Love Quote

“There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket - safe, dark, motionless, airless - it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.” 

-- C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

We read this quote in our small group last night, and it has been ringing in my ears all day. Simply said, but all so true. 

Crock Pot Cake

I absolutely LOVE my Crock Pot!! I know, I know, I say this a lot, but it is so very true. I have grown to love it even more with the discovery of such easy desserts that can be made in it. DESSERTS?! I always just thought of pulling it out for dinner, never for dessert. I found this Chocolate Lava Cake recipe for the crock pot on the Crockin' Girls website and it was amazing and so simple. I have made several variations and have decided to share my latest one with you lucky readers! It is my version of Pineapple Upside Down cake, but in the Crock Pot.

You will need the following ingredients:

• 1 Box Pineapple Cake Mix
• 3 Eggs
• 1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil
• 1 2/3 Cups Water
• 1 (3.9oz) Box Coconut Creme Instant Pudding
• 2 Cups Milk
• 1 (8oz) Can Crushed Pineapple
• 1 Jar Maraschino Cherries

Directions:

• Mix cake mix with eggs, oil and water. Pour into your crock pot.
• Mix instant pudding with milk. Pour over cake batter.
• Chop up however many maraschino cherries you want and sprinkle them, along with the crushed pineapple, over the top of the batter. Will look something like this:

• Cook on High setting for 2 1/2 - 3 hours.

Let it cool. If you can. It will smell so yummy that you will most likely dive right in and possibly devour it all without sharing. Please, don't burn your mouth. :) ENJOY!!!

**FYI: As I mentioned, you can very this multiple ways, simply by changing the type of cake mix, pudding, and topping. The original Chocolate recipe is linked above and here, again, for your convenience.**