Faith in Prayer... and Apple Pie

Greetings world,

As I am writing this I am listening to a lecture on Vatican II. Boring. Just kidding, please, if their are any bishops who were present at the ecumenical council of Vatican II that are readers of this blog, please excuse the comment. However, I must say that when you write documents you should try to use less words. It's taking me forever to read through these freaking documents.

Anyways... I was in prayer today, which was very interesting. I made the mistake of having espresso and tea all within 3 hours of my prayer time. I felt like an 8 year old who just had 5 Twix bars. I was off the wall in the chapel. I think I had enough energy to power a small house. However, I was able to get something out of prayer that was actually quite profound.

Let me ask you folks to break out your Bibles. Yes, it is a good thing. To use my current class that I am taking, Dei Verbum writes that we are to frequent Scripture in order to come to a "greater knowledge" of Jesus Christ; for "ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ." (Dei Verbum, 25.).

In other words, know your Bible if you want to know Jesus.

So the Lord told me through Scripture today that we need to be people of faith. When we pray we have to believe that it is going to come true, granted that we are praying for something that is good. (Wishing for a billion dollars, although a cool idea, may not be the best thing for us in the long run - see Matthew 19:24). Like when we pray for things like jobs, or vocations, or for our family members who are dying, we need to pray with the belief that the Lord is going to deliver!

Check it... Mark 11: 22-24

Jesus said to them in reply, "Have faith in God.

Amen, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it shall be done for him.

Therefore I tell you, all that you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it shall be your

I think that sometimes we pray for things just for lip service. Maybe we think its like a pipe dream or that the Lord might hear us, but chances are He doesn't really care or whatever. I think we need to wake up and realize that we have a God that loves us immensely and unconditionally. He hears our prayers (even when we are vamped up on caffeine and fidgeting around in the pew) and answers them!

Ok... part 2 of my post.

Over the break I came up with an amazing invention. It's called Vince's Granola Apple Pie. I am using Nelia Santayana (my lovely girlfriends lovely mother as our guide). I helped Tita Nel bake her first pie this past week and it turned out fantastically.

Vince Granado's Granola Apple Pie:

Pie Crust:
2 cups of sifted flour
2/3 cup of vegetable oil
1/3 cup of butter milk
pinch of salt

Pie Filling:
5 apples (preferably Granny Smith or any other tart apple), peeled, cored, and sliced thinly
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
2 tsp of ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp of nutmeg
1/2 of salt
1 tbls of lemon juice
2 1/2 tsp of cornstarch

Pie Crust:
2 3/4 cups of rolled oats
1/2 cup of flour
3/4 stick of unsalted butter
1 tsp of cinnamon
1 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of diced walnuts
pinch of salt

1) Preheat the oven to 190 Celsius (370 F). Make the crust by mixing the flour and salt in a large bowl. Then add the oil and buttermilk to the mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and chill the dough for 20-30 minutes in the freezer. Remove from freezer and work the dough into a pie pan. I like to use a 9inch by 1 1/4inch pan (23 cm by 3.1 cm). Make sure it covers the pan evenly and that you get some to cover the top edge of the pan. I like to use a fork to get ridges at the top edge of the pan. Set the pie crust aside in the fridge.

2) Take your apples and place them into another large bowl. Add your lemon juice, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg. Now mix. Lastly, add your cornstarch. Do not overmix this, just make sure the apples are evenly covered. Set aside on the counter.

3) In another bowl, combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt. Cut in the butter and then proceed to mix with your hands. Mix until it resembles a clump, but do not overmix or the butter will melt in your hands and ruin the topping.

4) Add the apple filling to the crust.

5) Take the oat topping and distribute evenly across the top of the pie. Lightly press it down if you desire.

6) Bake pie for about 30-45 minutes.

7) Remove from oven and cool.

8) Serve warm with vanilla bean ice cream. Yum.

9) Pay respect to the name of the pie: "Vince Granado's Granola Apple Pie." The Lord is watching you :-)