Granola bar recipe # 3!

​    I first posted THIS gluten-free granola bar recipe back in December 2013, then just this past October I shared THIS recipe for my gluten-free, nut free, & refined sugar free granola bars. The reason I even made the second version was because I wanted a more clean ingredient bar to send with my kids to school, and it was good....for a time....

   I mentioned in the post for the second granola bar recipe that my eldest son hates raisins, or any dried fruit at all. That recipe calls for dried fruit puree, and if I didn't get every single little lump of dried fruit pulverized, my autistic son's eagle eyes picked it out! Geez! So then I have this big batch of granola bars, and the girls will eat them and take them to school, but Caleb would not! 

    Then one day I was prepping a butternut squash for dinner, and was cutting out the seeds to wash and roast. When they came out of the oven, Caleb descended on the salty, roasted seeds like an un-welcomed seagull and ate them all!!! I was like "whaaaaaa?" because I had no idea he liked roasted squash seeds! 

   Well, since he clearly liked roasted butternut squash seeds, I thought I would offer him a handful of raw pumpkin seeds to see what he thought. He ate them and his only comment was, "these will not be very salty?" (the kid loves salty snacks and was a little bummed at the lack of saltiness in the raw seeds-but he still ate them!). Then I offered him raw sunflower seeds and he ate those up too, without any comments whatsoever! 

   So, with this new knowledge I thought, "why the heck am I not adding more super-heathy seeds to my kids granola bars?!?" 

   Well, I set out again to make a new granola bar for my kids to take to school, one with more seeds, no pureed fruit, still no nuts (nut-free school), no refined sugar, but still super tasty obviously or else my kids wouldn't eat them!

More Granola Bars!
Nut-free, gluten-free, refined sugar-free & dairy free
Adapted from Keeper Of The Home


Ingredients:

• ¾ Cup sunflower seed butter (I use the kind I show in the linked photo below)
• ½ Cup honey
• 2 Tbsp butter or coconut oil (obviously choosing coconut oil for dairy free)
• 4 Cups oats (make sure you get gluten-free oats if you need these to be g.f.)
• ½ Tsp Cinnamon
• Pinch o' salt
• ½ Cup chocolate chunks or chips (for a dairy free option, choose a product like Enjoy Life chocolate chips or chunks. For a dairy & refined sugar free option choose a product like Pascha 100% Cacao Organic Dark Chocolate Baking Chips-the link for these is below if you click on the picture of the chocolate chips)
• ¼ Cup raw sunflower seeds
• ¼ Cup raw pumpkin seeds
• ½ Cup optional add-ins such as raisins (if your kids don't despise them!), chopped dried fruit, mini M&M's, caramel chips, or something else delish and nut-free--All this is optional based on your diet and what you like! 

Method:

1. Prepare a 9x 13 baking dish by greasing lightly and lining with parchment with overhang "handles", set aside (I usually double the recipe and make the bars in a prepped large cookie sheet. The bars are thinner, but I think they are a good send-to-school size)
2. In a sauce pan on the stove, or in a microwave safe bowl in the microwave, warm the seed butter, honey and butter (or oil) until all soft and can be blended together
3. While the wet ingredients are warming, whisk together the oats, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl
4. Add in the chocolate chunks/chips, sunflower and pumpkin seeds and any extra you wanted to add (if using)
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and blend together (your chocolate chips may melt a little. If that bothers you just add more as the mixture cools!)
6. It's very important that the mixture is not too dry. If it doesn't seem to be sticking together well enough, add more honey, one tablespoonful at a time until you have a nice sticky consistency
7. Now dump the mixture into your prepared dish and lightly grease your hands
8. Use your hands to press the mixture down into the baking dish (when I double this and make them on a cookie sheet I like to lightly grease my rolling pin and roll the bars out so that they are uniform in thickness)
9. Let the bars cool until set, about 30-60 minutes in the fridge
10. To cut, simply use your parchment "handles" to pull the bars out of the pan and place onto a cutting board. Cut the bars to your desired size! I cut mine to fit into a particular container my kids have for their granola bar they bring to school

                                       ***Store these bars in the fridge or freezer***

   Because of the sunflower seed butter, and the pumpkin and sunflower seeds, these bars need to stay refrigerated or frozen

      
    I am an affiliate marketer for Vitacost which is where I buy these products (which I use to make these bars!).
  
    What that means is that if you buy anything from Vitacost through my blog here, I make a small percentage at no extra cost to you at all! 
 
    I know there are some other great online food companies out there, but Vitacost doesn't take an annual fee (like some other discount food companies do), and if you're in Canada it's the BEST place to get a ton of healthy, organic & whole foods at super-duper prices, and for a low flat fee shipping rate. Trust me, I spent a lot of time trying to find a good health food & product store online that would ship to Canada!
 
    Vitacost rant over!!! I just really love them, otherwise I wouldn't go on and on about it! : )  

    So, these granola bars turn out soft and chewy, just sweet enough, and with nice flavour and crunch from the sunflower butter and seeds. Yumm-o. And they last for quite a while in an airtight container in the freezer, which is great!

    So, let's move on from granola bars, shall we....? I'm working on choreography for The Belleville Theatre Guild's "The Music Man" right now, and I'm listening to that music a lot because I like to be extremely familiar with the music in a show I'm in or working on. However, I have been distracted and listening to another musical sound track lately because I am obsessed with the musical "Matilda"!

   Remember the book by Roald Dahl? They made it into a movie in 1996, but in 2010 it opened as a musical in England, then opened on Broadway April 2013.....and it's amaaaaaaa-zing! I mean, you've got this cast of freakin' talented people, mostly children, and it makes me go, "golly"! (actually more like, "gaaaaau-lee!"-see the difference?)  : )     

   Because my random blog here is about whatever seems to pop into my head, I wanted to share a video clip from the 2013 Tony Awards where the Broadway cast of "Matilda The Musical" performed a medley from the show!

    Can I just say that these amazing kids perform this show 8 times a week, and then do performances like this, or on David Letterman and other late night shows, as well as the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, I mean, geepers x 1000! At the end of the clip you see 4 Matilda's and that's because there are 4 girls who share the role (2 shows per week, and being a stand-by 2 days a week). Why do I know so much about this show? I already told you, I'm obsessed!!! I have always loved performing, but I was pretty bad at it as a child! I still did it here and there, but I wasn't any good. Then there's these kids! Hokey dina!

   How many more strange expletives can I use here?!? Golly, geepers, hokey dina, golly gee, gee willikers, hot-dog, oh boy, heavens to Betsy, jumpin' jahosaphat K, I'm done.     

   The good news is that "Matilda The Musical" is having it's Canadian premiere in July, so I will get to see it! Two thumbs up!  

    I'm signing off now dear readers! Leave a comment if you'd like about these granola bars, granola bars in general, or your favourite musical! : )  FYI, "Matilda" isn't my favourite musical, "Into The Woods" is, and has been since I was probably 8 or 9 years old! I listened to the cassette tape of the original Broadway cast recording a LOT! Anywho...I digress....

​    G'bye! 

   Good Monday!

   For today's brief motivation I give you something clever, something inspiring and something funny. Spoiler alert-I'm the funny thing! Seriously, the last photo is of me and how I look every morning (at least in the winter!) when I'm doing the chores. People who meet me in this state and then see me in other seasons are surprised I'm not 100lbs heavier because of how puffy my winter appearance is (I do wear about 5 layers!), and I was even once mistaken for a man dressed in my winter chore gear! That's a confidence builder!

   I am sharing that terrible photo because on my Health & Fitness page I share my thoughts and tips about working out while injured. And last week while walking out to do the chores I had a nasty fall and found myself needing to workout while avoiding certain strained muscles! 
​ 
   Anyway, here we go!
​

   Clever....

​   Funny....

   It's all there, folks. Me in all my winter farming glory! : )  When I get in from doing chores I am usually soaked in sweat because I am an excessively sweaty person normally, but then you add all the layers, then add the physical work going into the chores (lugging logs to fill our outdoor wood boiler, hauling water, throwing hay and shovelling sh-.....uh, poop), and I get back inside just soaked. Then, because our house tends to be on the cooler side, if I don't get changed out of said sweaty clothes quickly, I freeze! So, I usually run inside and get dressed into dry clothes a.s.a.p. then make myself some coffee, and all is well! It's part of my routine, part of my life, gets me out and moving first thing in the day, and I enjoy it!

   Have a great Mon-day! : )  

    So, I happened upon a photo of what looked like a delicious pie called a "chess pie". I looked at the recipe and thought it seemed interesting, so then I do what most people do and Googled "what is a chess pie"....or is it only homeschoolers who want to know everything about everything? N-E-Who.....

   The all knowing Wikipedia told me that chess pie originated in England (think of all the custard pies they make!), but is known as a Southern U.S. pie. The chess pie is a little different than a regular custard pie though in that it also includes cornmeal. Not sure why exactly, but that seems to be the ticket to make a chess pie a true chess pie! Vinegar seems to be a thing that isn't as standard, but it seemed interesting to have it in a pie, so I wanted mine to include it. 

    And the filling of a true (cornmeal) chess pie is naturally gluten-free, which seemed like a good starting point to making the whole thing gluten-free! I have a lovely gluten-free pie crust that I make, and making the pie filling was simply a matter of taking a few recipes and smooshing them together so that it suited me! And I had seen regular chess pies, and chocolate chess pies, so of course I wanted a chocolate pie, duh. : )  

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chess Pie

​Ingredients:

For the pie crust

• 1 cup shredded coconut
• ⅔ Cup quick oats
• ⅓ Cup butter, melted 
• 1 Egg white

For the pie filling:

• 1/4 Cup butter, room temperature
• 1 Cup white sugar
• 1/2 Cup chocolate chips, any sweetness you prefer
• 4 Eggs
• 2 Tbsp cornmeal
• 1 Tbsp vinegar

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
2. In a medium sized bowl combine the coconut, oats, melted butter and egg white. Press into a pie plate, and bake for 10 minutes. It will come out looking a little puffy. Just gently (using a wooden spoon) press the crust back and down so that it's no longer puffy. Set aside to cool while you make your pie filling
3. Turn oven up to 375 degrees
4. Beat softened butter & sugar together, set aside
5. Melt chocolate chips slowly and stirring often in the microwave or in a small saucepan on low heat, then beat the melty, chocolate-y goodness into the butter & sugar mixture
6. Add eggs and beat well until nice and creamed
7. Add the cornmeal and vinegar and and mix well
8. Pour pie filling into readied pie crust and bake for 10 minutes, then reduce temperature back to 325 degrees and bake for 30 minutes more, until pie is set
9. Top with whipped cream, ice cream, or enjoy with a cup of coffee or tea, or nothing at all! Just enjoy it!​

   My gluten-free Caleb ate 2 pieces of pie for dessert, then at bedtime asked for another piece (I said no), and when he saw it at breakfast he asked for it again (...I said no again...)! So, it's safe to say he liked this pie! I made it for guests one evening and they all liked it too (none of them are gluten-free eaters regularly). So, it is a well-received gluten-free pie! 

   The way this pie turns out is like a custard, but without so much jiggle. That doesn't make as much sense as I had hoped it would....but, I'm sticking with that description! You can see that it has a dense, moist, fudgy consistency, and the gluten-free crust has just a subtle taste to it that goes splendidly with the chocolate-y filling. You could also make this pie in a gluten-free pastry crust, or if you're not gluten-free you could make it in a regular pastry crust!  

   Oh, and the name "chess pie" is still a mystery! There are a few ideas as to where this pie found it's name, but no-one seems to know for sure, so I shan't be able to help you there! I feel like it bothers me more than it would others that I can't find a reason for the name though...? Yes? I know there's got to be people out there like me who want to know the "why" behind meaningless things like the origin of a pie name!!! 

    Ok, well, this weekend is the callbacks for The Music Man (The Belleville Theatre Guilds spring 2016 production), and I am looking forward to it! I'm not trying out for the show this year, I'm just the choreographer!  Haha, "just"!  It's hard work doing choreography! Anywho, I love callbacks because you get to see everyone together that you've narrowed down from multiple auditions and there's singing and dancing and script reading, and everyone is so nervous that it's just so exciting!  

    Have a great weekend whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever you're doing (....I feel like I'm about to start singing a Backstreet Boys song.....yes? Anyone...?)

​   K, g'bye! 

​   

    Ahhhh! It's Tuesday now!!!

    I'm sorry, I apparently suck at Motivational Monday's because they keep ending before I've done any motivating! Whomp whomp. I had a busy day yesterday, and then after I had gotten home in the evening I just ate a snack and went to bed and forgot to post anything! Oops. Please do forgive me! 

    Let's move on, shall we? 

    For today's (random) Motivational Monday, (or any random day I see fit) I present a man who never fails to crack me up! His name is Zach Anner!

    He is "an award-winning comedian, show host, and public speaker. In 2011, he won his own travel show on the Oprah Winfrey Network, Rollin' With Zach. He also hosted the shows Have A Little Faith for Rainn Wilson's media company SoulPancake, and Riding Shotgun and Workout Wednesdays on his own YouTube channel, which has over 10 million hits. Zach lives in Buffalo, NY and Austin, TX, and spends most of his spare time in his underwear, thinking about how he can change the world" (I yanked this little bio from Zach's website for his book, "If At Birth You Don't Succeed". Great name for a book, eh?!)
​ 

    Please watch the video! Just do it! It's only 3 1/2 minutes out of your life, and you'll laugh, and feel happier, and that will motivate you to do whatever it is you need to do! : ) 

     And, once you've watched it, and done your pull-ups, head over to my Health & Fitness page to read about Weight Loss vs. Fat Loss. There is a difference ya know!

   Well, short and sweet today! See you later you world wide webbers! : )  

    Hello hello!!!

    Today I've got a lovely and simple recipe for you! I first made it for my middle daughter's birthday, because her theme was "teal" (yes, just the colour teal!), and I wanted to have something besides just the cake for her and her friends. I was also aware of the fact that the cake I had made was not gluten-free, and therefore my Caleb couldn't have any. Mind you. he's 11 years old and "technically" wouldn't have been invited to the party if it weren't for the fact that he is the birthday girls' brother! But, he's 11 with autism, so, that does change things. And besides, I want to let him have a special treat at a birthday too!  

    So, as per what often happens to me, I thought I had a brilliant idea.....only to Google it and realize someone else had already done it! I think that still counts as my idea though because I thought it up not knowing it had already been done! : )   
'
   Ok, well, at one of the grocery stores I go to, they had Duncan Hines flavour packs on clearance for $0.10! Woot woot! I love when things are on clearance! I grabbed a bunch, not having an exact plan for them, but knowing I would be using them (they are great to add to homemade buttercream icing, btw!)

   Anywhoooo, these tasty little bites of sweetness are delightful, pretty simple to make, and BONUS, last for quite a while in an airtight container! After my initial batch for the birthday I made a double batch (using the less pretty colour, but delicious flavour of caramel), and crushed some to put with buttercream into the middle layer of a chocolate cake I had made. Yummm-o x 10000! Anyway, I had too many and just had the extras in an airtight container for, oh, I dunno, a month, with the kids and I just having one here and there. They tasted just as nice at the end as they did in the beginning, so, that's just a little FYI. 

​   So, let's get on with it, shall we!?! 

Meringue Cookies
From Duncan Hines


Ingredients:

• 1 packet Duncan Hines Cotton Candy Flavour Mix
• 4 egg whites (it's best to separate eggs while they are cold, then let the whites come to room temperature before beginning making the cookies)
• 1/4 Tsp salt
• 1/4 Tsp cream of tarter
• 1 1/3 Cup white sugar

Method:

1. Set oven to lowest possible temperature, between 170-200
2. Line large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside
3. Using an electric mixer (if you have a stand mixer, use that, if not, you'll just have a slightly tired arm like me!), beat egg whites at medium speed until white and foamy
4. Add in cream of tarter and salt while continuing to beat
5. Continue beating on medium until soft peaks form
6. Here comes a bit of a slow part...set timer for 7 minutes. Change mixer speed to high, and slowly sprinkle in sugar taking almost the whole 7 minutes to do so (this is important as it helps give the sugar time to work into the egg whites and dissolve)
7. Once mixture forms hard peaks slowly add in Duncan Hines Cotton Candy Flavour Mix (or whatever flavour you've chosen!), and beat for another 1-2 minutes
8. Fit a piping bag fitting with a large, round tip (a 2A, I believe is the size I used), or another tip that has a large opening
9. Fill the piping bag with your meringue and pipe meringue into little cotton candy-ish swirls, no taller then 1 inch
10. Bake in middle of oven for 1 1/2 hours until they are dry
11. Let cool before gently removing them from the baking sheet
12. Enjoy! :) 

​

   I loooves me some good clearance!
​

​
    So, what do you think? Cute, right?! And although this recipe involves beating egg whites, slowly adding sugar, piping and a long bake time, everything is simple, right? Does that make sense? Maybe it's not simple and I'm delusional? Please do let me know if I am delusional and you think this recipe is the worst! Be nice about it though. : ) 

   Wanna see Abby's enormous teal cake I made for this birthday? 
​

    It was a triple layer cake with a simple (though moderately time consuming) swirly/flowery buttercream frosting. Abby said it looked like a hat......and I was inclined to agree.  : )   It was clearly not a thing worth sharing about in a post (poor hat cake), well, unless I was sharing about not-so-great piping skills! Seriously, I'm not that great at piping. But it was delicious, and that's important! 


   Well, today we have another birthday party, only for our youngest! She couldn't decide on a theme (she literally changed her mind everyday!!!), so we finally landed on cupcakes as a theme! The common thread in all her birthday ideas was decorating food (it made sense since coming off Christmas where they were decorating gingerbread houses & gingerbread people, and gingerbread trees, yadda yadda). So, her friends are decorating their own cupcakes! I'll make one special one for her to have a candle on to blow out, but other than that, I haven't anything else to fuss over! I love making and decorating cakes, but I am also more than happy to not to! : )  So, I've got decorations to put up while the kids are at school, veggie tray to put together, cupcakes to pull out of the freezer, buttercream to make, and a ridiculous amount of candy to have ready for cupcake decorating! Seriously, I bought waaaay too much candy! Wait, is "way too much candy" even a real thing? Silly me.

    Happy weekend to all!
    

   

    It's finally gotten to be really wintery in Ontario!!! It was so warm and spring-ish through our Christmas holidays in Brantford, but as we drive home the skies were getting grey and blustery and the temperature began to drop. We got home, got the van un-packed, and it started to snow!

    The snow makes me want to (and need to in our old house!) wear 2 sweaters, cozy socks and slippers and eat warm, comforting food!

   In the past I was never a huge pasta eater. I enjoyed it once in a while, but it was never a food crutch for me (I had many others!). But as the fall settled in, I was feeling the need to change up our "usual" dinners, and comfort foods came to mind. COMFORT FOODS!!! I'm not 100% sure why I did that, but I said it out loud while typing it....I also said it like Cookie Monster....oh boy, I'm the captain of the crazy team today! 

    Back to warm and cosy foods.....soups and stews, casseroles and pasta, all warm, made mostly in one pan or dish, and with leftovers for packing into lunches. However, my kids (except the youngest) hate soup, they'll eat stew, but usually with some complaining and suspicious looks at what might be hiding in the dish. They enjoy casseroles, but they're not my husbands favourite.....so, that leaves me with pasta as a good family-approved comfort meal! Side note, I know it sounds like my kids are fussy (and they sure can be!), but they mostly don't like those foods because we hardly ever have them and new foods can be scary (apparently!)! Hahaha, bunch of brats...my husband included! : )  

​    Anyway, this recipe was approved by all (with a tiny modification for the kids--I'll give that to you in the method), and was so, so soooo good! It's creamy, a little spicy, and totally satisfying! I've made this using butternut squash noodles, sweet potato noodles, and spaghetti squash, but zucchini noodles could also be used. Oh, and if you're not paleo, feel free to use gluten-free pasta, or regular pasta!       

​Paleo Creamy Buffalo Chicken "Pasta"
Adapted from Brittany Angell


Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp coconut oil, ghee or butter
• 2 Chicken breasts (about 1 lb), cut into 1 1/2-2 inch pieces
• 1 large onion, cut into squares, strips, whatever you want!
• 1 Tbsp tapioca or arrowroot starch 
• 1 Can full fat coconut milk
• 1/4 Cup Frank's Red Hot Sauce
• Pinch of salt & pepper
• "Pasta"- About 4 Cups per adult, 1-3 cups per child

***I prefer to use roasted butternut squash noodles (using THIS spiralizer--it' will spiralize butternut squash without it needing too be soften at all first!), but you can also use sweet potato, or zucchini noodles. If you don't own a spiralizer you can just use roasted spaghetti squash. The amount you need depends on who's eating! I can eat an entire large spiralized butternut squash to myself!  Opt for too much than too little though. Leftovers are better than not having enough. For the different cooking methods, see the instructions below!***


Method: 

***Start by prepping your noodle***See below the sauce recipe for the how-to! 

1. Warm a large skillet or pot over low/medium heat and add oil (or ghee or butter) into the pan to melt
2. Once the oil is melted and the pan hot, cook the chicken in small batches, setting aside the cooked chicken onto a plate as you continue cooking all the meat
3. Once the meat is finished and set aside, add the onions into the pan, and begin to brown
4. Now add the tapioca  and scrape the bottom of the pan to get all the nice brown bits off and get the starch covering the onions 
5. Add the can of coconut cream and the hot sauce, and stir to combine and thicken. Remove from heat (unless you're noodles are nearly done, then just go to the next step)
6. Once you're noodles are almost ready, add the chicken back into the sauce and begin to warm back up
7. Once the noodles are ready you can either add them right into the sauce and gently toss to coat, or you can divide the noodles into bowls and top with the sauce (to make a little less spicy for kids, simply spoon out a portion of the sauce and water down using hot water, broth, or milk before putting on top of their noodles) 
8. Top with a pinch of cayenne pepper if you wish, or parmesan cheese (if you eat dairy)-I often top mine with nutritional yeast 

     Making the sauce is so simple! Two thumbs up!  : )  
​

     So many photos today!!!! : )  

    This meal is so tasty though, I needed to (apparently) include every photo I took! Haha, sorry! Well, ok, I really took about 40 more photos than this, so it could have been worse!

   I hope everyone had a good week! We did at the Van Londersele house! It was my youngest daughters birthday yesterday, and Adam brought a bouquet of flowers home for her and you would have thought she won an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Tony award all at once!! She was so thrilled she could hardly contain it! What a dear. This week also saw temperatures so low that made my nostril hairs freeze (yum), as well as the horses nostril hairs, and the dog had an icicle beard when she got inside! It also required me to fill our outdoor wood boiler 4 times a day! Sheesh! I wore a lot of layers this week, a lot of layers indeed! But, it's all part of the Canadian home that I love, so I take it in stride, knowing that we have 4 seasons that are beautiful and terrible each in their own way! 

   So, this weekend we have the first round of auditions for the new musical "The Music Man" with The Belleville Theatre Guild. I'm pretty excited to get started on this new project! 

​   Have a lovely weekend all you good people! Oh, and share with me some of your favourite comfort foods, please and thank-you! : )

​    

     I know it's Wednesday, but this is still my Motivational Monday! So, just pretend it isn't Wednesday, just for now. 
   
     I had a different post ready for the new year, but then I changed my mind about it because the pastor at our church spoke about zeal, and it got me thinking.

    How many things do we do in a day with little to no effort, no passion whatsoever, no zeal at all.

    Zeal is defined as great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective. I like this definition too: "fervour for a person, cause, or object; eager desire or endeavour; enthusiastic diligence; ardor" 

    I am not one for new years resolutions, mostly because they are unrealistic. I've talked about having hope for a new year, and last year I shared some thoughts on just generally aiming to become a better person, but now I desire to have some zeal!

    What does zeal look like? For one, it looks like the 2 beautiful woman in the photo below.

     Those lovely ladies are my sisters, Andrea & Sharon, and they are zealous about helping refugees. The Brantford Expositor ran a story about the Brantford Cares-Refugee Response Team and their extremely zealous efforts to support a family that is displaced because of the wars in the Middle East (here's another article they ran about it too).

    A portion of the article says, "Contributors to the effort have already bested an online fundraising goal of $32,000. And now the group is aiming higher with a new goal of $52,000 to enable sponsorship of a second Syrian family to Brantford, Richardson said".

    You don't raise that much money without a real passion and drive!

    Deciding to sponsor a family requires a great deal of time, research, and commitment though, but as Sharon said in the article, "The weight of that responsibility doesn't escape me, but the weight of doing nothing is greater". ​

    My wonderful friend Kelly has a heart for the homeless in Belleville and is raising money to open a shelter, Grace Inn, that focuses on "community, mentorship and dignity". There are many road blocks ahead for my friend, but I am confident that her zeal for the homeless will see her dreams become a reality. To support Kelly's effort, check out Hope for the Homeless in Belleville gofundme page.

    What can you be zealous about this year? You can have zeal in giving, sharing & being forgiving. Be a peace keeper, or a peace maker. be zealously joyful and pass it around!

    Zeal doesn't have to be a big thing, its a matter of your will and a drive in your heart.  Galatians 4:18 says that "it is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good"-so set out with purpose to do good, and to do it with fervour!​

​    The thing that really (really!) stuck with me about what our pastor said was that I need to have zeal in my own life to fight for what matters most to me and what God has given me! My family, my body and health, my home, my resources, and for anything else I know God has for me!

   I don't know what this year holds for me yet, I have some ideas, but there is a lot unknown. So, I want to journey though this year with intention, with drive and with zeal.

     Oh, and on my Health & Fitness page I talk about zeal in health & fitness, so check that out!

    Can you think of something you could be zealous about this year? Share with me! Share zealously! :)  

xoxo

​Happy New Year!!!