4th of July in the Jungle

Where ever we may be,
we are proud to be American!

Some of our best memories are from holidays we spent in the jungle with dear friends. I thought I would share a few photos and recipes with you all this Fourth of July.

Missionary Pilot, Scott, enjoys the hammock chair.
( You can see our lovely cement floor!)

Scott's wife, Monty, keeps an eye on the gang!
( The small fridge behind her is powered by batteries, charged by solar panels.
The supplies we received by plane every 3 weeks had to fit in this fridge
and last the family of 6 until the next flight.)

The kids hang out.
( See our dirt walls?)

4th Of July in the jungles of Venezuela!
( These walls are mud, white washed with lime.)

We would often have a full house of fellow Americans come out to the village for Independence Day. The food preparations had to be well planned as there was a limit to the refrigerator space and no stores nearby to purchase last minute or forgotten items.

A swim in the river is a must!

I would begin the day before by preparing the hamburger buns from my favorite bread recipe. If we were fortunate enough to also have chicken, I would prepare my easy BBQ sauce.

BBQ sauce
2 cup catchup
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp.vinegar
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup chopped onions
salt
In sauce pan, mix all ingredients and simmer for at least 15 minutes.

I would also prepare the potato salad dressing.

Potato Salas Dressing

1 cup mayonnaise
3/4 sugar
2 T mustard
1/4 cup vinegar 1 tsp celery seed Mix everything together until well blended. Add to diced potatoes, boiled eggs and onions.


Ands while making the dressings and sauces, I would prepare some of our favorite salad dressings. Of course, this is assuming we had any fresh vegetables available for a green salad.


French Dressing
1 cup oil
1/2 cup catchup
1 chopped onion
3 T lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
1 tsp salt
1T. Worcestershire sauce
Combine in blender until well blended.

Children's Favorite Honey Mustard Dressing

2 cups mayonnaise
2 T lemon juice
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup mustard Blend well. ( especially good on deep fried gator nuggets! probably good with chicken nuggets as well.)


Then we would make the desserts! Always a challenge. Pies were a favorite. Apple Pie is so American, but apples are not always available in the jungle. If we could get green papaya, we would use them as a substitute. If not, Ritz crackers will have to do!

Ye'kwanaman lends a hand with the pie crust!

Or chocolate cake!


Chocolate Mayo Cake

2 cup flour
2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
4 T cocoa
1 cup water ( or left over coffee)
1 cup mayonnaise Combine all ingredients and pour into greased 13x9" pan. Bake at 350* F for about 40 minutes.


Fluffy White Frosting

1cup sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/3 cup water
dash of salt
2 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla Combine sugar, cream of tartar, water and salt in sauce pan. Cook until bubbly and sugar dissolves. In separate bowl combine egg whites and vanilla. Add sugar syrup slowly to unbeaten egg whites, while beating constantly at high speed for about 7 minutes or until peeks form. Allow to cool slightly before frosting cake.

But, what if there are no eggs????

Eggless Chocolate Cake

1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup sugar
3 T cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
6 T oil
1 T vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup water or coffee
Stir dry ingredients in same pan in which you will bake cake. Make 3 wells in dry ingredients. Pour oil in one, vinegar and vanilla in another, water or coffee in the third. Mix well. Bake 25 minutes in an 8x8 pan at 325*. Uses little cocoa but has rich chocolate flavor.

Good friends!

For fireworks, we would save a few from Christmas, which is when fireworks are traditionally used in Venezuela. If no fireworks were available, we could always fire off a few fire arms!

But first... nap time!!

God Bless America!