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Orange-Ginger Dipping Sauce

January 15, 2013 by Betty

I’ve become a pretty good thrift store shopper since living in Oregon. And I have the habit of browsing through their cookbooks. Here’s what I found…I’m excited to share with you one of the easiest and yummy dipping sauces that I found while thumbing through an old cookbook. It only takes four ingredients. This dipping sauce is not only easy, but healthy and versatile. That means you can easily use it with your favorite Asian veggie wraps, sushi and Chinese dumplings just to name a few. I served this to a friend with a cabbage wrap and she requested this recipe. I hope you’ll like it too.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup (6 fl oz/180 ml) fresh squeezed orange juice

1/4 cup (2 fl oz/ 60 ml) low-sodium tamari soy sauce

1 tablespoon grated orange zest (I prefer organic oranges)

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

Instructions:

1. In a VitaMix (or other blenders), puree ingredients for about 5-10 seconds. Pour sauce into small bowl or strain into a small bowl if you need to. (I didn’t need to strain the sauce since my VitaMix did a fine job of blending everything nicely).

Yield: 1 cup (8 fl oz/240 ml)

Use right away or stored in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Recipe from The Taste for Living World Cookbook by Beth Ginsberg and Mike Milken

Filed Under: Sauces Tagged With: Asian dipping sauce

How to Cook Quinoa

January 15, 2013 by Betty

Quinoa has become a stable in our family for the last couple of years. You might have read some of my quinoa posts in the past. But if you’re new here, you might want to check out some of my yummy quinoa recipes: Quinoa Black Bean Salad and Easy Peruvian Quinoa Chowder. Since our love for quinoa is a growing one, I felt that it deserves a proper introduction!

Quinoa (pronounced Kin-wah) looks and tastes like a grain, but it’s not a grain? Quinoa is closely related to the spinach and beet family that contain antioxidants, heart-healthy fats, and calcium. It’s also high in protein. It can be eaten like rice or barley, but of course, in a hearty soup or salad, quinoa could be served as a standalone meal.

How to cook quinoa:

The ratio of quinoa to water is 1 to 2.

For example:

To cook 1 cup of quinoa, add 2 cups of water to sauce pan.
To cook ½ cup of quinoa, add 1 cup of water to sauce pan.

Rinse quinoa before cooking. Put quinoa and water into a pot and bring it to a boil. Cover and simmer at low heat until quinoa absorbs all the water, about 12-15 minutes. Then remove from heat. Keep the lid covered and let it sit for about 5 minutes.

Yield:

1/2 cup of uncooked quinoa makes 2 cups cooked.

1 cup of uncooked quinoa makes 4 cups cooked.

Note: you can substitute water with chicken or vegetable broth.

Filed Under: Side Dishes Tagged With: how to cook quinoa

How to Make Playdough

January 10, 2013 by Betty

Everyone seems to have their favorite homemade playdough or playdoh recipe. Over the past few years I’ve tried various recipes. But recently, while at my friend Lisa’s house, my little girl and I fell in love with her playdough. It was super soft and it smelled good too. So we decided to make this cooked playdough at home. Here’s what we did.

Ingredients:

2 cups white flour

1 cup salt

2 teaspoon Cream of Tartar

2 Tablespoons cooking oil

2 cups water

5-6 drops of food coloring of your choice

1 Tablespoons vanilla extract

Instructions:

Add all ingredients in a medium pot and heat flour mixture over low-medium heat. Be sure to scrape the bottom constantly. When dough is not drippy, it’s ready to be transferred to a floured surface. We used our big cutting board. Don’t overcook the mixture. It’s okay if dough still seems wet, as long as it’s not dripping water when you try to scoop it. Transfer dough to a floured surface and knead until playdough consistency. Add more flour as needed to ensure playdough is not too sticky.

Here’s Mei kneading some playdough on a big floured cutting board.

Our beautiful playdough art!

Store playdough in ziplock bags or tupperwares and it can last three months or longer.

Filed Under: Indoors Activities, Recipes Tagged With: cooked playdough, playdough recipe

Jesus’ Escape to Egypt

January 8, 2013 by Betty

In Sunday School this week, I taught the kids about Joseph, Mary and Boy Jesus’ flight to Egypt and God’s protection from Matthew 2. I also did a craft with my kids that I know many readers will want to do with their kids. You can read the full account at BibleGateWay, a site dedicated to free Bible resources. Here are some activities to help reinforce this lesson that your kiddos are learning.

Memory Verse:

If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31b

Printable Map of Mary and Joseph’s Journeys from BibleWise.

Mary and Joseph Escape to Egypt Craft from ChristianEdWarehouse. See picture above for completed craft.

Escape to Egypt Decoding Puzzle from Sermons4Kids.

Read or listen to this devotional story, “Stormy Weather” from Keys for Kids.

Filed Under: Mom's Corner Tagged With: Boy Jesus escaped to Egypt

The Baby God

January 4, 2013 by Betty

Now that Christmas is over, the Christmas tree is gone, the nativity scene is stored away, and the decorations are back to normal…or so…I thought…

One morning soon after Christmas day, as we were working on our morning devotion together from Keys for Kids, my three-year-old used the name “The Baby God,” in reference to Jesus. To MeiMei, she probably didn’t think much of the term, just connecting what she knows about Jesus and his birth. For me, I pondered on this term that day, and thought, wow, there’s profound theology packed into these three little words.

Without diving into a deep theology discussion about the terms, because I am not a theologian. My heart cries out to the fact that Jesus, in his humble state, stepped down into humanity, vulnerable and helpless to do something for me that I could never do for myself. This “Baby God” probably cried when he was hungry. Mary, his mom probably had to change and wash a lot of dirty diapers. My boys giggled as they said, “He cried when he needed a diaper change.” That’s so true.

I think that God could have used other ways to relate to his creation (it’s his prerogative after all), but He chose the most personal way to identify with us, he became a baby. A baby who grew up to give his life as a payment for us so that we may be forgiven and experience a new life in God. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (NIV)

As you pursue a sense of newness in your life this new year, I hope you’ll discover something new in “The Baby God”. May “The Baby God” bless you this holiday season and the whole year through! Have a Happy New Year!