Thursday, February 26, 2009

A Soup for Stormy Nights

I ran across this recipe on Allrecipes.com a while back. It looked interesting, so I thought I'd give it a try. Last night, I finally made it. It was delicious, so I'm recommending it to you :)

Apple Bacon Tomato Soup

Ingredients
  • 5 slices bacon
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/2 white onion, chopped
  • 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
  • 2 cups beef stock
  • 1 (15.5 ounce) can pinto beans
  • 1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian-style stewed tomatoes
  • 2 stalks celery, chopped
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 medium apple, thinly sliced
  • 1/2 cup red wine
  • salt and pepper to taste
Directions
  1. Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, coarsely chop, and set aside.
  2. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, and saute white onion and garlic 3 to 5 minutes, or until tender. Stir in beef stock, pinto beans, tomatoes, celery, and bay leaf. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer.
  3. In a small saucepan over medium heat, cook and stir the apple in the red wine until soft.
  4. Mix bacon, apple, and remaining red wine into the soup mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Continue to simmer, stirring occasionally until well blended.

I changed the recipe a little. First, I doubled it (the recipe says it feeds 8, but all of the reviews said it will only feed 4 or so). Instead of sauteing the onion and garlic in olive oil, I used the drippings from the bacon. And I sauteed the celery too. I used a can of pinto beans and a can of kidney beans (both undrained). And instead of the stewed tomatoes I used two cans of diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano (no salt added). When I did the apples, I used one Red Gala apple and one Granny Smith. I cooked them in probably 1 1/4 cup of red cooking wine and about half a cup of apple juice. The cooking wine has a lot of salt in it already, so I used beef stock that had no added salt.

It was yummy. And the reviewers and one of my friends who took some of the leftovers said it's even better as leftovers! :)

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Video of the Day - Patrick Henry Hughes

I spent this weekend in Louisville with about 3,000 high school and middle schoolers from around the state of Kentucky at a convention known as Winter Blitz. This young man spoke and played for us on Saturday.



And I thought I had problems...

Friday, January 23, 2009

South Africa - Video

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Africa - Hearts of Compassion

The Midlands area (Estcourt and the surrounding communities) has a population of around 200,000 people - mostly of the Zulu tribe. 70% are HIV+. 70% are also unemployed. This has caused there to be a lot of poverty, pain, and sickness...with no way for the people to escape. In 2002 Midlands Christian Center launched a ministry called "Hearts of Compassion." The purpose of this ministry is to reach out to those needy families, orphans, and the sick. They deliver food, clothing, blankets, and medical care. The goal, however, is not to just provide, but to help these people to become self-sufficient.

This is Erlo Driemeyer, one of main leaders of Hearts of Compassion. We worked closely with him while we were in South Africa. His story is very interesting. From what I understand, before he became a Christian he was a hermit and a racist. He lived alone in the mountains and only came down to get food. I don't know the story of how he actually was saved, but it's enough to say that God got a hold on his life and radically changed it. Erlo now spends most of his days in the villages, among the Zulu people, preaching the gospel and providing for their numerous needs. His vision and passion were very inspiring. He obviously loves these people, and they love him back. As he told us several times, it is important to get to know people and their culture before you try to share the gospel with them. He has spent enough time in the villages to earn the people's trust and respect.


This is Deli Xaba. She also works very closely with Hearts of Compassion and was with us every day we went into the villages. She translated for us (most of the people spoke Zulu and very little English) and is completely on fire for God and passionate about spreading the Word to her people. She is a Zulu woman who grew up in situations very similar to the ones that we encountered in the villages. God grabbed her heart and now she is a living testimony to God's power and love. It was such a joy being around her. She has this crazy excitement about life and such a compassionate spirit....she shares it with everyone she comes in contact with (whether she means to or not!). This picture was taken while she was singing to the other van...

More about Hearts of Compassion's work later...if you want to know more go here :)

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Africa - the beginning

It's been a long time since I posted last...just haven't had all that much to write about, I suppose. But I went to Africa this December, so now I do have something that is blog-worthy. :)

The trip was adventurous from the moment we got off the plane in Johannesburg. There were twenty four of us, so Darren (our fearless...except when five of his students were in a tree, more on that later...leader) rented three 10-passenger vans. When we got to the parking lot, there were two 14-passenger vans waiting for us. These 14 passenger vans are a lot like the big vans in the US - no trunk space. So, we had to find a way to get all of our luggage and 24 adult-sized people into these vans. Long story short, the guys did an amazing job packing the vans and only three people had to sit on the floor in each van for the 6-hour drive to Estcourt.

The ride got even more fun about 4 hours into it when there was a blow-out on one of the vans. The guys had to unpack the van in the picture above (both vans were packed like this, by the way), lift the van by hand to get the jack under it (picture to the right), change the tire, and repack the van. All before the thunderstorm that was following us caught up. They succeeded, of course :)

After a 3 bathroom breaks, a few more stops for a couple people to be sick on the side of the road, an in-the-car, over-the-radios New Year's celebration, and being yelled at by truckers for singing loudly and obnoxiously over the radios, we made it safely to Midland's Christian Center around 1am (South Africa time) on New Year's day.

Midlands Christian is a beautiful facility, with trees and flowers all around. There is a preschool and a soccer field. There are two houses, the Agape house (where the boys stayed) and the discipleship training house (where the girls stayed). We had beds and hot showers...it was very nice. I loved the swings in the playgrounds. They were made out of old tires! Brilliant!

Look for more ZA posts later!

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Azusa and Africa

I submitted my application to Azusa Pacific's graduate program this morning. I talked to them last week and was informed that the program is already full for Fall 2009. I applied anyways...there's a chance I can get on a waiting list and still get in. So it's in God's hands now. If He wants me there, He'll get me there. I've done all I can.

In other exciting news, I may be going to South Africa on a mission trip in December. Honestly, I don't have much of an idea what we're going to be doing...I know it will be working with orphans, some medical stuff, water purification, things like that. We had a missionary come and talk to us at CROSS tonight and she mentioned this trip. When I heard about it, I thought, "I should go." So I talked to her, and we're going to get together tomorrow evening to talk about it. She already called the boss and found out there is still room on the team. The only problem is that I have absolutely no idea where I'm gonna get the money for it. She said not to worry about it, and that if I'm supposed to go, I'll go. I guess this is another "I'll do what I can and the rest is up to God" deal.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Song of the Day



I Knew You Before

Dustin Kensrue

You were once a sweet little girl
so innocent and pure
Your eyes were open and sure
anyone could look right in

I followed closely your gaze
you looked up towards the sky
But I watched your face drift away
other things had caught your eye

The magazines and media supplied you with their plastic protocol
And maybe music television really is the devil after all
But all I can say is I knew you before
You were beautiful back then
before you grew up, before you gave in

You dream of sharing your heart
Instead you share your bed
And your heart beats empty and cold
With all the tears that you have shed

You dream of baring your soul
Instead you bare more skin
And you wear dark glasses to keep
Anyone from looking in

The magazines and media supplied you with their plastic protocol
Oh, and maybe music television really is the devil after all
But all I can say is I knew you before
You were beautiful back then
Before you grew up, before you gave in

And all you want is to hear the words:
"Dear baby I love you"
So you hike your skirt higher still
'Till their eyes are all on you

You drive in fast foreign cars
The color of your sin
And you tint your windows to keep
Anyone from looking in

Oh, and all I can say is I knew you before
You were beautiful back then
Before you grew up, before you gave in

And all I can say is I knew you before
You were beautiful back then

You could be beautiful again....