Kitchen Talk

Veg or Non veg. You'll find these little green or red labels on everything, including cereal boxes. Speaking of cereal boxes, I've made the mistake and bought cereal that was imported instead of local which cost be about 3 times the amount it should have cost. I learned my lesson. Now I always look for the little label in the upper right corner. It's a sure sign that it's cheaper! 
Back to the topic of meat. Thankfully Joe and I both can go either way on this topic. We love a good steak in America and we love a good veg sandwich in India. It's a win-win situation for us. In our last 14 months of living here we've gotten really creative with our cooking style based on all the good veg options. I started making these "Crunchy Lebanese" sandwiches after falling in love with them at my favorite cafe here in the city. Thought I'd share the recipe with you.

Crunchy Lebanese Sandwich- serving size 2
4 slices brown bread
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 green pepper
1 onion
3 small tomatoes
lettuce
homemade hummus*
-Prepare hummus and set aside. Clean and cut veggies into small strips. Toast bread. Combine ingredients and enjoy! 
(My favorite combination is yellow and red peppers with extra hummus!)
*homemade hummus is way better than store bought or canned hummus. Just saying

While I'm in recipe mode I'll add this recipe I found on a cooking blog. I've made them a couple times for different groups. The first batch I made was for some national friends. They liked them, but I changed the recipe a little for the second batch. They were a hit at our American Idol party. Here it is with my additional changes. Example: using half the amount of butter

Oreo Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1/2 stick softened butter
• 6 Tablespoons sugar
• 6 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 ¼ cup flour (half white flour, half wheat flour)
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 11 broken pieces Oreo Cookies
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup semi- sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream butter, and sugars until well combined. Add egg and vanilla until mixed well.

2. Place flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a large bowl, stir to combine. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients then stir in oreos and chocolate chips until just combined.

3. Bake for 10 minutes or until cooked, but still soft. Let cool on baking sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Try it! You'll like it!

Training

For the last month, we've been helping with a training in our city. It's been a really great opportunity for us to be a part of teaching. Last night was our last meeting with these brothers and sisters, so of course I had to have a picture.

2 Timothy 2:2 "You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others."

Family Feast

Family Feast... not the blog post that you probably expect, although I hope to be posting some pics from that in about 9 weeks. (Yes, I'm counting down till Mom, Dad, and Brant get here!)

No, this feast was the other night with our brothers and sisters in the faith. We have loved getting to know these brothers and sisters since moving to our new place. They all live right around the corner from us, which is great!

 I told them I'd be coming over every evening for dinner from now on. The food was amazing. I ate way too much!!

We ate Manipur food.

Chicken curry, mashed potatoes, rice, and salad

Joe and the master behind the meal. He's quite the chef!

Happy full belly = Smiling faces

Now the pressure is on for me. I'm going to be cooking them some "American" style food soon. We'll see how that turns out.

Cinco de Mustache

We have been involved in helping with a month long training in our city. It meets on Wednesday nights for a couple of hours. It's been a great experience!

The only bummer is our city is so big... it takes us atleast 1 hour and 45 minutes to get there on the metro, standing body to body with strangers (sounds fun right?!)

Since the traveling and training is a little draining (total time: at least 6 hours) and another meeting was canceled for the morning, we decided to lay low Wednesday morning.

This was the result.... all because some good friends got a crazy idea and something about No Shave November needing some competition.

Cinco De Mustache 2010

I'm thinking it's going to become a tradition thanks to the overwhelming success of this year.

This one is a person favorite, wearing the Kurta top as a turban.

Cinco De Mustache was a huge success at the Futterer household and could NOT have been made possible without the help of:

Crayola Markers and a Clinique compact 

Because sometimes you just have to improvise!

He's already planning for next year!

Hobbies

(This is my new painting)

I love to paint canvases, scrapbooking, and doing crafty projects. It's been really hard to find an outlet for these hobbies here in India. Hard because I don't have a clue where to find the stuff I need to make it happen. For a long time, I would always say we just didn't have a Wal-Mart. But now I say that our whole city is a huge Wal-Mart! You can find anything you could ever possibly need.... eventually.

Well I finally found a canvas. Turns out it was at a store right by our old house, go figure!

I really like the way it turned out. It was something really fun and different from my typical style. Plus it's got a peacock which is the Indian national bird.

Now, I just need to get my hubby to help me hang it on the wall.

A little Shout Out.

So, I can't believe I forgot to post this video from our trip to Goa. This video was taken at a restaurant that Joe and I ate at one evening overlooking the beach. The food was great, but the entertainment was even better. You just can't beat it when an Indian gives a shout out to Arkansas while singing karaoke - just makes you feel at home! Oh, and watch out Billy Ray, I think their gaining on you.

Skype Dates and Mexican Food

So last week wasn't our favorite week. Nothing was really "bad", we were just really homesick for some reason. I'm happy to say that this week has been a much better week. Thank you all for your prayers!

We were able to skype with our small group from SS on Thursday night. They were so kind to sit and eat their BEEF mexican food in front of us. Lucky for us it was 5 am so we weren't too jealous. But seriously, it was so encouraging to see our friends faces, and to hear them lifting us up to the Father. Of course it made me cry, but it was the good kind! I just love our SS class and friends. Thank you guys so much for including us Thursday Night!

Guys of the SS Class.

Girls of the SS Class.

(So I took these off Facebook. They were super blurry blown up so that's why I've kept them small.)

I guess between the SS classes Mexican food at small group and hearing them talk about La Huerta's on Saturday night we decided we needed some mexican food too! We made chicken fajitas and black beans. yummy :)

My hubby made some really amazing flour tortillas. Who needs Mission tortillas when you have a hubby who can cook?

Over all it was a very encouraging busy week.... and at the looks of it on the calendar, this week is going to be the same!