Chocolate Binge

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G U I L T   F R E E ! ! !

You know the adage, if it sounds too good to be true then it is probably….

But, not in this instance!  Truly this chocolate is good for you!  It will stem your cravings, it will feed your brain, it will send great messages to your metabolism, it might even help you lose weight!  I take no responsibility, but urge you to do your own experimentation!

A lady in front of me at the local grocery store yesterday semi-apologized for hoisting three enormous boxes of a popular beverage aka, canned liquid poison (one of many toxic-liquid-evils widely marketed around the world by those who have a taste for death) onto the check-out conveyor belt.  “One of my few vices,” she said.  Out of the blue, because I had not tried to offer any health education AT ALL – ask my daughter.  I sometimes want to, but in this case I hadn’t even gotten that far.  Then, as she was leaving she says in a very friendly way to the cashier, “But you have to watch chocolate because it makes your clothes shrink!”  I’m sure you’ve heard that before.  It took me awhile, and then I thought out loud “Not raw chocolate!  If you eat raw chocolate your clothes get baggy.  In fact, you might even need to buy new clothes because you may drop a size or two!”  At least, that’s what happened to me!

IMG_0914So here is yet another way to roll up the raw chocolate, courtesy of my client who liked my ideas and then experimented a bit more!

  1. Coconut Oil,
  2. Organic Peanut Butter
  3. Honey
  4. Raw Cacao Powder

Just four ingredients.  Each one has a smaller amount.  So if you start with 2 huge spoons of coconut oil, add 2 spoons of peanut butter, one spoon of honey.  Mix the first three ingredients completely, then add 2 huge spoons of cacao powder, or add the amount to give you the darkness you desire.  The ratio will probably be just less cacao powder to the combined amount of coconut oil and peanut butter. Experiment with the ratios until you get it just like you like it! You could even add more ingredients, but I’m trying to keep it really simple!

Mix or stir well.

Refrigerate briefly to help it get itself together (depends on the temperature in your kitchen).

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Roll out onto a plate (pre-cool the plate in the freezer in warm weather) like a snake, or roll into balls.

Refrigerate or freeze to harden.  Store in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer and have a slice when you are craving a treat!

Hide all evidence, or else the next time you have a craving you are going to find your family has completely consumed it!  But hey, it’s good for them too!  So I guess it’s time to make some more!

More raw chocolate ideas here and here and here…  Just for a taste!

I’m on a chocolate journey!  Where has your chocolate journey taken you?

 

 

Thoughts about Food

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Instead of cooking, how about food preparation?

Instead of rigidly following a recipe, what about having a look at the real food available to you and saying, “how can I combine these foods to make something delicious?”

If you bake so you can have “treats” or snacks, what other foods could you begin to enjoy that would be a treat or snack?

Make a list of all the foods you love that are good for you and figure out creative ways to recombine them!

The possibilities are endless. Share your great ideas with others.  Our creativity can be contagious.  We need to

get out of the ruts we’ve formed for ourselves.

One client shared a new adaptation of some of my raw chocolate ideas:  mix organic peanut butter, raw cacao powder and honey. Roll it into a snake formation (like when we make play dough snakes with our kids).  Store it in the fridge and cut off a piece as needed for your super delicious, nutritious snack!  My adaptation would be to add come coconut oil to that mixture!  Play with it.  Make it your own.  Be creative.  Think differently!

Overcoming Evil With Good

shattered glassMy friend shared a very powerful story that more people need to hear.  We’ve all faced situations where we feel unjustly attacked, or that the reaction we receive is totally over the top.  These attacks can cause a physical stress response in our body and leave us reeling for days!  We feel shattered.  Have you ever felt assaulted by words? Like you’ve been punched in the stomach?  Read about Kristin’s experience and how she responded.  Just a beautiful story!  These are her words, which she has given me permission to share:

Today, a simple trip to the “financial vortex” we like to call Target, ended up being an experience that God would use in my and my son’s life for quite some time. It is NOT a story about me. It is a story about the God that I serve and His infinite ability to make beauty from ashes.

As Luke and I turned off of North Point Parkway and into the strip mall that boasts the big red ball of happy, I noticed that there was a terribly obnoxious amount of traffic. I felt rather sorry for the cars that were trying to exit, (they had a yield sign to us) and so I (not noticing the “keep moving” sign) stopped to let a car squeak by. It was at this point I heard the BLAST of a horn – and when I say blast, I mean it sounded as if the driver had climbed out of his seat and was sitting on his steering wheel. And he didn’t let up. He followed me into the Target parking lot, and followed my minivan until I turned into a parking space. It was at that point that I realized we were going to have to exchange words… because he had intentionally stopped his car right behind mine so that I could not get out. Gulp.

I took a deep breath, I knew I was not dealing with a rational, good spirited person. Nope, this was an angry middle aged horn happy man who was severely enraged by my choice to let a car through traffic. Dear Lord.

FlamesMy feet had not even hit the pavement before a barrage of arrows came flying from his mouth. This man, I did not know, was screaming at me in the Target parking lot. I watched his mouth moving, his forehead squinched, his cheeks bright red with anger. I heard the words. “Idiot” “You should learn how to drive” “can’t you read?” “It’s people like you who cause accidents.” I stood in disbelief. Was this happening? All I could think was “Why is he so angry?” So, that’s what I asked him In the gentlest tone I possess. “Sir, why are you so angry?” He was so taken aback by my response that he stumbled over the next few words, scoffed a little, and then carried on with more arrows. Ugly arrows. Flaming arrows. Hurtful, sharp and wicked arrows… and then… he was gone.

Luke and I stood in the parking lot hand in hand with our mouths gapping, our hearts pounding, and our spirits completely stomped on. We had just been harassed by a perfect stranger, for being kind to another stranger. (And I admit that technically I had made a traffic mistake, but I am fairly certain that my abuser has made at least one of those in his life time? Just a guess.)

After I collected myself, (and sucked any tears that threatened to fall out – back into my eyeballs) I leaned down and looked into my son’s eyes. “Son, I am really sorry that that happened. You know that we NEVER – no matter how mad we are – we NEVER treat another person like he just treated Mommy, right?” “Yes ma’am” “And son, the Bible says to love our enemies and so I think we really need to pray for that man.” “I do too mommy.” “Alright, I love you so much” “I love you too momma.” “You ok?” “Yup”

And although I had resolved it with my son, I could not quite resolve it with myself. As we got our items from inside the store, a trail of “poor me” thoughts like “How could a person who does not know me or who I am, attack me like that? I’m like the nicest person ever, that wasn’t fair, my saturday is ruined, that was so mean, I’m so sad, tears… uh oh, tears… here they come..” And I burst into pitiful self pitying tears, right there in the happiest store on earth. I was letting that man crush my spirit. I was swimming in the ugliness that he had thrown on me and I was so close to MISSING the beauty that God was, in that very moment, effortlessly replacing it with.

As we walked to the car, I believe God spoke to me. “That man put something ugly into the world, now GO and put something beautiful in its place. I am God – and I turn ashes to beauty, evil to good, hurt to healing… Go and be my light. Go and bless someone.”

So friends, here’s where it gets GOOD. Luke and I prayed right there in the car. Where do we go? What do we do? Who do we bless? I felt the urge to drive across town to the Kroger near my house and so I took that as part of our answer. We prayed on the drive over that HE would lead us, show us who to bless and how to do it. I suspected we would be paying for someones groceries and so I immediately started to plan “Operation Bless A Stranger” Actually, it was more like “Operation bless a stranger who looks sad or down trodden with just a grocery basket, not a whole cart cause we can’t afford it if they’re not in the ten items or less lane.”

God had something else in mind.

After grabbing a very schizophrenic assortment of unnecessary items that I absolutely did not need, we neared the check outs. I started to question what I had heard. I felt nervous and embarrassed. What if this didn’t go down well. Who is it Lord? What if I…

And there she was.

A nicely dressed 50 something. Well put together, a typical southern lady, with a very substantial amount of groceries. Really Lord? She does not look like she needs me to buy her groceries…ALL millions of them. But I knew. The holy spirit was pushing my heart toward this woman, this perfect stranger.

I watched the grocery bill climb higher and higher, a bead of sweat flew off of my forehead, I felt a little nauseous. It was now or never. Her last item had crossed the finish. It was time to pay. “Ma’am?” I said. “My son and I would like to pay for your groceries.” She looked at me like I had just said “My son and I would like to eat your groceries.” Adamant, she replied. “No. You can not buy my groceries, there are way too many here. Someone did this for my mother. No, I can’t let you buy my groceries.” To which I replied “Ma’am, my son and I had a horrible experience today, and we prayed a lot about this, and you, and well, we’re going to buy your groceries.” At this point the woman realized that I was going to buy her groceries. There was no talking me out of it. She grabbed me. She literally wrapped her arms around me and began to sob. I sobbed too. Then she pulled away from me and looked me in my eyes and said this: “My husband is terminally ill, you just, you just have no idea… thank you.” And off she went, pushing her millions of groceries that God had just paid for, out the door.

Faith surrenderAt this point everyone was crying. The people in line behind us, the checkout girl, the tough guy one isle over “had something in his eye”… (he totally cried). The check out girl looked down at Luke and said “you have a great mom” to which I say this: This is not about me. This is about the God that I serve. This was FOR me from Him. He turns ashes to beauty, evil to good, hurt to healing, pain to laughter, and traffic violations to stories of His immense love – from one perfect stranger to another.

So my challenge? When someone is terribly unkind to you, GO do something for someone else. He has given us the power to replace the bad with something good.

My God is an awesome God. That is all.

[ME}: Hey Kristin I’d love to share your story. It is so profound and illustrates some practical steps for healing and forgiveness. I can share with or without your name – whichever you prefer. Also, I was wondering if after the big hug by the lady and all the tears, if you felt an emotional cleansing? It is amazing how an assault of words can actually have a physical impact on our body – almost as if we had been physically punched all over. I think your Holy Spirit guided response was absolutely beautiful and must have brought such healing and a sense of physical peace.
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  • Kristin Birkeli Grunewald Becky Hastings, you absolutely may share it with whomever you’d like! And YES re the emotional cleansing. I absolutely did feel that way! And HE knew I would. I’m feeling so incredibly blessed to be the daughter of a king, who cares so greatly for his children!

    Share away! Start a movement! #killitwithkindness!