One of the most mundane but biggest changes Ryan and I have made living in Kenya is food. What we buy at the market, what we cook, how we prep food, how long it takes, all have changed dramatically. Often we are cooking with ingredients we weren’t used to having but are readily available here, sometimes with ingredients we weren’t as familiar with.

I have never eaten this much cabbage in my life. Or zucchini. We’ve learned to be creative with it.

We’ve also learned to make certain things we crave from scratch, since there is very little pre-prepared food available. Things like chicken broth, naan, cake mix, faux-sweet potato fries (out of butternut squash), Chicken curry, pseudo-Italian sausage, BBQ sauce, dinner rolls/hamburger buns, taco seasoning, yogurt and popcorn.

On our popcorn-making-journey, Ryan and I discovered an imitation Fuddruckers’ seasoning recipe that makes popcorn (and almost everything else) better, and we thought we’d share. I’ll link the original blogpost source below, but this is our slightly modified version. We highly recommend it on fresh popcorn (maybe with grated cheddar cheese for Deluxe Fuddruckers’ popcorn).

2 tsp paprika

1 1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp salt

1 – 1 1/2 tsp brown sugar

1/2 – 1 tsp garlic powder (I like a lot of garlic, but you can definitely tone it down. Also, I use all dry mix ingredients for popcorn, but for burgers or other cooked recipes we like minced fresh garlic, at least 2 cloves.)

1/2 tsp cayenne (more if feeling sassy, less if you are having a heart burn kind of day)

We make our popcorn on the stovetop and mix with the seasoning to make for a great snack. I know this is a small, daily-life kind of detail, but it’s the kind of thing you don’t think about before you leave what you’ve grown up with all your life, and it really does make you appreciate the little things. And a husband who will bravely try just about anything you experiment with in the kitchen.

Original post/source for the seasoning: here

Haley and Ryan