Whatcha' got Cookin'....

I tried a new recipe last week, but it’s not what you think! It wasn’t a recipe with food, it was a recipe with soap!
Amy Thompson, our pastors’ wife, is definitely a woman of many abilities. A few weeks ago I heard her talking about how she makes her own laundry detergent. I was immediately intrigued when she said that 1. It saves a lot of money (it comes out to about 2 cents a load) and 2. The recipe makes a ton so you don’t have to do it often.
So this week, with the help of my husband, we made homemade laundry detergent! Don’t knock it ‘til you try it because it works just as well as major detergent brands and she was right, it makes a ton! It cost about $10 to buy all the supplies - listed below - and the best part is that I still have a ton of the ingredients leftover to make many more batches.


Ingredients:
2 cups washing soda
2 cups Borax
1 bar of soap
Water
5 Gallon bucket with lid

Directions:
Grate bar of soap with cheese grater. In medium saucepan boil 4 cups of water. Gradually add the soap flakes and stir until completely dissolved. Pour into 5 gallon bucket. Add washing soda and Borax. Stir well. Add 3-4 gallons of water and stir well. Let sit overnight. Stir the next day and your ready to go. It might be watery or gel. It doesn't matter it will wash just the same. Use 1 cup with each load.

Enjoy :)

-A

Whatcha got Cookin'.....

I have to say I just love being married and I love having someone to cook for. Josh is such a good sport, he’s never afraid to try anything that I’ve made, even if it doesn’t look too appetizing. :)
I definitely took advantage of the long weekend that we had over the holiday weekend. Besides getting to rest a lot, I was able to get in the kitchen and try a lot of different recipes!!
Before I began working at the YWCA I was volunteering fairly regularly at the Salvation Army. Robert, the main cook, always showed me tricks and gave me cooking tips. He taught me so much every time I went, and the last few times he showed me a little bit of how to make an edible arrangement. So that’s what I did on Saturday night! Talk about a lot of work and a lot of patience. It was a lot harder than I had imagined. You have to prep all the fruit by washing, cutting it into the shaped you want, and then dipping it in chocolate. By the time I had prepared it and had in on the sticks I was already tired! Then I put it into the arrangement, which was very meticulous! Four hours later I had this beautiful, edible creation!!! :)

After church on Sunday I began my other creations in the kitchen. I made a whole assortment of things. The first thing I made was American lasagna. It was basically the same as regular lasagna except, instead of ricotta cheese, it had mozzarella and American cheese. It turned out fabulous. I got this recipe from Cooks.com. This is a picture of the final product.

…..And this is a picture of my husband’s clean plate!

I was looking through another Taste of Home magazine and I came across four recipes for homemade pesto. I don’t know how often you use pesto, but it’s very expensive and Josh and I love it. I was super excited when I came across it because who doesn’t like to save money? So I made Cilantro pesto. It cost us about a third of the cost to make it and it’s fresh. I ended up really liking it, but Josh wasn’t a huge fan (too many walnuts). I think I’m going to try to make the Poblano Pesto next time.

So Josh had been asking me for a couple of weeks now to make a buttermilk pie. I was a little nervous because the only kind he had ever had was made by an older lady in our church who had obviously been cooking for years. He loved it! But I attempted it anyway and it turned out fabulous. I really hadn’t ever had it before so I didn’t know what it was supposed to taste like, but once I took a bite I knew it was good, Ha! :) The recipe was very easy too.



I also made peanut butter thumbprint cookies with the new dark chocolate Hersey’s kisses. I made these so I could take them to movie night with the girls. They were yummy and moist and we enjoyed them! I highly recommend you make them.



Here's the recipe for the Buttermilk Pie:
Buttermilk pie
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 4 - 5 rounded tablespoons flour
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 unbaked deep dish 9 inch pie shell, or 2 regular unbaked 9 inch pie shells

Cream the sugar and butter together. Add the flour and eggs and beat well.

Add the buttermilk and vanilla; mix well & pour into pie shells.

I find that the filling makes enough for two of the regular 9" pie shells if you buy them frozen (I do sometimes; it's faster). If I use the deep dish version of the frozen pie shells, I can get it all into one shell.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes, or until tests done. Top should be slightly crusty and brown.

If you find this pie a bit on the sweet side; reduce vanilla first and see how you like it. Then, try reducing the sugar. It should be sweet.


Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!!

-A

Our First Meeting With Adoption Covenant

Angie and I had our first meeting with Adoption Covenant on Friday. We didn't know a lot about our options or the process, so we scheduled some time with Merinda at AC to help guide us through the basics. Going into the meeting we were heavily considering international adoption for our first child. Merinda asked us a few questions about our preferences: "what gender, age, and race do you want?" I felt a little uncomfortable listing the desired traits of our children rather than letting God guide us to the one he has already chosen for us. Angie and I are very open to whatever little one he brings into our lives.

Merinda explained that if we pursued infant adoption through the Texas CPS system, we would have to foster the child first and we run the risk of losing the child if the state is able to reunite the family. As we considered the posibility of losing our child before they were officially ours, we knew that this was not the best choice for us.

She then told us about a domestic infant adoption program that matches us with a pregnant mother that is looking to find a good home for her child. Merinda explained that we would supplement (or replace) the birthmother's income and pay her medical expenses while she carries the baby. This was more expensive and, again, risky. The birth mother - even after we pay for her medical bills - still has the right to keep her child if she decides to do so within 48 hours of her delivery.

So after an hour-long meeting with Merinda (who is wonderful and has an obvious love for orphaned children), we are right back to where we started - international adoption! She gave us a breakdown of costs, an estimated timeline, and a lot of other great information. Part of that information was regarding our homestudy. We'll explain that in another post soon!

All in all, we are SO excited that God brought us to Adoption Covenant and we can't wait to work with Merinda and her staff. Even though we have yet to begin the waiting, and we are still trusting God to provide financially, we are so grateful that He has given us a heart to adopt. Angie and I believe that there are many couples out there that have the same calling, and we pray that they would be sensitive to what God is asking them to do.