Date Cacao Balls

Everyone loves chocolate, right?

Do you?

Come on, admit it.

Especially if you are of the female gender, you probably have a soft spot for chocolate ;-)

Now I have a confession to make: I love chocolate :-) All that smooth, sugary goodness just tastes so yummy!!... and then an hour (or two, or three) later, I realize that my heart is pumping fast, I have a headache, I feel anxious (even when I'm simply laying in bed!), etc.

I've come to realize in recent months, that when I eat too much sugar / junk / bad food, my body actually reacts in ways, such as the ones I listed above. When I have eaten [insert bad food item here] in the late afternoon or even for dinner or after dinner, I find that when I am in bed trying to sleep, I can literally feel my heart pumping and I am restless. I'm still learning how to read my body, but this is one side effect of chocolate that I shouldn't ignore!

But, a girl can't live without chocolate!

So...

Enter, Date Cacao Balls!!!

If there are ever any kind of chocolate balls on the table amongst a selection of sweets, I will always, always choose them. They're my favourite! But I know they're full of bad stuff, so after I received inspiration from my friend Anna, who posted a picture of some raw chocolate balls that she made, I googled a recipe, bought a couple ingredients, and made these for my first time!!

The recipe that I used can be found here.

They are super easy!

Chop up 1 cup of dates, put in a bowl and mix with 2 tablespoons of cacao powder. You'll probably need a bit of warm water to make it moist (add just a little at a time - you'll need to get your hands in there later!)

Did you know that cacao is a super food??! How awesome!!

The recipe calls for 1/4 cup slivered/chopped almonds and 1/4 cup coconut. Next time, though, I wouldn't even use the almonds. I absolutely love coconut, so that would be good enough for me! The almonds do give a nice crunchy texture, though. I found that I had about 1/4 cup of the mix leftover, so next time I would half these two items!

Coconut and almonds, for rolling the chocolate mix in

Voila!! Date Cacao Balls!

It will take a little while to get used to the "bitter" taste of raw cacao - because we are so used to the artificial sweeteners that is in general chocolate - but I really, really love these!! They a great substitute for any chocolate craving!

What is your favourite sweet? Would you be game to try a chocolate recipe that has no sugar?

~Rachel

Every Good Gift...

...and every perfect gift...

...is from above...

Therefore, I am here again today, being thankful...

[continuing my count up to One Thousand Gifts]

254. Late-night weekends, in the lounge by myself, losing myself in the world called Pinterest. And such other time-wasters ;-)

255. When my cat lets me pat her - and purrs.

256. Being asked, "Have you lost weight?" and truly not knowing if I have or not.

257. Digital cameras.

Photo courtesy of the man himself :D:P

258. My nephew Daniel  - a.dor.a.ble!!! (see top picture)

259. Spring flowers!!!! They make me SO happy! (see second top picture)

260. Lunch this past Sunday with my amazing, inspirational friend Shirley, and Andre.

261. Lunch / coffee dates at a new coffee shop with my bestie.

262. My pinboard at work :-)

263. Still thankful for the time on the train every day, reading, chilling, thinking, sleeping...

264. That I ran not once, but TWICE around the block tonight!! Woohoooo!!!

265. That hayfever is not as regular as it was last month... SO GLAD I'm no longer sneezing constantly, dabbing at my watery eyes, and trying to get rid of an itchy throat!

266. Visit from Dani and Yannis...

Photo courtesy of the beautiful lady on the right

276. ...cupcakes and hot chocolate...

277. ...D&Ms :-)

278. Sugar free chocolate.

279. Inspiration and joy from reading blogs such as Young Wife's Guide, Ministry So Fabulous, and The Random Writings of Rachel.

280. My workplace.

281. The awesomeness of sleeping in a double bed!!!! I can stretch out as much as I like! =D

282. Cheese. Mmmm. Cheese will always be my favourite!

283. A clean house.

284. Ladies morning tea on a special Saturday.

285. Straight hair.

286. Exciting news from a dear friend.

287. The opportunity that I have had to travel this year - Thailand, Canberra, Sydney, Darwin and Papua New Guinea!

288. Friendship. [Jewelz, that will be us one day ;-) ]

289. Hairdressers. Because I need to pay a visit to mine, soon.

290. A lazy Saturday morning that let me sleep in, read, bludge on my computer, and eat a random breakfast of cucumber and cheese on bread.

291. Getting a little tan line from my sandals.

292. These boys. Sitting in the front row at church. Singing. Playing drums on their knees. Reading the words of songs and Scripture. Do I worship as they do??

293. A peaceful house, late at night.

294. 3-hour long chats with my friend Brookie :-)

295. An awesomely successful surprise party for my man!

296. This post: my 100th post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

297. One of the most special moments of my life >>>

[in case you're wondering...I said yes :-) ]

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father..." James 1:17

What are you thankful for today? Come on - you know there's something to be thankful for!! :-)

~Rachel

Blessed Events in my First Week at Home

After one week at home, enjoying time with family, sleeping in, doing nothing, and spending time with my boyfriend, I was blessed this weekend to be a part of two amazing events with dear people from my church.

The first one was a pampering afternoon for the ladies and girls, thanks to Girls of Grace [With A Mission]. It was SUCH a privilege to spend time with the lovely ladies and girls who came!

To set the mood...

Thanks to Miss Mikayla and Miss Brooke... mini cupcakes!!

Lots 'n' lots of sweets - just what every girl gets excited about ;-)

Chocolate icing, of course! - with colourful butterflies :)

Coffee and laughs, while enjoying a foot bath!

Gorgeous girls - Amy, Hannah and Jordan

Alicia - all smiles, with her freshly painted nails!

Elyse always works wonders with nail polish!

Prepping for more foot baths!

Alicia lending a helping hand to Gabby =P

Claudia getting treated to a hand massage by Mikayla

Family!
R-L: Sarah and Kathryn (sisters), and Kathryn's daughter Christina

The second awesome event was our monthly youth service. We hold youth services every last Sunday of the month, and I am SO happy that I got to be here for this one!

A few of us stayed at the church all afternoon, and others joined a little later to help set up. 

And set up, we did!!!

All musical equipment moved; new lights; posters; chairs moved... Such fun!!

Setting up for youth service = ...

... CHAOS!!!
There were a lot of busy little beavers running around all over the place! =P ha!

Pretty lights :)
These make me happy!

The service started with a fun skit =D
I wish you could've been there to see it!

Our amazing worship team.
Nathan, Daniel, Brento, Kim, Gabby, Chris and Aaron [on drums]

Worshipping

Gabby led worship for the first time, and was a superstar!! Love that girl :)

My amazing boyfri-....... uh, I mean, the youth pastor preaching and challenging us: "What is Your Life All About?"

I am SO happy to be home! As I continue to settle in, I am just so grateful that God has called me here for this season.

I can't wait to see what He's going to do in and through the young people in my church and beyond - and I am super-excited to be involved in this!!

~Rachel

1 week

Hello again!

Well, it's almost one week since my last post... It's harder than I thought to get into this whole blogging thing... Might take a while!

Last weekend at CWCI was great! Mum and I drove down (the others left in the morning) to Victor Harbor at about 1pm. We went straight to the house we stayed in, and ohmygoodness!! It's better in real life than in the photos! It was one of the highest houses on the hill... In other words, right at the top of the hill, with total view of the harbor!!!!!!!! Us girls all decided we wanted to live in Victor Harbor :P
There was a service for the Convention that night at 7.45pm, but firstly Mum and I visited friends in Victor. We actually picked up my friend from work (at Moo Yoghurt... YUMMY!!! She gave me a cup of yoghurt, and then Mum and I both got this massive tub that we shared... What pigs!! But SO worth it!), and then went out to her place. They live on a farm outside of Victor, and my friend has a gorgeous Thoroughbred horse, which she shows, mainly jumping. My friend showed me what her and her horse, Bella, can do, and it was so great to just watch them work together! It's at times like those that I miss having my horse :'( And I really want to ride again!
Mum and I went straight to the night service after our visit at the farm, and the service was really good. All of them were good... Although there was one that didn't really apply to us girls--it was mainly about parenting, etc. Mmm, not quite there yet! Anyway, the part I loved about the services was the singing!! There was a few ladies that sang all the time, and their voices were just amazing! Their harmonies were just absolutely wonderful. I would LOVE to be able to sing like they do; and one of the ladies played keyboard, led (just announcing which song was next) and sang... I would love that to "be me" someday :).
Aside from the services, we hung around the house, the girls read, I tried to prepare for Girls of Grace (Girls Group), ate chocolate (more on that later), watched Fireproof (really good movie!), talked and went out for tea on Saturday night (yummy!).

Overall the weekend was really good, and I enjoyed spending time with everyone there :)

About the chocolate... Julia, Elyse and I have made a pact not to eat chocolate, lolies, ice cream or fizzy drink for one month. Julia and I were talking on Saturday night, after going out for tea and then coming home and eating chocolate/slice/junk etc, and we were saying how we were so full and felt a bit blahh :S. After talking about it for half an hour, we decided to make a pact not to eat any of the above for one month. We figured we could be accountable to each other, and it's way more healthy not to eat those things anyway! And we roped Elyse in as well (we had to twist her arm, though!), and Mrs. Packer is also doing it, to make it easier for Elyse :)

After that was decided, when I got home I realized that for the next 10 days, our church is doing a Daniel Fast. If you know the story of Daniel in the Bible, it will make a bit of sense to you. Basically, the idea is to eat only vegetables and drink water for 10 days. We've expanded it a bit, so we can eat vegetables, salad, fruit, brown rice, and of course, drink water. I started on Tuesday, so today is my third day. It's going well so far, but I AM missing meat! It's just vege's... a bit boring :(. But I guess it's a good experience!

I'd better go; my lunch break is finished. I hope everyone's week is going well :)

God bless.

~Rachel