Baking Blunders

I am sure that you have never had any of those. You slave away in the kitchen and pour your heart into fabulous culinary delights that emerge from the oven, honey golden brown and baked to perfection every single time. Right? Okay, so if you are just a little bit like me, you may have had a mishap {or 2, 3, 14, who wants to count those?!}

Let me tell ya 'bout a couple of my {more recent} "whoopsies".

Banana Cake Flop
A couple of months ago we were having birthday fellowship at church. You know the kind where everybody brings finger-foods and we, as good Baptist, do a lot of eating and chatting. Good times! Well, this particular week, I was pondering and puzzling over what food to take. Attempting to be a thrifty, non-wasteful, good steward wife and mom, I thought I would use up some past-their-prime bananas and make a banana cake. Sounds like a good idea, right? Let's just say that I am sticking to my story that when I checked the cake, toothpick test and all, it looked nice and done and the toothpick came out clean. However, I think some little cake gremlin attacked between taking it out of the oven and fellowship time at church. 'Cuz that cake was a sad, gooey, mushy mess in the middle! It was definitely one of those times that you want to stand around and say, "So, who made that cake?!" and make no claims to it whatsoever!

Oatmeal Raisin Muffins that didn't do no Raisin'
Then there was a little "incident" a couple weeks back. I was *trying* to be a sweet wife and surprise my hubby with some baking when he got home. Clara got up from her nap raring to help mama with the special treat. She suggested that muffins would be yummy and I agreed. I looked through a couple of my cookbooks til I came across a recipe for oatmeal raisin muffins. Again, sounds good, right? Yah, not so much. Nothing looked amiss as we began measuring ingredients and mixing it all up. It called for plenty of baking powder. But do you think those little would-be-muffins raised into nice, fluffy perfection?!?! Not even close!! They just sat there like pathetic little lumps. I checked and re-checked that recipe to make sure that I had not gone astray somewhere. Nope. Needless to say, I won't be trusting that recipe again!

Pink/Blue Baby Shower Cake?!
And, if that isn't enough, we had my 4th of July failure. I found a cute recipe for a red, white, and blue cake. It looked easy-peasy and fool proof. {Famous last words!} I thought that I was being smart and picking a recipe that was easily within my {lack of} expertise. But, alas, I thought wrong. I borrowed a silicon round cake mold from my pastor's wife and greased it up but good. I prepared the batter, splitting it into three bowls, and adding the appropriate red and blue food coloring. Into the oven it went, but out of the pan it did not! That is, 2/3 of the cake slid nicely out, but that top 1/3 stubbornly held fast to the mold. Problemo numero 1! I did the best I could to make it look even and presentable on the top and was determined not to let the cake win. And, yes as you may have guessed, the "Red" didn't turn out too red, either. On to the frosting--drizzle "red", white, and blue, glaze over the top. Yah, I am sure you can imagine how my very pink and light blue frosting drizzled over a dejected little pink, white, and blue cake looked! Much more like a baby shower cake than anything to do with patriotic Independence Day!

Yah, mine did NOT look like this!

*Photo from thebakeryspot.com*

So, what's the "moral of the story"? Well, all these mishaps got me to thinkin'. Here's some random thoughts that I have learned, yes, even from my baking blunders.

Following the recipe is important. But you have to have a trustworthy, tried and true recipe to follow in life. I am so glad that My Recipe Book--The BIBLE--has never, and never will, let me down!

I hate wasting time, money, and ingredients when things don't turn out as I plan. BUT, at least in baking, I can wipe the counter clean and start all over again.

Life doesn't afford me any "re-dos". My time is short and my ingredients are priceless and irreplaceable. I only have 1 life to live, I only have 1 marriage to work on and be the best helpmeet that I can be, I only have 1 chance to raise my kids right, I only have 1 chance to fulfill God's perfect plan for me.

If I don't follow the wonderful "Recipe" that I have been given, I can be assured that things will quickly go awry. How can I possibly expect the results I want, if I don't put in the right ingredients?

Many people in the world today look at our churches and our kids, and want the good results without following the right steps to get to the finished product. I wonder if I don't, with my actions, often have the same attitude? It's so easy to let the "little" things slide. There not what's really important anyway, right?! Every ingredient, no matter how big or small, makes a difference in the recipe.

I don't want to alter the perfect recipe that I find in God's Word, I want to follow it to the letter. For me, for my marriage, for my kids, and for my service to the Lord. I am guaranteed success if I do it God's way.

Some ingredients sure leave a bitter taste. But those "unsavory" ingredients that God allows into our lives work together for His gain and our good; IF we let them! You can't have tasty biscuits if you don't add any  baking powder; by itself baking powder tastes terrible, but when you mix all the ingredients together just right, flaky, melt-in-your-mouth biscuits can come forth! Some of life's ingredients are harder to swallow than others, but it will be worth it all to see God's finished masterpiece in the end!

That's why I am "Missionary Mama in the making" ~~My recipe mishaps remind me that He's still workin' on me! :)