Good food!

So I thought that I would share some of the delicious things we've had to eat and drink down here. Needless to say, we have an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables... although unlike in the States, if fruits or veggies are out of season, they're not available. But when they are in season, they're great! Here's a photo of the rum that I bought from the spice man. It's coconut rum that he made himself... and it has ruined me for any sort of coconut rum from the states. It is AMAZING. I may have to bring it back as a present for some of you for next Christmas!

Friday night dinner was AMAZING. Ground beef here is REALLY expensive so I've often used ground chicken or ground turkey as a replacement. But a week or two ago I found a hamburger recipe that mixes the ground beef with refried beans, to make it healthier and to stretch the ground beef. I had to alter the recipe a bit (things like pepper jack cheese and ground jalapeno aren't available here) but it turned out wonderfully. Here's a photo of the ground beef patties with cheddar cheese on top. They're rectangular because they're served in tortilla wraps instead of on hamburger buns. Tortillas are cheaper and healthier. The recipe called for baking them because the patties are more fragile due to being mixed with the refried and if you tried to flip them they'd fall apart.

And here is my homemade salsa! I'm actually really proud of this, since I had absolutely no idea what I was doing when it made this and it was a bit of a surprise that it turned out well in the end. It has tomato sauce and tomatoes (obviously) and sauteed peppers and onions. Since Ryan likes things spicy, I add the oil that I sauteed the peppers and onions in as well as black pepper, crushed red pepper, and cayenne pepper. I also add a little bit of the local pepper sauce... it's amazing! That is another thing that we'll have to bring home with us. It's delicious and cheap and I am really going to miss it. The salsa is great... I think it's all the fresh vegetables! It's definitely better than the salsa that's shipped in here and it is MUCH less expensive! This batch also had beans in the salsa, from the beans that I'd been soaking for two days and had cooked Friday night.

And here is the finished product! It was amazing, and so filling! We had baked potatoes on the side (french fries are more expensive) and we both ate too much! There was still plenty of leftovers for lunch the next day. I was so glad that I stumbled across this recipe, it's a great southwestern style dish... and it's pretty healthy as well!