I'm glad we reached the end of the leftover holiday treats. Me pants are a bit tight, ya know?
I'm feeling quite happy about being back into the regular routine as far as eating goes. Somehow we got out of the habit of our meatless Mondays. We do often have meatless meals but sometimes we can forget to make dinner a meatless meal. I like the weekly reminder to cut the meat and find some new and fun veggie recipes. Some of my very favorite cookbooks are the Moosewood Restaurant series. They are probably my most used cook books, especially the Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home, Moosewood Low-Fat Favorites, and Moosewood Celebrates. So good.
So I stocked up on a few days worth of produce at the local market this morning. I am amazed at how much I can get for 300 pesos ($7 USD). All of this is grown (save the apples and mandarin oranges) on Cebu Island. I can point to the mountain where these mangoes were grown. I love that if we need to save money on the food budget, all we need to do is eat simply using more stuff available at the market. I often buy fish there as well (if I can get there in the morning since the fish is not on ice) and can get 8 small fish (enough for two lunches for me and Ella) for about 20 pesos.
A little fun in the sand box before lunch
Today's lunch: Crispy fried fish, rice, bananas and mangoes.
I'm feeling quite happy about being back into the regular routine as far as eating goes. Somehow we got out of the habit of our meatless Mondays. We do often have meatless meals but sometimes we can forget to make dinner a meatless meal. I like the weekly reminder to cut the meat and find some new and fun veggie recipes. Some of my very favorite cookbooks are the Moosewood Restaurant series. They are probably my most used cook books, especially the Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home, Moosewood Low-Fat Favorites, and Moosewood Celebrates. So good.
So I stocked up on a few days worth of produce at the local market this morning. I am amazed at how much I can get for 300 pesos ($7 USD). All of this is grown (save the apples and mandarin oranges) on Cebu Island. I can point to the mountain where these mangoes were grown. I love that if we need to save money on the food budget, all we need to do is eat simply using more stuff available at the market. I often buy fish there as well (if I can get there in the morning since the fish is not on ice) and can get 8 small fish (enough for two lunches for me and Ella) for about 20 pesos.
For 7 bucks I got 1.5 kilos of some of the most delicious mangoes in the world, 6 mandarin oranges, 6 Fuji apples, 2 carrots, long beans, 2 eggplants, some pumpkin-like squash, tomatoes, a handful of chili peppers, 1/2 kilo of water spinach, kamote tops (greens of the local sweet potato), plum tomatoes and the shredded meat of one small coconut, which I used to make fresh coconut milk for our dinner tonight.
What's on the menu? (From Moosewood Celebrates)
Red lentils & brown rice
Mango chutney
Curried greens with cashews
Ella and I went outside for a bit and I noticed the papaya tree we had cut down in November is back in full-force. These papaya trees grow like weeds here! It's nice to have fresh papaya but I have a hard time keeping up with it all and much of it ends up falling to the ground and rotting in the hot sun. Not a nice smell. Maybe I should sell some at the market down the street. Unfortunately it's not the best papaya. My neighbors like to make achara (pickled papaya) with the unripe papaya but I don't enjoy it much. My favorite is the red lady papaya that I can find at the supermarket for about 20 pesos. It's oh so sweet and Ella loves it.
A little fun in the sand box before lunch
Today's lunch: Crispy fried fish, rice, bananas and mangoes.
What are some of your most used and loved cookbooks?
5 comments:
Love, love this post!!!!
I can't believe you get all this produce for so cheap. It looks delicious. My most used cookbook has been the joy of cooking which I thoroughly used my first 4 years of marriage and taught me the basics. But my most used "cook book" has been my five year subscription to cooks illustrated magazine. I made myself make at least one recipe out of each magazine. I ran out of room to keep all the magazines so now I just subscribe online and it is worth every penny.
And, I think you are a heart!
xo
I'm excited about getting back on the track of good eating. Our local granery (Oakview Farms Granery) have been selling fresh vegetables too. Some of the best broccoli, cauliflower, collard greens and the best tri-colored peppers ever. I enjoy "buy local, buy fresh". Thanks for the inspiration.
Oy! I need to go back to the PI. Everything in this end of the world is very expensive right now. Your menu sounds delicious. We often eat meatless. We used to more so, but with the addition of three more mouths, vegetarian is just getting too expensive -- despite the fact that they say it's not supposed to be as expensive as eating meat.
My favorite cookbooks are by Tosca Reno. I use them a lot. I'm going to have to check out the Moosewood cookbooks at our library. You have me intrigued.
Blessings and Happy New Year!!
Deborah
Sounds soooo good!! I wish we had all those goodies available here. By the time the fruit reaches us here in Newfoundland, it must be months old! Enjoy your fruit and veggies!
I love food! My old time favourite is "More with Less Cookbook"--has a great variety of recipes, menu plans that are very balanced. Also i love "Simply in Season"..."Foods you Crave" and "REBAR" have some knock out of the park recipes.
I am looking forward to mangoes in Cebu soon!
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