African Peanut Sweet Potato Soup

African Peanut Sweet Potato Soup - Vegan 

This recipe I had for the first time in Africa but it was made my my American friend Emily, I got to thinking about it again when my aunt posted a similar recipe and thought I'd give it a go and it turned out delicious! I invited a good friend over and she's vegan so I substituted vegetable broth for chicken broth and omitted chicken. If you'd rather have it all chickeny feel free to add those things!

What you need for this delicious recipe!

• 1 onion
• 1 clove of garlic (I used a big spoonful of minced)
• 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled, chopped in 1-inch pieces
• 1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
• about 30 oz of vegetable or chicken broth. (I found organic vegetable broth @ QFC for $1.24)
• 1 can of diced tomatoes in juice (.99 @ QFC)
• Ginger, recipe calls foe 1/2 tsp, I used about a tablespoon of minced. I love ginger. 
• 1/8-1/4 tsp ground red pepper
• 2-3 tsp of curry powder
• 1/2 cup peanut butter

I made it in the simplest way possible. First I started by chopping sweet potatoes. 

then adding everything else EXCEPT the peanut butter in a large pot. 

Bring everything (except peanut butter) to a boil. Then turn down the heat to between low and medium, cover and let boil for about 10 minutes or until the veggies are all soft. After the veggies are all cooked add in the peanut butter and stir until it's all mixed in and you're done! 

When you're done it will look something like this. And it was honestly one of the best soups I've had in a long time! Mmmm!

*Next time I make this I might take a little bit of the sweet potatoes out after cooking and puree them and add them back to make the broth a little thicker. 

Garlic ginger chicken breast and rosemary roasted vegetables

Finished meal, so delicious!!

So I usually decide I want to make dinner and then sit on the internet for about 10 minutes looking at recipes until I finally give up because every single one of them has something I don't have in my kitchen and end up making up my own. Tonight I made garlic ginger chicken and rosemary roasted veggies and they were DELICIOUS! (and healthy!).

Garlic ginger chicken

- Chicken breast, I used two frozen ones, thawed.
- olive oil
- garlic, I used my minced dollar tree garlic
- ginger, I used my minced jarred ginger
- soy sauce ($1 @ dollar tree)

First I thawed the chicken breast and then laid them in the bottom of a glass baking dish. I rubbed them with a little olive oil and sprinkled them with pepper and some chicken seasoning I found laying around (don't think this is necessary). I then made up a little sauce with a couple teaspoons of soy sauce, a spoonful of garlic, and a little spoonful of ginger and about a teaspoon of olive oil and mixed this well.

I topped the chicken with this sauce (only half of it), and put them in the oven at 350.

After 15 minutes I flipped the chicken and put the other half of the mix on the other side and put them back in the oven. I'm not positive how long I actually cooked them for after that, I just watched until they were done and checked them. About 35 minutes total. They were moist and flavorful and delicious!

Rosemary Roasted Vegetables 

- Veggies. I used 1 sweet potato, 1/2 regular potato, 3 carrots, and a little bit of cauliflower I had left over. All cut into bite size pieces (and I peeled the carrots and sweet potato).
- Olive oil
- Minced garlic (optional)
- Rosemary

Prepare the veggies by cutting them in bite size pieces. Put them in a baking dish and toss with olive oil. Then season I used minced garlic, liberally shook rosemary on them, and then some salt and pepper.

Put them in the oven at 350 (I cooked them at the same time as the chicken), and let cook. Every once in a while shake the dish or stir the veggies. These took about the same amount of time as the chicken (35 minutes). I wish I could take a picture of the delicious smell (and taste) that these had!

Enjoy!

Slow Food. Lasagna, smoothies, and butternut soup.

I decided that 1. I like blogging and got into the habit posting from Africa, and 2. I make a lot of good food and want to share it with people. My goal this semester (now that I live in a house with a kitchen), is to make slow food (reference the Greg Brown song), at an affordable price. I'll try my best to put up good recipes as well as prices for where I got things so others can follow. I don't use exact measurements very often so I'll be as specific as possible but the great thing about cooking is it's hard to mess up. Relax, have fun and eat slowly!

* The dollar tree near PLU has a fantastic grocery section where I've been finding myself getting a lot of items. If you have a dollar tree near you check it for a frozen food and extensive food section.

I've been back at school for a little over two weeks now and have made some yummy things I'd like to share. Most posts will have pictures because making food with pictures is always so much easier but since I didn't take ones this one will be kind of boring. Today I'll explain my recipe for Veggie Lasagna, a really yummy smoothie I made this morning, and butternut squash soup.

(Easy) Vegetarian Lasagna - My favorite thing about this lasagna is that it uses cottage cheese instead of ricotta and I usually have everything it calls for around the house.

- 1 box of lasagna noodles (1 $ @ dollar tree)
- Veggies. I used cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, zuchinni, and onion
- Pasta sauce of some sort. I used a jar of Progresso spaghetti sauce
- Cottage cheese ( about 16 oz). You can use fat free if you prefer
- Shredded cheese. I used half a bag of mozzarella that I had left and half a bag of cheddar
- *you could add some ground beef, but meat is expensive.

Start by sauteing the veggies (you should have a full pan of veggies, it's hard to have too many!) with some oil and garlic. I got a jar of minced garlic at the dollar tree and its wonderful. During this time preheat the oven to 350 and start some water boiling and add the noodles. Only let the noodles cook until they are half way what you would normally eat them at. When you feel they've reached this point put them in a strainer and rinse them with cold water so they stop cooking, (I've made this recipe many times and always overcook the noodles. Don't worry, it won't ruin anything). Make sure you cook your veggies so they're about half way cooked too, because you'll be sticking them in the oven so you don't want them too cooked. Once you feel your veggies are a good consistency add your container of cottage cheese to the veggies and stir.

Then take a baking dish and start layering. First spaghetti sauce, then noodles, then veggies and cottage cheese, then sprinkle shredded cheese, repeat. Do this until you've run out of ingredients or you've reached the top of the pan. I usually get in about 3 layers. I always end with noodles topped with shredded cheese for the top. Put in the oven and bake for about 25 minutes or until everything looks nice and bubbly. Remember everything is already cooked so timing isn't super important. Let it cool a little before serving or it gets pretty juicy and hard to cut.

I made a big pan of this the other night, ate it for about a week and then froze 6 pieces individually for dinner or lunch later on. It's a relatively cheap and delicious meal!

Should look something like this. YUM!

Smoothie- This morning I made the most delicious smoothie!

- 1 banana
- frozen strawberries ($1 @ Dollar Tree)
- frozen mangoes ($1 @ Dollar Tree)
- 2 tbls of flaxseed ($1 @ Dollar Tree)
- 1/4 cup of frozen spinach ($1 @ Dollar Tree)
- 2 big spoonfuls of Zoi Honey greek yogurt (any yogurt could be used)
- a splash of apple juice to thin it out

I put all this stuff in a blender and blended it until smooth. It was the most delicious, relatively healthy, perfect consistency smoothie! I think the mangoes and greek yogurt really helped with both texture and taste. The dollar store has some great frozen fruit and 1 bag will allow me to make at least 4 big smoothies!

This is what mine looked like!

Butternut Soup- I bought a butternut the other day and decided to try out butternut soup which I had never tried before. Turned out great!

- 1 butternut, peeled and cut into small pieces ($1.50 @ Winco)
- 1 container of chicken broth (4 cups) ($1 @ Dollar Tree)
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 Tblsp butter
- spices! Salt, pepper, curry powder, garlic, and ginger.

Peel and cut your butternut and set aside. In a big pot saute chopped onion in butter and garlic until translucent (about 8 min). Then add the chicken broth and butternut and simmer until the squash is soft (about 15 minutes). Remove squash with a slotted spoon and put in a food processor or blender, and puree until smooth (it's okay if there's a little texture). Return the pureed squash to the pot with the chicken broth and season. I put in about 2 spoonfuls of curry powder, a nice big spoonful of minced ginger (which I always keep in my fridge), salt and pepper to taste, and some nutmeg. I just made sure to keep tasting it and seeing what was good. You can't really go wrong, start little and see what you like. This made a big pot of really yummy soup which can be stored in the fridge and enjoyed for a long time!

I had some left over rice in the fridge and added that to the soup for lunch today, it added a little texture and was great!

not my picture, but looks pretty similar!

Until next time, enjoy!! :)