Food Discoveries

Even though we've only been back in Kenya for a week or so, Jane is already taking maximum advantage of her personal kitchen and her grocery budget.  She gets all kinds of joy from planning out meals, going to the grocery store, preparing food, and watching me voraciously shovel it down...in the end, everyone is happy! 

We've come to several criteria that give bonus points to a great meal here in Kenya.  Apart from tasting great, it's extra-awesome if:

• the ingredients are CHEAP
• it uses all or mostly local Kenyan ingredients
• it's healthy
• it produces a small amount of dirty dishes (this one is a bit of a reach haha)

We've had a couple of dinners already that cover about all of those basis, with the added bonus of introducing me to foods and meals that I never thought I would be eating.  Check out these menus...

1.  Sauteed chicken with QUINOA mixed with onions and tomatoes.  Obviously, I had no idea what quinoa was a couple of weeks ago (or how to pronounce it, or how to spell it, which I still might not be doing properly).  Despite the fact that it looks like something along the lines of molding shrunken beans, it actually tastes good!  It's also a "superfood," in that it apparently turns you slowly but surely into Superman.  Or at least that's what I'm being told...

2.  Polenta with sauteed onions/butter beans/kale, topped with a poached egg and a little chipotle Tabasco sauce.  Now, this one I was REALLY skeptical of at first, but it actually tasted great when it was all put together.  Plus, kale is another "superfood," I was informed, and it's super cheap because it grows everywhere in Kenya.  This meal was also an interesting (and much more tasty) twist on the typical Kenyan meal of ugali and greens...so local! 

3.  WHOLE roasted chicken with roasted butternut squash and onions.  Yep, we can buy a whole chicken for four bucks, and Jane showed that thing who was boss last night.  It was delicious!  Definitely a far cry from the Hamburger Helper that I was making for myself last year...

Basically, Jane is a magician in the kitchen.  I am never quite sure what to expect when she describes these things to me, but they seem to always turn out great!