Posts by Kerry Weisser
Deep Friendship-Worth the Wait
You are important!
You are significant!
You make a difference!!!
Why do we spend so much of our life having a critical spirit towards ourselves? We all want to be part of a community……..to be invited…we all want to be loved…we all want to belong… But where are we looking for our belonging? Most of us have felt the sting of feeling left out, being rejected, feeling uninvited.
This week I have had the privilege of connecting with some quality women with whom I have been connected for between 25-35 years. We have so many shared memories and an unspoken commitment of loyal friendship and trust. We share the gift of sisterhood in Christ and a deep abiding sense of being bonded together for a purpose larger than ourselves.
Recently I listened to an interview with Lysa TerKeurst and she was sharing about her newest book called Uninvited. I loved her candid open approach and how she discussed things that are on the mind and in the hearts of so many women today.
How many of us have experienced rejection, the feeling of being left out? Why do we spend so much time wishing we would be invited and included? As women, we have a deep desire to be loved and a longing to be wanted.
A few of the comments that Lysa made when she was talking about rejection and feeling Uninvited in the interview rang true to my ears.
Feeling beautiful and experiencing a sense of being noticed and loved needs to come from God not man.
It does not make us feel beautiful when someone is physically present but emotionally absent.
At times we must be willing to actually feel the pain so we can heal the pain.
In my experience, when I have been rejected …
Read MoreFamine and Hunger in Malawi-Let’s Do Something!
Last fall, Malawi, Aftica faced a terrible drought causing country wide famine. I wrote a post introducing you all to Gogo Grandmothers….the incredible ministry where I have the privilege to serve. We developed a fundraising project last year called the Joseph Project to help the Gogo and their children through the famine. So many of you were willing to help make a difference and we are so grateful for your generosity.
It’s a Fact . . .
Due to continued drought, the harvest was terrible in Malawi again this year! Our USA director reported last week, “Most Malawians rely on subsistence farming (eating only what they can grow), but the food supply situation is always precarious. 2016 is the second year in a row that they have had a poor harvest because of severe drought, and many areas are already running out of food to sustain their families.”
Malawi News . . .
The “Famine Early Warning System” shows the food crisis beginning in Malawi.
Near Term: Jun. – Sept. 2016 Medium Term: Oct. 2016 – Jan. 2017
Maps show the orange areas that are in a food crisis in Malawi. 3/4 of the gogos and children we work with are in these emergency areas.
Once again we are asking you to get involved, to do something that will make a significant difference in the poorest country in the world!!!
The 2016-2017 Joseph Project
We have miraculously found a source for maize to buy and store for our gogos and the children!
$10.00 will provide 60 pounds of maize to a gogo and the children in her care for a month. Could you and your family help meet this need for a gogo family until her next harvest in April or May 2017.
Over 2,000 gogos and thousands of children …
Read MoreCleansing from the Inside Out
We have spent quite a bit of time this past year learning about wellness, clean eating and super nutrition. One component of our wellness experience has been learning about cleansing. This summer I have been learning about spiritual and emotional wellness and the process of cleansing from the inside out. The principles I have been learning start with accepting who I am and emptying out my misconceptions, selfish tendencies and pride. The inside out cleaning process for me begins with reflection, confession, includes prayer and meditation. Trials that come my way can be tools used by the hand of God to strengthen me if I am willing to refrain from asking why and ask what now. When we turn our pain over to God he can redeem it and turn it into something good for our character development.
I must be willing to take a long hard look at my life, my attitudes, my thoughts and the ways I respond to the circumstances and relationships in my life. When I see areas that need to be cleaned up, thoughts and actions that need to be changed, I confess my shortcomings and where I miss the mark. I ask for forgiveness and know that I am truly forgiven and will have access to the Holy Spirit power I need to continue my inside out cleaning. Only then am I able to be filled with the truths and tenements of my faith that motivate me and empower me to change. When I am filled, I can begin to pour out….serve, love beyond measure, put other’s needs before my own and be available to follow where God may lead me. This is not a check list or a fail safe formula but for me it is a reminder to live moment by moment …
Greek High Protein Salad
Bethany and Mike have been blessed to receive many delicious meals since baby Garrett was born a few weeks ago. This was one of their favorites. Last week, Bethany and I tried to recreate the recipe, making a few adjustments to increase the protein and we added some fresh basil. The original recipe that we adapted was from www.thelemonbowl.com- Brown Rice Greek Salad. We substituted quinoa for the brown rice and added seasoned browned ground turkey to increase the protein.
Ingredients
1 ½ cup quinoa
3 cups water
1 ½ pounds ground turkey
2 cloves garlic smashed
2 teaspoons garlic salt
2 teaspoons oregano
2 teaspoons greek seasoning
2 cucumbers peeled and chopped
2 can garbanzo beans
1 cup sliced scallions
1 or 2 large yellow or orange pepper chopped
½ cup crumbled feta cheese
1 cup kalamata olives
2 cups cherry tomatoes
10 basil leaves chopped fine
¼ cup chopped mint
Dressing
3 Tablespoons olive oil
2 lemons juiced
zest of 2 lemons
2 Tablespoons oregano
2 Tablespoons chopped mint
4 cloves garlic
Cook quinoa in water. Bring to a boil and then turn to simmer and simmer for 15 minutes or until all water is absorbed. Allow to cool. Brown ground turkey with smashed garlic, garlic salt, oregano and greek seasoning. While quinoa is cooking and ground turkey is browning, cut the cucumbers, slice scallions, chop the pepper, chop basil and mint and slice cherry tomatoes in half. Make dressing by combining all ingredients and set aside. When quinoa is cooled, add cucumbers, peppers, scallions, cherry tomatoes, feta, olives, basil and mint. Stir in dressing. Add cooled browned ground beef and stir until dressing is mixed throughout. Refrigerate and serve with pita bread and hummus.
Plum Chutney
Chutney is a sauce in the cuisines of India that can vary from a tomato relish to a ground peanut garnish or a yoghurt, cucumber and mint dip. Chutney that I made with my mom when I was growing up was usually made of a tart fruit such as apples, apricots, mangos or plums. Our homemade recipe differed a bit from the typical Indian chutney recipe. As the Americanized version of chutney was developed, sugar and vinegar were added to the recipe to keep the sweet and sour flavor but to give a longer shelf life so that fall fruit could be preserved for use throughout the year (as are jams, jellies and pickles). Indian chutney uses mustard oil as a pickling agent, but Anglo-Indian style chutney use cider vinegar which produces a milder product.
Ingredients
5 cups cut up plums (you can use apricots, mangos or apples)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
¾ cup vinegar
¾ teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 teaspoons salt
2 Tablespoons mustard seed
2-3 big cloves garlic
¼ cup thinly sliced yellow onion
½ cup chopped candied ginger
1 cup white raisins
Mix the sugars and vinegar in a large pot and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add the fruit and all the spices, garlic, onions, ginger and raisins. Simmer over medium-low heat, stirring frequently so chutney will not stick as it cooks and thickens. This step may take 1 to 1 ½ hours depending on how juicy your fruit is. When thickened, pour chutney into jelly jars that have been sterilized and seal according to canning directions.
I pour the hot chutney into the 1 cup jars and seal with hot tops. I tighten the tops and turn the jars upside down for 30 minutes. When you flip them right …
Colorful Summer Salad
Today is another beautiful summer day and I am out tending my vegetable garden. In comes another bowl of tomatoes and I decided I wanted to try a summer salad recipe that would be a fun side dish to accompany any BBQ meat or could be eaten as your main meal. I know many of you have made Cowboy Caviar and I love that recipe but my hubby does not like avocado. He does LOVE salsa though so I made this colorful summer salad based on our homemade salsa recipe with a few variations.
Ingredients
8 medium tomatoes (I used 4 different types of heirloom tomatoes)
1 large red onion
2 ears of corn
1 large orange pepper
2 bunches cilantro (1-2 cups)
1 hot jalapeño pepper
1 mild jalapeño pepper
1 can black beans drained and rinsed
½ cup red wine vinegar
⅓ cup olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic smashed
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon sesoned pepper
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon Pilarcita’s hot and spicy Mexican spice blend (this blend has chili peppers, salt, garlic, onion, lemon and orange peel as it’s base)
Chop the tomatoes, onion, orange pepper and mix in a bowl. Dice the jalapeño peppers and chop the cilantro fine and add to the bowl. Add the drained and rinsed black beans and stir salad. In a small bowl, mix oil, vinegar, garlic and spices. Mix well and pour over the vegetables. Stir well and refrigerate for an hour or so before serving. This is a great salad to take to a potluck BBQ because it make a large bowlful of a beautiful colorful summer salad. Will store for 4-5 days in a tupperware container. If you want to serve it for your main meal, you can put on a bed of greens and serve …
Read MoreGogo Grandmother “Joseph Project” Update
I have had the privilege of being on the Board of the Gogo Grandmothers/SAFE ministry in Malawi, Africa for the past year. It has been one of the most rewarding organizations I have been involved in my whole life because it allows me to serve the poor and needy, work with fabulous people in ministry and be a prayer warrior for people from the “warm heart of Africa”. I wrote a comprehensive post months ago with beautiful pictures that show the faces of our Gogos. Click here to read that article. You can follow what we are doing on our Facebook page.
The gogos (grandparents) in Malawi that Gogo Grandmothers in America sponsor are subsistence farmers — they must grow what they eat for the entire year in one growing season. Their main crop and food each day is maize (corn) that is dried, mixed with water and made into a bland patty called “nsima” (meaning the thing that fills the stomach).
A cyclone in January 2016 washed away some of their garden plots while others were ruined by the drought that followed. The harvests in some areas were 75% less than normal. Hunger tapped at their doors in the following months until their next harvest which was in May 2016. Orphans and children in the Gogos’ care and whole village communities were severely impacted by this lack of maize.
We initiated a campaign we called “The Joseph Project”! It is a Biblical reference to the time when God used Joseph in Egypt to store grain for the famine that was coming. Our staff worked with village leaders to assess those most in need in our sponsored communities. We bought bags of maize in Malawi to store, so that when the hunger became the most severe, we would have enough …
Read MoreRatatouille-Fresh from the Garden
Do you have a garden full of veggies? My garden is overflowing with an abundance of veggies so this recipe is a wonderful way to utilize them. Here is a delicious dish to prepare and serve in a variety of ways…Most often this is our side dish served with BBQ skewers of chicken or beef, but I sometimes will add white beans or grate some parmesan cheese over the top and serve it as our main dish. You can also eat it cold stuffed in pita bread with hummus…..wrapped in a warm tortilla or naan bread with arugula and goat cheese…or serve cold on a bed of greens with toasted pine nuts and a scoop of quinoa. Enjoy this delicious recipe for a summer favorite.
Ratatouille is a stewed vegetable dish from the French Provencal traditional menu, originating in Nice.The French word touiller means to toss around. In most recipes, the key ingredients are the same but the process of cooking the dish vary between each chef’s preference. Some sauté all the vegetables together and simmer on the stove top, some sauté the vegetables separately and layer and bake. Our family favorite (recipe below) is as delicious as any I ever tasted when traveling in France and is the easiest recipe of them all!! Ratatouille was a family favorite of ours way before the Pixar animated “RATATOUILLE” movie was released in 2007. The movie brought awareness to the delicious French dish but many were put off by the lengthy steps to prepare the recipe. You no longer need to be intimidated because you can try our family favorite Ratatouille and wow all your friends. Most often this is our side dish served with BBQ skewers of chicken or beef, but I sometimes will add white beans or grate some …
Read MoreZucchini Soup
Our summer days are hot and the nights are a bit cooler. I love this zucchini soup recipe because it uses up my abundant zucchini crop. This soup is a light and scrumptious meal to serve on a summer night with a piece of crunchy sourdough bread or on a cooler fall evening with a grilled panini or quesadilla. You can actually serve this soup hot or cold. You can easily double the batch for a crowd. One summer when I was young, I was left in chafe of our family garden while my mom was traveling in Europe. I made at least 10 batches of this soup. We served it for company, gave it to friends, and froze a few batches so we could enjoy it all fall. When you freeze the leftover soup and defrost it for later use it tastes just a delicious as the day you made it.
Ingredients
1 medium yellow onion chopped fine
1 Tablespoon olive oil
6 zucchini cut into cubes
6 cups chicken broth
1 Tablespoon vinegar
4 Tablespoon arrowroot
1-2 teaspoon dill weed (fresh is best)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup plain yogurt
Saute onion in oil in a large soup pot. Add zucchini and broth. Bring to a boil and turn to medium and cook until zucchini is soft. Take a bit of the broth out of the pot and pour into a 1 cup measure. Add the vinegar and arrowroot and stir until dissolved. Add the vinegar, arrowroot, broth mixture to the soup pot and stir until blended and the soup starts to thicken. Turn down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Blend in food processor or Vitamix adding yogurt and seasonings. You can serve this soup cold or hot.
Zucchini Bread-Healthy Style
Healthy Zucchini Bread
This summer, I planted a large garden filled with all of our favorite vegetables. The zucchini plants have gone crazy and are producing daily a crop of delicious and nutritious zucchini. I have baked, stir-fried, barbequed and added them into omelets, pizza and frittatas. The following is a conventional recipe for zucchini bread with healthy adaptations.
ENJOY!!!
Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
3 Tablespoons coconut oil
3 eggs
3 cups grated zucchini
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts
½ cup mini chocolate chips and/or 1 cup chopped raisins
Grate the zucchini (one large one from the garden or three medium) into a colander and sprinkle salt on it and let it sit for a few minutes and then squeeze out excess moisture. In a medium bowl combine sugar and applesauce and oil and stir. Add the eggs and stir until mixed well. In a small bowl measure out the flour (you can use a combination of white and whole wheat or experiment with different varieties of gluten free, oat flour, rice flour and feel free to add wheat germ or flax seed as long as it measures a total of 3 cups). Next, add other dry ingredients and stir. Add wet and dry ingredients and stir until just moistened. Add the vanilla, the zucchini and the nuts and stir lightly until combined. For a fun little treat try adding ½-1 cup of mini chocolate chips or 1 cup raisins. Pour into a well greased bread loaf pan and bake at 350˚ for 60-70 minutes.
If you want to make smaller loaves or muffins adjust time for baking accordingly-40 minutes for small loaves