BBQ Sauce

BBQ Sauce 

BBQ sauce is one of those things that people miss while on the field. We all have that one sauce that the whole family loves! However, most fields probably do not have your family's favorite sauce. Here is a BBQ Sauce base for you to tweak to your family's taste. 

Mix ingredients in a bottle, or a bowl. If you like a sweeter sauce, add more sugar or honey, spicy, add chili flakes, vinegar, add vinegar. We change this sauce up depending on what we have barbequed that day. We also like to keep a bottle of the base in the fridge for my brothers. They like to dump this stuff on rice or random leftovers on leftover day.

 Whether you use this BBQ Sauce as a base, or you use it as is, I hope you enjoy this recipe.

Amber Wells
Papua New Guinea
🇵🇬

Marshmallows

One of my favorite parts of 4th of July is sitting around a bonfire, roasting marshmallows for s’mores! 

Graham crackers and marshmallows aren’t exactly common items here in PNG, so we decided to make our own! Amber made some delicious graham crackers (I’m sure there will be a post on those in the future), I whipped up some marshmallows, and we all enjoyed our s’mores! Everyone agreed, these taste just as good (if not better!) than storebought marshmallows. 

Marshmallows always seemed like an intimidating recipe to me. The first time i tried them, i was surprised when they actually turned out right! They are actually quite simple, as long as you know a few tips and tricks. 

These marshmallows don’t toast quite the same as storebought. They melt faster, and caramelize quickly. But they don’t catch on fire as quickly as storebought! Also, these are just as delicious toasted over the stove, if you don’t have a fire pit outside.

I haven't tried these marshmallows in any other recipes yet (such as rice-krispie treats or marshmallow fondant, but it's on my to-do list!). 

Enjoy!

-Kayleigh

Freezy Pops

Freezy Pops

What is more enjoyable than a stick of something cold, refreshing, and sweet on a hot day?

Not a whole lot! 

We have been making these for our Sunday school class the last few weeks. The kids love them! We make simple cordial Freezy Pops for them, but thought maybe we could make some that were more of a snack than just a drink. 

Here are a few of the flavours we have come up with. 

With the first three of these all you do is blend the ingredients until smooth. If the recipe calls for milk, add milk till mixture is pourable. 

Pour yogurt (already sweetened with honey)  and jam into Freezy Pop bag by the spoonful for a more swirled look. If you don't care about the swirl, just mix the ingredients together and pour into Freezy Pop bags. 

Just follow the custard instructions to make the custard Freezy Pops. Allow the custard to cool before you pour into Freezy Pop bags. 

If you do not have the right ice pops bags, you can make your own using a zip- top bag, rubber bands and skewers. 

We hope you guys enjoy these! 

Let us know what you think! 

Amber Wells & Kayleigh Dye 

🇵🇬

Chocolate Cake

Homemade chocolate cake is hard to make. 

I mean it isn't really, but it's hard to find a recipe that is moist, flavorful, not tough, but not crumbly. 

I'm normally not even a cake fan, but I love this cake. I like to eat it without frosting, just pure chocolate cake! 

I got this recipe from a missionary here in PNG, and she got it from her mother, who got it from a magazine...so if you're reading this recipe, and it's your recipe, I thank you for putting this delicious recipe in a magazine many years ago! 

Mix dry ingredients, then wet. Combine ingredients, and beat for 3 minutes. 

Pour into a greased and floured 9" pan or into cupcake cups.  Bake in a 325° oven for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center. 

I honestly believe the secret to this cake's moistness, richness, and over all deliciousness is the coffee. I've tried making it with just water, or milk, or even hot water, and it just isn't the same. 

One thing I did learn last time I made this recipe is that the batter must be baked immediately. My oven was full, and I wasn't able to bake my cupcakes immediately. The cupcakes still tasted great, but the cake was a bit crumbly, and would not have been firm enough to frost. I am not sure why this is the case. If you know why, let me know, please!

Amber Wells
Papua New Guinea
🇵🇬

God's Provisions

We are currently on furlough and it is difficult to find the time to write blog posts as I would like.  God is teaching me and reminding me of so many lessons during this time.  Today, I thought I would share one of them with you.     

There has been a circumstance in my family recently that has driven me to my knees.  I have shared at my personal blog before, that one of the things I have struggled with as a missionary is not “being there” or being able to provide some things for my kids.  This hasn’t lessened since my kids have left the nest.  In fact, in some regards, it has been a little more difficult.  

During a recent situation with one of my children, I found myself wondering what God might be up to.  One thing I did not do was doubt that He had a plan.  I’ve seen Him work too many times to doubt Him and what He was doing.

As in the past, I’ve seen God work in a miraculous way.  I’ve seen Him provide in ways that it could have only come from Him.  I have found once again that I can trust God to care for my children.  He loves them far more than I ever could.  He has everything under His control.  I can rest in the fact that He will always do what is best.  

My heart is overflowing with praise as I write.  My faith has once again been strengthened.  

“Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him…”  ~Psalm 37:7

*The photo is from my favorite place near my home in Japan.

Olive Garden Salad Dressing

Olive Garden salad.... why is it so delicious? It’s pretty simple as far as salads go: no fancy lettuce or exciting toppings. But that dressing sends it over the top!

I made this dressing all the time (until we started deputation, and then I found out Olive Garden sold the dressing at Walmart. We always had a bottle in our RV fridge 🙂). Now that we are in PNG with no Walmarts around, this recipe is quickly becoming a favorite again. 

This recipe is so easy! Just throw everything in a blender until the dressing is smooth and combined. It is also very easy to adjust to your tastes. If you like it a little thinner, add more oil. If you want it a little less tangy, reduce the vinegar by a tablespoon or two.  The dressing can be stored in the fridge for about 10 days. 

If you can’t find mayonnaise or corn syrup where you are, make your own! There is a recipe for mayonnaise on this blog already, and we have plans to do more “staples” and substitutes for ingredients (including corn syrup) here soon! In the meantime, you can use honey as a corn syrup substitute in this recipe. 

Stay tuned for more delicious copycat recipes. Let us know if there is a specific copycat recipe you’d like us to work on!

- Kayleigh Dye

Fajita Seasoning Mix

When I first started to cook, my parents gave me a day of the week to make dinner. That day was all on me, I could make whatever I wanted! Every single Tuesday I would get all excited and go through all of our cookbooks looking for a tasty new recipe to make. 

However 

I never made any of those. Why? Cause I was on Fajita kick. I made fajitas every single Tuesday for a couple of months. I loved them so much! I would roll out my tortillas, slice up the onions and bell peppers, and mix up a recipe of Fajita Seasoning Mix. A friend of ours from Montana had given us the recipe when we were on deputation, and I thought it tasted so much better than  the seasoning packets from the store. Plus, I'm a snob and I don't like using seasoning packets. 😬

Use this Fajita Seasoning to your own taste. Some like to add a lot, some like to add a little. It depends on what you're wanting. Normally one recipe makes 2-3 meals for my family of seven. 

I am so thankful my family didn't complain about eating the same meal every week! I still love Fajitas, but have learned that variety is a good thing. Right around the time I learned that my mom gave me more nights to make dinner.....hmmmm, maybe they were afraid I was gonna make fajitas several times a week!

Fajitas are a great low carb meal - you don't have to serve them on tortillas. Sometimes we just make the bell peppers, onions, and beef mix and then make a fajita salad out of it. We'll put salsa, or guacamole, or sour cream, or cheese, or all that! It makes a delicious salad! 

Fajitas can also be a great keto meal. Lower the amounts of bell peppers, onions, and salsa, and just up the amounts of guacamole, sour cream and cheese! 

We make this more when we first get back from town and have fresh veggies to make the salsa, and guacamole. 

You can also make your own sour cream by just adding a tablespoon of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar (white or brown work too, but we get better results with acv) to a cup of full cream. We can't always get fresh cream here. Sometimes all that is available is shelf stable box cream. If you only have the shelf stable cream make sure you chill it before making it into sour cream. If the cream doesn't thicken, try adding a teaspoon more of vinegar. Chill and stir before serving.

I love making my own seasoning mixes because I know exactly what is in them. We do have some allergies in my family, so I don't have to worry about "small traces of" or the ingredients I can't pronounce or have no idea what they mean!