Ben's Favorite Brownies, Pot Roast a La Katie, and Other (more important) Random Thoughts

Hello blogging world! Isn't this weather fabulous? Good thing the global warming finally kicked back in.... I was starting to worry that those theories were false... um, anyway...

Today is random day on the blog because I have a few unrelated topics to share and here they are:

1. Ben's Favorite Brownies

I'll let the box speak for itself. Ben actually has the name "Betty Crocker Hershey's Frosted Supreme Brownies" memorized and I have been instructed to never let there be fewer than 3 boxes of these babies in the pantry on any given day. If we use one box, we have to replace it with 2 boxes per Ben Lassiter. These, my friends, are amazing and I suggest you buy a box pronto. I was going to put up a picture of what they look like but that would require me cutting a brownie and setting it on a plate, then that would require someone having to eat said brownie, and I am the only one here at the moment, and new years resolution I haven't made yet... and anyway... moving on.

Pot roast. If you detest pot roast or are bored to tears at the idea of reading about pot roast, please skip down to #2. However, if you could use a quick and yummy recipe, read on...

I found rump roast on sale at publix and bought a nice sized chunk of meat for about 5 dollars. Having never cooked a pot roast before, I wasn't even sure what I was buying, but it was on sale so I went with it... Here's all you need:

• Crock pot
• Roast (mine was a rump roast, I have no idea what this means)
• 2 or 3 cloves of garlic peeled and mashed
• S and P
• A small bag of red potatoes (or about a half dozen) cut into pieces (I quartered mine)
• a small bag of baby carrots
• mushrooms (I bought one container of fresh sliced mushrooms)
• an onion sliced (I used a little over half the onion)
• 1 can of French Onion Soup
• 1 can condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
• water

Ok, I did part of this Paula Deen style and part of this I just guessed at and got lucky.

1. Cover meat in salt and pepper and then brown the meat on all sides in a little bit of oil in a skillet. This is the hardest step in the recipe and takes about 10 minutes.

2. Throw roast in crock pot. Throw mashed garlic on top of roast. Throw in veggies. Cover with soups and about 1/2 to 1 can of water. (p.s. All veggies are optional. I picked what I liked.)

3. Cook on low for 8 hours per Paula Deen. I cooked on low for about 6 hours and then cranked it up to high because I was in a hurry. Turned out great!

This is super easy and yummy and we got several meals off of it. It's a good money saver and is a well balanced meal to boot!

2. My Back Patio

Please notice the random firewood, toilet paper streamed along the ground (you can view photos of my yard being rolled on facebook, courtesy of Dana Blanchard), rakes, weed killer contraptions, disheveled furniture, random sticks, flower pots and planters with no flowers or plants.... Needs a little work, don't you think? Thus, today's project awaits!

While I was sitting on the porch today (in the orange chair closest to the camera) I realized, I have time to do something today and I am going to make this patio look better! Yay! Oh, and I haven't forgotten to post about the making of the patio, I just want it to look good before I do. There is still more to do (obvious statement of the year), but as you can see, it is coming along.

AND, I have these to work with!

Thanks mom and dad! The chair pictured above, and 3 others that go along with it were mine and Ben's Christmas gift from my parents. I am really excited about placing them around the firepit. Then, we can have you over to enjoy it! I must say, they are pretty comfy and I am actually tempted to just leave them in my living room.

I could really use some flower tips for those planters. Any of you garden gurus have any advice? I'm off to home depot this afternoon to see what I can come up with.

3. Now, on a more serious note:

Can you believe what is going on in Haiti right now? I was watching Today this morning and saw families of missing American students pleading for the government to find their children. I cannot imagine. It hurts me to just watch it, imagine living it. Yesterday my mom asked me where I thought God was in all of this.

Today I read Romans 8, my new favorite chapter of the Bible, if you can have a favorite. It talks about the world being subject to decay because of the fall of mankind....

^"18I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. ¹⁹The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. ²⁰For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

²²We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently."

I cannot add to that. I can only say that I pray God is glorified in this tragedy. If you have a minute, read Romans 8 today.

Copy and paste of the scripture courtesy of BibleGateway.com. If you haven't been there, check it out. You can read the Bible in any translation with the click of the mouse.

And, if you are still with me at the end of this, God Bless You! I hope you have a wonderful day!