This cookbook takes all of the work out of coming up with healthy and nutritious things you can cook so that you can focus on what matters most during this time.

Each of the four weeks worth of recipes starts out with a weekly shopping list. These ingredients will be all you need to make four different meals for dinner that week.

Most, but not all, recipes are for two. In addition to the four weeks worth of dinner recipes there are also recipes for pastes, sauces, and salads. You can mix and match these as the pastes and sauces actually go well with the salads. You can get creative and even use them as a spread for sandwiches you make for yourself for a light breakfast or lunch.

In addition to all of the recipes, there are also several pages of tips and tricks taken from cooksmarts.com in the back of the cookbook.

A little disclaimer: watch out for the various way of saying the names of some of the ingredients. Even though it’s still the English language there are differences between Britain and the United States when referring to the same item. For example, what I would call rocket my husband would call arugula.

I’d love to hear your feedback and if you have any recipes yourself please share them!

Click here to get our Lenten Cookbook

It is then, as appears, the greatest of all lessons to know one’s self. For if one knows himself, he will know God; and knowing God, he will be made like God

-St. Clement of Alexandria

It is of immense value to know yourself:

If you know your strengths you can focus on those areas and achieve extraordinary things.

In a similar way, if you know your weaknesses you can find ways to compensate for those areas like partnering with different people possessing the strengths that you lack.

This is all relatively straightforward, but the question then becomes how does one truly come to know oneself?

Drum roll please…

The answer isn’t as earth shattering as you might expect.

You come to know yourself in the same way you learn about anything else – through investigation and focused study.

There are several personality tests that you may or may not have heard of that I have found to be incredibly valuable in the study of yourself. Below I describe a few of them, give some starting points, and provide some resources so that you can begin your research!

Myers-Brigg Personality Test

Many of you are already aware of the Myers-Brigg Personality Types as they are referenced the most. The theory boils down to the following:

There are four possible pairs of personality traits:

-Introversion (I) or Extraversion (E)
-Intuition (N) or Sensing (S)
-Thinking (T) or Feeling (F)
-Judging (J) or Perceiving (P)

Every person leans, to a slight or extreme degree, to one side in each pair; this results in 16 possible personality profiles. A lot of people are surprised at how accurately their profile describes them as this test has helped many to see why they think and behave in certain ways. This personality test is so widely used that some people use it to find careers that they would be a good fit for or even life long partners that they are compatible with.

Take the test for free here! Once you know what you are you can just type those four letters into google and learn a variety of things about yourself.

(I’m an INFP)

There are also entire webpages dedicated to explaining the different Myers-Brigg personality types. The following videos are some of the best I’ve found as they take an in-depth look at each type. It’s definitely worth the 10 minutes it’ll take to watch the video focusing on your personal type:

There are also forums where people with the same personality type go, ask each other questions and support one another. If you go to https://www.reddit.com/r/xxxx (type in the four letters that represent your personality type in place of the xxxx) you can see one such online community for yourself. You can learn what motivates, scares, exhausts, or makes each personality type feel better. You can even see how to grow rapidly based on your type. When it comes to the Myers-Brigg personality types, resources are pretty endless.

The DiSC Assessment

The DiSC assessment is another test designed to predict how people are likely to act; it is another tool you can use to learn more about yourself. The basic premise is that there are four behavioral groups people fall into: Dominant, Influential, Steady, and Compliant.

Most people can be described using one or a mixture of two of the categories. You can take the test for free here!

Also, below you can download a really good infographic taken from Eastern Nazarene College that goes into a lot of detail about the different behavior groups. (Be sure to zoom in to see it properly!)

StrengthsFinder Test

There are several other less well-known tests out there that will give you a deeper understanding of what you’re naturally good at, your unique disposition, and why you think and act the way you do… you just have to look for them. After I bought, Living Your Strengths: Discover Your God-Given Talents and Inspire Your Community, I received an access code to take a StrengthFinders Test. Out of the 34 themes, it reported my top 5 (with my strongest at the top of the list):

1. Input (I have a craving to know more; like to collect and archive all kinds of information)
2. Intellection (I am introspective and appreciate intellectual discussions)
3. Focus (I can take directions, follow through, and make the corrections necessary to stay on track)
4. Learner (I am constantly growing as I I feed my desire to learn all that I can)
5. Restorative (I adept at dealing with problems and good at fixing things that go wrong)

This taught me a lot about myself and revealed to me why I behave in certain ways. The book goes into a lot more detail about the 34 themes. Unfortunately, the test is not free as you either have to buy the book (and receive an access code to take the test) or buy the test on it’s own here. If you don’t want to pay for the test it’s worth looking through the list of themes to see what you think are your top strengths. You might know yourself better than you think.

Not only can we use these tools to learn more about ourselves, but we can use them to understand and appreciate the differences between us and the people in our lives. As we come to understand that there is no ‘right way’ and just different ways of communicating and approaching things we come to value others for the unique perspectives, insights, and abilities they bring to the table. This allows us to grow to see our lives in the context of the people and community we belong to.

So let’s start learning about ourselves!

After looking through these materials, what have you learned about yourself from your research? Let us know below!

(Photo by Alex Zhu)

“We don’t come to the table to fight or to defend. We don’t come to prove or to conquer, to draw lines in the sand or to stir up trouble. We come to the table because our hunger brings us there. We come with a need, with fragility, with an admission of our humanity. The table is the great equalizer, the level playing field many of us have been looking everywhere for. The table is the place where the doing stops, the trying stops, the masks are removed, and we allow ourselves to be nourished, like children. We allow someone else to meet our need. In a world that prides people on not having needs, on going longer and faster, on going without, on powering through, the table is a place of safety and rest and humanity, where we are allowed to be as fragile as we feel.”
― Shauna Niequist

“And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.” Acts 2:36

Serving: 9

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients: 8

Base

125g or 1 cup ground rolled oats (use gluten free oats to make this recipe GF friendly)
125g or 1 cup ground almonds
40ml or 2.5 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbs coconut oil
1 ½ tsp vanilla powder

Optional additions:

80 g or 1 cup desiccated coconut
150 g or 1 cup cashews

Caramel

350g or 2 cups pitted dates (soaked in boiling water for 1-2 hours)
95g or 2 tbsp peanut butter
40g or 1/3 cup nut of choice (to scatter on top of caramel or blend in)
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla powder
1 tbsp water (or more if needed)

Chocolate Topping

100g or 1/2 cup coconut oil
60g or 3/4 cup cacao powder
2 tsp vanilla Powder
60ml or 4 tbsp maple syrup

Steps

Base

1. In a food processor or blender add oats and grind to a flour like consistency.
2. Add all the other ingredients and blend until it comes together when you pinch it in your hand. If it is still too crumbly to hold together, add 1 tbsp or more of water.
3. Press in to a tin lined with cling film or baking paper and place in the freezer while you make the caramel peanut butter filling.

Caramel

1. Blend the dates until they form a paste and then add the other ingredients, except for the nuts, blending until a smooth caramel forms.
2. Add the nuts and blend a few times so that they are combined with the caramel mixture. The other option is to scatter them on top of the caramel for a more crunchy texture
3. Spread onto the base and then return it to the freezer.

Chocolate

1. Melt the coconut oil in a bowel
2. Once melted add all the other ingredients and stir until you have a smooth chocolate.
3. Drizzle onto the other two layers and leave to set in the freezer for at least an hour.
4. Remove from the freezer 10-15 minutes before slicing into slabs to prevent it from cracking.
5. Dig in to nutty yummyness!