Boxed Mixes

Sometimes we don't have time to bake from scratch desserts.  That's when the boxed brownie mixes come in.  Now, there are cake and cookies mixes too, but cakes and cookies aren't my favorites, and from a box isn't as good as homemade.  But give me a brownie and I am in heaven.  Dense, soft, chewy, chocolaty, maybe even gooey in the middle.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.

Have you ever noticed that the brownies with sprinkles or different layers are way more popular than regular brownies?  Even if someone spent hours on their brownies, I tend to go with the ones with the chocolate chips or MnMs.

These are my favorite ways to dress up boxed brownies mixes.   

Mocha Brownies~Replace the water for strong coffee. Its amazing the difference it makes.  Mom's favorite.

Candy Bar Brownies~Add chopped up candy to the batter and sprinkle on top.  Think Snickers, Oreos, Kit Kats, Twix.

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Brownies~Beat 8 oz. cream cheese, 1/4 cup peanut butter and two to three tablespoon of sugar together and swirl on top of the brownies.  My favorite. 

Mint Chip Browies~Add mint extract and chopped Andes Mints.

Cookie Dough Brownies~Spread refirgerated cookie dough on the bottom of the pan and pour the batter over the top.  Everyone's favorite.

There you go!  Its easy to disguise mixes with the right ingredients:)

It's fine to do this with brownie mixes, but is it okay to do this with prayers?  Way too often, I'll take my "boxed" prayer and add in a couple of requests or praises and call it good.  But is that good?  Every January for the past three years, I've done a month long Bible Study called "The Prayer of Jesus for You."  It asks questions such as 'what do you normally pray for?', 'what do you think of eternity?' and 'why are your heroes you heroes?'  It continues to solidify my my belief that  prayer is more than words.  It is a key, a weapon, and a gift.  What's really neat is to look back at what things I specifically prayed for two years ago and to see that this year, I was given or achieved both of them.  It floored me to realize God said "yes" but in the best timing for me.  Its hard, but I have tried to give up my "mix" prayers and focus on listening.  For me, sitting and reading the Bible can be really hard.  I would much prefer to walk down the driveway, listening to worship music, but I see that when we have to be quiet and go beyond the "mix" we get so much more out of prayer.  You can focus on the different parts of prayer, the "butter, eggs, and sugar" instead of lumping them all together.  I write down praises, fears, requests and notes and getting to see the results two years later is so humbling.