Overflow~Food For The Journey

*Recipe of the Week*

Healthy Carrot Soup

We must nourish our body as well as our soul. Let us steward well the temple God has given us! 

Ingredients

     1 tablespoon butter

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme or parsley
• 5 cups chopped carrots
• 2 cups water
• 4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth, "no-chicken" broth (see Note) or vegetable broth
• ½ cup half-and-half (optional)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions 

•  Heat 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat until the butter melts. Add onion and celery; cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 4 to 6 minutes. Add garlic and 1 teaspoon thyme (or parsley); cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 10 seconds. Stir in carrots. Add 2 cups water and 4 cups broth; bring to a lively simmer over high heat. Reduce heat to maintain a lively simmer and cook until very tender, about 25 minutes. 
•  Puree the soup in batches in a blender until smooth. (Use caution when pureeing hot liquids.) Stir in ½ cup half-and-half (if using), ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper.

Join us in praying the novena to the Precious Blood of Jesus.

July is dedicated to the honoring and adoration of the Precious Blood of Jesus! May we learn anew, to stay close to Christ Crucified. Through our words and actions, may we pass our days in such a way, that like St. Veronica, we may seek the face of Christ. May the drops of His Precious Blood purify and strengthen us. With fidelity and tenderness, let us remain close to the countenance of Christ Crucified. Precious Blood of Jesus, pour out upon us and on the whole world! 

Our Highlighted Reflection Of The Week-

Pursuing the Kingdom of God

 There is always a level of mystery in Christ's words, actions, and teachings and it's clearly established that way for a reason. The mystery that we strive so hard to unveil and wrap our minds around, is meant to remain veiled until we ascend to beatitude where perfect understanding will be available in terms of God's will for all of humanity. This is a joyful entity because it emphasizes once more that we are citizens of heaven and this world is not our home. Having a kingdom bound mindset in our everyday experience places our hope in heaven, such a hope focuses our lives and centers our hearts on building up God's kingdom on this side of heaven in what manner we are called to.

 Jesus invites us to love God with all our being and love our neighbor as ourselves because “on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (22:40). This is a poignant model of how the entirety of the Decalogue can be contained in the simple two stranded command of "Love God" and "love neighbor". The first three commandments point directly to loving God and the remaining seven precisely how to love God in neighbor. To follow these commandments is to remain 'kingdom bound', living out the desires of God so we may satisfy His desire for us to live with Him eternally.

-E.B.

*Recipe of the Week*

Healthy Dairy and Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookies

We must nourish our body as well as our soul. Let us steward well the temple God has given us! 

Ingredients

2 cups of Almond Flour

1/4 cup Maple Syrup or Honey

1/4 cup Coconut oil (melted and cooled)

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/3 cup dairy free dark chocolate chips.

1/4 tsp Salt

1tsp Vanilla Extract

Directions 

• Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and lightly oil the paper with coconut oil. Set aside.
  
• In a large mixing bowl, add all the ingredients except the chocolate chips: almond flour, baking powder, maple syrup, melted coconut oil, vanilla extract, and salt.
  
• Stir with a wooden spoon or the paddle attachment of a stand mixer, until the cookie dough forms.
  
• Fold in the chocolate chips and stir to incorporate.
  
• Divide the dough into 12 small balls, lightly oil your hands to handle the dough as it's a bit sticky.
  
• Place each dough ball onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving a thumb of space between each cookie. Lightly press the top of each one with the palm of your hand. They will not spread a lot, the shape you create now is what you get at the end.
  
• Bake the cookies on the center rack of the oven for 14-16 minutes at 350 °F (180 °C) until golden brown on the edges.
  
• Let them cool them down for 10 minutes on the cookie sheet, then slide a spatula under each cookie and cool down on a wire rack for 1 hour.

Our Highlighted Reflection Of The Week

God, Man, and Divine Revelation 

We must consider Divine Revelation in reference to God's action of revelation of His person and His Divine Love. The Catechism illustrates that "Through an utterly free decision, God has revealed Himself and given Himself to man. This he does by revealing the mystery, His plan of loving goodness, formed from all eternity in Christ, for the benefit of all men. God has fully revealed this plan by sending us his beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit."(CCC, 50). The final goal of divine revelation is yo draw us into intimacy with God through a shared knowledge of who he is. Such an intimacy with God is only possible through true knowledge of who God is, which requires us to know God past intellectual knowledge. Intimacy with God requires divine love, Christ becoming flesh to live and die for us. Through divine revelation God shows us himself and also the way to him. Such an experience of divine love can only confirm us in our identity as sons and daughters of this love. We, as children of God, receive our divine inheritance through eternal life. Divine Revelation is both person/ideas and a process. God's act of revelation, in the end, upholds our cooperation and free will.

Grace is in general ( gratia, Charis,) a supernatural gift that the Creator of the Universe bestows upon the intellectual creatures of the world. More so, sanctifying grace is vital in the obtainment of eternal salvation. A very beautiful aspect of sanctifying grace is that not only does God graciously relinquish it to us despite our sins,  but He also allows us to pursue His grace further, through salutary acts or in a state of holiness. Salvation, which is essentially eternal heavenly bliss, is a result of knowing and pursuing the Triune God, who even to the one unendowed with grace "inhabiteth light inaccessible."(1 Tim. 6:16). The majestic edifice of Christianity is caressed in its entirety by the fundamental pillar of grace.

-E.B.