Once-a-month Cooking in Honduras Just in January

Tomorrow I leave for 10 days in Honduras co-leading a team of women primarily from my church who will be supporting the Honduran Women's Bible Conference next weekend.  Our job will be to prepare the 8 meals and serve them to over 150 women at the conference.  This will be my third trip, and I LOVE it!  It's like a giant Once-a-month Cooking over the course of a week.  I am excited to be able to use my gifts and abilities to bless others.  Here's what our time will look like:

 

Friday:  We will be flying.  Pray for our bags to arrive on time and to be allowed through customs.

Saturday - After arriving about noon, we will begin our shopping for the meat and dairy products.  All the non-perishable items were purchased in November and are already at the camp.  Please pray for the availability of these items.

Sunday is family day  in Honduras and so we will attend church with one of our host families and spend the afternoon with them and our other host family in Valley of the Angels and Santa Lucia. 

Monday - We load the vans early in the morning and drive 3-4 hours to the camp in La Esperanza.  Then we unload the vans and organize the supplies and our "beds" which will really be the wooden banquet tables.

Tuesday - We will divide into four work teams.  Some will decorate, some will prepare the gift bags and wrap door prizes, will be begin baking and some will shop locally for produce with our Honduran helpers.

Wednesday - The efforts will continue from Tuesday and will also include making 19 lasagnas and other menu items to freeze for the days ahead.

Thursday - We begin by preparing the banquet meal which includes 55 pounds of roast beef, 35 pounds of green beans and 24 Hershey pies.   The women arrive, and the conference begins with the banquet dinner.

Friday - We'll be up early to cook 540 pancakes.  This is our first day to prepare and serve 3 meals on time.

Saturday - Another early morning to bake the 14 egg strata which take extra time in the mountains, and then prepare for the day's meals including decorating 170 sunflower cupcakes for dinner. 

Sunday - One or two of us will be up at 4:00 a.m. to start the coffee and set out muffins and yogurt for the ladies leaving early on the bus (6:00 a.m.),while others will gather for coffee together in the dining hall.  Our team does final cleaning of kitchen, generously thanks our fabulous Honduran dishwashers, and returns to Tegucigalpa for a team/host family thank you dinner that night.

Monday - It's already time to say goodbye to our host families and return home

I'd thought about posting from Honduras, but I will not have internet access for most of the trip.  We cook American meals and many of the recipes are already on my blog.   However, something we make especially for the conference are our Honduras-shaped Sugar Cookies. 

I found this recipe in the newspaper when I was teaching 2nd grade many moons ago and still have the original newsprint.  It, too, has been tweaked into this favorite dough.

Favorite Sugar Cookies
1/2 C butter
1 C sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract
3 C flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Completely melt the butter.  Pour into mixing bowl and add sugar, eggs and extracts.  Mix well.  Add the flour and salt.  The dough should be firm enough to roll immediately.  (I never liked having to refrigerate the dough!) 

On a well-floured surface with a floured rolling pin, roll dough to 1/4" thick.  Using cookie cutters, cut the dough and gently liff with a pancake spatula onto an ungreased cookie sheet.  Repeat until the sheet is full and bake at 375 degrees F for 8-10 minutes.  Bake larger cookies longer.  Completely cool before frosting.

White Glaze Frosting
1/2 lb. powdered sugar (about 1 1/2 C)
1/2 tsp. vanilla, clear is best
several tablespoons water

Mix well until smooth and runny.  Paint over cookies with a wide pastry brush.  Allow to dry.  Add writing with regular frosting.

 Back to writing in two weeks!