add mashed potatoes and cooked channa to this and let it boil covered till it reaches the required consistency…if you like it more runny, then not too long but if you like it thicker, then long enough to attain that consistency.

6.Add salt as per your taste, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Love (Recipe : Strawberry Cheesecake)

On this day where love is celebrated around the world, let me give you some insight into an unconditional, immeasurable love….


John 3: 16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

To me this verse carried the very essence of God’s love, giving us His only Son….now if He had a few to spare…this wouldn’t be so impressive…right (Sarcasm)! Being a mom who suffers panic attacks when her three year old scrapes her knee, I feel quite capable of understanding the depth of this sacrifice. Having your son die in an accident is difficult, having your son die of a terminal disease is difficult, but sending your son to a sure torturous death that will result in him hanging by three nails from a tree and bleeding to death is really something else! If I had to allow that kind of suffering on my child, I’d definitely have to love the cause more than I loved her! In God’s case….that cause was YOU!

For those of you who have loving partners and family to share this special day, do remember that the Lord loves you more than you can imagine and is ecstatic to see your joy today!

For those of you who feel alone at this time where others seem to have more to celebrate and be thankful for, please remember that someone loved you soooooooo much, he bled to death so he could be sure you could spend eternity with him. Jesus fell in love with you even before your mother set eyes on you!

Those of you who know him as your Lord, don’t forget to send Jesus a Valentine’s day message today! And those who do not know Him as yet, please do take a few moments today to think about God’s love for you and allow him to touch your heart!

Happy Valentine’s day all!

Valentine’s day calls for something sweet so how about a dessert recipe today!

Strawberry Cheesecake

Cake:
Cream Cheese – 800gms
Sugar – 1 ½ cups
Full cream – ½ cup
Eggs – 4
Vanilla essence - 1 teaspoon

Crust:

Digestive Biscuit – 1 pack
Melted butter – 2-3 tablespoons

Topping:

Strawberries – 10
Strawberry jam – 5 tablespoons
Strawberry jelly – 1 pack

Instructions:

1.Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees C or 325 degrees F

2.Crumble the digestive biscuits as finely as possible and mix with melted butter in a bowl. Now flatten and spread this mixture onto a 9” springform pan evenly on the bottom and around the frame till an even crust is formed. Refrigerate this pan till the cake mixture is ready.

3.In a bowl mix all the ingredients listed for the cake with an electric beater and pour into the springform pan. Place the pan in a roasting pan with boiling water and into the oven. Bake for approximately 2 hours or till the cake feels firm to touch. Make sure there is sufficient water in the roasting pan while baking.

4.Once the cake is done, take it out of the oven, allow it to cool, then refrigerate overnight.

5.For the topping sauce, prepare the strawberry jelly as per instructions on the package and allow it to semi set. Heat the strawberry jelly in a saucepan and add sliced up strawberries into this, cool the mixture in the refrigerator overnight. Whip the semi set jelly into this mixture before serving over cake.

6.To serve, cut a slice of the cheese cake and pour a spoon of the topping over the slice and serve cold.

Hello and Welcome!

Starting this blog was something I have been struggling with for ages. I’ve desperately wanted to bless others with all the wonderful blessings my Lord has blessed me with, but always lacked the confidence to take a step towards anything concrete. Today seemed perfectly ordained for me to start this endeavour, Valentine’s day…the day the world celebrates love! What better day to begin my work for my Lord Jesus, the greatest Love of all, than today! As I take these baby steps of contribution into the cyber world, I humbly request anyone who reads or goes through the content to bear with any discrepancies and lack on my part….as I mentioned earlier, these are baby steps !

Let me get down to what this blog is all about….the Lord blessed me with a love of cooking, trying out new recipes and the opportunity to bless others with it. I also love sharing from the Lord’s word and meditating on it when I get the chance, but given my present circumstances, I’m slightly restricted in opportunities….so the Lord spoke to my heart to start this blog where I get to share two things I really love, a word from the Lord and one of my favourite recipes!

Please do keep this site and myself in prayer!