Spanish Missionary Night

Joshua has been in charge of what is called the missionary night once a month at prayer meeting for a very long time. We used to have a fellowship meal on those nights but we haven't done that in a long time. Joshua and I have been praying for a long time about trying to revive interest in missions and making the prayer night more interactive and interesting. So last night was our first try.

Decorations and people...Jesse is always camera ready!

We had a night focused around the country of Spain. We decorated the room with the flag and colors and then Joshua and I fixed a meal that is common in Spain called a Spanish tortilla with sofrito (the tortilla is not what you would expect--it is made of egg, potato, cheese, onions, etc.) and then the sofrito consists of rice with a tomato topping. Spain has little to do with the Mexican culture except similar languages...Recipes can be found here: Spanish tortilla and Sofrito

Three weeks old today

We had preciously contacted the missionaries in Spain and asked for specific prayer requests and challenges they face in Spain. So we read aloud the challenges at dinner and then I had printed off a sheet of prayer requests for each person and those were read during the prayer meeting later.

Sofrito

Overall it was a great success and we are looking forward to next month doing it again except picking a different country!

Easy Recipe for Delicious Pizza Pockets

I love having some easy meals in the freezer that I can pull out for breakfast or lunch or that I can send along with Joshua to school so he can have something delicious to heat up for lunch. I stumbled upon a recipe for Ham and Cheese pockets that was very simple and they are quite tasty. I make those as well as Pizza pockets frequently and then freeze them. I thought I would share the recipe with you in case you are interested in having an easy meal for on the go.  This is by far the best dough recipe I've found for pockets, it's a little time consuming but it's very tasty.

Pizza Pocket Dough:

• 1 T. (or 1 packet) yeast
• 1 c. warm water, divided
• 1 t. sugar
• 1/4 c. melted butter, cooled to room temperature
• 2 1/2 – 3 c. flour
• 1 1/2 t. salt

1. In a mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast in 1/4 warm water. Stir in the sugar and let sit to proof for 5 minutes. Pour in the melted and cooled butter and the remaining warm water.
2. Add 2 c. flour and the salt. Mix for two minutes. Work in as much remaining flour as needed to make a dough that is smooth but not sticky. Knead on a floured surface or continue beating for about 10 minutes. Add a bit more flour if the dough starts to get sticky while kneading.
3. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover. Let rise for 1 hour. Punch down dough, cover and let rise for at least another 30 minutes.
4. Then divide the dough into 10-12 balls.

Then I get out my different fillings: I have pepperoni I cut up smaller, I made up some sausage as well, pasta sauce, chopped green peppers and onions and mozzarella cheese. I roll out my balls into an oval and start to put my filling ingredients.

I also sprinkle some garlic, pizza seasonings and sometimes some Parmesan cheese on my pockets.

S

 Pop them in the oven and cook on 350 for about 20 minutes or until they start to brown. As you can see some of my pockets started to pop open. They don't usually do this but I kind of over loaded them this time trying to get too much yummy goodness inside. You can always just put chunks of ham and cheese inside as well instead of making pizza pockets. I enjoy having two different things to choose from.

Have an abundance of Peppers?

So thinking that our garden was done producing we haven't been down to it is quite a while. So imagine my surprise when I went down to mow our field and found out that our pepper plants were producing an abundance of green and red peppers! They were nice and big and oh so beautiful. So I brought them in the house and left some to keep growing. For those who don't know, you can chop up those peppers and place them in your freezer to use later in the year when you want them in stir fry, casseroles, etc. They freeze just fine. I did that to most of mine and then with a small portion I made a delicious recipe that my mother-in-law makes. Its called unstuffed pepper casserole and although I don't think I've ever had the stuffed peppers I really love this casserole! It is easy to make, you can freeze it for later and it uses up some peppers! Below is the recipe:

You can also use peppers as teethers as Tirzah is doing.

She didn't want mommy taking her supply!

I love when they change colors!

Unstuffed Pepper Casserole:

1lb. ground beef
1/3C chopped onion
1.5C diced peppers
2 cloves of garlic
Take all the above ingredients and saute them add 1/2t salt and pepper to taste. Then add to the mixture:
1 can 15oz. diced tomatoes
1.5C cooked rice
1t Worcester sauce
1t Italian seasonings
1C grated cheese
Then you put that in an ungreased 9x13 pan and then top it with:
15oz. tomato sauce
1C grated cheese
Bake for about 20 minutes or until cheese is melted on 375 degrees.

Best Bread Recipe Ever!

I have a wonderful friend named Emily who got married just a week after I did and lives close to me. The other day I was telling her that I need to start making fresh bread every week and I just haven't found the inspiration. Well, she told me that she had a recipe that she had been using for 12+ years and it was so easy! So I decided to give it a try and let me tell you, it is soooo easy and the bread tastes amazing and looks incredible! So I thought I'd share the recipe so you can make homemade bread!

Emily's Bread Recipe:
1/4C Sugar
1T yeast
1c Warm Water
Mix those three ingredients and let sit till it is quite foamy and you know your yeast is activated. Once it is foamy (usually takes 5 minutes or round about) add 1/4C oil.
Then take 3C flour and 1t salt and mix together. Then add your liquid to the flour and mix it and then knead it until it is smooth. Then place dough in a greased glass bowl and cover with plastic wrap (this will make sure your dough doesn't become hard and it also traps the warmth and rises faster). I let it rise about an hour and then punch it down and transfer the dough to my greased bread pan. Then you cover with the plastic wrap and let it rise again until the bread reaches the plastic wrap. Then take off the plastic wrap and place in a preheated 350 degree oven. Bake for about 30 minutes and voila amazing bread!

An Amazing Cookbook

So last week I got the most amazing cookbook! I had heard about it on their blog (Our Best bites) and was interested but decided that I had some birthday money and should use it on something I would enjoy. So I bought this cookbook and have enjoyed reading through it and trying new recipes. They have a picture for each recipe--which always makes it more appealing--and they have tutorials: like how to roast fresh garlic, or cut an artichoke, etc. I have tried three recipes so far and have LOVED each of them...and so has Joshua. I tried their homemade tortillas recipes and they have been the best I've made yet! Then I made the baked creamy chicken taquitos (which by the way I used turkey because I had a little left over) and they were simply amazing. And last night I made the pecan bars...which is like lemon bars and pecan pie combined into wonderful goodness! I also like that most of the recipes use ingredients I have readily on hand. I wrote up the recipe for the pecan bars so you can try it out...but be forewarned they are addicting! The recipe book can be bought on Amazon for a very reasonable price and don't forget they have a blog that has tons of recipes....

Pecan Bars:
6 T butter
6 T shortening
3/4C powdered sugar
1 1/2 C plus 2 T flour
2 eggs
1 c brown sugar
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 t vanilla
3/4 c chopped pecans

Glaze:
1 1/2 c powdered sugar
2 T butter, melted
3 T orange juice
1 t lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Cream butter, shortening, and powdered sugar. Add 1 1/2 cups flour and mix until combined. Press evenly in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Bake for 13-14 minutes.
3. Mix remaining flour and the rest of the ingredients (except for the glaze) and spread over the hot crust. Return pan to oven and bake 20 minutes more.
4. Remove from oven. While still warm, spread with glaze. Cool completely and cut into bars.