Margaret

My newest Kiva loan - Margaret is 28 years old and married. She has two children, ages 4 years and 6 years. She describes herself as a confident individual.

She operates a grocery store where she sells fruits and vegetables. She has been involved in this business for four years. Her primary customers are small-scale. She describes her biggest business challenge to be the lack of a permanent place to do business.

She will use the KES 70,000 loan to add stocks of fruits and vegetables. Her business goal is to be successful within five years.

This is her second loan with SMEP DTM. She will use the anticipated profits to buy a piece of land.

Pumpkin Loaf

1.5 cup oil
2 cup pumpkin
4 eggs, beaten
2 cup sugar
3 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp pumpkin spice
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix together oil, pumpkin, eggs and sugar. Add remaining ingredients and beat well.

Divide into two loaf pans

Bake 50 minutes or longer until set.

A recipe from my grandmother's collection - noted as being from Betty Burroughs

Easy Drop Biscuits

2 cups flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup butter
1 cup milk

Preheat over to 425

Stir dry in bowl. Cut in butter. Add milk.

Drop into 8 mounds on baking stone.

Bake approx 15 minutes until golden.

Christmas baking

Orange and Brandy Balls
Peanut Butter Balls
Anise and Orange Shortbreads (GF)
Midnight Mints
Mincemeat Tarts
Marshmellow squares
Cherry and Chocolate Shortbread

Advent Countdown 2013

1 - Write a letter to Santa
2- Make salt dough snow family
3- Baking with Mom
4-
5-
6- Fun afternoon with Daddy
7- Watch the truck parade with Mimi and Papa
8- Go ice skating
9- Go see the gingerbread houses at Country Grocer
10-

hhhhhmmmmmmm......lost count somewhere along the way.

Lesson learnt from this year. Have a big list of possible ideas to choose from. Trying to come up with ideas the night before plus be organized doesn't work well.

Buying some chick, chick, chickens

okay so they aren't for me but still............

 

Joyce lives in the Litein area of Kenya.

She has 4 children and has been working with poultry for 5 years.

Her primary income sources are milk, eggs and tea.

Her biggest challenge is 'Insufficient funds.'

Animals on the farm have been given the names of 'Simba.'

Joyce was asked why she chose Juhudi Kilimo for this loan, to which she replied: 'Low interest.' This client was also asked what was learned during Juhudi's required micro-finance training session: 'It has loans with low interest."

Her highest monthly expense is school fees. When asked how will this loan benefit her family,

Joyce replied, "More income to family."

As part of Juhudi's loan appraisal process, each borrower's assets are evaluated.

Joyce owns the following: a cow and poultry' but does not own a pig, pump, bicycle, motorcycle, or automobile. Juhudi Kilimo also tries to measure any change in living standards based on this loan. This borrower has in the household a mosquito net but does not have electricity,

solar power, running water, sewing machine, TV, or DVD.

 

Kiva - Newest Loan

Milenka is 20 years old. She works knitting wool sweaters and wraps from alpaca wool for women who wear traditional skirts. She has her workshop and residence in the Kalajahuira area. This loan is her first cycle in the institution. Milenka is going to use this loan to buy alpaca wool wholesale to knit her sweaters and wraps since she sells alot this time of year because it is very cold. She also delivers orders to different markets in the city of El Alto. Her reason for asking for this loan is to increase her working capital. Milenka faces challenges in her business such as stocking her merchandise and she is going to use the profits to keep buying her materials wholesale to knit her sweaters.                      

Chocolate Banana Bread

Gluten Free - High in Iron, Protein, Fibre, Calcium & Omega 3s

Wet Ingredients
2 medium sized bananas, smashed
1/2 cup oil (olive, walnut, etc)
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup Greek yogurt

Dry ingredients
2/3 cup teff
2/3 cup cocoa powder
2/3 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup walnuts

To flour pan
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp cocoa

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350

Grease loaf pan and dust with sugar/cocoa. Reserve extra to sprinkle over top.

Mix together wet ingredients.
Mix together dry ingredients (except walnuts)
Mix wet and dry together and then mix in walnuts.

Pour batter in pan. Bake approx. 60 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Kiva loan - Concilie

 

Concilie is a member of the Twizere II group. She lives in Gitega, Burundi. She is 38 years old and married to Leonard, a businessman. Together they have one thirteen year old child who attends school.

She has been in the business of selling beans and corn for four years.

She is on her second loan with Turame. With the KIVA loan, she will increase her capital and buy a large supply of beans and corn to sell in order to earn more.

The income she earns from her business will allow her to feed her family well.

Taco Seasoning

So after trying several different recipes out there on the net this is my favourite so far.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons chile powder

2 teaspoons corn starch

2 teaspoons Mexican oregano

1 + 1/2 teaspoons onion powder

1 teaspoon sweet or smoked paprika

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon coarse salt or 1/2 teaspoon fine/table salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes, optional

Instructions

1. Combine all the seasonings together in a jar and shake until well mixed.
2. Use 2 tablespoons seasoning mix for every pound of ground beef plus 1/2 - 2/3 cup water.
3. You can tweak the seasoning to suit your own tastes. I went easy on the salt so you can salt and pepper to taste

Go to Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice to find the original posting and much more yumminess from Reeni

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Ingredients

• 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided
• 1/2 cup diced yellow onion
• 1 lb. broccoli (including upper stems)
• 2 cups of vegetable stock (or chicken stock)
• Pinch of nutmeg
• Pinch of red pepper flakes
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 cup half and half (or use 2 cups total of milk)
• 1 cup milk
• 8 oz. mild cheddar cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter, on medium-low heat, in a large pot or dutch oven. Add the onion and a pinch of salt, to sweet the onion, and cook until tender, about 5 minutes.

Add the broccoli, vegetable stock, nutmeg, red pepper flakes, and garlic powder to the pot. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes.

As the broccoli cooks, make your roux by melting 2 tablespoons of butter in a medium saucepan. Add flour and whisk constantly until the flour has turned a pale color, about 1 to 2 minutes. Keep watch as the roux will quickly turn dark and take on a different flavor. Add the half and half and the milk and allow to cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and add the cheese, stirring to combine. Set aside.

Using an immersion blender, or a regular blender, blend the broccoli until your desired thickness. Add the cheese mixture and salt and pepper to taste. If the soup is too creamy for your desired taste, simply add a bit of stock to thin it out.

Source: The Way to His Heart, inspired by Panera Bread
Thank you Maeghan for sharing this recipe with the world.

Wilson

Wilson is 35 years old and has two children, ages ten and five. He works managing a flower nursery located in the Pedregal area. This loan is his first cycle within our institution. Wilson is going to use this loan to purchase construction materials to build a larger space which he will add on to his nursery. The reasons he is requesting this loan is so that he can make some needed repairs and because he needs working capital. Wilson faces challenges in his business, mainly being able to expand and grow a great variety of indoor decorative flowers. He will use his profits to expand his business. He wants to eventually purchase a larger lot so that he can have about three different nurseries and continue growing a large variety of flowers.

Ecra

Ecra is a resident of Changamwe, Kenya. She is a clothes dealer; a business she began 5 years ago. She is married and has three school-going children. Ecra was introduced to Milango by her friends; she joined in order to access funding for her business.

Ecra is glad about the progress that her business has made. The new clothes she purchased from her recent loan enabled her business to repay the loan quickly. She is grateful to the lenders for such great support and for the impact on her life and business.

Her clothing dealership has continued to progress well and she now intends to increase the stock. Ecra is applying for a loan of 128,650 Kenya shillings to purchase new clothing. She will use the extra income from this loan to educate her children.

And this is who are newest loan is going to.