Healthful Hot Cocoa

 

We keep our house on the cool side in all seasons. It’s warm enough to be safe and stay well, of course, but cool enough for our broken internal thermostats to be satisfied and not sweating. I would rather be a little chilly and throw on a blanket than be melting in my clothes.

Warm drinks are another of my favorite ways to stay warm in the chilly winter months. Most of the time that means coffee, which will not surprise any of you, I know. And as I shared with you a few days ago, I’m on a mission to learn to love hot tea, so I’ll carry on with that experiment as well.

But sometimes a cold Indiana day just calls for hot cocoa. Coffee and tea can’t possibly fill in for good, old-fashioned, hot cocoa. While I would dearly love to always recreate the hot chocolate bomb experience we enjoyed on our monthiversary earlier in January, that is neither practical nor possible. (I don’t have the skills or tools to make them, and they aren’t in our budget for regular consumption.)

I have hot cocoa mixes, but as with all things, I’m looking for ways to make this treat just a little bit more on the healthful side. So, I set out to find one that made me feel better about indulging while also still tasting like the drink I know and love. It’s a tall order to demand of a classic drink: Be somewhat good for me while still tasting indulgent.

For a while now, I’ve followed The Food Babe on Instagram, and I confess there are days when I have to keep her reports a bit at arm’s length, because otherwise I would have to stop eating almost everything served everywhere. But I really do try to learn from her teaching, and she is passionate about the harmful ingredients in almost every single packaged hot cocoa mix out there. They have tons of sugar, corn syrup, preservatives, and artificial flavorings, and none of that is good for any of us. I can appreciate that.

 I hunted around the internet and found this recipe for a homemade hot cocoa free of processed sugars and the other harmful things. I was skeptical! I’ll admit it. But I tried it one day and…I liked it!

I will offer a few of my thoughts and observations:

·         It’s not as quickly made as a package of hot cocoa mix. You do have to heat up the ingredients on the stove, and that takes a few minutes. But dare I say – it tastes a little better because of the effort put into it?

·         Almond milk (my milk of choice) is not something I would sit and drink by the glass like I would cow’s milk. But I’ve been ordering my lattes with almond milk for a couple of years now, and I’ve gotten to the place where I look forward to that nutty flavoring in the milk. It’s noticeable in this recipe too, but once you get used to it, I think it has a pleasing taste – and it keeps me satisfied for quite a while. I haven’t made this recipe with cow’s milk or oat milk, so I don’t know how the taste would change there. (Side note: we have moved to using almond milk exclusively because cow’s milk always spoils before we can finish a carton. I do all my cooking with almond milk.)

·         I use honey to sweeten my hot cocoa. You could use maple syrup (or a combination of honey and maple syrup) if you want, but the honey is sufficient for me.

·         I use real vanilla extract, and while I’m typically of the persuasion that you can’t use too much vanilla, I did try to add it conservatively in this recipe. I didn’t want it to overpower the chocolate flavor.

I don’t have hot cocoa every day, but I do enjoy a treat now and then, and in my opinion, this is a fantastic option! I truly love making my own from scratch – knowing it’s full of better-for-me ingredients, and tweaking/customizing it to fit my tastes perfectly.

Bekah's Bookshelf: My 2023 Reads (So Far)

 

Right at the end of 2022, I decided to try a reading challenge for this year. The one I chose is 52 books long, proving I often have loftier goals than I have time to reach.

            Even though I know I’m unlikely to have time to read 52 books in this particular year, I want to read as many as I can, and I thought I’d share my finds in case you need something to read also! (Quality also trumps quantity, so I'd rather read slowly and truly absorb than blow through the books so quickly and not get anything out of them.)

            My first book, which I finished in three days (and could have finished in one if I hadn’t been a responsible adult doing chores) fulfilled the category of winter read. It’s called Like a Winter Snow and is written by Lindsay Harrel, a new-to-me author.

            It’s a shorter novel that I found free on Kindle, so I downloaded it and decided to make it my first read of the year, because I figured it was a good way to ease into a big project!

            Like a Winter Snow is absolutely a Hallmark movie in book form. It has all the elements I love so much in my sweet TV movies – in a book! It was predictable in all the ways I needed it to be, it was sweet and picturesque, and it included the Lord, which gave it extra points for me.

            Even so, it held some delightful surprises! The main character, Joy, (which happens to be my middle name) is a 40-something woman (like me) whose parents were in their forties when she was born (like me). She’s uprooted her life to move near them and care for them (okay, so the similarities end), but her best friend is getting married just after Christmas in England, and Joy’s the maid of honor.

            The book contains all the cozy winter things…bookstores, lighthouses, tours of London, and a single gentleman who just happens to catch Joy’s eye. I won’t elaborate further on the storyline because I think you get the main idea, and I don’t want to ruin anything for you if you choose to read it.

            But what I do want to tell you about are a couple of quotes that spoke to me so powerfully. I know fiction is not usually a storehouse of great quotes, but this book was! I’ll share two of my favorites:

            The first one is in response to a declaration that a situation could not work, because the choices were either A or B, and neither one could ever happen. The character said, “There’s some other solution that neither of us can see right now because it’s not the future. Only God knows what will happen, and He can work anything out.”

            And this one: “Sometimes God wants us to be stretched. To choose the thing that’s frightening and unsure. To live boldly. To take a chance on the unknown.”

            Both of those came to me on a difficult day when a couple of situations in front of me felt insurmountable. And yet the words of fictional characters rang true for my life. There are not merely choices A and B when God is involved. There can be an infinite number of solutions I can’t even fathom, but if He wants me to see them, He’ll bring them when the time is right. Meanwhile, He calls me to live boldly, stretch myself, and take chances on things that might be frightening and unknown.

            If you’re looking for a sweet, cozy, quick winter read, this is a great choice. (Bonus! It’s the front end of a series, so if you fall in love with the little village of Port Willis, you can go back to visit in another book!)

            My second read of the year was quite the about-face in content, but I am really glad I chose to read it. It fulfilled the category A Book Everyone is Talking About. I chose to read Matthew Perry’s recently-released memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.

            I’m guessing a few of you might not know who Matthew Perry is, so I’ll explain and those of you who know can skip ahead to the next paragraph. Matthew Perry is an actor who is best known for his role as Chandler Bing on Friends. Chandler is quite a loved character on the show, but in real life, Matthew Perry has deep (deeper than I knew!) struggles with drug and alcohol addiction. I wanted to read his book to better understand him as a real person and to better understand exactly what deep addiction does to the person it ensnares.

            I’ll tell you straight from the start that the book is full of language I really did not appreciate, and if it had been any other book, I probably wouldn’t have kept reading. But I really wanted to push through and finish this story. Foul language aside, Matthew is a great writer, and I appreciated his raw (very, very raw) insights into how he thinks and operates.

            He writes candidly about how still, as a rich and famous actor in his fifties, he is afraid to his core of abandonment and being alone. He talks about how he tried to fill holes in his heart with drinking and drugs. He talks about how his body and mind seem to work differently than most people’s, giving him both a higher tolerance and need for massive quantities of drugs and alcohol. He writes about nearly dying when his colon exploded and the seven million dollars he has spent trying to get sober. Seven million.

            He writes about how his life has been riddled with poor choices that have left him alone and wading through the muck of addiction as a middle-aged man. He writes about how another relapse will surely kill him, because the amount of drugs and/or alcohol it would take for him to even get there would not be survivable.

            I told Ryan, when I was about halfway through the book, that reading Matthew’s story has made me exceedingly glad I chose never to take a drink. I believe in my soul that I have an addictive gene in my body, and I fear if I start, I will never stop. And I don’t have seven million dollars for rehab, so there’s that…

            Chandler is known for his quick wit, sarcasm, and one-liners, and all those things are true of Matthew Perry as well, but they are all his coping mechanisms to try to make and keep relationships even as he knows he will probably sabotage them before someone else does it first.

            When I worked at WillowBridge, I learned that it would be good for me to try to understand people who live differently than I do. I most certainly did that through the tenants we served. And through Matthew’s book, I’ve learned not just the behind-the-scenes story of the man who played a TV character I know, but the reality of an addict’s life and the cycle of his thoughts.

            Would I recommend the book? If you’re a Friends fan and/or like me, want to learn more about the struggles of addiction, this is a raw and informative insight into all of that. Matthew is a gifted writer, and aside from language, it’s very well done. But if you do choose to read, be prepared for a lot of extra words. (LOTTTTTTTT.) 

            I’m now working my way through the book I intended to start with for 2023, but it didn’t arrive in time. It’s called Redemptive Compassion and is written by a former Love INC director. It’s actually fascinating to read this on the heels of reading about ensnaring addiction. I’ll wait until I’ve finished it to tell you more about that. (I’m close!)

Dare to Different-Size

 

            When we told my mom we were planning to move, she wanted to hear all about the new place. We described it to her, and at the end of the story, she said, “It sounds to me like you’re going to have to downsize quite a bit.”

            If you know me, you know that downsizing doesn’t scare me, but the new place isn’t smaller than where we are now. (Or at least that’s what the paperwork says.) It is, however, quite different in its layout and use of space. It does sound smaller when you hear about it. And so I told her that we weren’t downsizing…but we were different-sizing.

            It isn’t a word, I know, but it fits here.

            We aren’t going into a smaller space, but we are going to have to be creative and particular about how we use what we have. Some things may not fit in the new layout. Some things may fit even better. I am confident that all things will be evaluated before we carry them inside, and only the things that truly fit our life in this house will be given a permanent place.

            You don’t have to move to different-size your home. I’ve often redecorated and reorganized merely by moving something from one room to another to see how it might look if it lived there instead. Finding a new home for something in your own home without spending a penny is one of the most satisfying things, I think.

            I’m looking forward to seeing how the layouts look in the reality of the spaces in comparison to how they’ve looked in my mind for the last several weeks. If history repeats itself, I imagine some of the spaces will look identical to my vision and others will prove to me that I am not a professional decorator for a reason – and I’ll go back to the designing board to different-size it again.

            If the cold winter days have you longing for change, newness, and warmth, try different-sizing something in your home. Swap something from one room to another. Bring new life to a new year without spending anything other than a little time on some creativity.

Hymns: Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

  

           I grew up listening to hymns…exclusively. “Back then” (because I’m old enough to use that phrase regularly now), hymns were the only songs used in congregational singing at church, and they were also what we listened to at home and on the radio.

            By junior high, I was ready to properly rebel against those “boring old songs,” and launched a personal initiative to bring in the modern tunes of Sandi Patty and Steve Green. I went through a multi-year period of resisting everything about the hymns I’d always known, but thankfully Bill Gaither saw fit to use them on the Gaither Homecoming recordings, and somehow when done Gaither-style, they held much more appeal to me. Before I even realized it, I was drawn to hymns again.

            I’ve come full circle now, and hymns are not only dear to me, but they are preferable to most current music. (Not all, but most.) I thought I would randomly share here some that are meaningful to me in this season of my life, and today is one of those days.

            Over the last year, the Lord has been teaching me so much about putting my focus on the things that He wants to matter most to me. I say it that way, because I believe He has different “things that matter most” for different people. I believe He places passions in our hearts that draw us toward the work He wants us to do in this world.

            But as He has worked in my heart on this subject, I keep coming back to the chorus of the hymn Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace

            Even though the things that matter most to me from an earthly perspective might be different than the things that matter to you, what should matter most to both of us is a full view of the Face of Jesus.

            God has been teaching me to “look full in His wonderful face” by showing me I can see Him all around me. When Ryan and I were in Florida for our anniversary, I stood on the shore, day after day, with my eyes closed, just listening to waves crashing against earth. I felt the wind blowing my hair, buried my toes in cold, wet sand, and I looked full in His wonderful face. I opened my eyes and saw pointy palm leaves tossing in the wind, birds scampering effortlessly down the beach, and the sunshine darting in and out of clouds, and I looked full in His wonderful face. I met people created by the same God Who created me, celebrated the love I share with Ryan, and I looked full in His wonderful face.

            In those moments, the things of earth grew dim. Lists grew dim. Obligations grew dim. Everything grew dim in the light of His glory and grace. And that is my prayer for this month, especially. There are many things of earth clamoring for my attention. They are good, worthy, and sometimes necessary things. I’m certainly not about to ignore them entirely. But my prayer is that their claim over my attention will dim in comparison to the glory and grace of God and His love. 

Sunday Sentiments: Flourishing in the Frozen

 

When Ryan and I were married a decade ago, we said we should just stay in Florida. December in a warm state is quite a draw. 

When we went back to Florida for our 5^th anniversary, we said we should just stay. 

And when we went back last month, even though we didn’t go quite as far south and the weather wasn’t quite as warm, we once again questioned why we live so far north.

In fact, shortly before we left to come home from our 10^th anniversary trip, we ran into a gentleman who does sand sculptures on the beach. We talked to him for a while and learned he is originally from Michigan. He said he moved to Florida more than a dozen years ago and hasn’t looked back. He told us we should move south and promised we would never regret it.

 I have a feeling he’s not wrong.

 In fact, we heard the same story from several people we met around Florida.

 Yet here we are, living in the Midwest and its wintry offerings. And even though I’d dearly love to shed my heavy coat, gloves, and cute winter hat, there are also things I love about living in the land of four full seasons – even when one of them is brutally cold.

 I’ve been asking the Lord how I can flourish in the frozen. Not just survive it until spring springs…with its gorgeous delicate flower buds and first hints of leaves…but really flourish in fullness. Even when the wind bites until I can’t catch my breath, even when all the layers still aren’t enough, even when I have to pull out the shovels and ice scrapers…how can I truly flourish?

Here’s what I came up with and hope to live out in his cold winter season.

·         Focus – One of the best parts of being mostly confined to the inside is the way the narrowing of my world also narrows my focus. I see fewer things in quite a literal sense, so it allows me (pushes me?) to focus on matters of the heart and home.

·         Laugh – Because Ryan and I are winter-sequestered in the house together, we have plenty of time to laugh, and that indeed brings life and joy. We can look at scrapbooks of memories and laugh over the good times we have enjoyed. We can watch funny movies and TV shows and laugh over those. We can laugh at Lexi, who is funnier than I ever knew a dog could be. Yes, laughter is good winter medicine.

·         Organize – It’s one of my favorites, and we both know I do this year-round, but the winter months push me to organize the inside of our home. That brings me great calm and comfort!

·         Unwind – On the days when it’s too cold to walk outside and the roads are too snowy and icy to drive safely, unwinding at home is the perfect way to rest and rejuvenate. I struggle to unwind when I know there’s much to do, but when the muchness is limited by the frozen outside, unwinding feels so much more permissible.

·         Read – There isn’t a right or wrong time to read, but when darkness falls early and the nights are cold, the time seems perfect to grab a book and learn…or escape to warmer climates tucked between pages.

·         Improve – Maybe a new hobby, maybe the rebirth of an old one laid aside in warmer days – whatever the source, these cold days are perfect for finding something to improve in your life. Improve a character trait. Improve a skill. Improve whatever the Lord leads you to do!

·         Steady – Life isn’t always about adding items or starting new adventures. Sometimes it’s about staying steady and holding on. If the frozen seems to paralyze you and beginning or adding just overwhelms, never fear. Hold steady to what you already do, have, and know!

·         Hope – God is the God of hope, and that is true in any and every season. But when January seems unending and dark, hang onto the hope that spring WILL come. Seasons are just that – seasons. They don’t last forever.

A    And that is one of the things I love most about living in the land of four distinct seasons. They don’t last forever. This frozen winter may seem long, but spring is on its way. Flourish in the frozen now and when the new season comes, flourish in it too!

Psalm 115:14 – May the Lord cause you to flourish, both you and your children.

Saturday Suggestions

 

Another Saturday is upon us, and I have a few gems for you today. Hopefully they help punctuate some of the things I’ve written about this week!

ONE. 

Last Sunday, I talked about living intentionally. I get frustrated with most books and articles on this subject, because most of them don’t approach the topic from any kind of biblical standpoint. I was pleased to find this one, which includes helpful Scripture references and keeps God at the center of living intentionally. That’s as it should be, and I came away from the writer’s words encouraged to live intentionally – for God, not for my own desires. If you need a little extra encouragement in this area, these words might be for you!

TWO. 

Earlier in the week, I talked about time blocking and why I tried using it – and why it isn’t a fit for me right now. Even though it didn’t end up working for me, I wanted to share the post where I downloaded a free toolkit to use for my weekly blocking. Even if you ultimately want to try a digital blocking plan, this toolkit can help you try it – if you want to see if it could work for you!

THREE. 

Last Saturday I mentioned that sometimes it’s easier to remember something you’re trying to embrace in your life when you put reminders in front of your face. (Remember the water bottle that said faith?) If you’re struggling to remember that good things are not always the Godly things, I have something that might help! I follow Elly and Grace on Instagram and think they have some awfully cute shirts! This sweatshirt says “Jesus is enough,” and I really love it. Not only are sweatshirts a staple in my life at this time of year, but these words remind me that Jesus is absolutely the only thing I need. Not Jesus and coffee. JUST Jesus.

FOUR. 

The tea I purchased for my adventures in learning to love hot tea came from the Spice and Tea Exchange, but last year I gifted Lynnette some tea from Eden and Vine, and she said she really loved it. Eden and Vine is a magazine I follow on Instagram. (I think it looks so beautiful, but I haven’t had random fun money to subscribe yet.) They also sell loose leaf tea, and she said it was delicious. So if you’re in need of a place to get quality tea, check out what they have! And if you’re looking for a faith-based magazine with rich, cozy content, you might even want to look into the magazine!

FIVE. 

If you’re in my camp of needing new towels, washcloths, or napkins for your kitchen, you can check out what we’re planning to get! Your color scheme may be a little different, but most of them come in multiple colors. Here are the towels, here are the washcloths, and here are the napkins. I’m excited to update our collection!

SIX. 

Yesterday I encouraged you to take pictures of winter’s beauty. Today I encourage you to find a way to look at them! Don’t just let the pictures sit on your computer or in your phone. Display them! My favorite way to look back over pictures is to look at my scrapbooks, but there are so many other options available! I like to use Shutterfly (though there are many other similar companies) and with them, you can make calendars, blankets, pillows, wall art, mugs, and so much more. You don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on art for your home (unless you just want to). You can make art from what you’ve captured. It’s a beautiful way to live immersed in the stories you’ve lived! Several of the art pieces in our home are photographs we have taken in this last decade.

Celebrating Winter's Beauty: The Pursuit of Photos

 

            Is it too soon to wish for spring? I confess I am ready. This winter has already been long and dreary. (I have been thankful it hasn’t been extremely cold, except for that one little stretch right before Christmas!) But even though my heart still wishes for days of warm sun (or wintering in a sunnier state), I cannot deny the stunning beauty of winter in all its glory.

            If you can bundle up enough, catch your breath against the icy air, and see even when the wind pushes into your face, the sights of unmarred winter views are such a gift.

            I do love a proper winter photo shoot, but each time I go out, I find myself wondering if it matters. Does one snow really look that different from another? How many times can I photograph a leaf – up close – with snow resting on its fragile surface?

            Though the same, each winter is different. Each landscape is distinctive. Even every leaf is as unique as the snowflakes that land on it. They’re worth visiting and capturing in photos.

            The first couple of years Ryan and I were married, we had polar vortex-level winters. We lived in Marion and played in the snow in our backyard, made snow-cream, and dug ourselves out when the snow fell tall and drifted taller. We stuck a ruler in the snow and measured the accumulation, and we watched as the branches of the evergreen trees along the alley bent beneath the weight of white.

            We moved to Kokomo, and I marveled at the beauty of snow falling against the backdrop of the woods across the road from our house. We went sledding down the icy driveway of the neighbor a couple of doors down. I watched birds flock to the pear tree in the front yard, looking for respite from the biting wind. It was picturesque in new-to-us ways, and I captured all of it.

            Then we went to WillowBridge, and while shoveling a parking lot by hand dampened the joy of snowfalls, the movie-esque town was stunning in snowfall. We took quiet walks late at night – across town to get the mail – and marveled at the beauty of snow on old-fashioned buildings. Our beloved meadow, where we so often walked and talked, was a winter wonderland. We had fun on the sledding hill and watched baby Lexi bound along the path, joyfully exploring the new-fallen snow.

            I’m so glad we’ve captured these places we’ve called home – in their snowbound beauty. We’ve moved on to new chapters, written by the Lord, but we have the photo-captured memories of winters in other seasons of life, homes, and calendar years.

            And it’s not just our own homes we’ve captured. Nita’s stunning log cabin in the woods never looked more majestic than it did in the snow.

            Seeing the awe-inspiring Biltmore Estate blanketed by snow was an unscripted travel memory we will never forget.

            Enjoying our Beloved prayer chapel against the backdrop of snow was a perfect way to celebrate our marriage.

            Winter is fierce, but it’s also fiercely beautiful. Take the pictures. Capture the snowfalls and drifts, the icicles and encrusted puddles, and the pops of color against the white blankets. Capture it all. Capture the memories and beautiful views.

            As the years roll by and things about life change, you’ll be so glad to look back on the pictures you took and remember the memories that accompany them!

A Kitchen Reimagined

  

           When I moved into my first home, a couple of months after graduating from college, my sisters and my niece helped me unpack the boxes marked Kitchen. Everything that appeared from beneath the flaps of the boxes was a surprise to me because it had been packed away for the last four years. When my grandma died during my senior year of high school, many of her kitchen items found their way into storage to await my entry into the real world. The rest of my family already had stocked kitchens in full operation, so other than taking items they wanted for sentimental value, they didn’t need most of what filled her kitchen.

            Ironically, those boxes of Grandma’s kitchen gadgets were unpacked right back into the kitchen where they lived when they were packed up in the first place. It was a true hodge-podge of everyday dishes, silverware, mugs, baking dishes, and more. There wasn’t a theme to be found, but it didn’t bother me. I was just thrilled to have a full kitchen!

            In the ten-plus years I lived there alone, I tried to create a theme of colors and designs. I started with a flowery garden theme and then moved to coffee.

            Then Ryan and I were married, and we piled a mix of wedding gifts and items from his house into our already-overflowing tiny galley-style kitchen. We tried to change the colors and the decorating theme a time or two, but I’m not sure we were entirely successful in making it all cohesive.

            Along the way, which has included a decade of years and half as many moves, we’ve worked to make our kitchen more streamlined, efficient, and color coordinated. We’ve gotten rid of the things we never used. We’ve simplified the number of some items. (Did we really need six 9x13 dishes for two people?) We’ve carefully chosen things we really love and want – the things that reflect us, our space, and our lifestyle. It’s been a slow curating process, but we’ve made progress. We aren’t done, either. Our upcoming move will push us to purposefully comb through everything again.

        I'm really excited to put together our new kitchen and see where things live and how our life functions in that space. Every kitchen we've had has been incredibly different in space and layout, and this one is yet another design to navigate!

            Our changes are not just about the space and layout, though. As I did laundry a few weeks ago, I noticed our washcloths and towels were looking…sad. Some are relics from when I was first out on my own over twenty years ago. Some were wedding gifts. Others are a little too loved and don’t have much life left in them. Most are a mash-up of colors no longer found in our kitchen.

            I decided right then that the next step in reimagining our kitchen will be to overhaul the linens. My sister gifted me new potholders and oven mitts for my birthday last year, so bringing in washcloths, towels, and cloth napkins with a similar scheme will be a great next step in making our kitchen a place of beauty and simplicity.

            Please know that I certainly don’t imagine you care if I’m changing the color of my kitchen towels. Why, then, am I sharing this update with you?

            Maybe it will be some inspiration for you! Kitchens are catch-all rooms. All the cabinets and drawers and pantry storage spaces make it far too easy to hide things away and either forget or ignore them. Then you move or declare a cleanout day and realize just how out of control the whole kitchen collection has become. I want to challenge you to reimagine your kitchen space at the start of this new year.

            Is it a place that you enjoy? Do the things taking space in those cabinets and drawers serve you well? Do you need to pare down? Throw out and replace? Add something you’ve been wanting? See the whole room with new vision to make it a gathering place for your home?

            You may not be in the middle of a move, but you are in the middle of a fresh-start year. What a perfect time to reimagine your kitchen space and make it a place you love to spend time!