Getting together with friends for a book club meeting?

Finally started that Rosary group?

In charge of “games” at yet another shower?

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Here is a fun way to entertain using two things you normally serve when you have company: wine and sweets!  

In the past few years, I have learned from wine tasting and research, that certain wines pair best with dark chocolate, others pair well with nuts and some others are a better match with milk chocolate.  Keeping that in mind, I created a wine and chocolate pairing chart using some wines I have enjoyed and chocolate that I love (I think it tastes better because it is made with prayer)!

I’m also including some wine from a friend’s new business.  My neighbor and kind friend, Aleta, just started selling wine as a Traveling Vineyard consultant.  She gave me a bottle of their wine and I LOVED it!  You can order this wine directly from Aleta – so I have included some of her links as well.

For those of you that love wine and chocolate . . . here is a pairing guide using Trappistine Quality Candy (chocolate made by very holy women)!

Double Date: Sweet American Rose

Maple Walnut Penuche

Avincerre: Medium bodied Italian Red

*personal favorite!

Old Fashioned Chocolate Fudge

Excited to do both! I have great news!  Trappistine Quality Candy has a penuche/fudge package!

Middle Sister Rebel Red: Red Wine Blend

Or if you like a sweet white wine try Calamity Sue

Dark Chocolate Hearts

 Pinot Noir

Butter Nut Munch

 Pinot Grigio or Pinot Gris

Dark Chocolate Butter Nut Munch

 Robert Mondavi Cabernet

Dark Chocolate Trappistine Trio

or Extra Dark Chocolate Truffles

 Sweet Reisling or Champagne

Smooth Dark Chocolate

Want the free printable?  Click here:

 Wine and Chocolate Pairing Printable

I recommend printing out the chart on some fun paper, like Wine and Grapes Printer Paper

Enjoy the wine tasting with friends in your own home!

Use this at the next bridal shower you host!

Finally invite your friends over for a prayer night

Enjoy (in moderation of course)!

Cheers!

The post Pairing Wine with Chocolate! [Free Printable] appeared first on Prayer Wine Chocolate.

When we did this in school, the teacher usually told us to use our first names.  It was probably the quickest I ever did any assignment – since my name has only three letters.  I never really got to creative.  A – Awesome. M – Magnificent. Y – Young.

Done.  Not my best work.

I like the idea of using this type of “poem” to write a personal prayer.  I thought it would be fun to write an acrostic prayer using the word chocolate.

I know our lives tend to be busy, so short prayers can be convenient and easier to fit into our days.  I hope you like this prayer I penned!  Feel free to enjoy a cup of hot cocoa as you read and pray!

C

Christ Jesus, my Lord

H

Help me to love and live according to Your will

O

O Most Holy Trinity; Father, Son and Holy Spirit

C

Cleanse my heart and my life;

O

O Most Holy Mother of God

L

Lead me closer to your Son through your love and intercession

A

Almighty God our Father

T

Thank you for every breath I take and for Your

E

Everlasting and eternal love.

Amen

I took this idea to my prayer journal.  I’m not an artist, but I enjoy using a journal when I pray because it helps me pay better attention, gives me a creative outlet and allows me some time to “be still”.

Would you ever write a prayer like this?  What word would you choose?

The post A Chocolate Prayer appeared first on Prayer Wine Chocolate.

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Now, you may or may not know – I am extremely picky!  I don’t like having a lot of stuff – so the stuff I am going to recommend will be practical.  I love giving and getting presents – but I’m all about presents being useful and something that will be loved!

Here are some things I would love to receive – all revolving around the “prayer, wine and chocolate theme”.  All gifts can include an added bottle of wine

I suggest giving a present that includes one gift out of each category.

Prayer

A Miraculous Medal 

 This Miraculous Medal is perfect for everyday wear.  I love this type of Miraculous Medal because it is small, simple, matches everything and I can wear it to bed comfortably.  This is on my Christmas list <3.

A Coloring Book Devotional

I love this devotional/coloring book.  I could see myself choosing a page to reflect upon and color; then cutting it out and glue into my prayer journal.

Eucharistic Adoration Reflections 

I love how the reflections in this book are set up.  Short and simple – not a lot of reading so more time to reflect and meditate.

The Rosary: The Prayer that Saved My Life 

 Immaculee’s testimony to her faith in God is awe-inspiring.  Her story and Christian example is amazing.  In this book, Immaculee shares how the Rosary has helped her in every aspect of her life, from literally saving her life to strengthening her faith, easing sorrows, changing heartache into happiness, healing illnesses in herself and others, solving family problems, landing a dream job, finding long-lost friends, and even locating lost keys!

The “Gracious Words” Rosary Bracelet 

or really anything from Christian Bling.  Jewelry is a nice gift and this company focused all the pieces on Scripture and prayer. I also love the necklace “Endless”.  I enhanced that piece by adding a Miraculous Medal and wear it frequently. IF YOU MAKE A PURCHASE with Christian Bling through ctbling.com/HisGoodness, WRITE IN PARTY NUMBER 1825, AND YOU ARE AUTOMATICALLY ENTERED TO WIN FREE HOSTESS SHOPPING! WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN DECEMBER 14TH!!! Merry Christmas!!!

Wine

Wine socks! 

I strongly suggest we all buy these before they are sold out.  I think the same women who’s moms were searching the world for Cabbage Patch Kids whatever many years ago that was – will be searching the world for these socks this year.  That is my prediction.  I hope they are not already sold out!

Wine pajamas 

I need new pajamas – and they are a really popular gift around Christmas time.  Might as well have fun with it and get the wine themed ones!!!

Tasting Wine and Cheese: An Insider’s Guide to Mastering the Principles of Pairing 

this book is a great add on to a basket full of wine goodies!  I love wine and cheese as well as wine and chocolate!

Pretty Decor!

This Set of 6 Warm White Wine Bottle Cork Lights are so pretty!!!

Chocolate

My absolute favorite recommendation for chocolate right now comes from the Trappistine Quality Candy – chocolate made with love and prayers by the Nuns of Mount Saint Mary’s Abbey!  This gift brings prayer and chocolate together perfectly

The dark chocolate hearts pictured above pair perfectly with red wine.  They are also a big win for anyone who likes a sweet treat, but doesn’t want to feel guilty about it afterwards.  They are the perfect size for just the right sweet craving.

The Santa Pops are the perfect add on for any Christmas gift – so cute and delicious!!!

Add this free printable to your gift.  It will guide the recipeint on which wines go best with milk chocolate vs. which wines go best with dark chocolate.  Special thanks to Meg Florkowski for designing the printable.

Click here for free printable: Prayer&PairCOLOR

Contest time!!!  I would LOVE to see pictures of your “prayer, wine, chocolate” themed gifts!  Email a picture of your “prayer, wine, chocolate” themed gift to Amy at prayerwinechocolate@gmail.com; and you are entered! Winner will win a free gift from me – Amy – keeping the theme in mind of course!  Contest is only open to prayerwinechocolate.com subscribers – so make sure you filled out this box and confirmed your subscription!  Please only send pictures if you don’t mind me sharing them and showing off your talent  Winner will be chosen December 1, 2016!!!  Best of luck!

Looking for more gift ideas?  Would you like to WIN some gifts?  Check out these giveaways and gift guides!

Spiritual Stocking Stuffers for Men

Spiritual Stocking Stuffers for Women

Spiritual Stocking Stuffers for Children and Teens

The post Prayer, Wine, and Chocolate Gifts for Every Occasion! appeared first on Prayer Wine Chocolate.

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This event did not take place years ago, but weeks ago.  The Sister that was walking through the woods was one of fifty nuns that live at Mount Saint Mary’s Abbey in Massachusetts. When news reporters called the Abbey, the Sister did not reveal her name, and turned down several opportunities to be interviewed.

The Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, or more commonly, the Trappistines, maintain a life of silence and solitude.  These religious women dedicate their lives to prayer and contemplation.  The Rule that governs their lives requires them to live by the work of their own hands.  The Sisters offer the work of candy making to God, and it allows them to live in a self-supporting community.

The profit that Trappistine Quality Candy generates allows the Sisters to share with the poor and supports communal life.

The Sisters of Mount Saint Mary’s Abbey are celebrating 60 years of candy making this year.  On February 9, 1956, the Sisters made their first batch of caramels.

Eventually, the Sisters started to experiment with chocolate and created new candies.  In 1957, Butternut crunch was born and very soon became (and continues to be) a bestseller.

Help the Sisters celebrate their 60th year of candy making!  Order some of their amazing sweets for you or someone you love – just because! I mean, you would be helping nuns by buying chocolate – it’s a win/win AND God is happy too, I’m sure! The Dark Chocolate goes great with Red Wine – and the Butternut Crunch goes great with anything and everything!!

If you’re interested in learning more about the Sisters’ Consecrated Life, a DVD was produced this year and can be ordered from their website: Trappistine Quality Candy.

How challenging it must be in this day and age to compete with corporations that rely on anything but humility to sell their products.  This candy sells, not because of a great marketing strategy or a cute mascot, but because it’s simply delicious.  Must be the added prayers ;).

Enjoy!

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I do not see my girlfriends enough.  Life’s responsibilities and commitments are overwhelming and rarely do empty dates on the calendar coincide with those of, well, anyone.  But this past Sunday, all the stars aligned and a group of eight of us got together – to pray, drink wine and eat – some veggies, mostly chocolate

I want all of you reading this to have the kind of afternoon we had – uplifting in spirit, reconnection in friendship, and a reminder of life’s blessings.

These times happened ten years ago much more often. The beginning of “Prayer, Wine, Chocolate” was four women in their twenties getting together on Thursday nights.  We would get together to pray the rosary, eat and have a glass of wine.  We would start saying our intentions at 7 and finally around 10 I would start saying, “I’m tired, let’s pray”.  We all had A LOT going on, and not only needed prayer, but our friends to lend a listening ear. But enough with the history of Prayer, Wine, Chocolate – onto the “Prayer and Pair” Party!

In order to bring you a helpful, easy, “how to” guide on simply having a blast with your friends, while praying together and supporting one another in all the things life brings, I teamed up with some AMAZING companies:  Meg Florkowski Creative (who created the awesome FREE printables) and Stutz Candy Company and Trappistine Quality Candy who gave us FREE candy in order to test run this first “Prayer and Pair Party”.

What you need:

1. First, pick a calendar date way in advance – then tell your friends to “save the date”!
2. Ask each friend to bring her favorite bottle of wine, rosaries, and/or a prayer book. We pray the Rosary together, and sometimes add in a reading from a devotional.  But, let your group decide what they are most comfortable with.  At the end of this post I will list some suggestions in affiliate links :).
3. Chocolate!  We used dark chocolate hearts from Trappistine Quality Candy and added depth and deliciousness with Stutz’s truffles, dark chocolate caramels with sea salt and a Chocolate Regular and Nut Assortment.  Everyone LOVED the chocolate!
4. Printed copies of the “Prayer and Pair” tasting/petition sheet. Meg Florkowski  took my vision and made it beautiful.

The Honey Combs on the Left  are for each person to write down her prayer petitions (and what she is thankful for). They were all Meg’s idea – she encouraged me to look up the meaning of honey and honeycombs in the Bible – which I did.  The Word of God was often referred to as honey, because it is both sweet and nutritious. I never knew that!

The right side is a guide for your wine and chocolate tasting!  You don’t need every kind of wine!  Hopefully what your guest brought is on the list, but I put an “other” down there just incase.  The chocolate list for dark to milk is also a guide.  If your friend hates dark chocolate and wants milk chocolate with every one – tell her to go for it and Cheers! The wines are listed dry to sweet – that’s how the “experts” say wine tasting should be done.  Once again.  Follow rules, don’t follow rules, it’s all good Free printable

1. Pens, Wine Glasses, a cork screw and your pleasant self :).

“How it’s done”:

1. We planned our “prayer and pair party” for a Sunday afternoon at 2:00, because that was the most convenient to everyone.  The last guests left around 7, but we were done the “Prayer and Pair” by 5:00.  For this “event” there were about eight of us.  We have done this with as little as 2 or 3 (usually 3 is the smallest number – but in times when a friend is in urgent need of prayer, we’ve done just 2 of us).  Remember, we women like to talk, and don’t get to see each other that often – so leave time to enjoy each other’s fellowship.
2. I had a veggie tray out, and when my guests arrived they devoured it – they knew they were going to be indulging in chocolate – so it evens out, right ?  We talked and caught up, then sat around a table I was still setting up when my guests arrived.  I had a print out and a pen for each person.  I quickly explained that the yellow honeycomb part was to write one’s prayer intentions and anything we wanted to thank God for, etc.  I had the wine out (two of my friends opened the bottles for me) and I had the candy out (thank God my friend Kate came a half an hour early, she helped a lot!).  While everyone starting writing their intentions, I explained that the chocolates were just suggestions, and to basicly just use them as a guide between milk and dark chocolate.
3. Keep writing, start pouring, and tasting!
4. While tasting the wine and chocolate we filled out our wine tasting sheet so we will remember later what to ask the Easter bunny to put in our baskets!
5. Once everyone was done tasting and writing petitions, we cut our petition portion off and folded it.  We then threw all of them in a bowl, and picked out someone else’s petition paper. We read over it before we prayed.  One of my friend’s suggested that next time we each read the paper we get out loud, so we all have more of an idea what each of us is praying for, and we can do our best to pray for everyone’s petitions. I liked the idea, but you and your guests decide what you are most comfortable with.  Keep the paper throughout the week, and remember to continue to pray for others’ intentions.
6. Socialize.
7. Say Goodbye . . . until next time!

Here is the awesome printable, done by the incredible, Meg Florkowski!  Definitely check out her website! www.megflorkowski.com

Prayer&PairCOLOR

If you are looking for a new pair of rosaries, or a book to enhance or substitute the Rosary, here are some affiliate links that may help you get even more psyched to plan this partay!!

• Pocket Prayers: 40 Simple Prayers that Bring Peace and Rest by Max Lucado
• Praying God’s Word Day by Day by Beth Moore
• The Rosary Handbook: A Guide for Newcomers, Old-Timers, and Those in Between by Mitch Finley
• A beautiful Rosary from Lourdes

Please remember when you’re ordering candy for your “Prayer and Pair” party (and Easter, and Mother’s Day, etc), to order from Stutz Candy Company and Trappistine Quality Candy!  Believe me, everyone at this “Prayer and Share” was more than impressed with these sweets – and their websites and stores have so much to offer it will make you feel like a kid again!

Add to the fun with some “Prayer Wine Chocolate” gifts for you guests!  Plus, every purchase you make, this ministry gets a percentage and can continue!

The post How To Throw a “Prayer and Pair” Party! {With a FREE Printable!} appeared first on Prayer Wine Chocolate.

We are being bombarded by Christmas marketing, holiday catalogs and shopping countdowns.  The material world we live in has us thinking, whether we want to or not, what we will be buying this year and when will we buy it, wrap it and then finally sit down and enjoy all the decorating we did! (Confession – I love it!) We all know though, when it comes to giving, there is no greater gift than one’s time.  Also, for a mom or any busy woman, “me time” is so necessary  to”recharge our batteries”.  It’s so nice to be given time to sit down, relax and not feel an ounce of guilt about it!  Since we can not really give time in a bottle, but we can give wine in a bottle;  I am going to suggest some ways to give the special women in your life the gift of “me time”.  I hope you find this interesting, entertaining and think of a woman that will like one of the following “movie, wine and chocolate” combinations.  You can always add depth to the gift by adding a pair of pajamas – and I am so excited to tell you there are actually wine themed pajamas!!! You can also add a magazine, a magazine subscription or a bookstore gift card. Don’t forget to add some prayer with these wine and chocolate gifts by giving a gratitude journal, book of daily devotions or an inspirational collection of stories! Remember to give some of your time by writing a note in a Christmas card to go along with the gift.  How refreshing it is to see that someone sat down and thought about you for five minutes – especially during the crazy holiday season!  Here are some “Me-Time” gift ideas:

1. For the “History Buff”– The Wedding Singer, A pack of wine coolers and Pretzel M&M’s.  I love The Wedding Singer!  For me, this movie never gets old  In the 80’s, wine coolers were all the rage, and although pretzel M&M’s didn’t exist yet ( they are soooo good!), Van Halen (mentioned in the movie) did have a brown M&M rider in their concert contract.  History buffs will love this discussion – and gift
2. For the “Book Lover”- You’ve Got Mail, a mulled or spice wine that is often enjoyed warmed, and Ferrero Rocher Hazelnut Chocolates.  The warmth of the wine and the Hazelnut in these light but delicious chocolates will give the feel of a cozy coffee shop – but your friend can enjoy all of it sitting on her couch in her pajamas!
3. For the “Funny Friend” –Wedding Crashers, Middle Sister, Rebel Red wine (if you’ve seen this movie you know Clare was the “middle sister”, and her red headed sister was definitely a rebel!) and Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Brownies.  It would be classy to actually bake the brownies and give it to her – but it would be funny just to give her the box!  If you do bake it – for a friend or yourself- I strongly suggest doubling the recipe.  YUM!
4. For the “Parks & Rec” fan –  Baby Mama, Red Wine (Perhaps Cupcake Red Velvet) and Chocolate Fudge Truffle Mousse.  Gotta have a red wine with this one in honor of the line from the flick . . .”When they play Red, Red Wine you gotta be the 103.7th caller” and the mousse is perfect, because if your friend gets any on her face or fingers, you can ask her, “is that chocolate or poop”?  Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are such a fun comic duet – perhaps include movie tickets to go see “Sisters” together in this awesome present :)!
5. For the friend with the HUGE family – My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Prisoner Red Wine, and Lindt LINDOR Assorted Chocolates.  I’m a huge Nia Vardalos fan – not only is she funny, but she wrote an awesome book about her life and adoption experience called”Instant Mom”.  She has a Facebook page, and I asked her what her favorite wine was on it – she told me Prisoner Red Wine – so that recommendation is from an Academy Award nominee!  A movie gift card is great to add to this gift, because the sequel to My Big Fat Greek Wedding is coming out in March!
6. For the girl that loves a Love Story – How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days,  a white Port wine and Milano Peppermint Slices or the Pretzel slices – they are de-lish!  Throwing your friends favorite magazines in this one is especially cute, since the movie revolves around a magazine article.
7. For the woman you can’t find a category for – The Proposal, a bottle of Malbec and a Godiva Chocolate Gift Basket made specifically for wine lovers!  The Proposal is hilarious and has so many likable celebrities – Sandra Bullock, Betty White and Ryan Reynolds to name a few.  Malbec goes great with most chocolates and not only does that candy look yummy, but the package is cute too.

Let me know what movie, wine, chocolate combo you would add – or if you think one of the ones I described fits you!  May your Christmas be filled with happy prayers, awesome wine and delicious chocolate!  MERRY CHRISTMAS to you!!!  <3 Amy

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