A common question that we get is…"What DO you guys eat?" Our friends and family in the states often ask us what we eat and it is also a common question that the youth, or other friends here in Ecuador ask us (especially being that Jill is not from Ecuador).
Learning to cook in another country has been one of the most difficult challenges to overcome. Especially coming from the U.S. where foods come in pre-prepared packages (canned soups, mac n' cheese, spices in a plastic container) and the microwave is a best friend to many! While it hasn't been easy…I can now testify and say…IT CAN BE DONE!!
We obviously eat a bit different to the majority of families that live here in Sucua…I (Jill) have taken what I know (from the US) and have been able to adapt some recipes to work here. I've also learned how to make some of the typical dishes here.
This will be a post that I update often as I take more pictures of our meals!
Learning to cook in another country has been one of the most difficult challenges to overcome. Especially coming from the U.S. where foods come in pre-prepared packages (canned soups, mac n' cheese, spices in a plastic container) and the microwave is a best friend to many! While it hasn't been easy…I can now testify and say…IT CAN BE DONE!!
We obviously eat a bit different to the majority of families that live here in Sucua…I (Jill) have taken what I know (from the US) and have been able to adapt some recipes to work here. I've also learned how to make some of the typical dishes here.
This will be a post that I update often as I take more pictures of our meals!
Breakfast
Breakfast usually consist of something with eggs.
1. Scrambled eggs with tomatoes/green peppers…however, NO cheese! We get cheese here in Ecuador, but not cheddar or american.
2. Arroz con Huevo: Rice with an egg and some cow cheese mixed in! This is our most typical breakfast (3-4 mornings). Take left over rice from the day before and put it in a frying pan with some oil. Then crack an egg and starting mixing (like scrabbled eggs), then bust out some cow cheese (that's what Jill calls it, because it is so fresh it smells like straight from the cow) and sprinkle over the top so it melts. This breakfast is not complete without some ketchup on the side!
3. Cereal: We have a few varieties of cereal to choose from, but because it is an imported food it is usually pretty expensive (usually $5 a box). Eating cereal is a treat!
4. Pancakes: We usually make pancakes once a week, but we ration the syrup! Syrup is becoming more common in the stores, but again it's imported so a small bottle of syrup is about $3.
1. Scrambled eggs with tomatoes/green peppers…however, NO cheese! We get cheese here in Ecuador, but not cheddar or american.
2. Arroz con Huevo: Rice with an egg and some cow cheese mixed in! This is our most typical breakfast (3-4 mornings). Take left over rice from the day before and put it in a frying pan with some oil. Then crack an egg and starting mixing (like scrabbled eggs), then bust out some cow cheese (that's what Jill calls it, because it is so fresh it smells like straight from the cow) and sprinkle over the top so it melts. This breakfast is not complete without some ketchup on the side!
3. Cereal: We have a few varieties of cereal to choose from, but because it is an imported food it is usually pretty expensive (usually $5 a box). Eating cereal is a treat!
4. Pancakes: We usually make pancakes once a week, but we ration the syrup! Syrup is becoming more common in the stores, but again it's imported so a small bottle of syrup is about $3.
Lunch
Having a little one keeps us busy! I (Jill) try and make life easy on myself and usually double up my dinner so that there are leftovers for lunch! Most people in the U.S. eat something simple for lunch (sandwich, leftovers, mac n' cheese)…well we don't have the convenience foods (no peanut butter, no deli meats, no cheese slices, no packaged/boxed meals). So lunch is whatever is left over from dinner and when there are not many leftovers…Roberto eats tuna!
Dinner
Dinner here in Ecuador is usually pretty simple. Some people will heat up the leftovers from lunch, others may have coffee and humitas (kind of like a tamale, but just the cornbread part), or empanadas. We are more american when it comes to dinner…Jill usually makes a full dinner (meat, starch, veggie). Below are a list of typical meals we may have
1. Fajitas
2. Meat and beans in the crockpot served with rice
3. Spaghetti: sometimes served with hamburger meat, sometimes with chicken breast
4. Pollo al Jugo (Ecuadorian): Blend together tomato, garlic, grn pepper, cilantro (chopped) and onion. Add some water and put in a pot with chicken. Serve with rice and fried plantains :)
5. BBQ Chicken/meat: Slice meat into smaller pieces, or divide chicken into its parts (it's hard to just buy the different sections of chicken, most of the time you have to buy it whole). Cover with BBQ sauce and bake. Serve with rice/mashed potatoes and broccoli
6. Chicken casserole: cook and shread chicken. We don't have cans of soup, but we can usually buy cream of chicken soup in a package. Mix with the chicken and add some veggies and bake! Crush and sprinkle ritz crackers on top.
7. BBQ chicken sandwiches: cook and shred chicken and mix in the bbq serve with buns