Southern Baked Beans

Southern Baked Beans

Can't take credit for this one, found it in a cookbook!

1 pound bacon, fried crispy and crumbled

2 1/2 onions, diced, sauted in bacon drippings until brown

6 cans pork and beans (or if using other types of canned beans, drain them)

8 Tbsp yellow mustard

12 Tbsp pancake syrup

10 Tbsp ketchup or BBQ sauce (Bob Gibson's from Decatur, AL, is quite tasty!)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix bacon, onion and drippings with remaining ingredients. Pour into 2 9X13 pans and bake covered for 45 to 60 minutes. Serves 16 - 20.

Tamale Pie

As we make a quick trip to Alabama to renew Johnny's driver's license, here is a recipe that has been popular this summer!

Tamale Pie

Base:

4-5 chicken breasts, cooked and diced or shredded

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 cups chopped onion

1 clove garlic minced

1 large can stewed tomatoes

1 large can tomato sauce

1 cup strong chicken broth (I use a boullion cube in warm water)

1/2 - 1 tsp chili powder (How picante do you want it?)

1 tsp dried oregano

1 can whole kernel corn (with peppers, if you can get it), drained

Cornmeal topping:

1 1/2 cups cornmeal, plain without flour

1 1/2 cups flour

2 eggs

3 Tbsp sugar

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 Tbsp baking powder, omit if using self-rising flour

Grease bottom and sides of a 9X13 pan. In large saucepan, saute onion and garlic in olive oil until everyone comes to the kitchen to see what's for supper...or until the onion is softened. Add stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce, chicken broth, chicken, chili powder, oregano, corn and mix well. About this time, taste it to see if you need salt or more picante (chili powder)! Taste it again, just to be sure! Put into 9X13 pan.

In another bowl, mix together the cornmeal, flour, eggs, sugar, butter and baking powder. Stir together well. If you live in the South, Jiffy Corn Muffin mix is a good substitute...if not, well, get to mixing! You will need to "dot" the top of the chicken mixture with the cornmeal mixture, so if it needs a little more liquid, add water a little at a time until it is a little thicker than pourable. "Dot" the top of the casserole and put in a preheated 350 oven. Because I make this in quantity, you may have a full casserole. If so, place the casserole on a cookie sheet before putting in the oven. When done, the cornbread topping should be browned and the chicken mixture hot.

Since this recipe was given to me as: "Oh, about a cup of this and a pinch of that...", play with it. Since I'm usually making 3 to 4 pans at a time, I just add until it looks right. I usually have too much chicken mixture, so I have found it freezes well and can be thawed at a later date and cooked with just the addition of the topping! Try it and let me know if I am really off on my measurements!

Jordan Dudley

Meet Jordan Dudley from Visalia, California.

Although Jordan is here to work with the water filtration systems his church (First Presbyterian of Visalia, California) has installed with us over the last 3 years, 6 in total, he has been also joining us as we work with workteams this summer.

Thankfully, Jordan can do a little of everything...and has these past 4 weeks. In the first three days he was here, he earned his keep by fixing our water system at the Camp and fixing some problems Nahuala was having with their system! He joins the teams in construction when they are here and works on water systems when we are traveling with the teams.

He works well with all the different teams, especially the ones with young ladies!

His mother raised a right nice young man! When he joins us and the teams for meals (he never misses one), he won't eat until I have served myself, and even washed dishes one morning to keep me from having to do them! (Yes, mom, he knows how to do dishes!) He also jealously watches the teams members as they serve themselves firsts and seconds because he knows he will receive the leftovers! After about 7 trips here over the years to work with us, he knows most of my menus, has his favorites and shows up early for those meals!

As our third team in a row left this morning, he will be helping us prepare for his home church to arrive in three weeks and put in a water system across the lake. In the meantime, he will also be helping another missionary with a team putting in a system in Patzun! Busy, busy, busy!

We are enjoying working with Jordan and Johnny loves having a man around to be "manly" with. They talk water systems and such...I am enjoying having a "son" around!

Summer 2010

Early June saw the arrival of Spring Creek Church from Pewaukee, Wisconsin. It was a large group of high school students and leaders that worked hard and played hard!

Not many of the days were this sunny. But they spent lots of time bending wire and making "cages" to go in the fence.

Then, fence was raised across the front of the property to help secure the area. Income for the Camp is made when people use it, so now they have to enter through the gate. This a project that will continue throughout the summer, with pictures from other teams, as we complete the circuit around all of Centennial Camp!

I am sorry there are not many pictures of such a great group, but I was only able to obtain a limited number of photos. Any additions would be greatly appreciated!!

Shepard's Pie

I was asked by the Wisconsin team to post some of my recipes...so, until I have time to load pictures of the Wisconsin team and the Orr team, here is one of the current recipes! Hope you like it!



Shepard's Pie

2 pounds of ground beef, browned
1 can whole kernel corn or Veg-All
2 packages (1 box) of mashed potatoes or equivalent "homemade"
1 package Brown Gravy mix

This is the amount that fits in a 9 X 13 inch pan...adjust for the size crew you are cooking for!

The ground beef, mixed with the prepared Brown Gravy, goes in the bottom of a well greased pan, followed by the corn or veggies and topped with the prepared mashed potatoes. Put all of this in the oven for 30 to 45 minutes, or until bubbly. This is the way I remember it being made at Judson Collage in Marion, Alabama. Adjust as you wish, adding onion, cheese, or anything that strikes your fancy!

More pictures soon of the teams!

Random Pictures of the Soccer Team from Alabama and Beyond

Just a few more pictures before moving on to the next team...

Strange things happen on mission trips
Sisters

OK, when you use pictures taken by the team members, you get strange pictures of cows,

and pigs. It's intriguing, I guess.

The fourth work day, the team dug a line to get us water again. Some Christian brothers from Nahuala were there to help. These are two of the men in their traditional dress.

The last day, after a day of shopping, we had one last group picture.

It's always interesting to see what pictures there are!

Lots of looks as several of the team members walked the streets of Pana carrying a pinata.

Next blog...Wisconsin!

Cables Xtremos!

Today seemed like a good day to die...

so here we are fixing to zip line!

You can see the closed eyes and the scream that echoed through the forest as I jumped off of the first platform.

There were a total of 8 lines to ride and, as you can see, we were very high above the trees!

Toward the last few lines, we finally got the hang of it...

and graduated!