I can be Thankful...

... no matter what.

No matter the emotions or situations that are affecting me - there is always something to be thankful for!!

Sometimes I am just overwhelmed by all of the amazing gifts that are in my life.

Yet more often than not, I forget to thank my Heavenly Father. Please tell me I'm not the only one who takes precious gifts for granted?? :'(

So today I take time, again, to count up to One Thousand Gifts (inspired by Ann Voskamp, here).


298. Beautiful, fresh mornings

299. The smell of rain

300. The sound of birds singing

301. Awesome chat with my brother last night

All kinds of hotness.
Two years ago, with my bro

302. New friends

303. The Random Writings of Rachel. Not only does this beautiful girl have my name, but her sense of humour is amazing! I love opening Google Reader each morning and reading her latest post - I always get a giggle :-)

304. My Mum, who opens our front gate for me every morning as I drive to work. Such a sweetie!
305. Anticipation of a trip to Sydney in April - it will be my first flight / time away in 8 months!



New Year's Eve 2011

306. Weddings! - two dear couples getting married in the next two months! YAY!

307. The way my man took care of me after I had my wisdom teeth out

308. Help from Bronwyn at Simply Elegant as I try to find a reception venue for my wedding

309. Our new young adults Bible study - what an amazing encouragement our time together each week is!

310. A visit from the beautiful Alicia when I was recovering from "minor surgery" last week



During her visit to Canberra last year

 311. Banana ice cream. Easy as pie, health AND delicious, all rolled into one!! All you have to do is peel a fairly ripe banana and freeze it; chop into pieces and blend with a little milk until creamy. Mmm!

312. A good nights sleep

313. Getting to work on time, even when you miss both alarms. *cough, cough*   314. WEEKENDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!     What are you thankful for today?   Go on - find something!! I dare you =D   ~Rachel

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

My Very First Smoothie

Do you like smoothies?

I love smoothies!!! Smoothies with mango are my favourite - the creamy sweetness makes my tastebuds sing!!

I have always wanted to make smoothies. Last year during my whole foods detox, I made a few smoothies with almond milk, banana and chia seeds. I tried one with baby spinach, but... let's just say that didn't turn out so well!

So now, a year later, I finally mustered up the courage to try again... and I had great success!!!

1/4 cup of milk, 2 tablespoons of natural greek yoghurt, 1 banana, 3 strawberries (plus the one in the picture for decorative purposes), 2 tablespoons of chia seeds, and 1/4 of an avocado all blended together gave me this:

Yummy goodness!!

I created the recipe myself, and it was pretty close to perfect.

What is your favourite flavoured smoothie? Do you ever make your own?

~Rachel