Quiche Cups

I’ve just gotten home from PEI about a day ago, and like many women who come home on vacation, I check the scale. I can’t expect myself to lose weight after eating lobster, mussels, potatoes and ice cream – so I’ve decided to kick off my return with something healthy.

I tried the south beach diet a while back (quit after 2 weeks), but I found some of the recommended recipes pretty good. Here are some quiche cups with some alterations.

Quiche cups: the ingredients and the results!

Ingredients:

• Bunch of fresh spinach (steamed, can also use frozen)
• 5 eggs
• 1 cup of ricotta cheese
• 1 green pepper
• 6-8 button mushrooms
• 4 slices of turkey bacon
• salt and pepper to taste
• shallots (didn’t measure this, but not too much :P)

Instructions:

This recipe is pretty easy – I’ve altered it many times, so feel free to improvise with whats in your fridge.

Set oven to 350. Steam fresh spinach for about 5 minutes. Slice and dice – mushrooms, shallots, and green pepper- pan fry and simmer with lid on medium heat – add salt and pepper. Pan fry the bacon until crispy – then chop to bits! Whisk eggs in separate bowl, then add ricotta cheese and mix well. Mix all ingredients together, and place in a sprayed muffin pan (I just use PAM). Put in oven, and take out when it looks solid and slightly brown around the edges – should be around 20 minutes.

EAT. nomnom.

A Navajo Family

Family by the Mesas

It turned out that the camera I was borrowing during my missions trip had a corrupt memory disk – so I lost all of my photos on this trip. It’s a sucky thing, and it grieves me that I can’t send the photos I took to the new friends I made in Many Farms. But it’s another reminder that technology is unreliable. I feel like God is telling me to just be satisfied in Him, not the pretty photos I took. So I’m hoping these crude drawings will help you get a glimpse of the things I saw.

This picture I drew was of a specific day my group and I went door to door to preach the gospel, except this time – out of the three groups in my area that were being sent out, one group stayed under the tree (see the stick figures in the bottom right corner?) to pray constantly. Myself, uncle CK and another missionary from Dallas prayed under the tree. We prayed for God to work in each of our messengers, for their safety, for the Holy Spirit to be present, for the neighbours in the area to be ready to receive the good news… we never ceased to pray because we knew the devil would use our silence against us. I’ve never been filled with such urgency until then – I desperately wanted this community to be saved… to know the joy of having Jesus. After a while of praying, I heard foot steps approaching. A woman in her 50’s stopped by to hear our prayers. We opened our eyes and turned to her – and thats when she asked us to pray for her. I never expected anyone to come to us during our prayers – but God had apparently called her to us – we listened to the issues her family were facing, and together we prayed over her. Afterwords, Uncle CK asked if she knew who Jesus was – the woman answered honestly ‘No’. It’s incredible to see such transparency among the Navajo here. Even though we are strangers, they open up their homes to us, and they share their pain with us. Back in our society, we are too filled with pride to let people know of our hurts, but in this woman’s desperation for healing – she called out to us, and to our God. Uncle CK told her about Jesus, about his saving grace, about repentance, and about new life in him. She wanted that – so we prayed over her again – in tears she gave her life to Jesus.

When we finished, the other two groups that were with us came back. With joy and awe in their faces, they  told us that the people they visited had all accepted Christ, even a medicine man who actively practiced wanted to follow Jesus. It also turned out that the entire area we went to was one large family. It’s amazing to see a person come to Christ, but even more so when an entire family comes to Christ.

When I look back now, I’m amazed of God’s work that day,  but I’m not satisfied – my heart still goes out to the woman who approached us, especially to her daughter who is lost. The mission isn’t over – the issues are still there – but I know now that prayer can move mountains, prayer changes lives, and we should be praying constantly… because I believe God is listening.

Simple Hummus Recipe

Improvised hummus – simple stuff!

I had a potluck yesterday and thought it’d be fun to make hummus. I only had half a can of chickpeas from a curry I made the other day… I did not have cumin powder or tahini, so I sort of improvised. People seemed to like it so I’m posting it here 🙂

Ingredients:

• Half a can of chickpeas (8oz)
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1/2 clove of garlic
• 1/2 lemon – juiced
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• pinch of red pepper spice
• 1/4 cup of water

Directions:

Mix it all in a processor. 🙂 May need to add more water if it’s not mixing smoothly.

Experiment 2+3: Origami and Waffles

Found a belgian waffle maker in my room today! Also making cards again, origami hearts!

Made Belgian waffles with this recipe today.

Made origami hearts with these instructions yesterday.

 

One month in…

A friend asked me the other day what I was hoping to gain from this year off. To be honest, I’m not sure. This is a year of experiments; to try things I don’t typically do, and push myself in areas I don’t typically go. But with an unplanned schedule there comes temptations of the ‘everyday’. My typically everyday is sitting at my computer, thinking of ideas but not actually doing them, watching movies. To sum it up, nothing.

But I’ve learned through various experiences, and most recently my missions trip to Arizona – that we should stop waiting and just do it.    Whenever I ask myself if I’m following the right path, I ask myself again, ‘have I loved the Lord with all my heart, strength, soul and mind?’ and ‘have I loved others as I love myself?’ (luke 10:27) If I haven’t, then I’m on the wrong path.

So I’ve made a few commitments…including signing up for Korean intermediate class at the Consulate. It was fun taking it earlier in the year and it’s free. Why not? Sign up here, and see if they have classes in your area in the GTA.

I’m going to keep myself busy, talk to strangers, learn new things, and of course, keep traveling! 11 months to go!

 

Experiment 1: Fry Bread

During my missions trip to Many Farms, Arizona, I had the pleasure of getting to know a Navajo girl named Megan who attended the church we were serving at. On our last day, she taught me and a few other girls how to make fry bread. The ingredients are simple: flour (seen it substituted with blue corn flour), backing powder, salt, and water. The tough part was moulding the bread into thin sheets where it would go in a frying pan with a thin layer of oil simmering inside.

This is a traditional Navajo bread, most Navajo will know how to make this at a young age. It can also be eaten with salty toppings like curry and meats, or with sweet things like honey with powdered sugar.

I’ve been back in Toronto for 2 days now, and realized I forgot to copy the recipe down. I just remembered ’12 handfuls of flour, and half a palm of salt…’ the rest i guessed, but it turned out alright, i guess? anything deep fried and slathered in honey is fine by me. 🙂

Fry bread with honey and powdered sugar, yum!