Day 26: Surplus!

Today I'm taking a break from "heavy" blogging due to yesterday's intense post. Great news is that I went way conservative on my first 25 days' rations, and now I find myself with a bit of a surplus for the remainder of the challenge. This comes at a great time in the "race" as this is when it starts getting really monotonous.

In other good news, we received a very generous $25 donation and this brings us up to our 16th scholarship now funded! Wow! This makes it all worth it and I'm so grateful for all of your support in whatever way you've offered it. Whether it be through your encouragement, sharing my posts, spreading the word about this blog, using the amazon link or actually giving toward the goal, I'm thankful for your support!

So here's what I was able to come up with using just $1 worth of ingredients for today's 3 meals...

Breakfast. Nothing super-fancy here, just a breakfast taco with my typical re-fried rice-n-beans mix plus a fried egg on a corn tortilla. When you're hungry, wow, this really hits the spot, and plenty of protein to get you pretty close to lunch. ▼

Lunch. I know, it's redundant, right? But when you don't have a lot of time and you're really hungry, you make what you like and what you know works. I just love this Korean bibimbap dish. It's so easy and it's so tasty. Half a brick of Ramen noodles, brown rice, carrots, cabbage all stir fried, with a fried egg on top. The runny yolk creates a sort of sauce and it's really quite satisfying. All for about 30 cents! ▼

Dinner. Depending on what your definition is, these are either chimichangas or taquitos. Whatever you want to call them, these hit the spot after a long wait since lunch. My usual recipe on this works quite well, and easy to make. Just google chimichanga recipe and you'll find plenty of options on this. My version is a simple re-fried bean-n-rice mix with raw carrots for the filling inside the corn tortillas, topped with pasta sauce after baking for 8 minutes at 500F/260C. ▼

Take Action!

1) Please consider giving toward scholarships for children of the slums. Our goal is to cover a scholarship for 20 kids to get an education this next year. Every little bit helps!

2) Please visit my unofficial sponsor, Amazon.com through this link. 7% of your purchases made through the link are given to Peace Gospel. If you're in the UK, use this link.

3) If you're compelled by my effort here, please share it with friends. One of the main goals is awareness. So if you can help with that, huge.

4) Leave me feedback. Please comment on this post, especially if you have any ideas about what I should try to cook with these ingredients I have available. I love hearing from you! It really helps!

Day 24: We can make a difference!

I'm dedicating day 24 to this girl I met in the Secunderabad landfill scavenger's colony of the Hyderabad, India metro area. It's India's 4th most populous city, and one of the fastest growing the world. The rapid urbanization has left the city overwhelmed with slum settlements popping up anywhere available land permits, usually near trash dumps, train tracks and other hazardous locations.

She helps her parents sift through garbage looking for redeemable materials. On this visit, I found them separating soles of shoes and sandals from the rotted fabric parts and preparing them for sale to a recycler.

She is one of the children we've not yet been able to reach, but would like to. In fact, the parents of the children in this colony are asking us to help. They've heard about our Children's Hope Center and want their sons and daughters to be able to go there, to get an education and nutritious meals. Profits from our farmland help subsidize our budget for this outreach, but it's not enough. That's where you and your friends come in.

Could you help me toward my goal of keeping that smile on her face every day? We've got a lot of work to do, and there's not any easy way to fix all the problems. But we can make a difference for her.

Great news! Yesterday someone gave a $25 donation, and that brings us just $205 shy of our 16th scholarship funded just from readers of this blog! Follow this link to learn more about what a scholarship does, and to chip in whatever amount you can afford. I strongly believe, that one day soon, because of your choice to take action, I'll be posting a follow up story of how her life was forever changed into a life full of hope and promise.

I'm faring ok with the challenge so far. There have been difficult days for sure, and hunger is there, but with your encouragement and knowing that so much awareness and funds are being raised, I'm doing fine and it's all worth it. Here's what I came up with today, using a total of just $1 worth of food... 

Breakfast. Mornings have been crazy lately, so no time for anything elaborate. I had crock-potted my 4th batch of pinto beans overnight, so they were deliciously fresh. Threw on a scrambled egg with seasoned salt and pepper, and bam, very fresh and easy breakfast. ▼

Lunch. I'm really loving the fact that I've got two eggs every day remaining on the challenge. So I went for another version of Korean bibimbap, stir fried with ramen noodles, carrots, potatoes, and cabbage. With the right seasonings, this made a great little meal. ▼

Dinner. I had not thought to mix my pasta sauce with the beans and rice. Worked really well, threw on two corn tortillas for another soft taco mexican dinner rendition. ▼

Take Action!

1) Please consider giving toward scholarships for children of the slums. Our goal is to cover a scholarship for 20 kids to get an education this next year. Every little bit helps!

2) Please visit my unofficial sponsor, Amazon.com through this link. 7% of your purchases made through the link are given to Peace Gospel. If you're in the UK, use this link.

3) If you're compelled by my effort here, please share it with friends. One of the main goals is awareness. So if you can help with that, huge.

4) Leave me feedback. Please comment on this post, especially if you have any ideas about what I should try to cook with these ingredients I have available. I love hearing from you! It really helps!

Day 19: The benefits

There is something very physically cleansing about doing this challenge. Little ailments and things that usually bother me faded away after the first two weeks. There must be so many things we are putting into our bodies from processed foods and preservatives, unaware. Although hungry, I feel "cleaner" and more focused, if that makes any sense. I think the steady dose of fiber from the beans, oatmeal and brown rice definitely helps. And another side benefit—I'm losing some unneeded pounds, which is probably helping with the sensation of feeling "cleaner" and "clearer" minded.

For anyone out there looking for a challenge to cleanse and shed a few pounds, the blueprint I've established with this 30 day "route" might be somewhere to start. You might adapt to offer a bit more variety, but the premise of buying a set amount of healthful foods to last you X number of days, and then figuring out how to live from that alone, is a good way to set boundaries and follow a plan. The bonus to me is, the plan must be improvised and draw heavily from your own creativity, thus exercising not only self-discipline but also stretching your resourcefulness. You'll feel quite surprised by what you come up with as you push yourself to persevere and adapt!

Another positive outcome of doing the 30 day challenge is the huge reminder it brings, of what I take for granted. A significant part of my focus here is to empathize with those wrestling with extreme poverty every day of their lives, these who have no day 31. Many of them are praying that they could someday have an electric stove like mine (or electricity at all), running water, or just a roof over their heads that does not leak when the rains come. They're praying for their kids to be able to attend school, for an indoors job that takes them out of the heat... just basic things you and I take for granted.

Here's what I was blessed with today, using an extravagant $1 worth of food...

Breakfast. "Hash browns" breakfast taco with beans underneath the fried egg. Really satisfying! Just wish there was enough to make one more! ▼

Lunch. My own version of Korean Bibimbap (비빔밥), one of my favorite dishes ever. ▼

Dinner. This was a real unexpected blessing tonight! Had a bit of an inspiration! The usual tostada recipe with re-fried beans, but a twist: lightly pan-fried potatoes, carrots and brown rice, with a bit of pasta sauce! A wonderful treat! For about 35 cents! ▼

Take Action!

1) Please consider giving toward scholarships for children of the slums. Our goal is to cover a scholarship for 20 kids to get an education this next year. Every little bit helps!

2) Please visit my unofficial sponsor, Amazon.com through this link. 7% of your purchases made through the link are given to Peace Gospel. If you're in the UK, use this link.

3) If you're compelled by my effort here, please share it with friends. One of the main goals is awareness. So if you can help with that, huge.

4) Leave me feedback. Please comment on this post, especially if you have any ideas about what I should try to cook with these ingredients I have available. I love hearing from you! It really helps!