Everything from Cornbread to the Czech Republic

Life has been pretty hectic here at the McWhite household! David started classes towards the end of January and is taking a full load. I started tutoring sweet Cameron again in January and Micah is growing more talkative and is still a very active, happy little boy. Lily, our miracle baby, is growing so nicely! By God's grace she is 5 months old, 12.6 lbs, holding her head up, cooing, and smiling a lot!

God has been doing a lot in our family, over the last few weeks especially. Micah now knows that we talk to our Father before every meal to thank Him (and if David or I forget, Micah reminds us!) The first day that he reminded me my heart just melted. God is also continuing to speak to us about our call to missions. Over the last several months we have felt God leading us to pray about serving in the Czech Republic. We are praying daily about this stirring in our hearts and trying to learn as much as we can about the people and the culture. Please pray with us, that we would correctly hear the Lord and obey! Please also pray for the Czechs as we have learned that their hearts are very hardened to the gospel. Our desire to see the nations worship Christ grew even stronger as we prayed for, talked about, and gave to missions at our church's missions conference last weekend!

We continue to make some changes in our family to ensure that the gospel is shaping every aspect of our lives. Last week we significantly cut back on TV. We don't watch a lot of TV as it is; however, David and I were convicted that we were not using our time wisely and that a lot of what we were watching was portraying values completely opposite of what we are trying to live by and instill in our children.

We are also still trying to eat healthier by choosing to eat more whole foods, fruits, and veggies. Realistically we still eat meat 2 or 3 times a week and we still have some dairy. It's more manageable to do mostly vegetarian meals instead of vegan and my family seems to like them more = )

I wanted to share some of the recipes we have tried lately and really enjoyed! I was really excited to use fresh, organic, wholesome ingredients in several of these recipes after making a trip to The Grain Mill here in Wake Forest. It's so nice to use unrefined, unprocessed sugars and flours!

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies: http://www.dailygarnish.com/recipes?recipe_id=6003728

Vegetarian Crock-Pot Shepherd's Pie:

1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed (I used great northern beans the last time instead and liked it even better!)

1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 (16-ounce) package frozen corn

1 small onion, diced

1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

2 cups mashed potatoes (leftover, fresh, from a box-- your choice!)

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

The Directions.

Use a 4-quart slow cooker. Drain and rinse the beans, and add to the crockpot. Add corn and diced onion. Pour in the tomato sauce, and add cumin, salt, pepper. Stir well to combine. Sprinkle the shredded cheese evenly over the top.

Squish the 2 cups of mashed potatoes down on your chili with the back of a wooden spoon. Now dust with the smoked paprika.

Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours, or on high for 3-4. Uncover the slow cooker near serving time and let cook uncovered on high for 20-30 minutes to cook away any collected condensation. The potatoes will brown on top a tiny bit and begin to pull from the sides.

Black Bean Cakes: http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/black-bean-cakes-with-salsa-cruda-recipe.htm

(It's really yummy if you add a Tablespoon of salsa to the mix too and then cover them with crushed tortilla chips before cooking! I also used plain Greek yogurt instead of regular yogurt.)

Buttermilk Cornbread: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/grandmothers-buttermilk-cornbread/detail.aspx

(A little side note on this one, first of all it was the best cornbread I've ever tasted! Second, I used the whole wheat flour and evaporated cane juice--from The Grain Mill--instead of all purpose flour and white sugar, and I didn't have buttermilk on hand so I "made" some by adding lemon (or lime juice), about a tablespoon per cup of milk. Third, I mixed all of the ingredients in the same pot that I melted the butter in.)

Broccoli and Cheddar Quiche:

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1 cup each: chopped onions and broccoli

5 eggs

1/3 cup MIRACLE WHIP Dressing

1/3 cup milk

1 cup KRAFT Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese

1 frozen deep-dish pie crust (9 inch)

PREHEAT oven to 375°F. Place vegetables in skillet sprayed with cooking spray; cook on medium heat 5 min. or until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; set aside.

BEAT eggs, dressing and milk in medium bowl with wire whisk until well blended. Stir in vegetable mixture and cheese; pour into pie shell. Place pie shell on baking sheet.

BAKE on baking sheet 40 to 45 min. or until center of quiche is set and top is golden brown. Let stand 10 min. before cutting into slices to serve.

The last change I wanted to share is some money saving tips that we have learned from our Who Knew books. Now these were our one and only impulse, infomercial buy in our 4 years of marriage. We had gone away for a night by ourselves and saw the infomercial as we were getting ready to leave the hotel. It was well worth the little bit of money that we spent on them! Here are some of my favorite tips so far!

*Throw a large, dry towel in the dryer with your wet clothes and cut your drying time almost in half!

*If you don't want your child (or pet) to yank the toilet paper off of the roll when you are not looking, squeeze it so that it doesn't roll easily.

*To make pancakes "fluffier" let the mixture sit in the fridge for up to 30 minutes before making the pancakes.

*Any child under the age of one can get a free admission ticket to Ringling Brothers Circus on their website and the ticket never expires!

*A mixture of vinegar, water, and laundry detergent will take highlighter out of ANYthing--carpet or fabrics!

*Wrap a paper towel around a chop stick to clean all of the crevices in your waffle iron.

*To avoid a soggy salad, place an inverted saucer in the bottom of the salad bowl and any excess water will drain under the saucer.

Some of these may seem common sense but I had never thought of them. There are literally thousands of tips that will help us to save money by using things that we already have around the house to cook, clean, garden, etc. We hope some of the home remedies will come in handy overseas too! I recommend checking out their website and even getting a copy of their books!

whoknewbooks.com