What Geli Eats: Food in the Peace Corps

One of the most frequent questions I get asked is about what I eat, and I can see why.  When you live without electricity (so no kitchen appliances whatsoever) and it also takes you a 30 minute hike, 20 minute truck ride AND another hour long bus ride just to get to a decent grocery store, things can get complicated.  Though I've always loved to bake, I never really had the time or motivation to experiment with day to day meals, and that is one thing I certainly do have all alone in my hut- time.  

Over the past few months I've learned a lot about cooking in less than ideal situations and can proudly make anything from birthday cakes to pumpkin curry on my little gas stove.  So, I figured I'd share a few of the things I've been whipping up, and maybe even make this a more frequent post.  Because hey, delicious food is awesome, and if I can make it in the middle of nowhere, it's a near guaranteed success.  

Breakfast: Most days I just have coffee and some fruit, but sometimes I like to mix it up, especially if I have a big work day ahead.

Peanut Butter Banana Muffins 

Home-made wheat bread, toasted, with PB&J

Cinnamon Roll Sampler: PB&Chocolate, Original, Orange, and PB Banana. yummmmmm

Lunch & Dinner

Veggie Soup with a salad and homemade vinaigrette dressing

SO proud of this one- Black bean burgers on a home-made bun with hand cut fries

Chunky Hummus with almonds, veggies, and tortillas

Lentil Stew with home-made bread

Veggie Stir Fry

Another super delicious one- baked squash with curried quinoa and a spinach apple salad.  

Makin' Banana Pancakes (and also Banana Bread)

Don't you just love it when you find an error on an already public poster?  The only thing worse is seeing a blatant and simple Spanish mistake in an email to the country director... will this ever end?

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've recently formed a women's baking and business group and this past week we had our second delicious class, this time making banana pancakes and bread with a few of the bananas that are grown in incredible quantities around here.  

Always eager to learn a new way to cook an old favorite, the women had been asking for this class for awhile now, and even though attendance was a little lower than last time, I'm so glad we finally got to do it.  

 Eager taste testers

We used a campo-friendly version that substituted oil for butter and powdered milk for the fresh stuff and then we even threw in a few cacao nibs and shredded coconut at the end (both local and essentially free ingredients for them).  Not only did it taste delicious, but we also had enough batter to make 1 loaf, 6 muffins AND banana pancakes.  They liked the variety and I liked the excuse to keep snacking on warm moist banana dulces.  

A big part of the class is figuring out exactly how much the ingredients cost and then how much profit could be made if we were to sell x number of batches.  Sometimes we round the numbers a little bit and they're not always encouraged by seeing a potential profit of less than $5, but as I tell them, thats $5 more than they had before AND they get to eat the leftovers.  Sure seems like a win to me.  

Campo Banana Bread

3 Very ripe bananas

3/4 Cup Milk (can be powdered)

1/2 Cup Oil

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

2 Eggs

1 Cup sugar

2 Cups Flour

1 Teaspoon Salt

1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

Mash the bananas and blend all wet ingredients together.  In a separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients and then combine with wet ingredients.  Pour into a greased pan and bake until golden brown and a toothpick or thin knife can be inserted and removed without any batter on it.  Enjoy!

How to Bake Over a Fire (or Stovetop)

Anybody who knows me knows that I have a seemingly insatiable sweet tooth and a love for baking. When faced with both no oven and no locally available sweets, I knew I had to look outside the box to satisfy my cravings. Thanks to our Peace Corps Panama cookbook, I learned how to bake over a stove or open fire. After several months and countless recipes, I have to say I'm surprisingly pleased at how well this little setup works. 

This method is great for both campers and dorm or apartment living that comes without an oven. All you need is a large, lidded pot, a clean and empty tuna can (or similar item), and a baking pan than can fit inside your pot. 

Place the can inside your pot, the baking pan on top of the can, and your lid on top, and "bake" over a low flame until your baked goods are done. Since you really can't control temperature too much, you'll need to be the judge here and do your best with the flame you have. The cooking time may sound a little complicated, but by keeping a frequent eye on things, I've never had an issue. 

Ta-da!  And now you have a lovely cake- no oven required.

Good luck and enjoy your delicious, fresh baked treats!

Fried Plantain Oatmeal

Since I’m desperately looking for ways to use my gifted plantains before they go bad, I figured I’d kill two birds with one stone and make fried plantain oatmeal.  Ripe, fried plantains are a Panamanian favorite, and they’re especially delicious when sprinkled with a little cinnamon sugar.  This recipe is another super easy way to spice up a basic oatmeal breakfast!

Ingredients

Cinnamon Oatmeal

Ripe Plantain

Cinnamon

Sugar

Fry ripe plantain slices in a hot skillet.  When golden brown, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.  Place a layer of fried plantains in a bowl, top with cinnamon oatmeal, and then another layer of cinnamon sugar plantains.  

Obviously, this is also great with peanut butter.  Then again, what isn’t?

Another note, less than a week into my oatmeal challenge I faltered.  Since I learned how to make baked oatmeal empanadas, I just haven’t been able to go back to plain ole’ oatmeal, no matter how spiced up and delicious it may be.  I’ll sharpen up my measurements so I can share the recipe on here; after that, you’ll understand. 

Campo Cooking

I’ve always loved playing around in the kitchen, especially if the end product was something sweet.  Considering the lack of modern appliances and electricity, I figured my days of whipping up a nice meal of unprocessed foods were to be on a long-term hiatus during my two years in Panama.  Thankfully, I’ve proved myself wrong and have found cooking to be one of the best and most relaxing ways to start and wind down my days. 

I still don’t have an oven, refrigerator, blender, toaster, etc., but I’m starting to learn what works and what doesn’t, and putting my own spin on recipes has been a nice little game so far.  I figured I would share a few of my successful meals on Abby Explores, and you can rest assured that they’ll be pretty cheap (once you have spices and basic staples), and won’t require any crazy cooking technique.  Enjoy!

Here in Bocas you can buy oatmeal in small plastic bags or in a large plastic jars with a bright blue lid.  Though the smaller size is a slightly better buy, I’m in need of a bunch of those plastic jars to store other types of food.  I can thank a rat currently in residence (but not for long, rest assured) for that.  So, at the current moment I’m eating a lot of oatmeal.  To make things interesting, I’m seeing how many days I can cook oatmeal a different way for breakfast.  So far I’m only on day two, and here are the first two delicious oatmeal variations.   

Apple Crisp Oatmeal

Oatmeal

Plain uncooked oatmeal

Water

Half an apple, cut into small chunks

Cinnamon

Sugar

Nutmeg

Topping

A little more uncooked oatmeal

Honey

Flour

Sliced Almonds

*This would probably be great with a little butter thrown in too!

First make your crispy topping by mixing a sprinkling of oatmeal, flour, and almonds with honey and toasting it in a saucepan over low heat.  When the mixture resembles a nice crumble, set aside and try not to eat it before the oatmeal gets done. 

Next, cook your oatmeal with the apple and as much sugar and spice as you like.  Once it’s to your liking, top with the crumbles and any leftover apple chunks. 

Mocha Oatmeal

Plain uncooked oatmeal

Coffee

Milk

Sugar

Cocoa

Chocolate chips

Cook your oatmeal in the coffee, and when it’s almost done add a splash of milk, a tad bit of cocoa, and a sprinkling of sugar (more or less depending on how sweet and chocolately you like it).  Garnish with chocolate chips and serve with coffee, obviously. 

Feel free to comment with any oatmeal suggestions!  Next up are double chocolate, s’mores, banana nut, pb&j, and almond joy- gotta use up all that fresh cocoa somewhere J