Tasty! (Food Part II)

Andy posted about food recently on his blog, and added lots of inspiring photos.  As it's been about two weeks since my last shopping trip to Swakop, my larder was running low, making emulating him a bit of a challenge.  However, I had acquired the mostly-non-perishable supplies necessary to create a meal recommended by Megs, and I made it a couple of nights ago.  Here's how Megs makes her bruschetta.  I tried a slightly different tactic, and achieved this:

Here's my recipe, which I am very confident I shall alter in all kinds of ways according to availability of tasty stuff:

I started by toasting some fresh marjoram (yay for Fruit and Veg!) in a warm frying pan.  Then I added a bit of oil and sauteed chopped onion for a while, then threw in a chopped red pepper.  Then I added the well-drained canned mushroom slices (on sale at Shop Rite) and some salt and pepper.  As all that was cooking or heating, I mushed up some well-drained-and-rinsed canned cannellini beans (also on sale) with a fork.  When the mushrooms were warm, I pulled the marjoram twigs out of the veggies, the marjoram leaves having all fallen off, and added the veggies to the smushed beans.  Then I spread a thin smear of black-olive cream cheese on a slice of my homemade bread and topped it with a generous pile of the tapenade, and garnished it with marjoram leaves.  It was delicious and probably much more nutritious than a bowl of corn flakes.  Thanks, Megs!

I'm not a big fan of canned mushrooms, but the reality of living a distance from a diverse produce supplier is that it's worthwhile to have canned stuff on hand, and know good ways to use it.  This recipe -- essentially one can of mushrooms, one of beans, the red pepper and scraps of other things -- will cover four meals for me.  (I am lucky to have a refrigerator.)  I can get some of the canned stuff here in my small town, or stock up in Swakop and store for the long-term.  I can buy fresh onions and sometimes peppers at Dreamland Garden.  The only thing that requires a Swakop shopping trip is the cream cheese and fresh herbs, and those are kind of special garnishes, bonus creaminess and flavor.  I can sub in dried herbs and maybe butter easily enough, though the beans get nicely creamy when mashed.  It certainly makes a nice change from rice pilaf and my beloved corn flakes.