Amazing Corn Soup!

Today is a cold and rainy day, and when I asked Kaden what I should cook for dinner he told me "My favorite corn soup mom!" It doesn't take much to convince me to make this soup! It is "souper" easy and the most amazing corn chowder I have ever had. I can take no credit for this recipe because it is a dear friend Mary Beth Huff's recipe.I have never eaten anything that she has cooked that is NOT amazing, but this is one of our family favorites! I remember the first time she brought us some. Keith, Kaden and I were visiting Mom and Dad in Texas, right before we moved to Alaska. We were all kind of under the weather and Mary Beth brought some soup over to make us feel better. I must say this soup healed us all! We ate it and there was NONE left. It was so delicious!! WOW! It is almost a weekly dish made here at our house in Alaska. Kaden who says he hates to eat corn will eat 2 bowls of this soup! I just made it tonight and he did ask for seconds! Thanks for sharing this recipe Mary Beth!! We love it and we love you too!!! Everybody should try this yummy soup! You won't be sorry, I promise!

Mary Beth's Sante Fe Corn Chowder.
1 bag(16oz) frozen corn -(getting frozen corn here is not easy so I use canned corn.)
1 cup Chicken broth
4 TBSP butter or Margerine
2 cups evaporated Milk
1 garlic clove minced
1/4 tsp oregano
Salt & Pepper to taste
3 TBSP canned diced can chiles
1 cup cubed cook chicken
1 cup Monterey Cheese grated ( I don't get this cheese here so I use cheddar, but I love the Monterey flavor)
1/4tsp baking soda
diced fresh tomatoes
crushed tortilla chips

Cook Chicken breast in 1 1/4 cup water with 1 chicken bouillon cube. Cool, Dice. Thaw corn slightly, then grind in a food processor. In a 3 quart pot, combine broth, butter, corn and garlic. Simmer, stirring 5 minutes. Add Milk, Oregano, Chilies, and Salt and Pepper. Simmer 5 minutes. Add Chicken. Simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Add Baking Soda and Cheese. Stir till cheese melts. Ladle into soup bowls, top with Diced tomatoes and Crushed Tortilla chips. Serves 4 generously.

Tabby Moments

Ok, Galena is a town of about 300 permanent residence and when school is in session it goes up to about 500 people. But even here in the middle of bush Alaska I seem to have "Tabby Moments". These are becoming moments in my life where I run into someone I know, or someone who knows someone I know, or someone has been to one of the many weird places that I have been. With parents who are missionaries, running into someone who knows them from a church that they have spoken at is not that uncommon but having my own connections is getting funnier and funnier with each "Tabby Moment". I am sure that if given enough time I could talk to the Pope or the King of Spain and we would both have someone in common! Well these last few weeks have seemed to be full of "Tabby Moments". I am always amazed at connections in this world that I have.

My "Tabby Moment" from today was, Keith and I went to the Galena Coffee Shop to treat ourselves to lunch. Yes we do have a coffee shop here and we do get to go enjoy lunch there occasionally. Today I decided that I really didn't want to cook and I really was in the mood for some yummy Clam Chowder that Shirley makes really good. So Keith came home from work and we went to the Coffee Shop. It is a rather small room but it has a few tables and you just sit where there is space. We joined a group of 3 contractors that were already there. We started talking with them while we waited for lunch. I continued to talk to them while Keith went to drop Kaden off at school. We were all asking where everyone was from and I always say I am from Zambia. Well the black gentleman beside me looks up real fast and asks again. I guess he didn't think he caught what I said right. But when I told him again he smiled and said he was from Malawi! I nearly freaked! We started talking in Nyanja which is the language we speak in Zambia and Malawi. By the end of the conversation we were both laughing. He had been in Galena for about 2 hours and did not expect to be speaking Nyanja in the middle of bush Alaska!! I can tell you I was even more surprised! It was fun to talk to Crispin Ngoma and it was wonderful to hear our language and hear Chemwemwe, my Zambian name again. It was awesome!!! Who would have thought? Not me!

My second Tabby Moment happened a few weeks ago. Keith and I met one of the new teachers that has just moved here to teach science. Ross came over for dinner and when he walked into our house we started discussing our home decor, which is mostly African. Well come to find out he had gone on a mission trip to Kenya to work at a Bible school and he had been to RVA(Rift Valley Academy) the school I graduated from. What was even more humorous was that he knew many of the AIM missionaries that I knew. He knew the Bucks, Prospt and the list goes on and on. It was quiet funny that every time he said a name I would say "I graduated with their son or daughter!" Keith and Jeremy(who was eating with us too) were laughing at the amount of people we both knew. He also knew many of the places at RVA and in Kenya that I knew which totally blew me away! Fun fun fun!

The Best Tabby Moment this week was provided by Tina Parker. Tina and I have quite the history with each other. Many years ago when I was around 8 years old, my family was in the United States on furlough. We were speaking around Texas in many different churches, some small and some big. One Sunday we were in the small town of Quero Texas speaking at the Baptist Church there. I walked into a small Sunday school class with the teacher name Dwayne Parker. I met his two daughters Tina and Laura. Well at each church as a gift to all the people, my parents would give a small craved elephant to everyone if they promised to be like a elephant. Elephants never forget and with small craved elephants people would always remember to PRAY for our family. We gave out many many elephants to many people. (My grandad still has his on the counter in the bathroom at their house and I always remember to pray for my mom and dad... even now. ) I never knew such a small token given when I was 8 years old would be so significant in my life 20+ years later. When I returned to the States to attend college in Texas, I was in Lake Jackson going to the community college there. I was going to First Baptist Church in Lake Jackson and one Sunday there was a new lady in our Sunday school class. During the Bible Study time we kept glancing at each other with the look on both our faces that said " I know you from somewhere but I can't quite remember where I know you from." After Sunday school was over the lady walked over to meet me and she asked "where do I know you from?" For a Missionary kid that could be a lot of places. We eventually narrowed it down to Quero and she said "Wait, Your parents are the missionaries that gave out small elephants at our church a long time ago!" Yes they were and that is how I met up with Tina Parker 20 years later. She still had her elephant and every time she sees it she still prays for my family. Tina became one of Keith and my closest friends and was one of my bridesmaids in our wedding. Where ever we move we can always count on Tina being one person that would visit us.

This week Tina posted some pictures on Facebook and tagged me in one of them. Since I have not seen Tina in about 8 months I was trying hard to figure out where she got a new picture of me from..... WELL it was not a NEW one that is for sure! Under the picture she wrote that while going through some pictures of her grandmothers she found one of the Howard family. How funny that she still had a picture of us from way back! It made me laugh of how small our world is! Here is the picture she posted of our family back in the day. Look at our lovely missionary attire! Keith and I have had a good laugh just looking at this picture!
I know I am blessed with MANY friends and I love to meet people, so having Tabby Moments totally makes my days and weeks. I am thankful for good laughs and great memories with people all over the world. I love having Tabby Moments. It always reminds me that God is into every detail of our lives and loves to show us his sense of humor. He also reminds me constantly that even when I feel like I am in the middle of Bush Alaska and home is on the other side of the world, that his world is not so big that he can bring someone from so close to home and I can be reminded of home and family there. And if I needed to hear a language so dear to me, that God is so into the details of my life that he would even send some one to the Coffee shop in Galena to speak in my home countries language! EVEN IN GALENA!!!

Homemade Granola!

I just made a wonderful batch of home made Granola. I am AMAZED at home much money it costs to buy Granola in a store! It is really easy to make and you can always change it up and make it your own. I love to make granola. I have a very simple recipe for it and would love to share it with you.

Granola
Combine:
2 cups Wheat Flour( I only use 1 cup)
6 cups oats ( I use the old fashioned kind)
1 cup shredded Coconut
1 cup wheat germ or sunflower seeds

Blend together:
1/2 cup water
1 cup oil
1 cup honey
2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 250 degree. Add Liquids to dry ingredients. Mix well and spread out on 2 shallow pans lined with wax paper. Bake 1 hour till golden brown. ( I stir it half way through cooking time.)

Now that is the basic recipe and I actually add craisins, almonds, pecans, and any other stuff I want. You could add raisins, chocolate chips(after cooked) dried cherries.

My Mom has a very Easy recipe too that I love if I am in the mood for a sweeter granola. It is yummy but a bit more sweeter then the recipe above.
Mom's Granola
Combine:
2 cups oats
1 cup coconut
1/2 cup wheat germ or sunflower seeds
1 1/2 cup nuts
1 tsp salt
Stir in 1 can Sweetened Condensed milk. Mix thoroughly
Add 1/4 cup oil
Spread in shallow baking pan lined with wax paper. Bake 1 hour at 300 degrees after golden brown take out and add raisins or craisins.

I again add all my favorite stuff to it. I love these recipes and I hope enjoy your own granola!

Samosa's for dinner

I should actually call them SaMOOSEsa's because I made it with Moose meat. But I love to eat them! Samosa's are Indian appetizers and are so delicious. If I lived in the Lower 48 I would just buy frozen ones, which you can usually buy at Indian markets or I even found them at Whole Foods stores. But here I have to make them from scratch. The filling is easy to make and there are many different ways to make them. You can make them vegetarian or meat. I prefer meat with potatoes. I found some spring roll wraps here so I didn't have to make the dough by hand.
For the filling
1 pound meat
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp ground cloves
1 TBSP Graham Masala
1 TBSP Curry Powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
3 potatoes diced in to small cubes

Brown meat and add all the spices. Mix well. Let cool. Boil potatoes let cool and mix with meat. Then cut the spring roll wrappers in to triangle halves. using water to make sticky make a cone shape and fill with meat. seal top of triangle. Then fry in oil till crispy and golden brown. Eat and enjoy.

You can add onions, peas, corn and other yummy stuff too.