Cooking for a Cause

One of the things that has inspired me the most since starting this blog, is how many different reasons people get in the kitchen.  For some it is the personal joy of learning the art of cooking, for some it is enjoying those family moments over dinner, for some a way to save money or even to eat healthier, and for others it is about serving a cause - providing meals to the sick and injured, or those less fortunate than ourselves.

Recently, I was inspired by a lady named Nancy Clark, who is using cooking to serve another purpose - raising money for Horizon International (http://www.horizoninternationalinc.com/ ).  Horizon International is a non-profit Christian organization that helps orphans affected by HIV/AIDS.  The first time I heard her speak about her mission trip to work with this organization, I was just in awe.  So, I immediately asked her to be interviewed for this blog. 

I hope you enjoy and if you feel moved, as I have - please donate to the cause (information within the interview)

1)  Tell us a little about Horizon International and your upcoming trip.
     On March 2008, the Kyasa Kids, an African orphan choir sponsored by the Horizon International, danced and sang at our Northview Church.  By Jan. 2009, my husband Win and I became field representatives for this mission organization that works through partnerships in some of the hardest HIV/AIDs-hit areas in southern Africa (http://www.horizoninternationalinc.com/ ).   God impressed on us to use these years of our lives to "defend the fatherless and care for the afflicted."  So we did and it is an exciting journey. 
    

2)  I was inspired by your decision to raise money for the trip, by cooking some of your favorite family recipes.  Tell us what you are baking and how people can donate.
     As I have prayed for the women of Zimbabwe, I realized how they would love to bake but they are experiencing a famine in their country presently.  I thought that I could bake to raise awareness of their plight - all the money will go directly to these incredible women to give their children bread when I travel to Zimbabwe.
     I have a suggestion donation of $8.00 for my Rhubarb Bread and $10 a dozen for potato rolls.  If a check is designated to Horizon International, you receive a receipt for tax deducation.  Just call Nancy Clark at 1-513-258-1176 or 1-317-564-4488 to order!
     If you are not local to the area (Fishers, Carmel, Noblesville, Indianapolis, etc. in Indiana) please still feel free to donate directly to Horizon International (http://www.horizoninternationalinc.com/giving.asp ).

3)  Where did you learn to bake these items?
     In the 1980s, our family with 3 young children lived in a huge parsonage in Halifax, Nova Scotia, as Win was the pastor of a church 2 blocks away.  Many University students attended our church so we invited them to lunch often on Sunday after church.  I made dozens of Potato Rolls with dinner and Rhubarb bread for dessert - they loved them! 
4)  Where did you learn to first cook or were inspired to cook?
     Soon after we were married in 1970, my husband attened Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary and I taught high school nearby our New England town.  Jeanette Scholer, a professor at the Seminary, offered to teach the seminary wives how to bake bread on 3 Saturdays and I was desperate for ideas to become a 'home maker.'  Her inspiring and practical lessons changed my life; I baked our bread and goodies from then on.  That inspired me to read every cook book that proclaimed inexpensive/nutritious meals because we lived on a parson's salary.
5)  What is your favorite comfort food?
     Absolutely - Vegetable Soup -- yum!!

6)  What are your favorite memories associated with cooking?
     Seeing mashed potatoes in the mixer and Mom giving me the beater to lick, smelling a pot roast simmering, sitting around our kitchen table and eating together with my Mom, Dad and sisters.

7)  Do you have a memorable kitchen disaster?
     Oh yes...one lunch at the parsonage I made a thick tomato soup and left it on very low heat during church only to discover that without stirring the soup it burned on the bottom and the smell permeated the parsonage!  But one student explained, when he saw my dismay, that he thought that was how it was supposed to be...his home kitchen always smelled burned.  :)  So I scopped off the good soup and served it with a smile (and aired out the house).
8)  Can you give our readers one tip that you have learned about cooking?
     Jesus ate with people often and in the classic story of Mary and Martha, He clearly told the girls to not fret over the meal details but rather enjoy His presence and others in the home.  So I cook and bake, but TRY TO not get stressed over the mishaps and disasters.  Cooking is about loving people, not impressing them with my ability.


Thank you Nancy for the interview!  And, check out Nancy's recipe for Meatloaf (yum!)

If you would like your story to be highlighted on Mama's Recipe Swap and would be interested in being interviewed, please email me your information and a short quip about your cooking story (via the email book on the right).  I'd love to hear from you!

Stay tuned, because next Friday we have our next interview with Tree from the blog Mother of Pearl It Is, and her families' cooking stories.  :)

Reuben Sandwich Ring

Easy entertaining!

Submitted by:  Vicki Marshall
Taken from:  Pampered Chef

Preheat oven to:  350 degrees                               Cook time:  20 min or until brown

Ingredients:
     -  2 pkgs of crescent rolls
     -  1/2 lb chipped corn beef (from deli)
     -  8 oz can of sauerkraut (drained and patted dry)
     -  1/2 c. Thousand Island dressing
     -  Swiss cheese slices

Directions:
1)  Preheat oven.  On round stone seperate crescent rolls into triangle pieces, place square edge of triangles on inside edge of stone (pointy sides are off of stone).  Line stone and make a circle (wreath-like)
2.) Combine beef, sauerkraut and Thousand Island in a bowl.  Use a cookie scoop and scoop mixture onto each triangle.
3)  Lay 1/2 swiss slice over filling in each triangle.  Take point of crescent and fold over filling and tuck under square side (facing center of circle).
4)  Bake at 350 degrees until brown.

Chicken Buffalo Dip

Easy - yummy and has a kick! 

Submitted by:  Vicki Marshall

Preheat oven to:  350 degrees                        Cooking time:  20-30 min

Ingredients:
     -  2 cans of chicken, drained
     -  2 (8 oz) cream cheese
     -  2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
     -  1/2 - whole bottle of tabasco (depending on taste)

Directions:
1)  Can put all ingredients in SLOW COOKER on LOW for a few hours until melted or Preheat oven to 350 degrees and heat for 20-30 minutes.
2)  Serve with tortilla chips.

Italian Hillside Garden Soup

A twist on the traditional vegetable soup!  My favorite soup!

Taken from:  "Crock Pot: Recipe Collection"

Ingredients:
     -  1 Tbl extra-virgin olive oil
     -  1 c. chopped green bell pepper
     -  1 c. chopped onion
     -  1/2 c. sliced celery
     -  1 can (14 1/2 oz) diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano, undrained
     -  1 can (15 1/2 oz) navy beans, rinsed and drained
     -  1 medium zucchini, chopped
     -  1 c. frozen cut green beans, thawed
     -  2 cans (14 oz each) chicken broth
     -  1/4 tsp. garlic powder
     -  1 pkg (9 oz) refrigerated sausage or cheese filled tortellini pasta
     -  3 Tbl. chopped fresh basil
     -  Grated Asiago or Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1)  Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until hot.  Add bell pepper, onion and celery.  Cook and stir 4 minutes or until onions are translucent.  Transfer to 5 quart CROCK POT slow cooker.
2)  Add tomatoes with juice, navy beans, zucchini, green beans, broth and garlic powder.  Cover; cook on LOW 7 hours or on HIGH 3 1/2 hours
3)  Turn CROCK POT slow cooker to HIGH.  Add tortellini and cook 20-25 minutes longer or until pasta is tender.  Stir in basil.  Garnish each serving with cheese.

Country Cobbler

Ooey- gooey goodness!  Best comfort food dessert - make ala mode or let it fly solo....either way SO simple!

Submitted by:  Tia Bach and Dana Newbrough

Preheat oven to:  350 degrees                              Cook time:  45 min

Ingredients:
     -  1 stick butter
     -  3/4 c. flour
     -  1 c. sugar
     -  2 tsp. baking powder
     -  1/8 tsp. salt
     -  3/4 c. milk
     -  1 large can pie filling

Directions:
1)  Preheat oven.  Melt butter in a glass 13"x9" baking dish. 
2)  Mix rest of ingredients into butter to make batter.  After mixed thoroughly, put 9-12 large spoonfuls of pie fillings on top of batter - do not mix.
3)  Place in oven and bake for ~45 min.

Note:  Double all ingredients (except pie filling) for extra rich cobbler with a thicker cake topping - my favorite way to make it!

Meat Loaf

The perfect comfort food and Sunday dinner!

Submitted by:  Nancy Clark

Preheat oven to:  350 degrees                              Cook time:  1 1/2 hours

Ingredients:
Meatloaf:
     -  1 lb. hamburger
     -  1 egg
     -  3/4 c. cracker crumbs
     -  1/2 c. milk
     -  1 tsp. salt
     -  1 tsp. chopped onion
     -  pepper
     -  1 tsp. dry mustard

Sauce:
     -  1/2 c. ketchup
     -  2 tsp. prepared mustard
     -  3 tsp. brown sugar
     -  1 c. water
     -  1/4 c. vinegar

Directions:
1)  Mix together all ingredients and form in loaf; place in loaf pan, leaving space for sauce around it (think a moate of sauce around the meatloaf)
2)  Combine ingredients of sauce and pour in moate around meatloaf and on top.  Bake for about 1 1/2 hours.

Welcome!

As a new Mom I have found the kitchen to be a wonderful and rewarding place, as well as a stressful and often dreaded place.  I love that victorous feeling of making a meal that just makes the whole house smell good, or one which is worthy of not just seconds, but thirds.  I love feeling like I accomplished something - esp. if that something is laced in chocolate, butter or fried goodness (let's be honest, those rank high).  However, as a budding cook that did not inherit the natural cooking gene of my mother, my time in the kitchen has had its trials and tribulations.  Prior to being an at-home mother over a year ago, I worked as a teacher and would get home about 5:30 pm and had lesson plans/papers to grade until bed time.  Dinners meant boxed meals or GASP fast food (I know, I am dissappionted too).  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed cooking but who wants to start a meal at 6 pm.  So, I reserved "real" cooking for the weekends.

So when I decided to be a stay-at-home Mom to my daughter, Samantha, I also decided that I was going to hone my cooking skills and use boxed dinners for emergencies only (well my emergencies can be a sick child or a bad headache - boxes still have their place in this household).  However, I want to be more health conscious and it was a nice way to save money for our family, now that we were minus one paycheck - Taco Bell adds up!  I also wanted to begin those family meals with my daughter that are such a part of my childhood memories. 

So I got to cooking....and cooking...and cooking...

I have to say I am thoroughly enjoying it, but I am still a work in progress.  I do not profess to be a chef or an expert.  I am just a southern girl that loves grits, biscuits, gravy and anything fried - though I try to tame the latter.  I love cooking comfort food (which doesn't always equate BAD FOR YOU - I promise)!  I just think that good food makes you feel good and a good meal pulls a family together. 

Every Sunday I sit down to plan the week of meals, make my grocery list and cut coupons.  Though after 14 months of being a Mama I find that I needed fresh recipes and new ideas.  So I thought, what better resource than other MAMAS!  So, this thought is what brought me here - to "Mama's Recipe Swap."

I want to provide a site where not chefs or experts exchange meals, but Mamas share the comfort food, the quick and easy and the budget friendly recipes that their family loves.  Where people can share the great stuff that they made and get some great ideas as well.  I'll share some of mine (those that are tride and true in my household) and some that have been passed down among my family - to you.  In turn, send me yours.  I will give you credit and would love to post a picture of your creation. 

As Mamas - whether you are a working Mom, a stay at home Mom or a single Mom - we all need to come together and celebrate all that we do - in the kitchen and out of it.  We need to share ideas and recipes so that we don't get sick of the kitchen, yet can get excited about it.  Providing a meal for your family is important and an act of faith and love.  So many of my memories throughout my life are tied to food and mealtime and if you think back, I bet yours are too.  So share those recipes and memories if you choose via the email box on the right hand side of this blog.

If you want to know a little bit more about me, check out my family blog at http://www.dknewbrough.blogspot.com/.  God Bless!