Celery Leaf Salad and Other Thoughts, Eating Healthy, Spending Less on Food

Just came back from my weekly trip to the farmers market, with our complete supply of fruits and veggies riding on the back of my bicycle. Very environment conscious you may think, how eco-friendly he is, how sustainable his choices. But the sad truth of the matter is that when you live and work in a third world country many of your choices are made for you. Sustainability is daily survival, no SUV, no cheap gas, no cushy job, you really need to stretch the peso.

Cleaning up the celery for a quick snack, I was struck by the fact that I never make use of the leaves, heck, in the States I would routinely chop off the stalk above the notch and toss the leaves and the little stalks they attach to. Those little stalks are fairly bitter, however, lately I couldn't bring myself to toss them, but I was still tossing the leaves. This time my conscience and my wallet were screaming "Use the leaf" so onto Goggle I went to see if it's possible. I saw plenty of recipes for celery leaf salads.

Celery leaf salad is not rocket science, you can imagine the recipes, or you can Goggle them yourself. Many of the recipes call for mixing the leaves with milder lettuce, shallots, spices, oil, vinegar, the usual suspects. I settled on chopped sweet apples, to counteract the bitterness, a chopped carrot, a little salt, olive oil, some vinegar, and presto. It really wasn't bad, the kids ate it and liked it. Be aware that some people have allergies to celery, as severe as peanut allergies, so it's not for everyone.

I also learned that celery root is a very useful vegetable as well, I didn't see the root for sale in the market, but I'm saving the hard clump at the bottom of my stalks for the next stew. Celery is a great vegetable, claiming properties beneficial for health and weight maintenance, high in fiber, detoxification, etc. It's a shame to throw away any part of this great little edible plant.

Spending less on food is also a matter of making better use of the food you buy. When my brother was first married he told me that he and his wife had invited our uncle and aunt to dinner, his bride had prepared a beautiful meal with a nice roasted chicken as the centerpiece. Although a roast chicken should be enough for four, I would assume, the young couple was embarrassed when my 300 pound uncle suggested that they really needed two chickens, one roaster was just too little. Well after spending a few years living outside of the US, I see that meat, including poultry and fish, really needs to be stretched. In the less developed countries, being fat is a real luxury, one that few can afford.

When we buy a chicken we cut it in two and put half in the freezer, our family of 4 can't waste an entire chicken for one meal. Furthermore, this chicken will be used for a stew, with carrots, onions, potatoes, squash, and will make enough for 2 dinners. When we buy beef we buy the cheapest cut, have the butcher saw the bones for a stew and again 1 pound of stew meat will feed us for two days.

Ice cream, cakes, soda, are all luxuries now, they are something that you eat at a party, or on the occasional family outing in town. Forget the gallon of ice cream from the supermarket, where you buy one and get one free, who does that help? For us, ice cream is a double scoop cone after a long bike ride into the village once a month and the kids love it that way.