At this point you may be torn between glad for that brief but good report versus wondering what that has to do with chocolate . . .
I really, really, really love chocolate. If I worked for the FDA, that great big bottom part of the food pyramid would be chocolate - followed of course by coffee.
There are a lot of foods I can simply do without but I think chocolate is a necessity. We jokingly (or not-so-jokingly) call chocolate a vitamin at our house. In all fairness, chocolate IS packed with wholesome antioxidant goodness which makes it kinda like a vitamin, right? Right?
When life happens - when the toilet overflows, or a child (or two or three or four) is being difficult, or Matthew catches a possum and brings it in the house, or Noah leaks something unspeakable all over me, or my husband calls me matronly, I find myself needing a vitamin or two. :-) (Let's not even talk about how many vitamins Hannah Grace and I may have needed after the season 2 finale of Downton Abbey.)
The problem is twofold. One, I'm kinda a chocolate snob, so my tastes in chocolate run to the very good and the all-natural. Two, as much as I love chocolate, I love my new Trim Healthy Mama lifestyle even more. Or maybe it's even. OK, maybe I love the chocolate a teeensy bit more - but I really love the way I've been feeling and love losing weight.
I've tried quite a few low-carb chocolate dessert solutions and have been miserably disappointed in almost every single one. They have artificial ingredients or are just plain yucky. I'm enough of a chocolate snob that I'd rather have just a little bit of truly excellent chocolate than lots of mediocre stuff. This has honestly been my biggest source (really my only source) of discouragement with Trim Healthy Mama.
I know this might sound like a commercial, especially if you pretend James Earl Jones is reading it to you, but I thought I'd share my
On a whim I tried some Lily's Chocolate the other day. It's labeled as dark chocolate but it's definitely far closer to semi-sweet. Think of it as dark chocolate for wimps - at 55% cacao, it's not going to put hair on your chest or make your eyes water. It's all natural, sugar free, stevia sweetened, and utterly fantastic.
Insert angelic harp music OR James Earl Jones singing the Hallelujah Chorus. Your choice.
Seriously, I know that quite a few readers need low carb and all-natural food choices. Even more importantly, I know that quite a few readers have children who need low carb and all-natural food choices. For some like Noah, a teeny bit of chocolate that will melt and drain out of a tube is the ONLY food choice a child may have.
For that reason, it seemed unreasonable not to share my discovery. My first thought was , I mean it never occurred to me to keep it a big secret in hopes that I could have the entire national inventory of this chocolate.
I recently wrote to Lily's Sweets and told them that I was going to share about their chocolate on my blog, and several days ago I was tickled pink to get an envelope containing several free bar coupons for Lily's Chocolate. This wasn't offered as an inducement for me to do a "sponsored post" but rather a gracious thank you from the company. As I was greedily gloating over looking at my coupons, I had a thought to kill a couple of birds with one stone. While I love sharing about Noah's journey on this blog, the overwhelming support we've been given has made me want to find new ways to give back and one way I'd like to do this is by occasionally reviewing products of special interest to the special needs community. This review of Lily's Chocolate is my first attempt at doing so.
It does seem kinda mean (OK, hideously cruel) to talk about this awesome chocolate and not offer to share some. Let's face it, I can't afford to be replacing keyboards just because all you are drooling on them, nor do I want to be responsible for large crowds of chocolate-crazed readers doing who-knows-what just because I blogged about yummy chocolate, so here's the deal . . .
I am giving away one of my coupons for a free Lily's Chocolate bar.
Please do not leave comments suggesting that I get a psych consult.
These are incredibly rich and yummy sugar-free bars. They are thick and have a fabulous "bite." They come in Plain (absolutely wonderful to eat or to melt/chop for use in low-carb recipes like the "almond joy" bars I made the other day), Almond (perfectly distributed and perfectly sized almond chunks - YUM), Crispy Rice (to-die-for with a top layer of just chocolate and loads of crispy rice in the bottom layer of chocolate), andD read the inspiring story of the pediatric cancer patient who is the inspiration for the company here. The site Coconut (flakes of coconut evenly distributed throughout the bar). You can see nutritional information AN also lists stores that carry Lily's Chocolate. I know Whole Foods carries it and there are other stores listed as well. If you can't find it in a regular store, you can buy it here on Amazon. I don't know if Amazon does anything to keep it from melting or not and obviously the coupon wouldn't work there. :-(
To enter, just leave a comment. It does not need to be profound or witty or deep. I'm quite fond of good jokes but while leaving one may make me laugh, it will not get you any extra entries.
I decided to give an extra entry to anyone who would like to purchase a Praying for Noah wristband or magnet. We've got quite a few left and I haven't mentioned these in quite a while. I won't repeat the details because you can read them by clicking the picture of the blue magnet in the right sidebar - in a nutshell, they are $6 each postpaid and the funds always go to Noah or needs related to him like like medical expenses and supplies that aren't covered by insurance, gas/food for hospital trips (we get some gas reimbursement but not enough for our gas-guzzling wheelchair bus), the occasional small treat or surprise for him after a hard doctor's office visit, etc. The funds from these wristband and magnet sales are a tremendous blessing to our family, so while you do NOT need to purchase one to enter, we're happy to give that extra entry to anyone who does purchase one. Ordering details are on the detail page to the right!
(I need to keep it real at this point. I walked away from the computer at the end of that last paragraph and when I came back my keen powers of observation noted the fact that some lawless miscreant one of my children had added, "If you have any questions, please contact Tony Stark." Wasn't I just saying that my teens were deranged fun the other day? I take it back.)
If you do have questions, please do NOT attempt to contact Tony Stark. While I am considerably less wealthy and far less good looking, I am far more uniquely qualified to answer any questions about this giveaway. Or chocolate. Just email your questions to me at jkestes@gmail.com. Questions about advanced robotic technology will be passed on to Mr. Stark with my compliments.
This contest will end on Friday, June 7. I am extremely slightly Raffelcopter-impaired and I can't figure out what TIME it will end, so it's best not to wait until the 11th hour just to be safe. I will post the winner on the 8th or 9th. I've gotten some emails about people having trouble commenting. Just leave your name and email and CHECK THE BOX saying that you want to post as a guest, and no account will need to be created. All comments are moderated so please don't be concerned if your comment doesn't show up right away. Only comments left here will be counted by Rafflecopter!!!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Blessings,
Kate
P.S. Please let me know if you would be interested in a review and/or more information about anything of interest to the special needs community - I'm certainly not an expert in everything but would be happy to share about the types of things we do use and would be open to trying and reviewing something that we haven't yet used.
