Our Cuisine

Rather than doing a normal update, I thought it would be fun to share with you what our eating menu is like. After over a year of living here we have all gotten much more used to the food and the lack of variety, although I still have a way to go. Over time I have become more and more thankful for the food we have even during the times I am tired of eating it. God has taught me a lot about food while living here. My perspective has really changed, and I am grateful. Reading about the Israelites being in the wilderness brought a new level of conviction for me, based on my circumstances here. I've never really fussed about food until moving here. God had given the Israelites manna each day to live on. They started to grumble because they were tired of manna. I was/am very convicted by this. Here I am, complaining about the food I have and I am not eating the same food for every meal, not to mention the fact that I HAVE food, many people here don't. The Israelites were not looking to God and thanking Him for his provision, but were moaning about what they didn't have.

Here is what we eat during the weekdays:
Porridge for breakfast. This particular one in the picture is made of millet, but we also have some that is made from corn and soy. We add sugar to it and the kids really enjoy it. It is cheap, easy to make, and you can make it quickly.





Our lunch menu is mainly one of 3 things. Cooked cabbage with tomatoes and onions over rice or posho, eggplant with onions and tomatoes over rice or posho, and Skuma with tomatoes and onions over rice or posho. Skuma happens to be my favorite, it is similar to collard greens.


Beans and rice for dinner. We have really started to love beans and rice. There was a point where it was getting old (eating the batch of moldy beans didn't help), but we have learned to change them up and add different spices to make them taste different. They are cheap and super easy to make. After sorting them we just let them cook on the coal pot (like a camp fire) for 3-4 hours and they are soooooo nice.


Our weekend menu is much different. We make enough beans and rice on Friday night to last for lunch on Saturday to honor the Sabbath. For breakfast we buy fried bread from town, and then we eat out for dinner. This is a real treat because we sometimes have chicken and french fries. If not chicken, then beans and rice. Sunday we eat pancakes and I a make a homemade syrup made from sugar, cinnamon and flour. It is really appetizing. For lunch we will eat stir fry, spaghetti, soup (pumpkin soup is the favorite right now). We have also made some yummy bean burgers, and we can make tortillas, so we occasionally make veggie wraps or bean tacos, minus the cheese of course. But we use cabbage instead of lettuce and it is quite nice. Really there are a lot of options for us to make. We have learned to be creative and use the things we have. We can also bake some things on the stove top. We have made cakes, brownies, cinnamon rolls, and biscuits. Some things we can not buy in Kotido so when we are in Kampala we stock up on supplies such as spices, vanilla, cocoa and powdered sugar.

There you have it, if you thought we were suffering in the area of food, you are wrong. We really are not (even if you have heard me complain). We may not have as much variety as we did in the States, but we have food, and for the most part it is really tasty! The things I miss the most would be cheese and fresh veggies. However we are looking forward to the spinach and lettuce we planted. Hopefully we will be able to enjoy a fresh veggie salad!

Here is a picture of the bean burger with potatoes. They are really yummy but takes hours and hours to make, so we don't make them very often.