Two weeks ago, we had friends from Ohio come down and visit us. On Saturday night, I made a Texas Sheet cake. I have made this particular dessert several times before and I have never had any difficulties with it. However, this time, I was going to learn an important lesson.
I am a rule follower and when I bake or cook I must have directions to follow. I don't ad lib. I follow the directions...except for last weekend. I substituted butter for oleo. The first time I saw this recipe, I did not know what oleo was. I discovered that oleo is margarine, but I only had butter. It was late. I was tired. We still had a busy day on Sunday and my husband and daughter were leaving Monday morning for Detroit, Michigan. I didn't tell anyone that I needed margarine and just made a decision to use butter. I didn't think it would make that much difference.
My real troubles began when I started making the frosting. You have to melt a stick of margarine and then add cocoa and milk. The mixture then has to come to a boil. My butter, cocoa and milk was not coming to a boil. In fact, what eventually started happening was the butter started to separate. I finally gave up and threw it out. I didn't have any more butter or margarine, so I got another stick of butter from a neighbor. I went through the same process again with the same results.
I was so frustrated! What had been a relatively easy "just follow the recipe" process, felt like a disaster. With my husband's help, we eventually made it work, but I could tell it was just not the same.
The moral of the lesson - don't substitute. This applies to recipes in the kitchen and to God's recipe for life. Sometimes we are tempted to shortcut God's plan and substitute what we believe might be a better alternative, but this will always lead to life less than God's best for us! Follow God's plan. It will come out just right.
