Tag Archives: cooking

Senegalese Peanut Stew, and Vegan Too!

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peanut stew Our first dinner date at my apartment I made my now-husband cry. It was over my home-made salad dressing. And right then I knew that I could cook for this man the rest of our lives and be happy. I am very pleased to share that this past week we celebrated our five-year wedding anniversary, and in celebration we renewed our vows with our little boys and dearest friends in tow! Asher wore a suit with a clip-on tie which he thought was “cute”, and Everett wore a onesy with a picture of a bow-tie and suspenders!

family Over our five years of marriage, there have been a handful of dishes I have prepared for Robby that he has happily claimed is a “keeper”, and today’s recipe is one of them. It’s a vegan Senegalese peanut stew that is superb served over brown rice. You could also add some tofu and fresh peanuts if you are feeling adventurous and need a bit of crunch.

Cooking spray
2 medium onion, roughly chopped
1 medium green pepper, cored and roughly chopped
1/2 pound uncooked sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1/2-inch cubes
2 medium uncooked carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp ginger root, fresh, minced
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
4 cups vegetable broth, reduced-sodium
6 Tbsp peanut butter, natural, creamy-variety
8 cups fresh spinach, leaves, stemmed, packed, chopped

Coat a large saucepan with cooking spray and set over medium heat. Add onion and bell pepper; cook, stirring often, until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in the sweet potato, carrots and garlic; cook for 1 minute, stirring often. Add the ginger, cloves, salt and cayenne; cook for 30 seconds. Pour in the vegetable broth and bring to a simmer, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Stir in the peanut butter until smooth. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer slowly, stirring once in a while, until the sweet potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes. Add the spinach; cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Keep the heat low as the soup simmers so the peanut butter doesn’t separate.

Crunchy Curry Chickpeas, and the Toddler Hunger Games

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curry soup
So Asher had a “toddler moment” this week with his eating habits. For 5 days he barely ate and then yesterday he ate about 14 days worth of food all before lunchtime. With his various neon colored plastic bowls scattered around the kitchen floor, he enjoyed samples of raisin bran, eggs, orange flavored cranberries, goldfish crackers, kale, fresh dill, vanilla yogurt, and crunchy bites of curried roasted chickpeas. We had so much fun in the kitchen while my husband painstakingly prepared today’s Crunchy Curry Chickpeas recipe with a pinched forehead from a wonderful cookbook my friend Stephanie gave me called Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi , and I joyfully threw crap in a pot and made something. Like our marriage, these two dishes worked in perfect harmony!

CURRY ZUCCHINI SOUP

6 large zucchinis sliced into moon shapes
1 diced medium onion
5 cups vegetable broth
2 tablespoons curry powder

In large sauce pot, fry diced onions on medium heat for 3 minutes in cooking spray or olive oil. Then add sliced zucchinis, stirring for 5-7 minutes. Add curry powder and vegetable broth, turn up to a boil for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and use hand blender to puree into creamy soup. Season with salt. Top of with crunchy curry chickpeas.

CRUNCHY CURRY CHICKPEAS

2 15-ounce cans of chickpeas, drained
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger, or 1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
Sea salt

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Lay the drained chickpeas on a dish towel and gently rub each bean to remove any remaining skins, making sure that they are totally dry. In a large bowl, stir together the olive oil, curry powder, thyme, and ginger. Add the chickpeas to the bowl and toss to coat. Spread the chickpeas on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet. Bake the chickpeas, tossing them occasionally, until they are light brown and crisped, 40 – 45 minutes. As soon as you remove them from the oven, sprinkle with a teaspoon of salt. Let them cool completely, then serve. They are best eaten the day they are made.

Food Art!

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food art Want to spend a long time doing something that nobody cares about? Try making food art for your 2-year old! Your incredbile artistic abilites will be totally lost on them. However if, like me, you have tried this and if, like me, you will continue to test the limits of your patience and creativity all in the hopes of getting one iota of a smile out of your little one, I applaud you. Today’s photo is a shout-out to Alisha for her breakfast brilliance. Robby claims he made the chocolate toast boat, so props to him as well.