We Can Overcome

In December the senior couples were asked to bring funeral potatoes to the mission Christmas dinner.  I bought one too many bags of hash browns.  My fridge/freezer is apartment size so space is a premium, especially in the freezer section.  I decided I would make potato soup for dinner on Sunday.  Since the missionaries will eat almost anything, I wanted to try making a soup based on a soup I used to make at home.  It was a hit!  I had seen recipes for loaded baked potato soup and that sounded good so that is the direction I went.  I'm including my recipe in case you want to feed a herd of hungry missionaries or just your family.

Sister Talaboc, Elders Walker and Cahan, Sisters Steninger, Bush and Panoussi

I didn't want to waste the potato skins.  That is my favorite part of the baked potato so I looked at recipes for baked potato skins and used what I had and adapted.  Potato skins were also a hit.  Recipe included.

Loaded baked potato soup and skins

Crispy Baked Potato Skins

Ingredients:

6 large russet baking potatoes

Olive oil

Montreal Steak Seasoning or garlic salt

Melted butter about ¼ cup

Shredded cheese

Crumbled cooked bacon

Sour cream

Fresh chives finely chopped

Instruction:

Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Pierce each potato several times with a fork or sharp knife.  Rub each with olive oil and sprinkle on the seasoning.

Place on a foil lined baking sheet.  Bake about 50 minutes or until done.  Transfer to a wire rack until cool enough to handle.

Slice each potato into quarters lengthwise.  Using a spoon, scoop out the flesh, leaving about 1/8^th inch intact:  Reserve the flesh for another use.

Lay each skin on a foil lined baking pan.  Brush the insides of the potatoes with melted butter and sprinkle with garlic salt.  

Place pan/skins under the broiler for about 2 minutes until the top edges start to brown.  Watch carefully that they don’t burn.  

Remove from broiler and sprinkle with shredded cheese.  Return to broiler until the cheese is melted.

Top with sour cream, chives, and bacon or eat just as is.  Good dipped in ranch dressing too.

Baked Potato Soup

Serves 12-14 hungry missionaries

Ingredients:

6 large baking or russet potatoes, baked

1 32 oz bag frozen hash browns

1 very large onion or 2 medium sized, chopped

5 garlic cloves, minced or pressed

1 can (10 oz) cream of chicken soup, undiluted

¼ - ½ cup butter

2 ½ teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon pepper

2 quarts chicken broth

2 cups half and half

2 cups sharp cheddar cheese shredded

6 tablespoons chopped fresh chives or dried chives equivalent

1 8 oz package of cream cheese

Sour Cream

Green onions

Shredded cheese

Bacon bits, crisply fried  (I use about 2 lbs because missionaries don’t often get bacon and they load it on.)

Directions:

Scrub the potatoes.  Dry them and rub with olive oil.  Poke with fork.  Sprinkle with Montreal Steak Seasoning or garlic salt.  Bake at 400 degrees about 45 minute to an hour, depending on the size of the potatoes, or until done.

Let them cool. (I did this the day before.)  Scoop out the meat of the potato leaving about 1/8 inch potato on the skin. Set aside to make crispy baked potato skins.

In a large crockpot, add the hash browns, onion, garlic, cream of chicken soup, butter, salt, pepper and chicken broth.  Cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours.  Add the scooped out baked potatoes.  Cook until the potatoes are heated through.

Add the creamed cheese.  Mash the mixture with a potato masher or a hand blender until the cream cheese is blended in, the potatoes are coarsely chopped and the soup is slightly thickened.  Stir in the half and half, 2 cups sharp cheese and chives.  Stir until the cheese is melted and blended in.

Serve in bowls topped with sour cream, sliced green onions, additional shredded cheese and the bacon.

It was transfer week here in the mission.  13 missionaries went home and 11 new missionaries arrived.  I went, as usual, to the mission home Tuesday afternoon to help Anthea with laundry and dinner.  Being with the missionaries never gets old.  They bring life and spirit where ever they are whether they are coming or going.

Departing missionaries and President and Sister Reynolds

Sisters Seay, Fields and Provard

Elders Honey, Atoa, Barola and Mitchell

Elders Brown, Switzer and Wixom

Elders Peters, Peña and Rossi

Meeting the new missionaries is so opposite of the departing missionaries.  The departing missionaries have 18 months to 2 years of hard work behind them.  They are sad to leave but ready to start new chapters in their lives.  The "newbies" usually look a little like deer in the headlights.  This group came to New York in the midst of the Nor'easter. It was a rough flight.  They told me that they circled in the air over the city for about 45 minutes waiting for the opportunity to land. They arrived on Monday and I didn't see them until Tuesday morning, but some of them were still a little green in color.  The elders who picked them up at the airport reported that they had to stop the van a few times for sick missionaries.  What an introduction to your mission! 

Thursday I accompanied some missionaries to Manhattan.  It is fun to go into the city.  No matter how many times I go there, I notice interesting things.  In the winter the city puts pine boughs and pine cones in the planters around the trees where there are beautiful flowers in the spring, summer and fall. It looks really nice.   I always am entertained by people watching.  The area I most often go with the missionaries is the upper east side, so people are very well dressed and the streets are mostly clean and well kept.

Saturday I went to Freeport to help with some things.  This was my first time to actually be in Freeport.  I've passed through but never stopped.  I want to go back there again when the weather is warmer and I can walk the Nautical Mile.  Read about Freeport.

Recently I have been helping a few missionaries who are struggling with discouragement, depression, anxiety, and stress or various forms of these problems.  I've read several talks by general authorities.  One of my favorites and most helpful is the talk by Elder Holland. Read "Like a broken vessel."  Everyone should read this talk.  It will give you a lift.




Each of us reacts differently to our trials.  No matter our response to trials, stress, anxiety, depression, and discouragement affects each of us at one time or another in varying degrees.  We all know others in our lives who struggle daily with these ailments if I may call them ailments.  We can help ourselves and others if we understand how and why and know that through the Atonement and with the help of therapists, doctors, medications, and the Lord we can overcome.

I know that the Lord has provided a way for us to be happy in this life as we go through our daily struggles.  The way is not always evident, but if we can strive to make our lives Christ-centered, it will become easier and we will then be more in tune with the Spirit and can be guided more easily.   As we partake of the sacrament, we make a commitment to always remember the Savior. The more we keep Christ in our thoughts, the more He will become the center of our lives and the more He will guide and direct us to reach our full potential. Always remembering the Savior will always bless our lives and will help us to bless the lives of others.


I love you my family and friends.

Lunch date with Sisters Panoussi and Talaboc

Another experiment:  pretzel brownies

The sisters brought me an empanada de pollo

Dinner with Elders Bergeson and Lance (Notice I was eating a healthy meal-
broccoli and salmon. I do eat things other than chocolate and potato skins.)

European chocolate given to me by some elders who know my weakness.
Homemade fudge sent by my niece who also knows my weakness. I am so spoiled!!!

Choose the Right

Today in Primary, the younger children all came into singing/sharing time with their new CTR rings.  They were proudly showing them off to the older children and to other adults. 

In Primary this year, the theme for sharing time presentations is Choose the Right.  The music we are learning is all about choosing the right.  This concept is so important.  Children and adults, every day, have to make choices.  We are hopefully preparing and teaching the children through words and music the value of making wise choices. 

We come to this earth with agency.  We can make choices that will affect our entire lives and eternity for good or bad.  With prayer and reliance on the guidance of the Holy Ghost, we can be more effective in choosing wisely.

The new song we are learning this year for the Sacrament Meeting Program teaches about making choices:

I came to earth with power to choose.
Good choices bless me and my family too.
As a child of God I receive special light
The Holy Ghost helps me to know what is right.

We are happy when we make good choices and we suffer the consequences of poor choices.  Because our Heavenly Father loves us, we can be forgiven of our incorrect choices through repentance, a wonderful gift the Savior made possible through his Atonement.  I am grateful for my Savior. I know that learning to make correct and wise choices is vital to our eternal lives.

This has been another busy week.  The viruses are still wrecking havoc on our mission.  I think it is beginning to improve but I still get at least one or two, and often more, new cases of the cold or stomach virus every day along with the usual sprains and bruises and other aches and ailments. 

Tuesday I went to Brooklyn and while there I had lunch with Sisters Cate and Figaro.

New bridge being constructed on way to Brooklyn. I like the cable spans.

I helped the sister training leaders with dinner that night.

Sisters Bush, Maldonado, Staker, Eckardt

Wednesday I accompanied some sisters to Manhattan for an appointment.  For a late lunch we chose Greek gyros.  Yummm!

Sisters Johnston and Steninger

Gyro

Thursday was another trip to Manhattan and then I met the STL and two others for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.  The portion sizes at that restaurant are ginormous.  I ordered off the Skinnylicious menu thinking to save a few calories.  The Asian chicken salad was more than I could eat even if it was purported to be "Skinnylicious."

Sisters Bush, Staker, Albanese, and Gourley

Giant sized salad

Cheesecake selections we shared

Friday I needed to go to Flushing so since I was in the neighborhood, I picked up the Korean sisters and we went to a Thai restaurant in Bayside.  The salad there was a work of art.  Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, The French Artisan Bakery Workshop is just a few blocks from the restaurant.  I couldn't be that close to a Duke and not get one.  The bakery owner was there touting the new line of cheesecakes. We had free samples of the Oreo Cheesecake and it was good.  I bought a piece of cheesecake and a Duke. I brought them home and shared them with two elders so I am calling it a "reduced calorie" Duke/cheesecake.

Work of art salad with Thai peanut dressing

Sisters Kim, Yu, and Hilliard in the French Workshop

The Duke and Cheesecake

Saturday Sister Reynolds, mission president's wife, asked me to go with her to take an elder to the airport.  After we dropped him off she invited me to lunch at Olive Garden.  I had pasta e fagioli soup and salad.  That evening Sister and Elder Williams invited me to dinner at the Outback.  I had a chicken salad.  I must be in a rut!!  Salad.  Salad. And more salad.

Sunday for dinner I made taco salad and rice pudding for dessert.  I made enough rice pudding for an army so I invited the missionaries in the English district to stop by on their way home for pudding.  They had an impromptu district meeting and spent 15 minutes planning a district activity for preparation day tomorrow.  They are having root beer floats at the church at 1:00.  It took 15 minutes to plan this activity because no one could decide who would bring what and how much.  It made me laugh.  I think they were having way too much fun!!!

Sister Dos Santos, Elder Reese, Sister Talaboc, Elders Asplund, Peters, Christie

It is always wonderful to hear from family and friends.  I appreciate your love and support.  I very much enjoy my work here and I love living in New York but I do miss my home and family in Utah including the snow!!!

I love you my family and friends.

It seems there are a lot of dogs on the upper east side of Manhattan. It is common to frequently
see dog walkers walking their charges.  I like the pants on the poodle. Red coat and black pants.

I saw star fruit at the grocery store when I went shopping Saturday. I had not tried them so
I bought a couple for Sunday dinner. I like them.

I saw this on a missionary's post. I like the contrasts. This is the Manhattan Bridge

Carambola or starfruit, is the fruit of Averrhoa carambola, a species of tree native to the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Mauritius and Seychelles.

The fruit is popular throughout Southeast Asia, the South Pacific, Micronesia, and parts of East Asia. The tree is also cultivated throughout non-indigenous tropical areas, such as in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and the southern United States.

The fruit has distinctive ridges running down its sides (usually five but can sometimes vary); when cut in cross-section, it resembles a star, hence its name. The entire fruit is edible and is usually eaten out of hand. They may also be used in cooking and can be made into relishes, preserves, and juice drinks.

Origins and distribution

Sliced carambolas having 7, 6, and the usual 5 points

The original range of Averrhoa carambola is unknown today. It is believed that it may have originated from Sri Lanka or Moluccas, Indonesia, but has been cultivated in the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia for hundreds of years. They remain a local favorite in those areas but have also recently gained popularity in parts of East Asia and Queensland, Australia; as well as in the Pacific Islands, particularly Tahiti, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Hawaii, and Guam. They are cultivated commercially in India, Southeast Asia, southern China, Taiwan, and Florida. They are also grown in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Peru, Brazil, Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Mexico, Guyana and parts of Africa. In other areas they are usually grown as ornamentals, rather than for consumption.

 

Description

The fruit is about 2 to 6 inches in length and is an oval shape. It usually has five prominent longitudinal ridges, but in rare instances it can have as few as four or as many as eight. In cross section, it resembles a star. The skin is thin, smooth, and waxy and turns a light to dark yellow when ripe. The flesh is translucent and light yellow to yellow in color. Each fruit can have 10 to 12 flat light brown seeds about 0.25 to 0.5 in in width and enclosed in gelatinous aril. Once removed from the fruit, they lose viability within a few days.

Like the closely related bilimbi, there are two main types of carambola: the small sour (or tart) type and the larger sweet type. The sour varieties have a higher oxalic acid content than the sweet type. 

Gastronomy

Vertical, end view, and cross section of the ripe carambola

Carambola, (starfruit), raw

The entire fruit is edible, including the slightly waxy skin. The flesh is crunchy, firm, and extremely juicy. It does not contain fibers and has a texture similar in consistency to that of grapes. Carambolas are best consumed shortly after they ripen, when they are yellow with a light shade of green or just after all traces of green have disappeared. They will also have brown ridges at the edges and feel firm. Fruits picked while still slightly green will turn yellow in storage at room temperature, but will not increase in sugar content. Overripe carambola will be yellow with brown spots and can become blander in taste and soggier in consistency.

Ripe sweet type carambolas are sweet without being overwhelming as they rarely have more than 4% sugar content. They have a tart, sour undertone, and an oxalic acid odor. The taste is difficult to compare, but it has been compared to a mix of apple, pear, grape, and citrus family fruits. Unripe starfruits are firmer and sour, and taste like green apples. 

Ripe carambolas may also be used in cooking. In Southeast Asia, they are usually stewed in cloves and sugar, sometimes with apples. In China, they are cooked with fish. In Australia, they may be c

Unripe and sour type carambolas can be mixed with other chopped spices to make relishes in Australia. In the Philippines, unripe carambolas are eaten dipped in rock salt. In Thailand, they are cooked together with shrimp. 

The juice from carambolas is also used in iced drinks, particularly the juice of the sour varieties. In Hawaii they are used to make sherbet, while in the Philippines they can be used as seasoning. In India, the juice is bottled for drinking.