Crazy Adventures of Me: Part 1

Hello! Today I am going to share a random adventure of Sianna. Stay tuned!

So, I opened our coffee kiosk on Monday morning. I got up at 3:50 (AKA: my alarm was set... I did not get OUT of bed until 4:15... Come on, you know you appreciate the honesty.) Got to work at 5:30 and did all my normal opening stuff, helped customers, etc. My lunch break was scheduled for 9:30. As the time neared, I watched the clock go slowly by from 9:25 on. I was getting hungry (And smelling the scent of steamed milk was not helping the situation any). I finished off my last white mocha with a perfect dollop of vanilla whipping cream, house-made. Then it was time. I got the okay from my boss to head to the break room. Now you know that just about everyone loves break time. Take off your  apron, sit down in a back room with no customers asking where the pasta, or olive oil, or kefir (don't even ask me) is. This wasn't any ordinary break though, you must remember. This was my THIRY-MINUTE burst of freedom! And not only that, but I had a delectable Quest Bar waiting for me in my locker! (I only buy them every so often when they're on sale, so this was a real treat I had been hoarding in my cupboard for about a week). I rushed in and frantically punched my employee ID into the time clock before I scrambled over to my locker and forced the lock open (okay, maybe I just strolled in, clocked out, and waited for the narrow locker hall to be free of people before I headed over and got my stuff). I got my Apricot vanilla cream tea out and mixed it around with my hot water and almond milk concoction I had brought from home. Then I searched my bag for my beloved s'mores flavored protein bar and grabbed my raspberry yogurt for the perfect pair. As I had seen many times in ads and recipes, etc, quest bars taste extremely scrumptious heated up in the microwave for 10ish seconds. "Well, duh I want to try that! It's SMORES?! Its going to taste a bajillion times better warmed up." So I sauntered over to the table where I placed my things and unfolded the wrapper of my bar. I opened the packaging up so that the plastic was flat with the questie on top. Then, I excitedly hopped over to the microwave and placed my goodie inside. *PAUSE* Guess what!? I grew up in a home where microwaves were frowned upon (more like scowled at) because of the bad effects of them. You know, the literal "Micro-waves" that they release into the air and all. So this being said, I don't know too much about the use of this kitchen-ware item. *END PAUSE* So I set this hunk of deliciousness, sitting on its wrapper, into the microwave and closed the door. I set the timer for 15 seconds and pressed go. In the same instant the turn-table started moving, there was a mini-lightning storm inside the microwave compartment as my quest bar was basically electrocuted.
Microwave: "ZAP"
Me: "AHHH!!!" *Rushes to turn it off and open the door, then timidly stops, afraid of being electrocuted, myself.*
I gulped, took a deep breath, and lightly touched the door of the maniac machine. Nothing. I went a step further and touched the greasy break room microwave turntable. Nothing. I reached in and snatched my bar and THIS is what I found....

Woah. Totally didn't see this one coming...

  My mouth dropped to the floor and I just stood there, staring. Thankfully I was the only one in the room or people would have thought I was crazy. After I recovered from my initial shock, I started to peel the wrapper off,  piece by piece, and contemplated what to do. I was sitting at the table when a coworker from a different department came in and sat down next to me. I finished peeling my demolished wrapper and then slyly looked over to where my friend was warming up her soup in the catastrophe-devising machine. When she was done, I casually asked :"Sooo, can paper towels go in the microwave?"
Her: "Oh yeah, definitely. *pause* Just nothing with metal or foil."
My brain did a face palm as I thought, "duh!? Why didn't I guess?"
Needless to say, I warmed up my s'mores bar properly and it turned out just like I'd heard it would, nice and chewy yet soft, like a cookie.
And that is the end of my adventure from Monday.

  I also feel the need to add the fact that once I started telling people this story, everyone started telling me that they've done the same thing before! Maybe you've even done this too. Or maybe you're smarter than me and actually read the microwave instruction manual, if it exists. 😞

 Thanks for hearing about my day! Until next time,

 ~ Sianna Renae

For The Sake of Being Free

      As I lay here typing this out, trying to compose my thoughts for this post, my mind goes around and around thinking "I did it again. Whatever "it" is. I'm feeling this way again. I just want to get away from this thing."  Now this "thing" for me is something specific that I may discuss further in the future, but for now we're just going to think of it as a flaw of my mortal nature (you know, those lovely things called "sin" that we do that make us human.) You've heard it a million times: no one is perfect. But why do we still think we should be? Why do we hold standards so much higher for ourselves than we do for others. We usually give grace to a greater extent to others in our lives, but we beat ourselves up when we screw things. We expect our actions and words to be perfect and are disappointed when they're not. When we make a little mistake we treat it the same as a bigger fault. "Why'd I do THAT?!" and "Ugh, not again!" filter through our minds and guilt trip us like crazy. A sin is a sin. What's done is done. And sometimes we get so trapped in those thoughts that we forget to move on. We forget to forgive ourselves and let the mistakes light the path to becoming stronger and of better character.

   It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1

                                          

     As this verse from Galatians clearly states : "Jesus set us free so we could be free (have freedom)!!!!"BUT, the second half says that we need to stand firm in that freedom and not let our weak hearts try to carry that guilt of sin anymore. We are already forgiven, why should we carry those burdens? Holding onto guilt and shame is like a little kid trying to carry a big bag full of bricks and boulders wherever they go. You know. It's way too heavy, they're too small, they just plain don't have the strength. It's dragging behind them leaving a trail in the dirt reminding the world that it was there.  But when we're forgiven its like there's a big strong guy trying to carry it for you. Probably your dad. Yeah, your Heavenly Dad. He tries to take it from us to help us but we selfishly cling to it thinking "I deserve this". You know? We DO deserve that. That's the beautiful thing about grace and mercy. We get the forgiveness that we totally don't deserve and the scorn and wrath that we do deserve is withheld from us. Jesus took that for us when he died on the cross. He paid for it all in one transaction. It's DONE. No more.

    "As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." Psalm 103:12

                              


      So, dear readers. Don't hold back! Just let it go! Be free from those chains that once held you so tight. You are forgiven and you can be free. It's in your power to choose to let those things go.
So I ask you to release those burdens into Jesus' care for the sake of being free. He wants you to rely on Him for your peace of mind. Because, loves, that's the only place true peace can be found. True, beautiful, all encompassing, all surpassing, peace.
Go be free! I'm working on this too. We're in this fight together. Now let's go be warriors of victory.

 ~ Sianna Renae

2 Ingredient Banana Pancakes (AKA: The Breakfast of Par Excellence)

     Are you ready for an amazingly simple and positively delicious breakfast (or lunch or snack or all of the above)? Obviously so, because you're reading this recipe post! I hold the secret to a yummy, allergen-free (dairy, gluten, tree nut, peanut, sugar, soy-free), melt-in-your-mouth, oh-my-goodness-gracious kind of recipe. They are easy, quick, and delicious. (And to be honest this has been my breakfast almost every morning for the last 6+ months 👀 ). So let's begin!

Part One:
Get out your ingredients. I guess I should probably tell you what those special things are, now shouldn't I?
Alright. One ripe banana and one egg. That's it. Unless you're like me and want to add a plethora of spices to the mix. I usually use cinnamon, cloves, and ginger.



You'll also need a small bowl and a fork (or some other form of musher. )

Get out a cast iron pan, lightly oiled, and set your stovetop burner to medium-low (this part is important!)


Part Two:

Step One : 
Unpeel the banana, obviously, and then break it into pieces and place in your bowl. Mash the pieces until their the texture of, well, slightly squashed bananas....

Step Two:
Crack your egg into a small bowl or measuring cup and inspect it to make sure there are no shells or signs of rottenness or whatever our mother's taught us to do that for... Toss it into the banana bowl and mix well.

GO AND MUSH IT!!!

No shells! Whaaaaat?!

Step Three (optional, but recommended):
Add your spices!!! My instructions on these are for you to pretend it's New Year's Eve and you're throwing confetti. You get the idea? Good ;)

You can even try nutmeg or cardamom :)

Step Four: Mix the spices in and check to see if your pan is hot enough. It should sizzle slightly when water is flicked onto it (Be careful, though. Don't use too much water... it will splatter! NOT GOOD). If it's too hot, they can burn or stick to the pan. So be wary of this step!

Step Five: Pour batter onto your pan and cook for 1 minute before flipping and repeating. Sometimes I can get 5 little pancakes out of one recipe and sometimes I just dump the whole bowl into the skillet and cook one big pancake! It's delicious either way. Add your favorite toppings and enjoy! Some toppings I like to do are : molasses, honey, peanut butter, coconut flakes, dried cranberries, chocolate chips, nuts and seeds, etc. The possibilities are infinite!

Mini-pancakes!

I added walnuts, honey, and peanut butter to this one and paired it with a summer-fresh nectarine!

   So simple yet SO incredibly delicious.


   Be sure to try these out and let me know what you think! Enjoy :)

     ~Sianna Renae