Inside our Freezer!

For the last year, I've been working hard to produce healthy meals.  Of course a lot of items have to be cooked from scratch. 

Our staples from the store are wholemeal flour, eggs, meat, brown rice, vinegar, olive oil, milk powder, tomato sauce/paste, salsa, refried beans, some herbs and spices, and occasionally low-fat cheese.

From the vegetable market and our garden we enjoy broccoli, green beans, carrots, tomatoes, green peppers, onions, asparagus, a couple of vegetables that I don't know how to describe in English, and black beans.

I like to cook big batches of different foods, so the freezer has become one of my best friends (or often, my biggest enemy, as I try to cram everything in)!

This is what is in our freezer at the moment:

 

It's probably not too obvious from the photo what in there, but the list includes wholemeal tortillas, chicken, crocodile meat (not home-produced, obviously!), Italian sausage, frozen chicken stock, chicken bones to make into stock, black bean soup, frozen yoghurt (to be mixed with with water and milk powder and made into fresh yoghurt), BBQ sauce, grated cheese and black beans (raw, cooked and refried).

That wasn't the most exciting picture ever, so here is one of Heidi watering the mint growing just in front of our house:

Vegetable Morning

Everyday living is certainly different here from when we are in our home countries.   Here is a list of the jobs I did this morning, most of which I have never done outside PNG:

-Went to the morning vegetable market, buying from local sellers who go home again at 8am .

 
-Planted parsley seeds (dried herbs and spices are expensive to buy here) .
-Roasted and shelled fresh peanuts (with 'help' from Levi).
-Rescued Heidi from the hot red pepper she put in her mouth (though actually she seemed to be enjoying it).
-Washed dishes by hand (yes, I know that many of you do this too!)
-Soaked vegetables in a bleach solution to make sure they were safe to eat (as you can see, we have a good selection).

 

-Prepared and cooked 'veggie-bean casserole' using food bought at the market.

I also make yoghurt and tortillas on a fairly regular basis.   As you may know, I'm really not someone who is fast or efficient when it comes to doing jobs around the home.  Given the work that is involved in producing healthy meals from scratch, as well as the dust and mud that easily gets brought into our house, I'm really glad that we are able to employ Hana, who lives in a local village, to help with household jobs one and a half days a week.



I'll soon be taking on more responsibilities at Ukarumpa International School.  I don't see how I would be able to do this without Hana to help me at home and with the children.