Food & Relief Friday: Primal Cheesecake & This is Happiness

I know, it’s cheesecake again. I did not do a good job with variety in desserts; since 21DSD I don’t really bake unless there’s a purpose. And I apparently was in a cheesecake mood this last month….

Lucky for you, this cheesecake is amazeballs (and I can take no credit)! You WILL be asked for the recipe. It is light, delicious and has very little sugar. Like the last one though, it does need to set up for 6 hours, so make it a day ahead of time. It also freezes beautifully! Slice, wrap individually in saran wrap and put slices in freezer safe bag. To thaw, place in your fridge for a few hours and about 30 minutes prior to serving unwrap, place on your serving platter and let sit out.

The cake is made complete with berries and chocolate or caramel sauce. Trust me when I say it’s light. I know that’s hard to believe, but it is! I served this at wine club last week and women were fawning over it. And as another bonus, it serves a crowd! Switch up your pound cake/shortcake with this, you won’t be disappointed.

My heart this week:

Is grateful for the melodious sound of birds. For the fresh air streaming in through open windows. For plants that are sprouting up in my gardens. For the warmer nights that have allowed my veggies and flowers to make their homes outside in the earth & dirt.

Sighs at the laziness that floods my blood stream like the balmy breezes floating in the air.

Drinks in the sight of green in buds, trees and grass.

Sings at the top of its longs to the radio with the windows down. No inhibitions. Feeling the words with every song.

Lets go of all thoughts, worries and demands, while enjoying crisp champagne, unwinding in the Adirondacks next to the man of my dreams.

Expands with every word I read and every ray of sun that touches my skin.

Revels in oodles of sunglasses, flirty summer dresses, cute tops and open-toed shoes.

Delights in long nights spent sharing dreams, plans, days, memories and life.

Finds abandon in the warmth summer ushers in: contentment, release, promise, innocence, and bliss.

Has this quote from Les Belles Fleurs swelling in my spirit; swirling in my mind. I have had this for years and every summer I remember…

And the fields are oceans of crimson and lavender and gold and deep emerald green, a harvest of color under a bold summer sun. Wind shapes itself into waves, skips and scurries among the lilies, wanders and drifts in idle reverie heavy with the scent of blooms, a breeze steals softly through windows and open doorways, coming to us in dreams, even when winter has wrapped us in the still folds of her quiet mantle.

Primal Cheesecake

*Seen on The Primalist

Make SURE to check HERE for my stance on Nut Butters & standard Ingredients.

Ingredients:

4-8 oz. Packages Cream Cheese, softened

1/2 Cup Honey

1 Teaspoon Lemon Rind, grated – optional, I didn’t use it

2 Eggs

2 Egg Yolks

2/3 Cup Sour Cream

Directions:

1). Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9″ springform pan. Wrap the bottom of the pan with a double layer of tinfoil, as high up the sides as possible.

2). Beat the cream cheese, honey and lemon rind. Stir in your eggs, then yolks. Stir in your sour cream.

3). Pour batter into your prepared pan. Place the cheesecake pan into a large pan (roaster works great) and pour hot water into the large pan – so it is about 1″ up the sides of the cheesecake pan.

4). Bake for about an hour – the surface will be less shiny and the edges set. Be careful when you remove from the oven, to minimize falling. Cool completely, cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours. Serve with berries and chocolate/caramel sauce!

Fragments of My Life: links, Pinterest, books, speech & my current self-portrait

Links/Posts I loved

1).  What’s Next? by Shauna Niequist. Because I feel like that’s where I am: what next? My little guy starts kindergarten, I have worked on being a woman (not just a mom), I have participated in tons of personal-growth in the last year…But I have no idea what all this means for my future. This post made me realize, that’s perfectly okay.

2). Just a little Thursday nugget by Glennon Doyle. Because, yep, I’m that mom too! I am not into playing with my kids for more than 5-10 minutes at a time. And guess what?! I’m totally all right with that.

3). Why Progressive Christians Should Care About Abortion by Rachel Held Evans. Because while it’s long, it is utterly & completely amazing. I grew up with a mother who was extremely active in the Pro-Life movement. But as I got older, I came to the conclusion that the movement is going about things very, very, wrongly. I am ridiculously impressed with the thoughtfulness, heart, and honesty in this post. I don’t care where you fall on this issue, this post will make you critically think.

A Pinterest nugget:

4).

Seen on Pinterest, from timestops-lifehappens.tumblr.com

Books you should be reading:

5). A Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans Hilarious, insightful and straight up HONEST. If you are a Christian, a woman and aren’t the “gentle/meek” type this is your book. Even if you are that type, this is still splendid. It is a fantastically fun & encouraging read!

6). The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning Loved it. Absolutely loved it. If you want to know all my thoughts, read this post. Fave quote: “After his triple denial, what future would have awaited Peter if he had had to depend on my patience, understanding, and compassion? Instead of a shrug, sneer, slap, or curse, Jesus responded with the subtlest and most gracious compliment imaginable. He named Peter the leader of the faith community and entrusted him with authority to preach the Good News in the power of the Spirit.” I get chills. Incredible.

The speech you need to listen to:

7). This is Water by David Foster Wallace – it’s less than 10 minutes and it is such an overwhelming reminder. We need to choose to pay attention, everything is sacred.

My current self-portrait:

8). I got bangs. FYI to all the men out there- when a girl changes her hair it’s a big-f*cking-deal.

Food & Relief Friday: Raw Chocolate Cheesecake & The Quest for Religious Perfection

So this was my sister’s and my birthday cake (we are four years and a day apart!). It was awesome and surprisingly easy. Make it a day ahead though, because it needs a minimum of 8 hours to chill and set up. This is a dessert that will make those on a SAD wowed!

It comes out of the pan beautifully and was enough to feed a crowd (which we had). It would be super decadent with whip cream and/or berries. We celebrated in a packed-out microbrewery, so barely had room to eat the cake. There were no toppings to be had unless we wanted a giant mess. Although my little guy managed to create one anyways…But he was happy as a clam while he did so.

My heart this week…er, month.  I had a conversation with a friend quite awhile ago about what I meant by Christians judging. It was a great talk and made me think. In my two posts about Christianity/Church I have very generally and easily described the shame-judgment-and-now-I’ll-add-religious-perfection paradigm.

The problem being, my posts were over simplified. And unfortunately life is complicated.

I knew I was generalizing at the time, but those posts rants were meant to address my number one gigantic issue & struggle with Church and Christianity. I wasn’t trying to solve the complexity of it at that point. I just wanted to put it out there, because we have a real hard time admitting it exists.

I had intended on posting this shortly after the conversation with my friend. But I didn’t feel exactly right about it. It didn’t feel complete. Honestly it still felt incredibly lacking, naive and just not excellent.

And a little too ranty…I wanted more depth this time.

The last week I worked my way through Brennan Manning’s book The Ragamuffin Gospel.

{And as a side note: He is utterly amazing. His words have brought healing and restoration to my spirit. He is supremely wise and wholly humble all at the same time. And I look forward to reading all of his books. You should too}

At any rate, this book has given me the strength my own thoughts lacked.

With this post (or two) I am going to wander through defining what I mean by “judging/shame/religious perfection” and exploring how [I think] to not go down that road. After each of my thoughts, I will have a quote from the book…Manning articulates this much better than me.

During our conversation, my friend had these remarkable words that I want to preface all this with: “We are all doing the best we can.” The point of all of this is that we need to respect each other. None of us has it figured out.

The question we tried to dissect during our conversation was: “How do we, as Christians, have our morals and stay in God’s boundaries without it appearing and/or being judgmental-shaming-religious perfection?”

At the time, I stumbled for a resolution. Since reading the book, my simple and complicated answer is this one word: Grace.

To believe deeply, as Jesus did, that God is present and at work in human life is to understand that I am a beloved child of this Father…

Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel, emphasis mine

God is present in all of us. Jesus is working in each and every one of our lives. We are all broken. We are all sinners.

And we are all saved by grace.

Our approach, our hearts, our spirits, our words, our actions, our thoughts– need to be centered in grace.

Jesus’ saving grace.

Any church that will not accept that it consists of sinful men and women, and exists for them, implicitly rejects the gospel of grace. As Hans Kung says, ‘It deserves neither God’s mercy nor men’s trust.’ The church must constantly be aware that it’s faith is weak, its knowledge dim, its profession of faith halting, that there is not a single sin or failing which it has not in one way or another been guilty of. And though it is true that the church must always disassociate itself from sin, it can never have any excuse for keeping any sinners at a distance. If the church remains self-righteously aloof from failures, irreligious and immoral people, it cannot enter justified into God’s kingdom.

Woah.

Re-read that. Re-read it again.

Brennan Manning is calling us out in this book. We are the sinners. There is no “them.” We are in need of Jesus’ saving grace just like everyone else.

So here are my questions for you & me; the questions we need to be asking ourselves to stay off this path.

Are we separating and isolating, are we drawing lots of lines, do we have this mentality of ‘us vs. them?’ If we are answering yes to any of these, it’s an alarm that there is probably judging and shaming going on.

Whenever religion shows contempt or disregards the rights of persons, even under the noblest pretexts, it draws us away from reality and God.

Is church & Christianity a way for us to prove how good and smart we are? Do we somehow associate following the rules with Jesus’ love? — Be honest.

“The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everyone must conceal his sin from himself and from their fellowship. We dare not be sinners. Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. So we remain alone with our sin, living in lies & hypocrisy. The fact is that we are sinners!” James 5:16, as quoted from the book

Truthfully have a heart check. Am I separating out of fear? Am I growing in love in Christ?

“What we are really afraid of,” he said, “is our reputation. We are much more afraid of what people might say than the trouble this alcoholic might bring. As we’ve been talking, five short words have been running through my mind. Something keeps repeating to me, ‘What would the Master do?’”  {emphasis mine}

Am I approachable to those not on my side of the line? – I am a sinner too, God’s grace is offered to  them, just as it is for me.  What’s important to keep in mind: We can remain on our side of the line and still cultivate connection with those on the other side (Jesus did this daily!). We can remain approachable. We can remain loving.

The poor in spirit are the most nonjudgmental of peoples, they get along well with sinners.

Finally, my ultimate heart check for where you land on the judgment/shame/religious perfection continuum:

Jesus brought a message that spoke to the deepest longings of the human heart to become not simply conformed to a religious subculture but transformed into “new creatures.” Instead of focusing on the boundaries, Jesus focused on the center, the heart of spiritual life. When asked to identify what the law is about Jesus’ response was simply “Love God, love people.” He named a fundamentally different way of identifying who are the children of God: “Do they love God, and do they love the people who mean so much to Him?”

                                         -The Life You Always Wanted by John Ortberg, emphasis mine

“They” are those people, just as we are. There is a thread that weaves us all together. That gives us a shared story; it’s called humanity. Humanity in all its joy and pain, dreams and nightmares, shame and honor, dark and light, utter failures and grand triumphs, brokenness and wholeness, faith and doubt, holiness and depravity.

 Grace is for all, because we are all in desperate need of it.

The gospel of grace announces: forgiveness precedes repentance. The sinner is accepted before he pleads for mercy. It is already granted. He need only receive it. Total amnesty. Gratuitous pardon. {emphasis mine}

We must not forget, that grace was and is extended to us –all of us.

P.S. I love that last quote, it fills me with such hope.

Raw Chocolate Cheesecake

***Seen on Cooking A La Mel

Make SURE to check HERE for my stance on Nut Butters & standard Ingredients.

Ingredients

Crust

2 Cups Walnuts or Pecans

2 Teaspoons Coconut Oil

1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder

1/4 Cup Maple Syrup

Filling

2 Cups Cashews, raw

1 Cup Zucchini, peeled & cut into chunks

1/2 Cup Cocoa Powder.

1/4-1/2 Cup Maple Syrup, start with the lesser amount and add more to your preference

1 Tablespoon Vanilla

1/4 Cup Coconut Oil, melted

Putting It Together:

1). Grease two 6″, one 8″ pan, or a muffin tin, set aside. To make your crust, pulse the walnuts/pecans in your food processor until they resemble fine crumbs. Add in the remaining crust ingredients and pulse until a dough forms. Remove and press dough evenly into prepared pan(s). Then place in your freezer while you make the filling.

2). To make your filling, process the cashews in your food processor until they become a fine powder. Add in the remaining ingredient, EXCEPT the coconut oil and process until smooth and creamy. Add in the coconut oil and pulse to combine

3). Pour the filling into your crust (or divide between the two crusts/12 muffin cups) and chill in the fridge about 8 hours, or until set. Remove, cut & serve. Store any remainders in the fridge.

Food & Relief Friday: Apple Dessert Cereal & Calm Your Heart

Today’s dessert could also be a breakfast cereal. It is 21 Day Sugar Detox friendly and quite frankly, even if I hadn’t been on the 21DSD when I made it, I still would not add any sugar.

This is phenomenal on its own. Leave the sugar out.

It’s really not too original, I have been doing something similar for years. But this time I measured, and tweaked to make it super dessert-like and satisfying to my sweet craving.

It worked. This will be made in my house on a regular basis now. The only thing I might do differently is add some vanilla – I unfortunately had run out the morning of so mine didn’t have any.

If you do dairy, use dairy. If you don’t, use a replacement. Either way, it will still have you rolling your eyes to the back of your head at its goodness. I thought I would only eat half (it makes a lot) but after one bite, I dumped the rest in my bowl. My husband regretted his decision to tell me not to double it after he tried some—which of course was after I had committed to consume the whole thing.

Take my advice: You might want to make a double batch if you have other people in your house at the time you are making it.

But enough about that.

My heart lately has been rather overwhelmed, stressed and pressed-for time. You’ve heard this before on here…Story of my life (and the lives of most of us parents, I think).

I have been really good the last couple years about saying “no” to things I don’t want to do. And I’ve also done a good job, more recently, of saying “no” to things I do want to do.

But the point I’m at now, is that there is nothing I want to say no to. Life is full in good ways. It’s also a little too hectic, busy and crammed at moments. Relationships with my husband and kids are sparse and sometimes not very deep.

So what has been on my heart is finding a way to create space in the small moments. A willingness to be present in the midst of busyness.

I stress easily (but I also love to be busy, ironic, I know). And when I’m stressed, I snap, I freak, I panic, I get angry. And the targets of all of that generally become my husband and kids.

I know, personally, it’s all mental with me. What needs to get done will. What doesn’t get done, really doesn’t  matter. I’ve witnessed this first-hand too many times to count.

But I am an organized, check-it-off-now, control-freak, perfectionist kinda gal, so that’s hard to come to grips with at times.

My cat screeches at me when I get behind, when there’s a lot going on, when things don’t get done: NOW.

Or worse yet, when life-as-usual gets interrupted (which seems to be constant).

Deep breath.

Then I read this post by Sarah Bessey.

{If you don’t read her, you need to start. She was recommended on multiple blogs before I caved and checked her out. Now I don’t know how I would live without her. She is my fresh air, my deep breath.}

“Calm your heart [Apryl]. Calm your heart.”

I cannot tell you what a gift those words were to me when I read them. My spirit sighed, my heart lightened.

What I am learning right now, what Sarah put into words for me, is that I can choose to calm my heart. I can slow down in those moments. I can pay attention. I can show up. Life is busy. And busy is good and here to stay.

But my heart can remain calm through it.

What finally dawned on me with those three little words is that stress is a choice.

I can give into my scaredy-cat, I can let him loose and panic about what’s not getting done or what needs to get done; or I can lock him up and choose to be present.

I can listen to my daughter’s excitement, I can play with my son, I can sit on the couch and talk with my husband. I can relax and enjoy myself with a friend. I can sit and be quiet for two minutes.

And I can do all of this without snapping, without my mind wandering, without panic seeping in.

 My heart can be calm in this whirlwind I call life.

I just have to choose it.

Do I think it’s going to be easy? Heck no. It goes against every fiber in my being. It is the opposite of how I am. It is not in line with my Hurry! mentality.

But it’s what I need to be. It’s where life is lived.

Fully present in all the craziness of actual living.

Showing up in real-time.

Calm in the midst of the storm. Not before it, not after it, but right in the middle of it.

“Calm your heart, Apryl. Calm your heart.”

BTW – this post here, came out a week or so after I wrote this….And he has examples of things I have already been doing.  If you need ideas, read this post.

Apple Dessert Cereal

Make SURE to check HERE for my stance on Nut Butters & standard Ingredients.

Ingredients:

1 Green Apple

2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil or Butter

½ Tablespoon Cinnamon

Sprinkle of Nutmeg

½-1 Teaspoon Vanilla

1 Tablespoon Creamed Coconut (in the box)

Small handful of Nuts – I used a mix of almonds & walnuts, pecans would also be good

Coconut Milk (canned) or Cream for topping

Putting It Together:

1). Cut your apple into bite size chunks. Melt your oil/butter in a medium sauté pan over medium heat. Dump in your apples. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and creamed coconut. Sauté for a couple of minutes.

2).  Add in your nuts, chopped if you wish. Sauté a few more minutes. Apples should be softened.

3). Put into a bowl and drown in coconut milk or cream. Enjoy!

Fragments of My Life: Links, a Song & Moments

I hope you are enjoying your week – mine’s been going swimmingly. Although on Friday I might wind up in a mental-institution. There is snow in my forecast. EXPLICATIVE @%$#!!!  Anyways, here’s your picture of my world. Enjoy!

Links/Posts I loved

1. I’m not gonna write you a love song or, the most poorly written post in history. By Glennon.  I was just turned onto this blog recently. She’s huge, I of course had no idea. At any rate – she is one of those real women. The type that owns up. Love it & love her blog.

2. An Open Letter to Michelle Obama: Beyonce is Not a Role Model  If you are a woman, or have a daughter, or even if you just care about women. This is a great read and a plea I have been reawakened to in my own life recently. Things need to change.

The song you should be singing at the top of your lungs – absorbing the lyrics:

3. Brave by Sara Bareilles

My life as I know it in this moment:

4. Pizza cooked over the fire. Do it. Fantastico!

5. A pastor at our church – we’ve had an interim since we started(and we love him!). He is now our official pastor. Love. My. Church.

6. 100 Burpee challenge. Only took 15 minutes, who knew!? And honestly, it should have taken less time (I needed a couple 15 sec breaks).

7. Sitting in the front yard, drink in hand, in our Adirondack chairs – with the love of my life. We didn’t take them out last year because of podunskville, so this was special. It used to be our “thing” in the summer.

8. Plants; lots & lots of plants. I bought too many this week. And even though I can’t plant them yet (it’s going to get close to freezing again here – SUCKY). I love looking at them & will happily tote them in and out until I can put them in their permanent homes in my yard.

9. My little girl all dressed up in her pretties for her dance pictures. And her mile-long-grin.

And then there’s my son….

10. Covered – COVERED – in dirt two days running. Happy as a clam that we finally hit close to 80!

Fragments of My Life: Links, Rants, Books & Moments

It’s a new segment! Weekly (for the most part) I am going to share a glimpse of my life. Pictures, thoughts, rants, posts I loved, books I adore, inspiration and fun stuff. It will be random and unique to what is happening in my world that week.

I’m pretty stoked about this! You should be to. I mean, come on! You get to know more about yours truly. Think of it as my Facebook page. Except here I’m really gonna let you know what I think…. We all love voyeurism right!?

So here we go. My very first installment.

Links/Posts I loved

1. In Which I have more than one good phrase by Sarah Bessey

2. How not to be a theological bully by Ben Irwin – which leads into my next category of the week:

Rants

3. Saw this quote on Facebook:

Gay people who want to marry have no desire to redefine marriage in any way. When women got the right to vote, they did not redefine voting. When the African-Americans got the right to sit at a lunch counter, alongside white people, they did not redefine eating out. They were simply invited to the table.

-Cynthia Nixon

To which I say: Boom. Well said Cynthia, well said.

Books Worth Your Time

4. That quote tied in nicely with this book that I’m reading: Half the Church by Carolyn Custis James

I would add this to the above quote: Women in the church (or in the world) who seek equality are not trying to redefine men.

And this Halleluiah! taken from the book:

Is the gospel truly good news for women who live entrenched in patriarchal cultures–behind veils and under burkas and Taliban rule? What is good news to these women if the gospel reinforces men as leaders and women as followers? How bone-chilling does this sound in the ears of women who are being oppressed or who have been caught in the clutches of human trafficking? For that matter, how are we putting our own daughters at risk if we teach them that the Bible’s default message for women is to submit to male authority?

5. The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore

He tells a true story about poverty & choices. Powerful and stirring. He gave tears & blood to thoughts already swirling in my head.

And finally my life as I know it in this moment:

6. My kids fighting over whose uncle my future BIL is…They have been waiting for this day so much they are not interested in sharing him with the other.

7. My 80-year-old Grandma drinking it up at a local microbrewery.

8. My daughter and her love for reading. It makes my heart proud and my head spin. Constant discussion on American Girls & Harry Potter at my house.

9. My little guy had kindergarten round-up this week. He is no longer my baby. {Sigh} So I have been soaking up the cuddles, making sure to spend extra time with him. Soon enough he will be in school all day and these moments harder to come by.

10. Friends. Good golly do I have a ton of great ones. These women rock my world and center me so much through their connection.

Food & Relief Friday: 21DSD (or not) Vanilla Chai Latte & Love Still Won

Back in the day, I used to live off Chai Lattes (and microwave popcorn). I drank at least one a day from this Mom & Pop coffee shop by my house. They made the very best Chai – I still have not found one that compares.

Once I moved away, I stopped. Try as I might, I couldn’t find a replica, so it wasn’t worth paying for. Being on the 21DSD challenged me to satisfy my sweet-tooth unconventionally, and I was struck with the idea of a Paleo Vanilla Chai Latte.

This is my version and it was completely gratifying. No, it does not compare to that flawless-coffee-house-one, but it was still lovely! It is much thicker than traditional Chai Lattes, but I appreciated that (I had an affection for “creamy” on 21DSD). If you aren’t up on the texture, increase the water amount. You may need to bump up your spices a tad, as well.

This makes one smaller mug, but that was enough for my sweet-attack.

The past couple weeks have been filled with a lot of anxiety for me. It took me a whole week to realize that indeed it was anxiety – not just stress. Then another week to figure out where the heck it was coming from.

Sometimes I’m slow. Sometimes, it hides. Sometimes when life is happy & good, it’s hard to sift through and dig deep to find that one weed.

What I discovered is that an unresolved (between the other party & myself) past situation was causing me a decent amount of anxiety. The old feeling resurfaced in response to someone else’s current situation.

My past situation and her current are not at all the same and exactly the same. Hers is filled with joy, excitement, fun, love and anticipation. Mine was filled with hurt, anger, dread, anxiety and bitterness. The exact same event, two different experiences.

In the process of {enormously} participating in hers, my old feelings made a come-back.

And while the uglier ones aren’t there anymore – they stayed safely locked up with my cat, thanks to loads of personal work, the anxiety is. But instead of stemming from rejection this time –my cat’s favorite trigger –it’s attached itself to something else. Something unfamiliar: grief.

The grief caught me by total & complete surprise. And a long minute to recognize.

In the midst of the event I never made it to that point, and in the aftermath there was never any resolution– so I never walked through it then either.

I do think it’s a testament to how far I’ve come in controlling my cat, that the anger & bitterness aren’t present. That I have laid those down and trudged on to the grief-portion of the show.

Grief and healing are stubborn; they aren’t ones to give up. And when you’ve acknowledged what the anger is about, the next step is of course the healing. I forgot about that part.

Or didn’t think it applied. Turns out it did.

 So today I am grieving for that loss of joy and anticipation. That happy, wide-ranging love. That excitement of dreams and planning. That space of time encompassing fun.

I am saying goodbye to that chapter of my life that was filled with such anxiety and hurt, it paralyzed at times.

I am giving up that young girl, the one who believed in the fairytale.

And I am moving forward with this in my heart:

Love always wins.

Through all the pain that event caused in me, love still won.

{At least the one that matters}

And my entire being–heart, body & soul is grateful for that.

So goodbye pain, goodbye anxiety. Love won then and it wins now.

{P.S. I love you T!}

21DSD (or not) Vanilla Chai Latte

Make SURE to check HERE for my stance on Nut Butters & standard Ingredients.

Ingredeints:

½ Cup CANNED Coconut Milk

½ Cup Water

1” Piece Ginger Root, peeled & crushed

½ Teaspoon Vanilla

½-1 Tablespoon Honey (omit if 21 DSD)

1 Black Tea Bag, plain

1/8 Teaspoon Cinnamon

Sprinkle of Nutmeg

Sprinkle of Cloves

Putting it Together:

1). Combine everything in a small saucepan, stir well to combine. Heat until boiling. Turn off heat and let sit for 5-10 minutes until flavors meld.

2). Strain through a mesh sieve & serve! You could even add a dollop of Coconut Whip Cream