Peanut Butter, Kidney Bean, and Yam Stew

Peanut Butter, Kidney Bean, and Yam Stew - Do you know how hard it is to photograph late at night?!?

I love a good stew and I love peanut butter, so this summer when I had an opportunity to try some peanut butter stew, I was in LOVE! The stew was made by one of the administrators at the residential debate camp I was teaching at and she made it in a slow cooker. I kept meaning to ask for the recipe and I am sure at one point she even told me where she got her inspiration... but as the summer wound down and school picked up, I forgot to ask. However, I never forgot that stew.

This weekend while in Alaska, I was reading Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's The 30-Day Vegan Challenge, I found a stew that sounds like it had a similar flavor profile as the stew I enjoyed this summer although slightly different. So I took the recipe from this book, along with what I remembered from the summer stew, and modified it for my slow cooker. The resulting stew was creamy, sweet, spicy, salty. A mouthful of flavor and texture that tasted even better the second day!

While you can probably sub in sweet potatoes (and in some parts of the country yams are more difficult to find), I am a fan of the drier and more starchy yam. According to the Library of Congress, here are the differences!

The stew in a different lighting attempt!

Peanut Butter, Kidney Bean, and Yam Stew
Makes 10 1-cup serving

2 medium yellow onions, peeled and chopped
2 red bell peppers, deseeded and chopped
3 yams, cubed (I keep the skin on and scrub them well before cutting them)
5 cups of water
2 cubes of vegan vegetable bouillon cubes (you can replace these and the water with 5 cups of vegetable broth)
1 can (15-ounce) of kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (15-ounce) of diced tomatoes
1/2 cup of creamy peanut butter
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp sea salt

Mix all ingredients in slow cooker and cook on low for 8-11 hours (I say 11 because that's when I got home and enjoyed it!).

When I calculated the WW pointsplus points for the items that have points (yams, bouillon, kidney beans, peanut butter, brown sugar) I got 5 points per serving.

Collard-Wrapped Sweet Potato and Black Bean Hash

It's just a big green leaf but it was new to me this year. The Collard Green in it's raw and fresh form is something I had never purchased nor made but it's been popping up in my CSA pick-up almost every week this season and after preparing it in all of the ways I had prepared canned or frozen greens, I decided it was time to try something new (to me). I have had tacos with lettuce shells so why not a wrap with a collard green "tortilla"?

For those of you not familiar with the giant green leaf, it is actually a nutritional powerhouse. According to the Whole Foods Web site, these greens can help lower cholesterol and may protect against cancer. They are low in calories but high in vitamins K & A (among other great things!). So using them in place of a high-processed, carb-loaded wrap means you can up your nutrients while reducing your waistline.

To prepare the "wraps" you will want to first remove the fibrous stem from the collard leaf. Cut far enough into the lean to remove the coarse part of the stem but not so far you destroy the tortilla appearance. You will then want to blanch it in boiling water for 3-5 minutes until the leaves become pliable. Immediately following the boiling bath, give them an ice water bath and set aside to fill with your fillings of choice.

I filled my collard wraps with a quick and easy hash. I heated up some avocado oil, added half of a diced white onion and a diced sweet potato. Cooked these with some garlic powder, chili powder, sea salt, and black pepper. Then added some canned black beans when the potatoes became tender. Easy, simple, and you can adjust the ingredients according to taste.

Savory Sweet Potato Pancakes

1/2 Sweet Potato, shredded
1 tbsp flour
2 tbsp eggbeaters
chili powder to taste (I have a heavy hand)
Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb Seasoning (to taste)

Heat fry pan to med-high heat. Spray with cooking spray.

Mix all ingredients together. Separate into two piles and cook into pancakes until browned on both sides. Make sure to press flat slightly to squeeze and cook out liquids.

You may want to drizzle maple syrup, I know I enjoyed the sweet contrast. Makes one serving.