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The Bread of Angels

Angel Ballenger Sandlin

Our Story

Many many years ago, my husband and I decided I'd quit my 9-5 job and stay home to be a housewife. People thought we were crazy. But the DINK lifestyle was harried and stressful and we expected to start a family right away. We thought it would be immediate. Because everyone gets pregnant on the first try, right?

 

So I started nesting. And baking. I started with homemade breads, cookies, cakes, and then I stumbled up on a freebie recipe card in the mail for baklava. It looked challenging and I was game. Hubby was hooked. I tweaked the recipe to satisfy our tastes and before you knew it, we'd ballooned in our clothes and in our debt!

 

Dave Ramsey  (http://www.daveramsey.com) helped us with the debt, and yes, as long as I'm baking, we'll struggle with the clothes for the rest of our lives.

 

Oh- and the instant family? Um, no. 12 years of infertility and our gracious God sent us across the world to adopt our kids, who are the light of my life.  So now that they're older, and I have some coveted free time,  I finally listened to hubby the thousandth time he said "You should sell this" and here I am.

 

While baklava is my specialty, I  have found a calming therapy in custom decorated cakes and cookies.  I'll make custom cookie platters for parties, work or school meetings,  wedding and baby showers, cookie favors for school, soccer, valentines,  birthdays, cakes for all occasions (or none- sometimes you need to treat yourself!). Petite Fours are great  for your gatherings, and are not necessarily the froufy girly cakes you often think of! They can be suitable for business meeting snack breaks, hostess gifts, gift baskets for your teacher, secretary, wife!  If you have a special design or logo, let me know- I can come up with a new shape or put your logo on a cookie!

 

We used to host a Christmas party as a yearly tradition, I'd experiment with all these fancy desserts. What got all the attention? A simple sour cream almond pound cake with raspberry filling and a delicate buttercream. It is my go-to cake. Check out my gallery to see some of my cakes, and my nerdy sense of humor. I don't claim to be a perfectionist- at all. I am an amateur who likes to experiment. And yes, I subject my friends and family and children to be my experimental subjects.

 

So try a cookie. Let me bake you a cake. Venture out and try a French macron. Or baklava. Or a brownie. It's all homemade- from scratch. No box mixes here. No shortcuts. Eventually I'll learn from Sue Becker (www.breadbeckers.com) how to use fresh flour in my sweets. Meanwhile, I'll happily make you a loaf of fresh Ezekiel bread. Or my homemade honey wheat loaf from freshly milled flour. Just don't blame me if your clothes start to balloon, too. 

 

Remember this old joke: A man led a life of eating only all the "right" healthy things and died an old man. He entered heaven and found a bountiful buffet of all his favorite forbidden foods. He yelled at his wife- "If you'd let me eat like this on Earth, we could have come here years ago!" Do all things in moderation- but don't deny yourself a treat now and then!

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Oh- and where did the name come from??

Psalm78:25 says

"Man ate of the bread of the angels; he sent them food in abundance." ESV

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But the first part of Psalm 78 sets the story:

"He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children,
that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments;

and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

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Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert. They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved.
They spoke against God, saying, “Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
He struck the rock so that water gushed out and streams overflowed.
Can he also give bread or provide meat for his people?”

Therefore, when the LORD heard, he was full of wrath; a fire was kindled against Jacob; his anger rose against Israel, because they did not believe in God, and did not trust his saving power. Yet he commanded the skies above and opened the doors of heaven, and he rained down on them manna to eat, and gave them the grain of heaven

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Man ate of the bread of the angels; he sent them food in abundance.

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Even when we are stiff necked and rebellious, The Lord blesses us. He gave the Israelites manna from heaven- the food of angels. And still they sinned against him. We serve a gracious and just God. Do not harden your heart toward Him, but cry out to Him and He has promised to listen.

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Blessings,

Angel

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