Taste of Honduras

Susie keeps me cultured. She loves to travel and experience new things. I asked her to cook a Honduran meal with me so I could put it on the blog. We stopped by a Latin grocery store near my place to grab green plantains, Horchata mix, and a few other items. Hy-Vee had the other produce we needed for a good price.  Our menu included baleadas, plantains, chismol, and horchata to drink. 

I'm reading in John now and I'm remembering all the references there were to the first chapter in my doctrine classes at FBBC. It includes proof texts for Jesus' part in creation and His deity. 

My favorite verse from this chapter though is verse 5 "That light shines in the darkness,

yet the darkness did not overcome it." It's a verse I remember when I hear about sad or frustrating news in the world. If only the media would send me notifications about good news in the area. I get alerts on my phone about big headlines in the news and they are never good. I want to hear something nice once in a while! 

So, that's when I remember that dark news does not mean that the light isn't shining. Jesus has already won and darkness will always be broken by light. 

green plantains

Susie made a cut down the side of the plantain and then peeled the skin. She said these weren't too hard to peel but some are. 

If you are like me, you are wondering what the difference is between a plantain and a banana. Well, now that the google has educated me I can tell you that a plantain has more starch and less sugar than a banana! So, don't plan on eating a raw plantain. You will be disappointed.

The peeled plantain is sliced in one inch pieces and cooked in oil for a few minutes. Once they are browned they are taken out of the pan and flattened.

Look at that color coordination;) 

Once flattened, fry again to finish cooking through.

This you will want to make!

Chismol! aka fresh salsa. 

Somehow, I've begun to really like cilantro. I know, I know, you can't believe I used to hate it. Or you are with my old self and currently hate it. Cilantro seems to work this way, people love it or hate it. The more I have it the better I like it. It's key in many Latin dishes so I'm happy I'm beginning to like it. 

For those of you who can't handle heat, you are in luck. Honduran food is not usually spicy. This salsa has no heat, but you are welcome to add some if you like.

Yeah, we cheated...shameful I know. We were going to make our own but I forgot to soak the rice earlier in the day so we had to go with this. 

Like the label says, this is a rice and cinnamon drink that is made with some milk and water. It does not have a thick consistency as it might sound like it would.

And here is my baleada. The thick flour tortilla and re-fried beans are the base for a baleada and then you add what you please!

Honduran food is filling so better have an empty stomach before diving in!

Baleada ingredients:

re-fried beans

thick flour tortillas

queso fresco

(optional fillings - scrambled eggs, avocado, chismol, bell pepper)

Chismol recipe:

Serving group of 4-6

5-6 roma tomatoes

1/2 cup chopped bell pepper - color of choice

1/3 cup chopped white or yellow onion

juice of one lime

1 teaspoon of salt

lots of chopped cilantro

Chop all veggies and combine. Juice the lime into the veggies. Add chopped cilantro to taste as well as the salt. Enjoy with tortilla chips or on the plantains.

Plum Galette

"What is a galette?" Was that your first thought? It was mine when I saw them on cooking shows and Pinterest. It is a French term for a free-form tart. Or a pie without a top or a pan. I've wanted to make once ever since I saw one. They are beautiful and easier to make than pie! See?

If you want to be fancy, you can lay all the slices the same direction or in a nice circle. 

 I've made some progress with my Colossians memorizing. I'm working on chapter 3 and I was able to get through 1-12 today! This is not really impressive as I've been at this for over a month. I read it almost everyday but only really focus on memory a few times a week.

What I love about verse memory is how the words come to mind throughout the day. The more I read it, the more I think about it which is true of anything we put in our minds. 

I've memorized other verses that express this idea. 

"Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it spring the issues of life" Prov. 4:23

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also". Matt 6:21

If I want good to come out of my life and thoughts, then that's what I have to put in. 

Now that I've made a galette and discovered how easy they are to make, I can make more and add whatever filling I chose! These are great year-round because you can just fill it with what's in season. 

I used this recipe from Mara at http://www.bloglovin.com/viewer?post=1576756389&group=0&frame_type=a&blog=1050273&frame=1&click=0&user=0. 

I did everything she did except for the orange zest because I didn't have one on hand.

 Recipe:

                  1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

                  1/2 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling

                            (coconut sugar is another option)

                  1/4 teaspoon salt

                  1 stick cold unsalted butter, cubed and chilled

                  1/4 cup ice water

                  1 tablespoon cornstarch

                  1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

                  1/4 teaspoon finely grated orange zest

                  1 pound firm-but-ripe plums, pitted and cut into eighths

                    (I used 4 plums)

                  1 large egg yolk mixed with 1 tablespoon of water

In a food processor (I used my Ninja), add the 1 1/4 cups of flour, 2 tablespoons of sugar and the salt and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle on the ice water and pulse until the dough just barely comes together. Gather the dough and pat it into a disk. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 425 and position a rack in the lower third. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Working on a lightly floured surface, roll out the disk of dough to a 12-inch round; transfer to the baking sheet. Chill the dough until firm, 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine the remaining 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of sugar with the cornstarch, cinnamon and orange zest. Add the plums and toss well. Let stand, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is mostly dissolved, about 15 minutes.

Arrange the fruit in the center of the dough, leaving a 1 1/2-inch border all around. Fold the edge of the dough up and over the plums. Brush the rim with the egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for about 45-50 minutes, until the crust is golden and the fruit is tender and bubbling. Let the galette cool on the baking sheet for 30 minutes, then cut into wedges and serve.

MAKE AHEAD The pastry disk can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.

German Dinner #becausefutbol

I seem to have a number of friends who grew up outside of the US. I know them from college and from my home church as we have had a few missionary families stay in Creston during their furlough. Susie (Susanna) is one of those. She's a great friend and we've had loads of fun times together! She grew up in Germany and came back to the US in high school. We were college suitemates my freshman year at FBBC and fellow music majors so we spent a lot of time together. Now she teaches in Honduras and comes back in the summer to visit friends and family. 

I've been paying attention to the World Cup this summer and it's been fun to follow. Because the USA was out of the World Cup, I had to choose a different team to cheer on for the win. So, to support the home country of my German friend(s), I went with Deutschland and I'm glad I did! 

Germany won and we celebrated!

I finished up reading Ezra today and I was impressed with his character. "The gracious hand of his God was on him, because Ezra had determined in his heart to study the law of the Lord, obey it, and teach its statutes and ordinances in Israel." Ezra 7:9b-10 

God showed his faithfulness to Ezra by protecting him as he and many Israelites traveled. Ezra also pleaded for Israel before God because of their sin of intermarriage with unbelievers. He was so ashamed of their sin. God convicted hearts and the people made a covenant to marry only those who followed God and dismiss the foreign wives. 
It's a reminder to me of how terrible it is of us to sin against God after all He has done for us. Erza was right to take sin seriously. But we can be so grateful for the endless grace of God to forgive and guide us away from sin.

To celebrate the German win, we decided to make a German meal for supper. We stopped at Aldi to grab a few things. Susie suggested the following for the menu.

spätzle (noodles and cheese)

rotkohl (red cabbage w/apples)

bratwurst

The spatula just couldn't handle the dough for the noodles.

Tonya began the noodle creating.

Spätzle is a cheese and noodle dish but not exactly not mac and cheese. I don't have the full recipe here because we didn't actually measure anything other than the noodle dough. 

This was quite the process. Definitely not a one-man job. We placed the dough in a ziploc bag and poked holes in it. Then we squeezed the dough out into boiling water. Trouble was that the dough was pretty thick and the holes grew too big. We had some noodles of diverse sizes. 

Once the noodles float to the surface, you scoop them out and layer a casserole dish (9x9) with noodles and swiss cheese. You can also include onion if desired.

Brats are nothing new but we did not eat them with a bun. These were simply smoked and all we had to do was saute them with some onion. I don't usually like brats but these were really good! Not the nasty tough skin and low on the grease!

Ok, so here is where we cheated. Aldi only had green cabbage and we didn't want to make another stop just for red cabbage. This was rotkohl in a jar. 

Rotkohl would be pretty easy to make though. It includes red cabbage, apples, vinegar, cloves, and salt. Not something I had ever had before but I really liked it. 

We were able to whip this up in under an hour and we had a great time making everything! German food is quite filling and tasty, you should give it a try. 

Here is a good recipe for the Spätzle. She has a handy little tool for the noodles that would be way better than a ziploc but requires that stuff called money. From there, grab some shredded Swiss cheese (2 cups) and layer or mix it with the noodles and bake for 20-25 minutes at 375° F. You can top it with sauteed onions for some extra flavor!

http://mysoulfulhome.com/spatzle-love-dough/