"Next month, can we eat hot dogs every night?"
I am laughing and groaning as I remember and write. I've never had more complaints and near rebellion at dinner time by my children as I have this month. But, I am also really excited that we did discover some new recipes that Everyone really liked! Yes, we had a few gagging sessions and "if you throw that up, you'll clean it up!" "talks" at the table. My 3 year old (who amazingly has complained the least) has gone to bed with very little to eat more nights than I can count. Yet, he has shown the most excitement at the prospect of sending money to other children.
I pray my children will have learned something from this whole exercise...most of all thankfulness and an awareness of others around them.
If LAHASH does this again next year, we'll be right there with them.
I think we'll celebrate with Pizza and Cake when the month is at end.
hen their parents died. Children without extended family members close by to watch out for them fell through the cracks, scavenging on the streets or even dying. When Moris was three days old, his mother died from a respiratory disease or infection. Completely overwhelmed by grief and the prospect of caring for a newborn and six other children, the father committed suicide. Somehow the children ended up at a refugee center, where the staff connected them to IWASSRU. The youngest three children were brought to Amazing Grace.Cranberry Bean Gratin
Soak overnight in 4 cups water:1 1/4 cups cranberry or borlotti beansDrain and cover with fresh water by 2 inches in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat and skim off any foam. Simmer gently for 2 hours or so until the beans are tender. Add more water if necessary during the cooking.Season to taste with salt.Set the beans aside to cool in their liquid. Meanwhile finely dice:1/2 onion (about 1/4 cup diced) (Lenz family used one whole small onion)1 small peeled carrot (about 1/4 cup diced)1 small celery stalk (about 1/4 cup diced)Heat in a heavy-bottomed pan:1/4 cup olive oilAdd the diced vegetables and cook until tender, about 10 minutes.Add:4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced6 fresh sage leaves, chopped (we didn't have fresh sage so I used 1 tsp. dried)saltCook for 5 minutes and then stir in:1/2 cup chopped tomatoes, fresh or cannedCook for 5 minutes. Taste and add salt if necessary.Drain the beans, reserving the liquid. Mix the beans with the vegetables and put into a medium-size gratin or baking dish. Taste for salt. Add enough bean liquid to almost cover. Drizzle with:1/4 extra-virgin olive oilCover with:1/2 cup toasted breadcrumbs (we had Panko breadcrumbs in the cupboard so thats what we used)Bake for 40 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven, checking occasionally. If the gratin is drying out, carefully spoon in a little bean liquid (pouring at the sides of the gratin dish to avoid getting the crumbs wet).
somewhat patched together. Juan and her grandmother fell into the justice system when the grandmother was caught poisoning people in their town. Both were arrested, as much for their own protection as for the sake of justice, since mob vengeance is common. The grandmother died shortly after and, although she was found innocent of any wrongdoing, Juan had nowhere safe to go. They kept her at the prison, a ramshackle collection of huts with one armed guard, housing both men and women. One day, while working in the fields, Juan was raped by a fellow prisoner and became pregnant. She gave birth to a little girl called Kiden Nancy in mid-2008 while still in prison. Mama Susan petitioned to receive custody of Juan and her daughter, which was granted in early 2009.
father, or she can remarry, knowing that her new husband will likely reject the children from her first marriage. Kabang’s father was a house-builder who was killed by a client who did not want to pay him. Her mother remarried and left Kabang and her brother with their grandmother. The grandmother’s health began to fail and she was no longer able to care for them, so they were brought to Amazing Grace.
for complicated pregnancies. Her mother had died in childbirth when Kiden was born, then Kiden’s father was killed in combat in the civil war, so Kiden and her sisters were sent to their blind, widowed grandmother. The grandmother found herself unable to care for young Kiden and brought her to Amazing Grace when she was five years old. The sisters’ locations are unknown.
were gooooood! Wanna hear more about our R&B journey? I'll add a day-by-day thought at the end.Day 10: John Z (8) misses Cheerios, Daniel (7) longs for breakfast food of ALL varieties, Josiah (5) & JoyAnna (3) ache for their beloved “treat bowl.” And good ‘ol Bryan was too busy with a stomach virus today to care much about food.
Day 11: I’m hurting for flavored coffee creamer. Just the creamer. Even the most lenient coffee snob would be disgusted by my coffee choices- off-brand, decaf, instant granules or that fake burnt dandelion stuff. I only drink the coffee for the creamer…and, oh how I miss my comfort in a cup!
Day 12: “Your house is not the place to have the munchies in right now.” –Aunt Johnna during her Spring Break visit
Day 13: Self induced kitchen bondage by making elaborate bean dishes and homemade naan (bread is on our approved list). I killed the heart of simplicity today. I think there’s a lesson in here for me. ("Better is a dry morsel and quietness with it than a house full of feasting with strife." - Pvb. 17:1)
Day 14: We thoroughly enjoyed our weekly Celebration Meal (John Z. chose breakfast food) & Aunt Johnna snacks. Before this month we just expected variety… now it seems that we completely delight in it.
Day 15: Okay, it’s getting HARD to continue this journey. Tonight we had to reign in our hearts and minds and remember that we’re CHOOSING to to do this… for a purpose bigger than ourselves. Oh, God have mercy!
Day 16: Grocery shopping analysis: Before: 1 hour, overflowing cart, at least 6 impulse buys, average $152 each week. Today: ½ hour, 1/3 filled cart, no impulse buys, $79. Wow!
became the second wife of a man with three children already. They had another daughter and then, in 2005, the husband drowned while fishing in the Nile River. Poni, her three step-siblings, and her half-sister were brought to Amazing Grace when both mothers became very ill and could not provide food for them.
untrained or underpaid workers, so when someone is struck with an illness or accident, it can be devastating. Seme and his brother lost their mother to what is only known to be a “swelling illness” very soon after Seme was born. The father was unable to care for an infant and a ten-year-old, so he sent them to an elderly aunt. The aunt could not care for them either, and they were brought to Amazing Grace when Seme was barely a year old.
Bojo Samson, called “BOH-joh”, age 8
Families at the edge of poverty can be utterly wrecked by the death of a parent. Bojo’s mother died from a snake bite when he was just a baby, and his father, traumatized and grieving, was badly injured in an accident a few days later. Unable to work as a result of the accident, he brought Bojo and his older brother Korsuk to live at Amazing Grace for a better life than he could offer them.
Bojo is extremely active, and loves to play games. Even while playing football (soccer), dirt is a distraction and he’s often found hunched over, playing with handfuls of it. When the ball comes back to his end, though, he jumps up to get a foot in the game. He plays so hard during the day that he often falls heavily asleep during evening prayers and has to be shaken several times to get him awake enough to drag himself off to bed.
S-tin”, age 18At the beginning of the month, walk to the market to purchase the rice, beans, cooking oil, charcoal and kerosene. Spend several minutes in greetings with the owner of the booth of your preference, then buy several kilos of rice and several kilos of beans and a few litres of cooking oil. Walk to another shop to purchase a litre of kerosene, given in an abandoned water bottle. Walk to another shop to purchase a large bag of charcoal. Return home and store the food where cockroaches, lizards, and mice will not have access. Purchase carrots, onions, tomatoes, and green peppers from the local produce stand in the days before cooking.
On the day of the meal, measure the beans into a wide, flat basket and remove debris. Wash the beans thoroughly, and put in a large pot. Fill pot to the brim with water. Fill the charcoal burner with charcoal, and use small kindling to get a good, hot fire among the coals. Place the pot of beans on the burner. Bring to boil, and leave cooking until beans are soft. Drain off and reserve remaining water. Wash and chop up onions, carrots, green peppers, and grate tomatoes. Fry some onions in oil with the grated tomatoes and diced carrots and peppers. Leave cooking until soft, then add the beans, and cook for approximately ten minutes. Add salt and the reserved “bean water”. Cook for another several minutes until the water thickens into a kind of “soup”.
Measure the rice into the wide, flat basket. Pick out the small rocks, twigs, and bad grains. Pour the rice into a basin of water and wash thoroughly, then pull the rice out of the water by the handful, carefully pressing the water out of each handful. Place the rice in a pot with fresh water and a little oil. Fill the cooker with kerosene and raise the wicks. Light a match and hold to each of the eight kerosene-soaked wicks. Replace the cooking platform over the flame and place the pot of rice on the burner. Stir the rice occasionally until the grains start to absorb water, then cover and leave to cook until the rice has absorbed all of the water.
Move the beans and rice into serving dishes and carry to the table, where the cook is expected to pray for a blessing on the food. Load a plate with a heaping serving of rice, then cover the rice with the soup from the beans, then spoon the beans and veg over the rice.
If your appetite for the traditional “wali na maharage” is somewhat abated, a generous splash of
Below are guest reflections from Cherish who is a volunteer part of the Rice and Beans team.Week two of rice and beans at the Holcomb house! We were fortunate enough to test out this diet in December, so we have had a head start on ways to make it simpler to sustain. Here are some of our top tips to share with you:
Juan Catherine, called Catherine, age 10
Some of the refugees from the war in Sudan made it all the way down to the capital of Uganda, Kampala, where they found themselves destitute without a community to support them. Catherine’s parents, two young street kids, were barely more than children and just trying to get enough food in their own bellies. They could not possibly take care of Catherine as well, and they heard that IWASSRU could give some help to South Sudanese children. Mama Susan accepted Catherine to the home for fear that she wouldn’t live much longer if left with her parents.
Catherine loves playing games, singing, and dancing. The children have several games that include sing-song directions to play along to, and Catherine is always ready to play. She does a really good job of including the very small children and neighbors in the games as well, and if there is a tickle fight going on, she is sure to be right in the middle of it. She is really bright and always busy with some job or play.
I used this recipe as a template for a soup a few of us had last night and it was great! I made a handful of alterations based on what I had on hand and served it over rice to cut down how spicy it was.
For the beans:
1 pound dried large lima beans
1 large white onion, cut in half
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 bay leaf
Salt to taste
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup finely chopped yellow or red bell pepper
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion, soaked for five minutes in cold water, drained and rinsed (optional)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
For the beets:
8 small beets, greens cut away, scrubbed
1/3 cup red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar
Salt to taste
2 garlic cloves, cut in half
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1. Place the beans in a large pot. Cover by 2 inches with water, and bring to a gentle boil. Skim off any foam, and add the onion, garlic and bay leaf. Turn the heat to low, cover and simmer 30 minutes. Add salt to taste, and simmer an additional 20 minutes until just tender. Remove from the heat. Remove and discard the onion, garlic cloves and the bay leaf. Allow the beans to cool in the liquid, then drain through a strainer set over a bowl. Gently toss the beans in a bowl with the lemon juice, olive oil, celery, peppers, onion and herbs. If desired, add 2 to 4 tablespoons of the bean broth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.
2. Cook the beets while the beans are cooking. Place in a saucepan, cover with water, add 1/4 cup of the vinegar and salt to taste. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until tender, 30 to 45 minutes, depending on the size of the beets. Remove from the heat, add the garlic to the pot and set aside to cool. Remove the beets from the pot (do not drain), slip off the skins and cut in wedges.
3. Combine the remaining vinegar, the sugar and 1/4 cup of the beet broth (discard the garlic). Toss with the beets. Arrange the beans on a plate or in a bowl and surround with the beets. If you wish, serve this dish with skordalia.
Yield: Serves six to eight.
Advance preparation: The beans and the beets can both be prepared up to three days before serving.
Madhur Jaffrey’s Quick and Easy Indian Cooking
2 cups basmati rice
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 whole cloves
1 bay leaf 4 cardamom pods
1-inch stick cinnamon
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
¼ teaspoons ground turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons finely sliced chives or the green part of green onions
Put the rice in a bowl and rinse well in several changes of water, then drain.
Put the oil in a heavy saucepan and set over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, put in the cloves, bay leaf, cardamom pods, and cinnamon. Stir once or twice and put in the garlic. As soon as the garlic turns medium brown, put in the rice, turmeric, and salt. Stir gently for a minute. Now put in 2 ¾ cups water and bring to a boil. Cover tightly, turn the heat down very, very low, and cook for 25 minutes. Sprinkle with chives before serving.
Serves 4-6
from the Rancho Gordo cookbook, Heirloom Beans"I am sending the recipe because it was pretty unique and that should be really nice as the month wears on!" -from Laura & AnthonyThanks for sharing your recipe!!
Slow Cooker Vegetarian Feijoada (from Epicurious.com)
Serves 6
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large spanish (sweet) onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 19-oz cans of black beans (I used 1 pound of dried black beans that I cooked ahead of time.)
2 cups water
2 cups sweet potato
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder
2 cups collard greens or kale
1/2 cup orange juice
1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat.
2. Fry the onion for a few minutes until translucent. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for a minute. Transfer to slow cooker.
3. Drain and rinse the canned beans and add to the slow cooker with 2 cups water. Mix with onion mixture. Roll up the kale or collard greens so that they resemble cigars, then slice crosswise with a sharp knife. Put the greens and chunks of sweet potato on top of the slow cooker mixture. Sprinkle with the salt and chili powder. Cover and cook on high for 5 to 6 hours, or on low for 8 to 10 hours.
4. Just before serving, stir in the orange juice. Serve on top of white rice with a salad.
Last night a variety of Portlanders turned up to enjoy a kick-off dinner for the month. We brought a large variety of Rice & Bean dishes from a variety of cultures. Thanks to everyone who showed up and brought the delicious dishes! 
And the photo below is of Jeff Angote. Jeff is a media specialist from Kenya that has been assisting our partners in Tanzania with their blog and other communication. He's enjoying Rice and Beans from East Africa!
And Lahash traveler Katie Gresham is living in Tanzania as well. She is volunteering for a month helping out with the AIDS care and child sponsorship programs. Katie displays her yummy dish in the photo below!
Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home
1 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 celery stalks (about 1 cup chopped)
2 green or red bell peppers (about 1 ½ cups chopped)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme (1/2 teaspoon dried)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil (1 teaspoon dried)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano (½ teaspoon dried)
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper (or more to taste)
Pinch each of cayenne and salt
2 cups chopped fresh or canned tomatoes (14 ½-ounce can)
1 tablespoon honey or molasses
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
4 cups cooked black-eyed peas or butter beans (two 10-ounce frozen packages or two 16-ounce cans, drained)
Chopped scallions (optional)
Grated cheddar cheese (optional)
In a heavy saucepan or skillet, sauté the onions and garlic in the oil on medium heat. Chop the celery and bell peppers, and add them to the pan. Continue to sauté for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the thyme, basil, oregano, black pepper, and salt. Cover and cook for 5 minutes or until the onions are golden, stirring once or twice. Add the tomatoes, honey or molasses, and mustard, and simmer for 5 more minutes. Add the beans, cover, and stir occasionally until thoroughly heated. Canned beans will be hot in less than 10 minutes, but frozen beans need to simmer for 15-20 minutes.
Top with scallions or grated cheese if you like, and serve.
Serves 6
