Becoming Amish?

I've run into some problems as I've been searching online for recipes to make. I usually use allrecipes.com because people rate the recipes and I choose the item with the most raters and the highest score. It's been a hit so far everytime!

The only thing is, a lot of the recipes call for things that are hard to get here or if you do find them they are imported and pricey. So, I began to search for Amish recipes. I know the Amish live simple lives and assumed they use simple basic ingredients. I came across a neat site http://www.amishrecipes.net/ and tried a couple of the recipes this past week. They are actually very similar. We enjoyed them a lot. I decided to add some carrots, squash and onions to the casseroles to make it more nutricious.

Amish Chicken Casserole Recipe
Ingredients:
8 ounces noodles, cooked
2 cups cooked chickens, cubed
2 cups chicken broth (canned is ok)
1 cup milk
1 can mushrooms
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup margarine
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Melt margarine, then add flour and stir until smooth.
2. Gradually add milk and broth, then seasonings and mushrooms.
3. Combine chicken, cooked noodles, and prepared sauce.
4. Place in an ungreased 9 x 13 inch baking pan and top with Parmesan cheese.
5. Bake at 350� for 35-45 minutes, or until heated thoroughly and top is browned slightly.

Amish Tuna Casserole Recipe
Ingredients:
1-8 ounce package noodles
3 1/2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 - 2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup grated cheese
salt
pepper
1-7 ounce can tuna

Directions:
Cook noodles until tender. Drain and put in baking dish. Add tuna and mix slightly. Use remainder of ingredients to make a white sauce. Melt butter, then mix in flour. Add milk and cheese (optional) and seasonings. Stir until sauce thickens. Pour over noodles and tuna. Bake in over at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

I also made the Amish baked pretzels for us to have as a snack. They came out tasty, but seemed like they were lacking something so I found another recipe that I'm going to try just to compare. The pretzels actually only took 20 minutes prep. time and 15 min. cook time. If the other recipe comes out better I'll post it so you can try it too.

Painting the good news...

Awhile back I had posted about an evangelism workshop that we held for pastors and church leaders. Here are some of the pictures from the activity. Trainings were given on how to share the gospel cleary, how to share using a gospel tract, using an evangecube, and also using illustrated evangelism which is great for large audiences like in a park or public area. A couple pastors shared with us that they realized they were teaching incorrectly and now want to return to their churches to implement what they learned. The pastors were also given materials to take back with them to their churches so they can use them to teach others. We thank God for opportunities like this to help spread the good news of Jesus to many all over Nicaragua.

Summer Camp

We are getting excited because camp is just around the corner! Here's our flyer for camp, except the one that we'll be handing out is in Spanish. We'll be hosting three weeks of summer camp in January and the youth are excited. They are inviting everyone they know and looking for ways to raise funds because it's often hard for the youth to be able to pay for the camp. Bible Club leaders have been washing cars, hosting yard sales, cooking meals and selling them after church, and looking for any possible opportunity to help their youth get to camp.

We, as missionaries, are making checklists of all the facets of camp, working on propaganda, sign-up sheets, t-shirts, training for our camp staff, camp theme, camp menu, games, and the list goes on! It's an exciting time and we trust that this camp will be bearing much fruit in the lives of the youth and that many will come to know Christ .

Please be praying for the preparations, for God's provision of funds for campers, and for many lives to be transformed as a result of camp.

Recipes

I really enjoy cooking! It's a hobby of mine and I get excited when I'm able to hunt down new recipes and give them a try. Here are a few recipes that I've tried and have stuck with me. We had some friends over for dinner and afterwards they were requesting these recipes.

Milanesas de Pollo (Breaded chicken)

Ingredients
4 Boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 eggs
2 pieces of garlic minced
1 tsp of orgeano
salt to taste
breadcrumbs

Directions
1) Mix the eggs, garlic, oregano and salt together. Place the chicken in the mixture and marinate if time permits. I've done it without marinating and it still tastes great.
2) Coat the chicken in the breadcrumbs
3) Cook in a skillet with a small ammount of olive oil, or you can bake it at 350 degrees for 30 minutes on one side and 20-30 on the other side. If you bake it you need to drizzle a little olive oil on top for extra moisture and flavor.

Roasted Garlic Zuchini and Tomatoes

Ingredients
2 zucchini cut in half lengthwise, then cut into 1/2-inch half moons
2 cups quartered ripe tomatoes
1/2 onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
Directions
1.Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2.Combine the zucchini, tomatoes, onion, garlic, and red pepper flakes in the prepared baking dish. Drizzle with the olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and mix well.
3.Place in preheated oven. Roast until vegetables are tender and slightly golden, about 18 minutes. Remove from oven; sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese and basil.

Jewish Coffee Cake

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x9 inch pan. Combine the flour, baking soda and baking powder; set aside.
2.In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar, butter and eggs until smooth. Add the flour mixture and beat until smooth. Finally, stir in the sour cream and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the nuts, confectioners' sugar and cinnamon.
3.Spread half of the batter into the 9x9 inch pan. Sprinkle a layer of the nut mixture, then spread the remaining batter and top with the rest of the nut mixture. Spread the melted butter over the top.
4.Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, until cake springs back to the touch.

Headed to Sebaco!

Jader, Guillermo, and I are leaving tomorrow for a city called Sebaco that is about 2 hours from here. We'll be in Sebaco for 2 nights and 3 days in order to give a traning to pastors and church leaders. We are partnering with Loren and Karen, other missioanries who many Living Hope people know, in order to train specifically on evangelism and how to convey the message clearly and effectively to others. We are expecting around 60 to 70 people. Please pray for this time and that God would better equip all of us for His work.

The Day of the Dead

November 2nd is the Day of the Dead. It's a day where the great majority of people visit the graves of family and friends. They clean up the graves and decorate them with flowers. The cementeries were full of people and the atmosphere was rather upbeat, not solemne as you might expect. We did evangelism in the morning in one cementery and then in the afternoon in another. Here are the photos so you can see what it's like.

Teens Involved 2009

This past October 31st we held an acitivty called Teens Involved. I absolutely loved it!! It's a day long (12 hours to be exact!) competetion between the youth from the 7 Bible Clubs we work with. They youth compete in preaching, narration of Bible stories, music, presentations of the gospel and more. We had over 170 presentations and we used 9 different rooms within the church building that we sectioned off by presentation category. Each category had two judges. Towards the end of the day we gathered together in the church santuary and each Bible Club presented a group song along with Question and Answer competition based on the Bible. Finally the awards were announced.

The youth put a lot of time and energy into their presentations and many of their God given gifts and talents were discovered. For weeks, even months, preceeding Teens Involved they were practiciing, preaching, memorizing, and acting out the Bible behind the scenes.

We thank God for this activity and how He worked in the lives of the youth through it. Many are excitedly waiting next year's Teens Invovled and thinking about what they are going to present!

Busy Days

Before posting this I looked at the date of my last post and it was almost a month ago! It well reflects the full schedule that we've had over the past few weeks. Just this past week We hosted a major event called Teens Ivolved and we also had a group from Costa Rica visiting. We were able to do lots of outreaches with the groups in schools, hospitals, and cemeteries. I have tons of pictures and need to go through them and pick out the best ones. I'll be doing that over the next day or two and post pictures from each event. Thanks for keeping up with us!