This past week we’ve celebrated my parents 48th wedding anniversary.
My Dad’s 69th birthday. Yes, he looks 40. Unreal!
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Aka (spoil the nieces and nephews)
![image[2]](https://www.cottercrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/image2.jpg)
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Southern Style- Tamales and Moonshine anyone?
And next week we continue the celebration with New Years Eve, New Years Day, and the Kiwi and I have a 6 year wedding anniversary.
That’s a whole lot of celebration. It’s a good thing I took a RESET week because it really helped with ENJOYING and SAVORING the Holidays.
JOY—> it’s between the EN and ING. It means a feeling of great pleasure and happiness.
You see, there are 2 things (ok 3) that have really shaped my JOY of Food, Holidays, Family, Fitness, and LIFE in general.
- Getting married to a KIWI and becoming a SHERPA Wife. To me, this is my main job. I take great delight and JOY into being there for my husband.
- Getting sick. Yes, I said it. I mentioned my Journey to GLUTEN FREE HERE and dealing with a whole lotta mess. But you know what? It humbled me. And when I couldn’t eat certain things, workout, or work much; I found JOY in the small things. I found JOY in slowing down and healing.
- Faith. Yes, I am woman of Faith. My Faith has helped me pursue my (our) dreams. My faith has helped me overcome certain FEAR. My FAITH has strengthened me and allowed me TRUST in GOD’s plans. My FAITH has helped me see the purpose in daily routine.
Okay, I know what you are thinking. Where is she going with this? What’s this CORNY COTTER food for thought, really?
This….
Can we really find JOY in the “undone-ness’ of life and our journey? Yes, by celebrating the SMALL stuff.
No fad diet, no popular fitness craze, no self help book can get you to see that. Am I right? Only allowing yourself to embrace the “mess” of life. Past, present, and future.
So here’s the cake, the cake to help you celebrate. My whole family already sampled and savored with a cup of coffee and/or tea.
It’s not really healthy, but it’s not really unhealthy. Which means you probably won’t undo or mess up your balanced eating any more/less.
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Ingredients:
- ½ can pumpkin puree
- ¼ -⅓ cup vanilla protein powder (i used Designer Whey)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- dash of salt
- 1 ⅓ cup GF cake mix (like Pamela’s Mix) –> if you don’t have cake mix, use Sorghum or Rice Flour and then add in ⅓ to ½ cup baking stevia, brown sugar, or sweetener of choice
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoon butter or coconut butter
- 2 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 tablespoon Unsweetened Cocoa powder
- ½ cup Chocolate Chips (i used ENJOY LIFE gluten/soy/dairy free Chocolate Chips)–> SO GOOD!
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon or nutmeg
Directions—> Combine your wet ingredients first, mix then add in your dry (minus the chocolate chips). Beat for 2 minutes or until batter is smooth. Fold in your chocolate Chips. Pour in greased 9x5x3 pan or brownie pan will work too. Cook at 375F for about 38-40 minutes. Check a little earlier just in case your oven bakes faster.
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Ok go ahead, enjoy a SLICE (of life).
No questions today, I think I gave you enough to think about. Haha!
[Tweet “Food for Thought Friday with @LCCotter & #GF Cocoa Celebration Cake #fitfluential #glutenfree #enjoy #SemiHEALTHY”]
Cheers,
Corny Cotter
I love your joy in everything, even the tough things. And MAN your dad really does look young!! Happy early anniversary to the Cotters!
Your dad does NOT look 69!! at all!! and happy almost 6 year anniversary friend, you inspire me in my marriage, every single day. truly. your devotion and dedication to each other is just beautiful. And finally, I love the notion of ‘undone’ness and applying that to life, to food, to healthy eating too. Sometimes we need to embrace the undone 🙂
This looks so good! I can’t wait to try it! Happy early anniversary to you & the Kiwi :)!
Lovely post! Glad you took time to reset. Love the bed hair pic (at least, I’m assuming that’s what’s going on?!) And the cake- YUM!
Oh yum Lindsay! Looks great…..just what I need right now! Looks like you have a lot to celebrate 🙂 Enjoy!
thanks friend! i sure will!
Love that fun pic of your parents! Mine have been married 47 years — aren’t we lucky to have such great role models!
oh yes, so lucky!!
Love love love!!! And love you guys…I’ve been on a “reset” or trying to reset for two weeks now…minimal or rather zero training and trying to embrace the chaotic mess that is my life!! Thanks for posting and hope that you are having a lovely holiday with the family!
oh i am glad you are resetting friend! i know you’ve had a hard year too, you needed this. xoxo
I LOVE this post!! It is such an important reminder of what life really is and how enjoying it is really a mindset over something material. I think it is great and inspiring how you are content with your life as is. Instead of trying to change imperfections, you embrace them. I think that is something we should all strive for!
By the way, your dad does look incredible. I never ever would have guessed him to be 69! Good for him! And happy birthday to him! 🙂
exactly! perfection is boring anyway, right? haha
Be as corny as you want if it means all of us get to hear those little reminders of embracing the joy in everyday life. Chasing the ‘perfect’ life is exhausting so yes to finding happiness on the journey of life in its current state. Keep up the corniness!
Oh and belated birthday wishes to your dad! I seriously wouldn’t have been able to guess his age. Good for you ihaving those genes :).
oh that makes me happy friend. THe corniness will continue! xxoo
Hooray for celebrations, and hooray for messes! It’s amazing that out of all of the wonderful moments in life, it’s those ordinary moments, or those things that really test us, that also shape us the most. Such a lesson that I need to pay attention too…to slow down in the everyday mess and trust that God is working THERE. Right there. I’m excited to see what 2014 will bring!
And happy belated anniversary to your parents and happy early anniversary to you and James! We have more celebrations next week too, with my birthday on New Year’s Eve, then New Year’s Day, and the big move on the 6th. Phew!! I hope you all enjoy! Xoxo
oh i want to celebrate your bday with YOU!
I am most certainly embracing the mess of life lately, and I couldn’t be happier. I’m glad you enjoyed your holiday!
YES to this, my Corny Cotter friend!! <3 In 2014, I plan to appreciate all the small, little things that make my life absolutely wonderful. Your posts like this always make me smile!
Cheers sweet friend! thanks for all your kind words!
YOU LUCKY LUCKY LADY YOU – you inherited some AMAZING genes when it comes to aging and good looks!!!! 🙂 Wait, perhaps your KIWI is the lucky lucky man!!!
Oh I love the pic of your parents! And I love this post – lots of JOY! Just what we all need more of every minute of the day.
So much celebration going on here- that cake should be on repeat 😉
Haha, my sister got me a small tub of designer whey in vanilla almond. Maybe it’s a sign :p
You know I love this. The enJOYing, savouring and overall slowing down of the holiday season…No matter how fast it may seem to be going, stepping on the breaks allows us to breathe, one small thing at a time. xo
And yes, your Dad totally looks like he’s 40!
Happy early Anniversary!
i knew you’d understand. xxoo
Happy Happy to your Dad and Merry Merry to you and James and your family! Love this post and you! So many lessons to learn along the way from happy and from challenging situations, yes? I’m trying to remind myself of that constantly. Never know where the lessons and the gifts are. Happy early anniversary.
Aww I love this post. Your Dad looks great!! Happy early anniversary! xoxo
Thx friend! And this cake is totally for your bday too! Happy belated
That is a whole lot of awesome celebrations going on and love that you have more to do…Happy Happy Joy Joy!
Corny cotter at it’s finest! Lol
You have definitely had a lot to celebrate recently and still more coming up – so glad hat you are enjoying it all!!!
Your dad looks amazing!!
Thx friend! I’m glad I got his genes. Haha
Are those your parents in the first picture? So cute!
Sure is! Don’t they look fab?
That cake looks DELICIOUS! Happy early anniversary! What an exciting time 🙂 You really have had quite the journey and I love your positive outlook!
oh and i know you can relate to the sherpa wife! xxoo
Congrats to your parents!!
This post gave me the warm & fuzzes 🙂 I’m taking notes on this whole wife thing, since I need to get my skills down before the big day next year!!! & of course I’ll be making that cake. That pumpkin bread I made, I ate for breakfast each day this week! I could babble forever about this post.
you give me warm fuzzes all the time. hugs to you and your sweet family!
So many amazing things to celebrate! Congrats to your parents- so rare to see that these days. Happy birthday to your padre, and happy anniversary to you and the Kiwi! I hope you enjoy all of the celebrations going on right now- as I am sure winding down after it all will be nice too!
thank you friend! they’ve been married since 19yrs old! crazy
I’ll most definitely enjoy a slice to that! And as delicious as that cake looks, I’m gonna have to go ahead and say that reading this post was a better accompaniment to my morning coffee. Adore Corny Cotter <3
well cheers to good coffee and cake then friend! xxoo
Aww I love this! I have definitely learned this more than any other that the little things are the best to be celebrated. And thank you for introducing the slow down challenge to me, because savoring and being more grateful has done wonders to my sanity! 🙂
oh i am so glad it helped! it really saved me too
I pinned your cake recipe so I can find it in the future. Thanks.
I love me so corny Cotter. 😉 Congrats on 6 years!!! That’s impressive. You guys are adorable with your bed heads.
Also this made me love you even more: “you probably won’t undo or mess up your balanced eating any more/less.” LOL!
i thought you’d like that.
😉
Aw I love this – so much to celebrate – the big and the small!
hope you wonderful cotters had an amazing holiday – looks like you had an incredible time with loved ones. your parents are too cute in that photo! merry christmas and happy new year friend!
Am I right? You ask?
YES. amen!
just want to make sure you concur. 😉
What a wonderful celebration of so much love all around! Yes, your dad looks amazing – good genes for you! 🙂 Happy early anniversary too! Love that you slowed down & don’t we all need that – which I am doing this week & next till January & then who knows…
I am taking a look at per your post – Only allowing yourself to embrace the “mess” of life. Past, present, and future – I have made a mess of certain things & need to get that sorted out… not sure what 2014 will bring… 🙂
you can clean up the mess, one day at a time. Piece by piece. we’ll be there to lend a helping hand.
HUGE HUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I really love your posts friend! You keep writing them & being honest, corny(hehe) Cotter haha!! I love that! Great post! I had a wonderful Christmas vacay home in Oklahoma & it’s coming to an end but it gave me time to think, relax & RESET myself lol. With New Year’s Eve & Day coming & my bday too(Jan 4th– your anniversary if I remember right lol )I have much to be thankful & happy for. I’m going to try to be happier & less stressed & keep up with the healthy thing too hehe(but of course include treats 😉 ) have an awesome weekend friend! <3 hugs
oh yes! i remember that! we will be celebrating you on our anniversary as well! yay!
Aww so many great things to celebrate! What a fun season!!
And I agree with you – sometimes being sick is a blessing. It puts things into perspective. Like, that all that counts are the small things.
Happy Weekend lovely lady!!
yes, it really is. A BIG perspective!
just what we needed to read this morning 🙂
love the family pics!! what a beautiful family you have.
and happy early anniversary to you two!!! hugs
You know exactly why this post speaks to my soul. I am in my very own slowing down and healing phase, but with your support (and my other true friends), my family and my faith (which, I have to say, there were a few seconds that I questioned) I can comfortably say I am slowly feeling myself again. I have been in a sleepy fog, waiting for the the next nightmare to unfold, but now I am slowly waking up and realizing that life has changed. I have a new normal, it still feels fresh, and I wonder if I will never get used to it. Your words reassure me that I will at the very least we will get used to the food, and in fact we will thrive with this new was of eating. I can’t thank you enough for your support, and loving gestures through this. You are such an amazing person! Happy Anniversary to you and the Kiwi. What a lucky man he is! and, yep, your Dad looks amazing! I can see were you get your looks! xoxoxo
well i am lucky to have the kiwi, and YOU as a friend. You know i love you so! <3
Yay for cherished family time and cheers to anniversaries: yours and your parents!
As always I love reading your posts. Something to think about and/or something good to eat!
Holy smokes your dad does look young! And I adore that photo of your parents!
Glad you enjoyed all the celebrations and are continuing on into next week.
aww happy birthday to your pops and happy anniversary to you guys!! xoxo
DAMN that looks good! The cake that is…but your dad looks like he’s only 45. Good on him!
haha i agree! both are good looking.
48 hours of uninterrupted family time is AWESOME! Cherishing it still 😉
I love that picture of your parents. I saw you posted it somewhere the other week. And your dad does look 40 and super handsome. Loved your points. Yes, to being a Sherpa Wife and the joy it brings supporting someone so passionate about something. Yes, to being sick and figuring it out. And Yes, Yes, Yes to having faith! So, clearly I am just dropping by to agree with you on everything this morning.
we agree on so much. <3 that
SO GLAD once the hustle and bustle is over with honestly! I love time with family and friends ALL year round – this time the traffic and crazies make me lose my CHi haha! Dad looks good! Ah, good genes 😉
haha true. traffic is a bugger.