As a Peace Corps Volunteer in Swaziland, I have a limited food budget. But I also love food–both eating and making it. During PST, I cooked without an oven, refrigeration, and a non-stick skillet. Now at my permanent site, I have all three, though at a cost. This occasional series will highlight my cooking and baking and the recipes I use.

I like my snacks to be portable, and during PST, I had a hard time creating portable snacks other than popcorn, hard boiled eggs, and fruit. Since then, I have expanded my snacks to include a combination of packaged and homemade items.

Packaged items

• Clicks has a big range of packaged snacks including crackers, pretzels, and granola bars.
• Shoprite and Pick’n’Pay both have a selection of nuts. The almonds are usually the most affordable.
• Spar sells fruit rollups in mango, peach, apricot, and guava flavors.
• I also really enjoy feta with the Clicks tortilla chips.

Homemade items

• Cauliflower buffalo wings
• Sweet potato chips
• Banana bread

Cauliflower buffalo wings

Time: 45 minutes
Cost: E30
Servings: 4-6 

Ingredients:
1 cup floor
2 teaspoon garlic
1 cup of water
1 head of cauliflower, chopped
3/4 cup buffalo or other hot sauce
1 teaspoon butter

Recipe:

1. Preheat stoven to 230*C. Line the rack with foil and spray.
2. Mix flour and garlic. Pour in water and stir. Add cauliflower and toss to coat.
3. Spread cauliflower on foil and bake 18 to 20 minutes.
4. While baking, melt butter and combine with buffalo sauce. Pour sauce over cauliflower after the 20 minutes are up and return to the stoven to bake for 5 more minutes.

*To make this in a skillet, sauté the cauliflower in a well-greased skillet until almost tender for about 10 minutes. Melt the butter with the buffalo sauce and then pour over the cauliflower and cook for 5 more minutes.

Sweet potato chips

Time: 45 minutes
Cost: E30 for a bag of four orange sweet potatos at Pick N’ Pay
Servings: 2

Ingredients:
1 sweet potato, scrubbed and sliced 1/8th inch thick
1 tablespoon oil
½ teaspoon coarse salt

Recipe:

1. Preheat stoven to 200*C.
2. Lay sliced sweet potatoes on rack covered with foil. Drizzle with oil, toss, and spread in a single layer on the sheets.
3. Bake, flipping and rotating once, for about 25 minutes or until desired crispness.

Banana Bread

Time: 75 minutes
Cost: E15
Servings: 10 

Ingredients:
3 very ripe bananas
1/3 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
½ cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour

Recipe:

1. Preheat stoven to 175*C.
2. Mash bananas until smooth. Stir in butter.
3. Mix in baking soda and salt. Mix in sugar, egg, and vanilla. Mix in flour.
4. Pour batter into a greased loaf pan or muffin cups. Bake 50 to 60 minutes, rotating every 15 minutes, in a loaf pan, or bake about 15 minutes, rotating half way through, for muffins.
5. Cool completely on wire rack or on top of the gas burner in the pan before removing.