Healthy Chocolate Cheesecake with Brownie and Adoption, is it for you?

Little souls find their way to you, whether they are from your womb or someone else.

Sheryl Crow

Oh my! This is embarrassing. You just caught me crying! I cry to almost anything. I even cried on the Gangnam Style song. Today though, I am crying for a reason - I am reading about articles on adoption.

Ever since, I am always touch with  kid or babies that are abandoned by their parents and there are so many of them now. So I had  considered the fact that I want to adopt. When my children were talking about having a new baby in the house, I said we will have one through adoption. I even told my husband about this yet he did not believe me. When I found this site today,  Be Inspired to Adopt, and when I read about the adoption stories, I was really touched thatI have this burning passion to do it and take a jump. But  when I look deeper, I currently do not have the emotional strength to do so. I am too busy with my children and I am emotionally drained disciplining and loving them that having room for a baby and giving the love that they deserve is just too hard for me right now. Am I too selfish here? or self absorbed? I don't know, that is what I am feeling. Truly, adoption is just a very big responsibility and one cannot do it half-heartedly. Please check this site I attached - this. Currently, my family is sponsoring children so please check this.

Who are qualified to adopt?

For me, I think one is qualified to adopt if he has the capacity to support the child emotionally, mentally and physically. In my case, for now, I am not in the right place emotionally.

It is also very important that one has the means to give the children their basic needs: like stable job and mental and emotional stability.

There are strenuous process involve in adopting. Paper work, financial requirements and lot of patience is one of them. Maybe you have all the qualifications and the capacity to save a child, please do check on the site I listed above.

My children are so lucky that they have parents who love them and wanted the best for them yet their are kids who are unfortunate and they do not have a good start. Usually a product of poverty and teen age pregnancy, these kids who may not be adopted or fostered are set to  future of  failure unless somebody help them. I thought giving a child a new lease of chance is a big gift we can give to society and one of the big form of service to God. The truth is, there are so many kids who need a family and  foster family. These children need a place to call home. Given this opportunity, there is a big chance for them to soar for greatness.

Reading those stories left me in awe of those  people who adopted and fostered. Some of them do this to serve and simply answer the call to be be compassionate and acting positively on those emotions. Some of us, like me, are not so brave enough. I feel incapable. So for now, I am just making you aware about this site and who knows adoption may be for you.

On a lighter note, I am  sharing another healthy dessert. We are making this healthy chocolate cheesecake. I love usual cheesecake, the one that have the real cream cheese, but I love this version  more because we can eat this anytime we want and not feel guilty about it. This is made of various nuts.  I got this recipe from chocolatecoveredkatie. I change the coconut oil to coconut butter because I still have left over  from making Healthy Oreos. Just like any cheesecake, there is no need for baking. Although you have to freeze this three times, I think it is worth it at the end.

Healthy Chocolate Cheesecake with Brownie Layer 

Brownie layer:

1 cup pecan
1 cup walnut
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 cup pitted date
1 tbsp sugar

Line small rectangular container or any pan with parchment paper. Set aside.

Mix ingredients in a chopper or food processor.
Then place half of the mixture in the lined pyrex ( any container will do ) and put  it in the freezer for 2 hour to harden the brownies.

For cheesecake layer:

1 cup cashews
1/4 cup milk/ I used Chocolate flavored soy milk
2 tbsp melted coconut butter
1/8 tsp salt
3 tbsp powdered sugar ( if it you think that it is not sweet nor creamy enough, add in more sugar)

Line small rectangular container or any pan with parchment paper. Set aside.

Mix ingredients in all the brownie ingredients in the chopper or food processor.
Then place half of the mixture in the lined pyrex ( any small rectangular container will do ) , press hard to flatten and strengthen the mixture.
Put  it in the freezer for 2 hours to harden the brownies.

In the meantime, make the cheesecake layer.
Mix all of the ingredients in a processor/chopper/Vitamix
Get the hardened layer from the freezer and place the cheesecake layer on top of the brownie layer.
Freeze for another 2 hours.
After this, place the remaining brownie layer on top and frozen cheesecake layer and freeze again.
After 2 hours, slice the cake into square and serve.

NOTE:

If you have smaller rectangular container, use that because I think I used a bigger container so the brownie layer was too thin making it soft when not in the freezer.

If you have left over, always keep it in the freezer for the cake becomes soft if you don't.

Healthy Vegan BrowniesCopying Vitalicious Vitamuffins Brownies and Dreaming Again

The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give the gift it away.

Joy .Golliver

One day, my son just randomly announced that when he grows up, he will not get married. I was very surprised when he said this,because he is only nine years old. I wondered, did I do something that made him be appalled about marriage? So I asked him curiously why is that,  and he said , "because I want to be like Greg's grandpa."  Who what? Greg's grandpa is one of the character of the book he is reading - The Diary of the Wimpy Kid. Greg's grandpa is named  Grandpa Heffley. about Grandpa Heffley

Grandpa Heffley is strange, unpredictable and ignorant. Obviously, he is enjoying life vacationing and just being goofy and he is not mindful on what people think of him. He lives in his own terms. Though he is married for a very long time to Greg's grandma, it looked like he is seizing his days living a "free kid and free of responsibility life," so he runs around town in his big motorbike and huge spectacles. For my son, he likes that kind of life. As he said, no kids to take care of and no responsibility, just riding a bike. When he said this, I was not sure if I should be mad or I should be happy that he is reading a book. But one thing I know I am glad about, at least he has a dream. 

When I became a housewife, I have become settled of being a wife and a mother that I just do not think of dreaming anymore. My focus has been on my family and there is nothing else. Dreaming was being shoved in the back burner and has became a burden. It just became a  fixture because motherhood is a very tough job that nothing else matters, even dreaming for myself is something that became a luxury. my schedule is so full that sometimes even, I can only think before I go to sleep. 

Proverbs 29:18 said that When there is no vision, the people perish. What a good way too remind me to dream again.

  

Currently, I am still in the phase where I say when I grow up, I want to be ... It feels like I am re- tuning my life and teaching myself to to find my dreams again. I think this is a wake up call for me because I had let myself go and just I led a life being tossed around by circumstances. No direction, just going with the flow. I gave away the free luxury of dreaming. I also felt that this is just an appropriate time because the kids are grown up now. 

I am almost in my middle age and re- directing myself on looking and finding my dreams again at this age can be a very difficult task to conquer. In my case, I have to try and test some waters and see some unknown  territories. It is scary and it is mentally draining and it is financially expensive. I feel so blessed that I have the luxury to try to find my path and I owe it to God for blessing me abundantly.

At present, I have not found that dream that I would die for and live for. Don't get me wrong, dreaming for a productive life  for my family and children are very important to me. But there is that "something" that I am looking for- for myself. That something that would energize me again and makes me feel so alive. That something I realized is passion...

Now, I am seizing the day as I wait for "THAT" passion to really ignite. And when I do,  my family will be more thankful because I will  become a better mother, a better wife and a better member in the society.  I will give it away wholeheartedly and use it for God's glory. 

I am going to end this musings with  Grace Coddington's, quote: "Always keep your eyes open, keep watching because whatever you see can inspire you." 

How about you? What is your passion? Have you found your passion? How did you find it? 

Today, I am going to share to you my version of Vitalicious Vitamuffins Brownies. This recipe was inspired from   Chocolate Covered Katie blog check here. I changed some ingredients depending of its availability in my pantry, but it is really, really good and it was also very easy to make. You cannot tell that it is vegan. This recipe yielded 8 pieces of little flat muffins. If you want a bigger batch, just use the whole can of pumpkin puree. The whole can is total of 2 cups. Just adjust the rest of the ingredients accordingly. This is the only brownie in my whole life that I happily munch and was not afraid to give to my kids. There was not guilt, just pleasure of the sweetness of the chocolates. I say it is YUM!  

Copying Vitalicious Vitamuffins Brownies

1. 2 tbsp milk of Choice ( I used Silk Choco)
2. 2 tbsp cooking oil ( I used Canola Oil)
3. 1/2 tbsp  vanilla extract
4. 1 tbsp black sesami seeds ( you can replace it with flax seed or white sesame seeds)
5. 1/2 cup pumpkin
6. 1/2 cup spelt flour
7. 1/4 tsp baking soda
8. 1/4 tsp salt
9. 1/2 tsp baking powder
10. 2 tbsp sugar/
11. 2 tbsp cocoa powder
12. 1/4 cup chocolate chips plus additional chips for decoration

Note: The batter tend to get sticky but do not worry. It is just like that. Do not be tempted to add liquid in it. Since I only used 1/2 cup of pumpkin, I used it to make pumpkin tart with peanuts. I will post it on Thursday.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease standard size muffin pans.

In a mixing bowl mix ingredients 1 to 5  and stir well. Add in ingredients 6 - 12 except the choco chips for decoration. Mix gently then use a spoon to scoop the batter into a greased muffin pan and put 3 to 4 choco chips for decoration. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes and let cool before removing from the pan.