African Peanut Soup
A surprisingly wonderful combination of tomatoes, onion, peanut butter and jasmine rice that makes for a delicious, offbeat soup most everyone will savor. So far I haven't found anyone that didn't want this recipe once I had served it...just beautiful in flavor, aroma and so appealing to the eye....enjoy!!
and so easy...!!! I love easy!!!
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 large red bell peppers, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 28 ounce can crushed mexican style tomatoes with liquid, or you can use stewed mexican tomatoes and pulse them in your food processor a couple of times
8 cups chicken or veggie stock (I use chicken and I use stock not broth)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon chili powder (optional but I use it)
2/3 cut CREAMY peanut butter
1/2 cup uncooked jasmine rice, however you can use brown if you so desire, both are wonderful..
cilantro and sour cream for garnish
Also get yourself a wonderful loaf of crusty bread with lots of yummy seeds..
Directions:
1. Heat oil in a large stock pot over medium heat. Cook onions and bell peppers until lightly browned and tender, stirring in garlic when almost done to prevent burning (burn't garlic-not good)
Stir in tomatoes, stock, pepper and chili powder. Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered
for 30 minutes.
2. Stir in rice, cover and simmer another 15 mins if using jasmine rice, approx 30 mins or a little more if using brown rice..but before serving check for the tenderness of the rice.
Stir in peanut butter until well blended and serve.
Serve with a crusty seed filled bread and garnish with cilantro...you may also garnish with a dollop of sour cream as well if you wish.
2nd recipe
Sweet and Sour Chicken Wings
This recipe comes from my beloved Grandma Mary..this was one of those recipes that she was known for and our whole family would beg her to make them...I don't know if its much different than any other recipes out there for the same thing, but I think it is the best I have ever tasted...maybe it was the love ingredient that did it for me..!
Ingredients:
10 to 12 chicken wings
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 egg beaten
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup ketchup
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tsp salt
oil for frying (your choice..you can use peanut, canola or vegetable.
(I use canola oil just cuz I always have it)
green onions sliced on the diagonal for garnish..
you can also sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on for garnish as well..
Directions:
Cut tips from chicken wings. Dip wings in egg mixture and then in cornstarch to which the garlic salt has been added. Pour oil in the bottom of pan, about 3 turns around the pan, enough to cost the whole thing and brown wings over somewhere between medium to medium high heat.
Make a sause of the remaining ingredients except of course the garnish ingredients. Place chicken in a 10x10 inch baking pan, cover with sauce and bake 40 mins @ 375 degrees.
These are wonderful served with jasmine or basmati rice cooked in half chicken stock half water and garnished again with a little bit of green onions...
Also this recipe and method would work wonderfully with chicken thighs (my fav) as well, for a heartier meat portion..
And now for a little dessert, can't not have a recipe for dessert..and chocolate especially!
A few years back when I was working for a local credit union, one of my fellow employees and friend Lizzie and I put together an employee, friends and family cookbook through FundCraft. We put together the cookbook to sell in our branches with the proceeds going to our local Children's Miracle Network. We had so much fun doing it and we sold every last one of them. I think when all was said and done we raised somewhere around $2,000 for our charity. If you have a church group or really any kind of group or family that is trying to raise money for a particular cause or even be sure to check out their website. They will send you a free packet that gives you all the information you need!
The recipe below is from that cookbook courtesy of a very nice couple "The Bogleys"..
Kahlua Cake
Cake:
1 pkg Duncan Hines Devils food cake mix
1 large package chocolate fudge jello instant pudding
1 8oz carton sour cream
4 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup Kahlua liqueur
1 large package semi-sweet chocolate chips
Glaze topping:
1 to 1 1/2 cups of semi sweet chocolate chips, melted in a double boiler over low heat
1/2 teaspoon good vanilla
Directions:
Mix the first 7 ingredients well on medium speed. Fold in the chocolate chips not needed for the glaze. Poor into a bundt pan that has been sprayed with Pam or rubbed with oil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
Cool on a rack for at least 20 minutes before turning onto plate.
Drizzle with glaze topping and if so desired you can sprinkle with powdered sugar as well..oh and a big scoop of good vanilla ice cream is a must!
Well thats about it for me, off to the store to get everything I need to make all of these recipes this weekend some time..ENJOY!
Me
No comments:
Post a Comment