Límon Curd

Well.  That month went fast!  And while there is lots to fill you in on, I thought I would share one of our new favorite recipes!

Límon Curd.  Yes friends, we are approaching the apex of citrus season here and there are all sorts and colors of citrus at our fería each week.

I stole this recipe from a friend here and it was tart and wonderful and oh so easy to make!

So if you find yourself with 4 limes, or lemons, or límons or key limes, give this one a try!

Límon Curd
 4 límons (or lemons or limes), zest and juice
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
pinch salt
5 tablespoons butter

In a small saucepan whisk together lime juice and zest,sugar, eggs, and salt. Turn on the the burner to medium heat and whisk constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. Boil one minute, still stirring and remove from heat. Stir in butter and cool. Pour over graham cracker crust or eat it straight up!  Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to a week.

It's that easy!  I made it twice in one week it was so good!!

Crockpot Mango Butter

Ok.  We are going to get back in the groove here with this blogging thing!  I have missed it. A lot.  But, well, life has taken over and, and, and, and....

So, let's start with something easy...a recipe.

It's mango season again folks!  Remember this mango pie recipe?  Last year I tried making mango sauce (like apple sauce) and mango juice and neither went over well enough to justify all the work involved.

This year, my mom was here because I decided surgery would be a fun thing, and she suggested mango butter, as in like apple butter.

We did a trial run in the crockpot and it went over so well, I bought 18 kilos of mangos on the way back from the beach and made some more, because the Northerner in me just won't believe that there is always fresh fruit here.  Must.Can.All.The.Fruit.

So here's the drill.
Enough ripe mangos, peeled and sliced to fill your crockpot
Cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla to taste

Peel and cut mangos.  Run through the blender so you get rid of the stringiness.  Pour puree into crockpot with lid on.  Set to high until the puree starts to bubble.  Add in spices and leave the lid off.  Continue to stir.  Reduce for about 8-10 hours or until the desired consistency.  Ladle into hot jars and process in a water bath for 15 minutes.  Try to keep your family out of it.

Overnight Crockpot Cinnamon Rolls

I tried something different Christmas Eve morning.  Crockpot cinnamon rolls.  Yeah, you read that right.

I do love a good cinnamon roll, but I have a hard time getting them soft and gooey.  I always manage to over bake them.

But the crockpot helps this out!  I made an overnight cinnamon roll recipe, put the rolls in the crock in the fridge overnight per instruction.  The next morning, we stuck the crock in the "pot" on low to until the rolls started to rise and then switched it to high for about an hour or so.

And wow!  Perfect!

So here you are, Crockpot Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

The Dough
1 ¼ cups milk
¼ cup butter
1 tsp salt
¼ cup sugar
1 egg
1 Tbsp active dry yeast
3.5 to 4 cups flour

Heat milk, butter, salt, and sugar to 120 degrees F (Microwave works well for this). Add 2 cups of the flour and the yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment. Add the warm milk mixture and egg and beat on low to medium speed for about 3 minutes. Slowly add enough of the remaining flour to make a soft and pliable dough. Continue to kneed until the dough smooth and elastic. You know, how dough should be.  Cover and let rest for at least 20 minutes.  I might have just let it rest for about 3 hours, but whatever, this ain't rocket science.

The Filling
1/2 cup butter
2 Tbsp cinnamon
3/4 cup brown sugar
Chopped nuts (I used pecans)

Blend the filling ingredients together.  Roll out the dough into a long rectangle.  Then spread the filling all over the dough. Starting from a long end, tightly roll up the dough like a jelly roll. Cut evenly into slices about2 inches thick, and place cut side down in the greased crock.  Cover with the lid and put in the fridge over night.

The Next Morning
Put the crock in the "pot" and turn it on low to allow the rolls to rise.  Once they rise (about 30 minutes or so) turn the crock pot to high and put a dish towel under the lid to absorb some of the moisture.  Cook for about an hour (check periodically).

The Icing
1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp. melted butter
2 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp vanilla

Turn the rolls out on to a plate and cover in icing and enjoy!

Peppermint Lattes with no Extract

We're a bit confused around here.  Yes, tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we still have our fall decor out.  But, everywhere you look it's Christmas here.  Lights on houses, trees on tops of cars, decorations as the grocery store, Christmas music everywhere.  Seems as if the end of October signals the time to start decorating.

So.  In the spirit of being cultural relevant and all that, let me tell you about a new coffee creation.  Well, not exactly new, but maybe overseas friendly coffee creation.

I wanted to make a special something for our last bible study group for the year.  These girls really like coffee and peppermint lattes seemed like a good idea.  And then I went to three stores looking for peppermint extract and come up with nothing.   So, I improvised.  And it worked!

4 cups strong coffee
6 cups milk
1/2 cup brown sugar (white will work just fine too)
6 peppermint tea bags in 1 cup boiling water (let steep until really strong)

Heat milk and add the sugar.  After your strong coffee and peppermint tea has brew, add them right in.  Stir and heat for a few more minutes until the milk gets nice and frothy.

Serve with whipped cream if desired.

Grateful

There is a great new website for women living cross culturally called Velvet Ashes.  Every week there is a conversation through words, photography and art centered on a particular word.  This week's is

I've been thinking about this idea of being grateful in the midst of some hard things.  This week as I canned some orange marmalade, I was grateful for an echo of the familiar in the midst of the foreign.  So much here is so different, or different enough to throw me off my game.  But fruit and sugar in glass jars is still a thing of beauty, no matter where in the world you are.  And I am grateful.

Cookies and Prayers

This weekend is another planning time for our voluteer directors at camp.  They are working on the program and the Bible Studies for our January camping season.  In order to give them more energy and creativity, I made them a batch of s'more cookies.  Seemed just so very campy, ya know?

Would you pray with us for them this weekend.  For creativity, to listen to what God wants for the program and Bible Studies, for them to understand the weightiness of this task, for unity and understanding.  Thanks guys!!

Uchuvas

So yesterday we found these at the feria.

Aren't they cool looking?  They're called uchuvas here in Costa Rica. I had read about them before, but hadn't seen them since reading, and I was excited to find them. Apparently they are also called Inca Berries or Golden Berries. 

And let me just say they are super yummy!! Sorta tart and sweet with tiny seeds.  They have some of the same qualities of a cranberry, actually.  I might try adding them to some stuffing this Thanksgiving.

After some more research online, turns out these are a super food!  They are full of B vitamins, one of the most fibrous foods out there and they have about 2 grams of protein for an ounce of berries.  That a lot for a fruit!

Always learning something new here! 

Pudding

When my mom was here, she mentioned the idea of making pudding.  I thought, "yes!  that's a great idea!" and then promptly forgot about it.  Until I found corn starch to make sidewalk chalk paint.  And when I opened the box it smelled like vanilla.

  Huh.  That's interesting.  And then I read the back of the box...

After consulting Google translate to remember which word was teaspoon and what was tablespoon, I thought, "yeah, let's make pudding!"

And it was good.  Now, there was a line in the recipe on the back of the box that said add sugar to your liking.  So I added 2/3 cup.  And low and behold my family ate it!

So after making two batches of vanilla, the second batch I added a bit of my homemade vanilla, last night I threw about 6 teaspoons of unsweetened coco powder and it's great!

There was a lively discussion over on Facebook about the nutritional value of pudding.  I have always thought of it as more a dessert type thing, but when I made it I was like "man, this is just milk and a bit of sugar!"  And the consensus from people I trust on this subject is, homemade pudding is a pretty healthy snack.  At 8 grams of protein per cup, milk also has 30% of your daily calcium as well as vitamin A and D.  And if you are using raw milk (still working on a good source of that for us) there are tons of good germs to aid digestion.

Alright, so after some requests, here's the recipe I've been using.

Vanilla Pudding
In two cups of cold milk, mix in 5 Tablespoons of cornstarch
Add in a teaspoon or two of vanilla

Bring 3 cups milk to a boil.  Add in the two cups of milk with cornstarch along with 2/3 cup sugar.  
Bring back up to a boil and stir consittantly for several minutes until it gets thick.  Put in the refridgeator.  Enjoy!

For Chocolate Pudding
Do all the same, and add in 6 teaspoons of unsweetened coco powder.  

Limónada

One of the things I've been working on is trying to figure out cheaper, better for us drinks.  With cirtus trees in our backyard I got to thinking...we could make juice.

When we moved here at the end of September, we were right on the cusp of an orange havarest.  And they were wonderful!!  It seems as if we are right on the cusp again, because there are lots of small green balls hanging all over the tree...just waiting for them to rippen up!

But I got to thinking about all those green limes I see at the feria every week.  They cheap, and tart and good!  Oh, and in case you are wondering, I have never seen a lemon here.  Well, maybe at the fancy import grocery store, but not locally.

But these limóns make great limónada, or lemonade or limeade or whatever it would be in English.  Let's just stick with limónada!

After messing around with the recipe a bit, here's what works for our family as far as the sweet-sour mix.

Limónada
Makes one gallon
 1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup water
 Combine and heat on the stove until  the sugar is disolved completely.

1 1/2 cups limón juice (15 limóns maybe?) (my juicer attachment does this wonderfully!)

Add sugar syrup and limón juice together in your container.
Add about a gallon of water.

I've also started to make up extra syrup limón juice concentrate.  This means I can just pull that out of the fridge and dump it in my glass half gallon milk jug my dad carried all the way from Michigan in his briefcase for me at a moments notice.  Makes that second batch of limónada that much simplier.

Crock Pot Bread

I have never really used the crock pot.  Sure, I registered for one when we got married and used it maybe 12 times before we left for language school (yea, that would have been 12 times in 8 years).  I gave it to my mom when we left.

When we moved into this house, there was a crock pot here.  And then we started going to a church that is a half hour away and the service goes to 12:30, which you do the math...yeah, we are starving when we walk in the door at 1:00pm and by gum, there better be something fast!

So, I am starting to really like the crock pot.  Granted, there are a lot of junkie recipes out there for a can of this and can of that and some prepackaged whatever, which doesn't translate real well here. But there are so great ones too.  Like the one I am about to share with you.

I stumbled across this idea of baking sweet breads in your crock pot and oh.my.word!  For us this a a win win win because 1.  I can be doing something else for 3 hours 2.  Use up all the freaking bananas around here and 3. Our electricity is included in our rent!

Ok, so here's how it works.  First make up your favorite sweet bread recipe.  I used my tried and true banana bread one (because we are working our way through a bunch of bananas).  Here it is if you are interested.  Just ignore the bottom part about the oven temperature and time.  You won't be cooking this in the oven. 

I have also given up mashing the bananas first, I have a stand mixer, might as well make it earn it's keep.  I just dump everything in the bowl and there you have it. 

Then, add two cups of water to the bottom of your crockpot.  Turn it to high. Grease a pan that will fit in your crock pot.  I use on of my pyrex bowls.  It turns out lovely.  Dump your batter into the grease bowl/pan and stick that puppy in the crock pot. 

Put a towel under the lid (to absorb some of the steam you are going to get) and leave the thing alone for 2 1/2-3 hours. 

When you come back, you'll have a lovely, moist, sweet bread to enjoy!  So yummy!  I've done this now with banana bread and pumpkin bread.  I am sure it will work with zucchini and anything else you can come up with in the sweet bread category.  I've also seen recipes floating around to use a sticky yeast dough sorta the same way. I'll let you know when I try that :)

Making Tamales

Ok.  Now that we have a computer that is in working order, I can take some times and tell you about making tamales.

First off, I am not sure what you think of when you hear the word "tamale" but when talking about Costa Rican tamales, they are different than Mexican ones.  Here's a good example of the Costa Rican variety.

We bought these at church one Sunday.  A missions team was going to spend Christmas with an indigenous tribe in the southern part of Costa Rican and they were selling tamales to raise money. 

Tamales here are a twice a year thing.  Christmas and Semana Santa (Holy Week).  The Christmas ones have pork or chicken and the Semana Santa ones are just veggie because it's Lent. 

I really wanted to learn how to make these as it seemed like a great freezer meal option.  Just pull them out, heat them up and you got lunch.  So I asked our landlady if she could teach me sometime after Christmas.  To which she responded "yes, but before Christmas!!"  But then the trip to Panama happened and her family had things going on, so it did get put off until after Christmas.  For them it was strange, because tamales are the traditional Buena Noche (Good Night, or Christmas Eve) food. 

So two days after Christmas Milena brought over the stuff to make tamales.  I was naive.  I thought it might take two or three hours.  Ha!  Was I wrong. 

First we got the meat started.  There was posta de cerdo, which is some part of pork.  Roast maybe?  I haven't found a good translation for it yet.  To that we added skin, bone and we were suppose to add lard, but no place had any left two days AFTER Christmas.  There was also salt, pepper, celery, onion, Lizano (a sauce Costa Ricans add to almost anything), complete seasoning (which has all the spices and some bouillon in it), garlic paste, cilantro and chile dulce (por supesto!  Of course!)  and camomile(to help with the digestion Milena said.)  We let that cook in a huge pot on the stove for a couple of hours.  Gosh, that was a hard sentence to write in English.  I find that if I learn a recipe in Spanish, I can only talk about the ingredients in Spanish.  Language and the brain are weird things.

While the pork was cooking, I looked out and saw Milena's dad making a fire in my driveway.  And then I began to realize this wasn't just going to be an hour or two. 

A few minutes later I looked out and saw this.

 

Noah and Milena's mom were working on cleaning the banana leaves and cutting them down to the size needed for the tamales.  As they were doing that, Milena's sons were gathering firewood for the day.  Tamales really is a whole family affair.  Everyone comes over and works together.  The women work on cooking, the men on the fire, the kids can help with cleaning the leaves and staying out of the way.  We were told it's a time of unifying the family.  Everyone is together, working, and the stories start to be told, and it is all about the family.  I love it!  I feel like Milena and her family really let us in that day, to be part of such a family event.

Then there was the cutting and cooking of the vegetables to put in the tamales.  We used green beans, peas, carrots and chile dulces or red sweet peppers.  That part didn't take too long in comparison to the masa.

The masa.  Wow.  This is the corn meal that makes up the bulk of the tamale.  And what a process!  Milena bought the base masa in town and then we seasoned it accordingly.  There was more salt and pepper added as well as more Lizano.  Then we added the cooking water from the pork to it.  To blend it all together, we first had to run a batch through a sieve to make sure there weren't big chunks of corn still in the masa.  After one test batch, Milena decided that this was high quality masa and we didn't need to run the rest of the masa for 100 tamales through he sieve by hand.  Good. 

But lest you think that made the masa a quick step, read on.  To mix the masa with the cooking water required two people, a very large spoon, and an hour.  The goal was to make it as smooth as possible.  One person held the pot errr, caldron and the other beat the masa.  Como eso (like this)

This is one of Milena's sons, Christian and his grandmother.  We all took turns beating the masa.  At one point we put it over the fire to heat it up some.  And there was some discussion about the fact that it needed more fat (which was part of what the lard was for, so we used butter instead).  While we were beating it over the fire, the smoke was terrible and kept getting in my eyes making me cry.  At one point I said, "La gringa no puede hacerlo"  (The white woman can't do it!) and Milena said, "Ni la Tica!"  (Or the Costa Rican!)

We beat and beat and beat that masa.  And finally, it was deemed smooth enough.  Then the assembly line started.

We laid out banana leaves all around the table and each one of us put something on to them.  First was the masa, then the rice, pork, and veggies.

Oh so good!  After it's all assembled, we wrapped the banana leaves around it and put them together with another.  A pair of tamales is called a piña, 

After they were all wrapped, we tied them together with their twin, como eso

Christian and Carlos, Milena's sons, helped with this part too.  It so reminded me of canning. You know, when you first learn how tight to put the lids on before putting them in the water bath.   They kept tying and asking, "¿Mami, esta bien?" (Mommy, is this good?) 

Next it was time to cook the tamales.  Christian and Carlos put banana leaves in the pot over the fire before we added the 100 tamales we had just made.  As a lid, more banana leaves were put on top.  And then we let it cook for an hour or so. 

It was dark by the time we pulled them out of the pot.  Much like a day of canning.  The difference was at the end of a canning day, you still have to make dinner.  At the end of a tamale day, you have leftover rice with pork and veggies to eat.  No more cooking required.  Everyone kept asking me if I was tired from all the work, to which I said "yes, but it's normal right?  It's like canning."

We split the 100 tamales and now my freezer is full of them.  We will be eating them a lot on Sundays because it's an easy meal.

What a sweet day full of culture, Spanish, food and family.  ¡A mi me gusta los días de los tamales!  I like days of tamales!

Galletas de Navidad

So Wednesday we hosted our first group of volutneers here at our house.  The camp season is coming up and there are some new voluteers who don't really know each other.  They wanted to spend some time together before camp started and we offered our house up for the fun. 

We thought it would be a good idea to have an activity for them, becuase they had only spend about 36 hours with each other.  Sometimes it's good to have your hands busy when working on making friends.  So, being that it's Christmas time, decorating Christmas cookies seemed like a good idea.  Most Ticos don't bake, so Christmas cookies aren't a thing here and they were all excited to try their hand at this North American tradition.

It was fun to watch them figure it all out.  First, they spread the frosting on the cookies like you would butter on bread.  And when they finished decorating, they asked if we needed to cook the cookies again.  Nope, just eat 'em friends!  They thought the Michigan and moose cookies were the funniest. 

After the cookie making, there was some tree climbing for oranges and just general talking and laughing.  And I'll say this, when working with people who love camp, your kids have some great play buddies!  Our kids were loved on, and thoroughly played with!  The volunteers were fighting over who got to hold Quinn.

Supper was taquitos and salsa, fruit and chips.  I was thankful how everyone pitched in and helped clean up.  We were able to spend some time talking with the group, getting to know them, them getting to know us better.

Pray for this group, and the rest of the volunteers as they are preparing for camp in just a few weeks.  Pray that God would use this preparation time to grow them and He would soften the hearts of the campers that are coming.

Hodge Podge

Ummm, well hello there!  It's been a while now hasn't it?  Sigh...somehow the time has just gotten away from me.  Maybe it's the three boys, or the holiday, or the getting the last of things finally unpacked (I think for real this time,things just might all be where they are suppose to be.  Maybe.)

I hate when I neglect this space for long periods of time because then I never know what to talk about.  So maybe I'll do one of those bulletpointthrowupeverythingthathashappened posts.

Here we go!!

• Thanksgiving.  I guess that has pretty much dominated the last couple of weeks really.  Between the hunt for things  and the making of things, I've been pretty preoccupied by it.  And I worked hard to think ahead this year.  I felt like last year in language school, holidays would sneak up on me, and because I couldn't just run to the store and pick up (fill in the blank) to make it feel like the holiday, we all sorta were in this depressed state the day of the holiday.  That's not going to happen this year! 

• Por ejemplo...I really wanted to make cranberry relish this year.  We have this recipe in my family that's fantastic.  It requires whole fresh cranberries.  Those don't grow here.  So, I went on the hunt for them, which lead me to the fanciest grocery store here, AutoMercado.  It's like a D&W or Harris Teeter on steroids.  It has all sorts of imported things, and they let you pay a pretty penny errr colone for it too.  But I was successful in finding the fresh cranberries and it was ohhhh so worth it!  Plus, I didn't have to buy the orange or lime the recipe calls for because I just asked Elliot to go grab me one of each off our trees.  

• Pumpkin pie.  Yeah, this was another thing that took some thought.  I bought an ayote (squash) that I was told could be used just like pumpkin and it worked great!  What a find!  But it takes some time to roast it, pureé it and then make it into a pie.  But oh so very worth it.  And yes, that little one, I made just for me.  That was my breakfast Thanksgiving morning.

• My life has been revolving around feeding people, but Noah has been working hard on things at camp.  He is meeting with different groups to work on the camp themes for this upcoming temporada (camping season) almost daily.  He made memory verse cards for all the volunteers (and just so you get in your head, these would be what we called Summer Staff at Barakel.  They are the counselors and program staff).  And just in general has been busy with getting ready for camp and getting to know the volunteers.  It's been very obvious he is filling a need here. 

•  We need to get a Christmas tree...soon.  That should be a cultural learning experience.
• The winds have come and they are crazy!

• See that black fabric on the railing there?  Yeah, we found it and were able to make the deck and upstairs hallway safe for little people.  They can't wedge their bodies in between the rungs now.  Everyone give a collective sigh of relief!

• I thought rainy season was done...not so much.  I managed to leave clothes out on the line (they were dry yesterday) and then it started to rain overnight.  Blahh.

• We bought the boys a new hose, one without holes in it.  They are in love.

• We had friends come to spend the night this weekend, which helped make it feel even more like a holiday.  Because isn't that what you do?  Either have some over night guests to your house or you are the overnight guest at someone else's.  Anyway.  A good time was had by all and then reality set in.  See, they are leaving Costa Rica in just three weeks and then moving to Spain.  Spain!!  That's really far away!  But we are thankful for the time we had with them

Cold and Wet and Soup

Well, Hurricane Sandy is causing a fair amount of rain here today.  And it all started before lunch!  In fact, we woke up to rain this morning.  Normally during rainy season, the rains start in the afternoon.  But it has been cold and wet today.  In fact, it's colder here than it is in Michigan today!  When I say cold, I mean 68 Fahrenheit, but with no central heating in cinder block buildings and windows and doors that aren't air tight, 68 and rainy is cold. 

Which really, is just fine by me.  It is October after all, and 30 years of living at a latitude where it could be snowing this time of year makes it seem as if you should be in long sleeves and jeans in October. 

In the spirit of all this rain and damp and cold, I made a couple of things, hot cocoa mix and tomatoe soup.
My mom posted the hot cocoa recipe this morning on Facebook and low and behold, I had everything in the pantry!  And while I don't have a food processor, I found that the food mill attachment to my mixer does just fine grinding up chocolate chips!

So, here it is...

Hot Cocoa mix
3 cups powdered milk, 
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups cocoa 
1-1/2 cups white chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate chips because they are the only ones I can find here.)
Process in food processor until it becomes a consistent powder (or you can mix with a spoon if your chips are ground up)
Mix with boiling water and enjoy. 

The great thing about this recipe is there is actual nutritional value unlike store bought or the coffee creamer/nestle quick version.  There's about 8 grams of protein per cup as well as calcium from the powdered milk.  There is also antioxidants from the dark cocoa.

The other thing I made today was tomato soup.  I had 4 giant tomatoes hanging out in the fridge and they needed to be used up.  And with all this rain and cold, I thought grilled cheese and tomato soup with rice would be a lovely dinner tonight.  You know, indulge in the cheese we pay an arm and a leg for!  Seriously, a 2 pound block of cheddar is over $10 USD here.  

I had never made tomato soup before and this worked out so nicely.  I used stock from the freezer and everything came together very nicely.  And oh, how sad is that measuring cup?  We only have three casualties on the way over, my 2 cup and 4 cup glass measuring cups and a glass milk jug.  The measuring cups are still usable for this sort of thing, but without handles they aren't going to be much good for hot things.

And now, I do believe that all three boys are tucked away in their rooms for rest time.  I think Quinn finally settled down to sleep, and the others are playing quietly.  Now to enjoy a few minutes of the rain pounding on the roof. 

Waiting and Ice Tea

We're in the waiting game.  Just waiting for baby.  I think all the loose ends are tied up, and now we just sit and wait.  And try not to wilt in the heat.  Seriously, this is absolutely awful weather!  I never thought June in Michigan could be this icky.  But oh, wow, is it icky.  And it doesn't look like it's going to let up any time soon.

I thank God multiple times a day for this wonderful house with air conditioning!  Being two days away from having this baby, I am so thankful that God knows what we need before we need it!

But with this heat, I thought I would pass on this fruit ice tea creation that I have been downing by the half gallons.

First, find a container.  I am a bit partial to my glass half gallon milk jug.  And then you need some black tea and whatever fruit flavor herbal tea you want.  I have used raspberry and orange.  For the half gallon I use 8 normal decaffinated black tea bags and 2 herbal bags.

Then, bring to boil enough water to fill your half gallon container 2/3 full.  Really, just eyeball this. When it reaches a boil, take it off the heat and add your tea bags.  Let them steep until it seems right to you.  Oh, and I do like my tea a bit on the sweet side.  To the half gallon, I add 1/3 cup of sugar.

Pour the tea into your container, top it off with cold water, put it in the fridge to cool off and then enjoy with a lot of ice!