It's Time to Say Goodbye...

by Jenny

It's Time to Say Goodbye...well, at least, see ya later to Foodie Fridays for the Relafords. We have hit a one year mark of Foodie Fridays, with over 30 different countries, Foodie Friday All Stars, Foodie Friday restaurant tours, and specials for birthdays & anniversaries. We decided to take a break for a while because the last few it seemed the like the kids were tired of cooking and helping. And maybe doing all those dishes! And frankly, hubby and I were too. We decided to make it to the one year mark and then in the new year think of something new and exciting to do for our family day on Fridays. So for our last Foodie Friday Gregg ended on America!

Foodie Friday~America

Gregg tried to select dishes from different regions, some we've never made our selves.

~Menu~

Maryland Crab Cakes

Texas Pressure Cooker Chili

Green Bean Casserole

Homemade Apple Pie

 

Everything was suburb! The chili had so much heat to it that the girls weren't too fond of it. It's a recipe from Food Network's Alton Brown- it'll bring tears to your eyes! We've never made crab cakes at home before and they were delish! Ahh, green bean casserole is my favorite holiday side dish so it's pretty common around here and Juliet ate it up by the handfuls! We all made the apple pie together and it was way easier than I thought it would be! Awe...so yummy! Really, nothing better than homemade apple pie!

 



 

As we end and I think about all we've done together, I decided to put together all the pictures of each Foodie Friday. Ahhh wow.... to think where we started and all the countries we experienced, the wonderful memories we made, the experiences we got to count as "school"- It's crazy to see how much the baby has grown and changed even! This experience was much more than just cooking together- what it did for our family was priceless. We put that day aside for our family and made it sacred and precious. Even when we traveled, we tried to experience 'Foodie Fridays' in other cities- one of the coolest was being at Epcot on a Foodie Friday!

I think I'm going to have to have these made into posters for our kitchen! Loved all these moments!

 

 

 

Republic of Chad ~ Foodie Friday

by Jenny

This may look like just porridge, donuts, and a smoothie- but I assure you the flavors are very different!

This week was Gabe's pick and he chose Chad. Again, we didn't really know much about our country this week when we started {glad we're doing Foodie Friday, I've learned so much over the course of researching recipes!} but by the time we finished our meal, I know I learned a lot! Plus, as always, it makes an enjoyable addition to our homeschool!

 

Things I found interesting about Chad:

*They have been in engaged in civil wars on and off
*They have a large influence from France from about 1900 because they were under colonial rule under France from 1900 til about 1960...
*The lower third of the country is the most populated with the Sahara desert in top part of country and mostly nomadic people living up there
*39% of women live in a polygamist relationship
*The official business languages are French and Arabic but over 100 languages are spoken...and about 200 different ethic groups or tribes live there
*They are ranked as the 7th poorest country in the world
*Got their name from Lake Chad- Chad is a local word which means large expanse of water
*Millet is their staple and made into paste balls that are dipped in sauces

We chose to have a Chadian breakfast for something different and we have had a busy week with activities and projects so we needed our Friday evening free!

People living in Chad typically start their day with a hot breakfast cereal called La Bouillie. Each family adds their own flair to it like we do here! But their basic recipe is made with rice or wheat, a little millet or cornmeal, curdled milk, and natural peanut butter. The peanut butter is crushed peanuts- homemade. And it really changes the flavor, in a good way!  We wanted to try it different ways so we made two batches, a rice version, and a wheat version.
We also enjoyed a type of smoothie called Jus de Fruit with our La Bouillie. These drinks are usually served in a "milk bar" in the city. The thing that separates this from a typical smoothie is the cardamom. It had a nice flavor to the fruit!
The third dish we made were the Beignets Soufflés. They were definitely different than any other dough we made before. They have no yeast or baking powder or soda in it yet puff up great. They are very egg-y and you stir it hard to get air in the dough as you're adding the egg. The closest thing I can equate the flavor to is French toast. Very yummy!
We enjoyed our Chadian breakfast and prayed for the people of the Chad...they have many struggles in their country and women of that country have even more struggles...their mortality rate is high and so most of the country is young. Sometimes we encounter countries like this in our weekly adventure that can prompt difficult conversations...it's raw and real and we pray for them, and missionaries who are currently there. We know God loves all His people.

We found all of our recipes on a site all about Chad- "Welcome to Virtual Chad!" A good site with tons of information.