Jun
27
Our meal planning has had some new requirements since we've been here. We're in transition, we're staying in someone else's house (they're away), and we're in a city where we tend to spend way too much money! These meals kind of remind me of what I might fix if I rented a beach house for a week. Maybe they'll give someone a hint for their summer vacation.Here's what we've been aiming for:
- simple preparation and clean-up
- easy ingredients
- still fresh and tasty
- budget friendly
Dinner the first night and lunch the next day: Papa John's pizza with carrot sticks and apple slices. Doesn't get much easier than that, although not particularly economical.
The next three meals revolved around store-bought frozen raviolis, $7 (expensive here) but spaced out over three meals. With three different sauces, we added variation without much work.
- Ravioli with homemade creamy roasted red pepper sauce (1 roasted red pepper, 1/2 c yogurt, salt and pepper), roasted green beans, store-bought pumpernickel bread
- Ravioli with homemade creamy mushroom sauce, leftover roasted green beans, leftover bread, and more apple slices
- Ravioli with homemade Parmesan mornay sauce, oven-roasted plum tomatoes (cut in half, brushed with olive oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper, baked cut-side down for 1/2 hr)
The next two meals were panang curry, one of my all-time favorites. We bought Mae Ploy red curry paste and coconut milk at the store and basically followed the easy directions on the paste packet. We filled our curry up with chicken, mushrooms, peas, zucchini, carrots, sweet potatoes, red pepper, and onion. Yum! Served with a side of white rice.
Lunch and dinner today were Pecan Crusted Chicken Tenders and Salad with Tangy Maple Dressing (a little extra work) and Angela's Sweet Potatoes. Delish!
Here's what we have planned for the next few days:
- Turkey Meatloaf with Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes and Zucchini with Parmesan
- Mussels in White Wine Sauce, Gnocchi with Mornay Sauce (Tim's dying to eat that sauce again), baguette and some green vegetable
I think our meals are getting more complicated as we settle in here a little. We're also taking advantage of the fact that meat is sold in less intimidating ways here in Lima. Maybe I wouldn't have turned so vegetarian if we hadn't lived in Puerto Supe!
By the way, we found out that our furniture was shipped out today and is expected Tuesday or Wednesday. Keeping Murphy's law and Peruvian tradition in mind, we're planning a flight to Pucallpa for Thursday.
