Day 6 and 7

As this challenge progresses, we continue to learn new things every day. Yesterday (day 6) I took the girls on a field trip to the Chicago Art Institute. It was a fun time, but proved challenging when it came to lunch. How would I feed them one of our rice and beans recipes when we are away from the house? So, we decided to eat raw peanuts and bananas for "lunch" until we arrived at my friend's house. Once we were at her house, we were able to eat some rice, pineapple and veggies. We finally finished off the last of the Haitian and Puerto Rican beans last night. That meant that today (day 7) was hours of cooking some new food for the week. I have discovered that it is easier to spend extra time making a few meals vs. trying to make beans and rice every day. So, today you will have a few recipes that we will be trying over the next few days.

The first recipe I started with was a lentil soup recipe I received from Makeway Partners. They also sent me a recipe for Sudanese flat bread. We will be eating the lentil soup for dinner along with chapati bread. For lunch, we enjoyed Maharagwe beans (a red kidney bean recipe cooked in coconut milk with a little cinnamon and sugar). I served myself and the girls some beans along with a piece of Sudanese flat bread (which is more like an unsweetened pancake). I was surprised to see how much my stomach has shrunk doing this challenge. I had scooped myself a cup of beans with a piece of bread. I could only eat a little over half of my beans before feeling full. The girls ate a decent amount and then had a piece of fruit. I'm looking forward to dinner. I took a sample taste of the lentil soup and it tasted really good.

I also took time and made African Waakye. It tastes pretty good as well and I will probably be bringing this to CC on Monday. Finally, I made a sorghum/farro meal. I have been holding on to some free samples I received when we took a tour almost 2 years ago at Bob's Red Mill. I never knew how to use them, but decided with all this experimenting with new recipes, this was the time to utilize them. The recipe I found is from the Mediterranean. It has black beans, farro (with a little bit of sorghum since I only had one sample of this), spinach, cilantro, onions, and garlic. I'm looking forward to eating this since it smelled really good. You garnish this with some avocado and some feta. This will probably be a special meal since there aren't a lot of "orphans" in the Mediterranean and it seems like a luxurious meal after the week rice and beans.

Hopefully you enjoy the recipes. I have already marked a few to keep and make in the future.

Lentil Soup
Ingredients
- 2 Cups lentils
-2 quarts chicken stock
- 2 medium onions (I only used about 3/4 of one)
- 1 medium tomato
- 1 carrot (I used 4 carrots)
- 2 Tb. finely chopped onions
- 2 Tb. olive oil
- 2 tb. lemon juice
- 2 tsp. cumin
- salt/pepper

Chop the vegetables into medium size chunks. Wash the lentils. Put stock into a 4-5 qt pot and bring to a boil. Add the onions, carrot, tomato and lentils to the stock. Lowe the heat to simmer and cook for about 1/2 hour or until the lentils are tender.

Puree the mixture in either a food processor or blender and return to the pot. Saute the finely chopped onions in the olive oil until they are soft and brown.

Add the cumin, lemon juice, sauteed onions, salt, pepper to soup and stir slowly over low heat for about 3 minutes.

Sudanese Flat Bread:
Ingredients
- 2 cups wheat flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 cups water
- 2 tsp salt

This is a classic Sudanese pan-fried, unleavened flatbread that's really more of a pancake than a bread. But it's served in exactly the same way that bread is.

Method:
Sift the flour into a bowl then add the baking powder and salt and stir to combine.

Now, while stirring, add the water until a thick batter is formed. Heat a dry non-stick frying pan on medium heat then add a ladle full of the batter to the pan and flatten out until evenly spread. Continue frying on medium heat until golden brown on the base then flip to allow it to cook on the other side.

African Rice and Beans (Waakye):
- 1/2 cup oil
- 2- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 medium onion (I used 1/2)
- 1 Tb. paprika
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 4 diced tomatoes (I only had 1 left, so that is all I used)
- 2 cups rice (washed)
- 2 cups cooked beans (black, red, black-eyed peas) - I used black-eyed peas
- 4.5-5 cups chicken broth or water (I used chicken broth for more flavor)
- 1 Tb. salt
- 1 chicken bouillon

Instructions:
1. Heat a a saucepan with oil. Then add onions, garlic, thyme, paprika, cayenne pepper. Saute for about a minute, add tomatoes. Cook for 5-7 minutes.
2. Stir in the rice to the pan; continue stirring for about 2 minutes.
3. Then add beans, 4.5 cups chicken broth, bring to a boil and then reduce heat, and simmer until the rice is cooked. Adjust for salt and pepper. You have to stir occasionally to prevent burning.
4. Serve warm with chicken, stew or vegetables (we may add chicken later but for now, it is a stand alone dish).

***I will post the other recipes tomorrow***

Day 5

We have started Day 5 and there are some things, I realized last night, that I wanted to note. The first observation is that food has impacted our attitudes. There have been melt-downs from the kids, less then patient responses from me, and interactions at night with W have sometimes been not as I would like. I realized by the end of the day, I'm tired and grouchy. It is busy season and that could be playing into it, but I am a person whose attitude can be impacted by food. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree because my dad would get grouchy at times and he needed to be fed. I find that I am the same way. W joked that we both just needed a snickers bar last night and we would have been better.

My second observation is that the kids are learning to appreciate things so much during this challenge. Although they aren't thoroughly enjoying every moment of this, it is making them look forward to things (like their AWANA candy) and they are learning patience and self-control. We don't need to eat all the candy we are given at one time. We CAN have self-control, myself included. This is a great skill to learn early in life.

Finally, I have observed that any smell of food or commercial, drives us crazy (figuratively of course). Yesterday, I walked at the mall with a friend while the oldest girls were at music class. When we walked into the mall, Auntie Anne's Pretzels assaulted our noses. M looked at me and said, "What is that amazing smell?" I told her pretzels. She told me she really wanted one and I told her, "Me too, me too." I never wanted something so bad in my life. :)

On a side note: N's best friend called to wish her a happy birthday. N and her were cut from the same cloth and it is scary how much alike they are. We tease her that they are twins born to entirely different families. :) N has been very creative in ways trying to get around our guidelines for this challenge. Her friend G joined in on this creativity. G told her that since we can only eat rice and beans, N should ask me for jelly beans.

As we enter Day 5, I am praying that God continues to teach us things about ourselves and that He will open our eyes and hearts for the things that are important to Him. May we become more like Christ through this process.

Day 3/4

I decided to combine yesterday and today in one post. I mean, how many times can I talk about what is going on at the Harder house? Especially when we are just talking about rice and beans.

We are almost done with day 4. It seems to be getting a little bit easier each day. I think our bodies are adjusting to less variety in our diets. It does get a little boring eating the same thing every day, but then I remind myself that people around the world do this their whole life. Everyone is excited about having baked potatoes tonight. Who would have guessed that a plain potato would be so desired? 

On Monday, we are having a Valentine's Day party at our Classical Conversations. I told the girls they can have one treat that day to celebrate. The rest of their treats have to go in a bag until after February. All the parents have to bring something to share on Monday. I am bringing the "exciting" treat of rice and beans. I'm sure all the kids will be tripping over themselves to eat my treat. 

No new recipes again. We still have a day or so left of the Puerto Rico and Haitian beans and rice. I'll post a new recipe as soon as we make one.

Day 2

I have to document some of the funny things I have heard from the kids so that I have it written down. I made it to the store and bought some pineapples, bananas, mandarin oranges, and papayas (fruit found in the area of the world we are "visiting"). You don't know how good a banana tasted and it has only been two days!! Anyway, the kids are given hot cereal (wheat farina) for breakfast with some milk, sugar and butter. For morning snack, they have some fruit. Lunch is beans and rice with a glass of milk. Afternoon snack is fruit as well. Dinner is rice and beans with some chicken and vegetables and a glass of milk. Anyway, N came up to me and asked me, "Mama, since we can have milk and fruit, can't you just make us a smoothie?" Today, day 3, S told me that she is praying that she gets the stomach flu so that at the end of throwing up, she can have Gatorade and saltine crackers. She said that would taste better then rice and beans. Finally, N has said for years that she wants to be a missionary. I told her last night (Monday), that God may be using this to prepare her to be a missionary one day. She can't just eat what she wants in another country, she has to eat what she is offered. She told me, "Well, maybe God is telling me He doesn't want me to be a missionary." I told her, "Or, maybe God is trying to stretch you and prepare you for His service as a missionary." G piped in, "God has called all of us to be missionaries!" Interesting point G - we are all called to be missionaries, so maybe God is preparing you, N or all of us.

None of us are starving by any means, but it has been difficult. Today is Day 3. I made the kids some plain white rice for lunch. S opened up a can of refried beans and ate those with her rice. Everyone was happy with lunch and I didn't hear any complaining. They keep talking about the very last day, the 28th of February. They have requested hot cereal for every meal that day. They told me, "Some countries kids just eat hot cereal all the time as their main meal, so can we do that on the 28th?" Little connivers! I just might have to since they are trying to find ways to work around our meals. :)

We are all adjusting to this way of eating. It takes a few days for the body to adjust. W had a headache all day yesterday and asked for a plain baked potato last night. Since we will be eating plain potatoes on Wednesday nights (I bought too many potatoes and they will go bad. Additionally, that is what some countries ate for their main source of food - Europe), I told him I would. I took a tiny bite of his potato before eating my rice and beans. Without butter or salt, the potato tasted amazing. What astounds me is that it had only been 2 full days of eating rice and beans. Already my taste buds have adjusted and the taste of a plain potato tasted heavenly. Once again I'm reminded just how spoiled we are in America. This has been such a good lesson for all of us. Every time my tummy rumbles a little or I see something in my cabinets I'd love to eat, I try to remember to pray for those around the world with so much less then us. Although this isn't something everyone would want to try, I would suggest people try it just for a day or two at least. In a short time, you'll learn a lot about yourself and how blessed we are.

I love God's timing in life too. I had signed up a few months ago to do a simulcast for missions. I received an email this morning reminding me of the event coming up. It lands on 2/27. What a way to celebrate one of our last days - hearing about missions around the world! God is so good!!!

No new recipe today. We are just eating leftovers from the other two recipes I posted (plus the plain white rice). Those recipes made a lot of rice!! We are all looking forward to lentil soup and Chapati bread (recipe I found from West Africa).

Day 1

Day 1 is done. The day started off easy. We eat hot cereal many times for breakfast, so that wasn't a hard meal. We came home from church and my Puerto Rico beans were ready for us to eat, thanks to my crockpot keeping them warm while we were gone. About an hour after lunch, I realized I was still hungry. Maybe it was the energy we burned shoveling snow or maybe it was the fact that you burn through carbs faster then protein. I drank some more water and hoped that would hold me over until dinner. We took a nap, which helped eat away some time before dinner-less time to think about eating and how I was hungry. For dinner I decided to try a Haitian recipe I found from an orphanage. (I will post the recipe at the bottom) This meal tasted really good. Maybe it was because I was more hungry, maybe it was the coconut milk, or maybe it was the little chicken and veggies I added to the meal. All I know is that tasted really good. Wayne and I shared an apple after dinner, along with more water! When the weather clears, I need to go to the store and buy some bananas and fruit that can be found in places like Haiti. The girls ate our frozen bananas for snack because I didn't have fresh bananas.

So, after day 1, here are some things that I learned. Although I like rice and beans, it really gets old after just two meals. I discovered that I am so blessed and I didn't even realize just how blessed we are in this country. Sure, I could say that I "know" it, but to eat only twice what many people eat their whole lives and feel like I'm "missing" out shows that I really don't get it...not really. It is my prayer that during this month, God is able to teach me more about how spoiled and blessed I am and how I should never take that for granted. I also pray that I have more compassion for those around the world who are truly experiencing hardships and persecution. My first world issues are really rooted in my selfishness and self-indulgence. We are so blessed to have fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, protein at almost every meal.

I also reflected about how I used water as a way to keep my belly full. Although I am able to turn on my tap and have fresh, clean water, many people in other countries have to walk miles to get dirty water and then clean it. Maybe that is another challenge for the future. Limiting the amount of water we can use in a day. 

As we enter day 2, may God continue to stretch me and teach me things about myself that I have been too blind to see. May I turn to Him as my only source of help and strength. Ironically, I am reading George Muller's autobiography this week. Something that he said struck a chord with me. He said that "it was his greatest hope that his record of God's faithfulness to him would encourage believers to develop faith like his own-the faith without which it is impossible to please God; the faith that works by love and purifies the heart; the faith that removes mountains of obstacles out of our path; the faith that takes hold of God's strength and is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen." (Autobiography of George Muller) May God grant me this kind of faith and dependence on Him that the world will see Him through me and in me. John 14:13-14 "Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it." May my life, may my prayers, may my everything be used to bring glory to God!!

Rice and Beans with Coconut Milk

This is the way most Haitians like it!

Ingredients 

§  2 cups of rice

§  1 cup of dried black beans (I doubled the beans)

§  1 can of coconut milk

§  5 cups of water

§  A pinch of garlic powder

§  Salt (if desired)1

§  Maggi (or Seasoning) - I didn't have this, so I used some adobo & Sazon goya

§  Diced green peepper-I didn't use these because I didn't have them.

§  2 tablespoons of oil

Directions for the Beans

Wash and drain dried beans and place in a medium pot. Add water and let them boil on high. Check beans from time to time for tenderness. Usually, it takes about 35 to 45 minutes, depending on the kind of beans that is used.  You can do like I do and just use canned pinto/red beans and then it's super easy!

Once cooked, drain the beans and keep 1 1/2 cup of the boiled water aside for the rice cooking.

Directions for the Rice

Heat the oil in a pan; then add the green onions and cooked beans. Cover for 2 minutes; Then add the salt and coconut milk. Reduce heat to medium and keep on stirring.

Add boiled-bean water (that you kept aside!) Add chicken bouillon, garlic powder and green peeper. Add a bit of salt, if needed. Increase the heat slightly and let content boil covered.

Uncover and add the rice. Stir everything as the water reduces, also reduce the heat

When water is absorbed/cooked then cover and simmer for 35 minutes.

One More Day...

We started the countdown today (7 hours and counting). Tomorrow our adventure begins. If you have no clue what I am talking about, check this out. I bought the last of the ingredients that I need this week for our recipes. My first batch of rice and beans is cooking on the stove as I speak. Since tomorrow is church and we usually eat something fast, like a sandwich after church, I had to plan ahead of time. This batch of food will be kept warm in the crockpot so that we have a nice warm meal when we get home. I started with a recipe for beans and rice from Puerto Rico. It actually wasn't too hard to make and it smells delicious. I'm looking forward to trying different variations of rice and beans for the month. I have a feeling that we'll find a few that we really like. I know why people around the world eat this meal a lot - it is frugal and filling. I'll post pictures tomorrow of our first meal. Meanwhile, here is the first recipe.

Rice and Beans (Puerto Rico):

Ingredients: (approximate)

3/4 cup of sofrito (I was given some for my first batch, next time I have to make my own)
15 oz can of gandules verdes drained (pigeon peas) - I bought Goya brand as was recommended
8 oz can of tomato sauce
Fill 3/4 of the tomato sauce can with water
1 bouillon with chicken flavor
1 packet of sazon Goya brand
Sprinkle of adobo (the pepper version)
3 TB of olive oil

Directions:

In a large pot simmer all the ingredients for approx. 15 min.

Add 4 cups of water and bring to a boil, then add 6 cups of rice.

Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes, carefully stir the rice, do not disrupt the bottom of the pot layer, this will be slightly burned to the bottom, simmer for an additional 30 min or until rice is fully cooked.

A New Year, A New Perspective

Although it is now 20 days into 2015, I decided to write down some changes we are trying to make as a family. 2014 was an amazing year of spiritual growth for our family. God used many things to help W and I grow in our walk with the Lord. One of the main things that helped us was watching the series "Behold Your God". We watched the series the first time in adult Sunday School at church. The series stretched us and our low view of God. Sure, we knew who God was and we studied His word, but I didn't realize how many times in my life I was depending upon myself and my ways instead of God and His ways. He is worthy of so much more then casual worship! Church is about Him, quiet time is about Him, my life is all about Him. We were made to bring Him glory!!

We started doing the "Behold Your God" workbook and DVDs as a family. It has been amazing to see God continue to work in our lives and draw us, and our kids, closer to Him. It has also helped us develop a deeper love and understanding of who He is. The more we learn, the more we realize how little we know about Him! The best part about learning more about God is realizing that we will spend an eternity with Him getting to know Him, and we will never know all about Him!!

This leads me to 2015. We have decided to make 2015 a year of intentional life lessons, for both us and the kids. Each month we are taking on a different challenge to help us in our walk with the Lord, and to garner a deeper understanding of what God may want to teach us. January is our month of intentionally finishing our Bible study workbook with the kids and continuing to declutter/de-materialize our lives (something we started in 2014). February will be a month of "eating like an orphan". In our crazy, material happy/seeking, super blessed country, we want to be intentional in our understanding of what kids around the world are experiencing. We want to be able to pray for them and understand what their lives are like. How can we do that unless we have a better understanding of what their lives are like?

So many kids go to bed hungry, including kids in our own country, many don't eat for many days, and fortunate ones may have one meal (maybe two) a day. Although we aren't going to extremes like that to teach ourselves compassion, we are making our menu for the month of February a month of hot cereal, rice and beans. We have looked up recipes from around the world that many kids eat (African red beans, Sudanese soup, Haitian beans, Puerto Rico beans and rice, etc). We may have one or two meals with Asian noodles since in my research I have found that kids in countries like Vietnam eat noodles in their orphanages. Most days will consist of hot cereal for breakfast (they will have some sugar and milk in it-we know this is going to be a huge adjustment for them). Lunch and dinner will be some form of rice and beans. It should be an eye opening and challenging month for all of us. I am giving up my protein bars, my salads, my veggie/fruit smoothies, etc. I know that God has some incredible lessons to teach us.

I plan on blogging about how our month progresses, along with the recipes that we are eating for the week. I'll keep you posted about future months. We have some ideas such as no heat, no air conditioning, no snacks, no sugar, no technology, no driving (we are working on the logistics of this one), etc. If you have any ideas that may work, let me know.

May God use 2015 to be another year of spiritual growth in not only knowing more of who God is, but also experiencing suffering with our brothers and sisters around the world. May each of us continue to daily pray for not only our suffering brothers and sisters around the world, but also for the millions of orphans without earthly parents. May they find comfort in knowing the best Father of all!