West African Peanut Stew

Okay - so we had 2 half jars of crunchy Trader Joe's peanut butter in the fridge that I wanted to use up.   I found this great recipe for African Chicken Peanut Stew online in my search for peanut butter recipes.   One of my closest new friends in NZ is from Zimbabwe. She had a baby boy in December (see picture below) and we are 2 of the 3 mommies in the church with small children.  Although she said they do lots of stews in Zimbabwe, when I texted her the recipe she said she'd never heard of it before.  I think it might be a West African (Ghanaian?) recipe???    It reminded me of the summer when I worked in the wilderness of Wisconsin at a Lutheran Bible Camp.  In the camp were several villages that were supposed to mirror African villages.  One of the recipes that we cooked entailed greens (spinach?) and peanut butter.    As a 17-year old it was a weird combination, but it really grew on me. 

Tracy and Gambe

RESULTS: The stew turned out really good with the cilantro (coriander in NZ), sweet potatoes and chicken.

6 jars of peanut butter left!   Next recipe Monster Cookies - then we might try make and freeze Puppy Chow. 

10 Jars of Peanut Butter

On the eve of our pack out from Virginia to NZ, I did my last Trader Joes stop. In a panic I threw twelve jars of Trader Joes peanut butter into my shopping cart. Although I am thankful for the peanut butter (NZ pb is just not the same) I failed to consider that all of the peanut butter would expire at the same time (Jan/Feb 2012). So here we are with 10 jars of peanut butter that need to be consumed in the near future. Liam has started eating it with almost every meal (peanut butter, avocado, spinach oatmeal was his tasty treat tonight). Charlie and I also made Joanne 's famous peanut butter balls tonight. Im looking for more yummy recipes! I'm especially interested in how to integrate peanut butter into a main course. Here we are making our peanut butter balls:




So excited to dig in!

NZ Thanksgiving (Part 2)

Well... it's Sunday night and we've successfully completed the second weekend in a row utterly exhausted. Good, fun times - but wow... You know it's bad when Jason says he can't wait for the week to start so it won't be so crazy.

We just finished celebrating a Thanksgiving dinner at our friends' home and it was really, really fun. It was fun to celebrate American Thanksgiving with a bunch of Kiwis. We brought a pumpkin pie and a turkey. We were horrified yesterday to find the turkey still frozen after 2 days in the refrigerator (in the past we've gotten fresh turkey from a farm in VA). I stumbled across a website that said you can stick it in rock solid and cook it at 325 degrees. Jason woke up at 4am to put it in the oven, and I woke up at 6am to season it. I found the turkey on "BBQ" which is American for "broil". It looked pretty crispy already but I seasoned it up and put it back in the oven (we cooked it upside down and it makes for a moister breast). At the end of the day - I think it turned out okay, a little drier than I hoped, but at least we didn't food poison our kiwi friends. The pumpkin pie was a little "carmelized" around the edged, so I cut out the darker edge and decorated it with aerosol whipped cream - honestly it tasted really good but looked a little funky.

Unfortunately the awesome dinner at our friends' home - again ended on a somewhat embarrassing/sordid note.  The boys didn't know that we were filmding.  Keep in mind, the last time we were at their home Charlie clogged their toilet. 

Wild Rice Burgers

We had wild rice burgers with caramelized onions and mushrooms for dinner and they turned out super yummy. I found the recipe here: http://heavytable.com/fitgers-brewhouses-harvest-moon-wild-rice-burger/ Supposedly it is the recipe from Fitgers Brewery in Duluth, MN. I think the best part was the American Heinz ketchup that I got in the mail this past weekend. I hate to be such a picky American, but we've found most of the sauces, salsas and dressings to be too sweet.

Here is one example of why I'm having so much fun with the boys during the day and it's hard to get work done.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Pine Nuts and Water Births

 We've experienced some sticker shock with the price of food in NZ. I'm trying to figure out how to get the best deals on food. Eating out is expensive, but frankly eating in is also very expensive. I ordered Alicia Silverstone's Vegan Cookbook in hopes of finding some cheaper and healthier recipes.   I made a really fantastic Lentil Sweet Potato Stew (Link to Recipe) this weekend.  We also had an extremely rich (and not that unhealthy) Chocolate Banana Tofu Mousee (Link to Recipe)  We were in dire need of a grocery run this evening, but I tried to put together a meal with what I had at home. That being said, I found a yummy vegan sun-dried tomato pesto pasta recipe.  I bought a few basil plants several weeks ago, so I stripped off all of the basil leaves.  I had the garlic and sun dried tomatoes and pine nuts. Well, I purchased the pine nuts at Trader Joes earlier this year when Aunt Ashley made us a delicious pesto pasta in Virginia after Liam was born.  I stuck them in the shipment from Virginia to New Zealand.  Did anyone know that pine nuts can go bad?   I didn't know that.  Now I know.  After pureeing all of the ingredients and pouring it over the pasta noodles I tasted the dish, and something was seriously not right.  Usually in this situation, when I suspect something might have gone bad, I serve some to Jason and search his face for any trace of yuckiness.  He is a bloodhound of sorts, with keen smell and taste senses.   After two bites, he started googling "do pine nuts go bad?"   I was a little annoyed and I chose to try my best to eat the pasta as quick as possible as if nothing was wrong.  I made a comment that at times like this, I pretend that I am in Uzbekistan where I'm served something gross, but I want to fit in to the culture so I eat the entire dish to show respect and hope to develop a taste for different-tasting food.  He looked at me like I was crazy and did the same.  I asked Jason if he wanted salad, but he said he lost his appetite.  My poor husband.  Charlie actually ate quite a few bites of it, but grew bored and turned his noodles into underwater squid and train tracks.   So now, I know...  pine nuts can go bad...    



Impressive train network made out of noodles

 Before he went to bed, we asked Charlie what he wanted to pray for.  He wanted to pray for Judah.  He said something about praying for Judah that he would learn how to swim underwater for when he was born.  Now I'm really curious what he thinks happened at Judah's water birth.   For Judah's birth, I knew that my mom was going to call me on my iPhone so I could "be" in the room.  As it happened, Jason, Charlie and I were sitting down eating dinner when I got the call from my mom.  I sat on the couch with earphones on witnessing the birth of my nephew.  It was an intensely crazy experience - much different being on the other end of things.  Charlie watched my face move from excitement, to surprise, to awe, to joy ... but he didn't see anything on the phone or hear anything except me.  He was extremely disappointed that he missed it.  We called Maria back on skype and I think she was in the water holding baby Judah.  Charlie was excited to see his cousin but more than a little confused.  He's talked about Judah swimming and breathing underwater ever since. I find myself trying to change the subject and not get into it with him.  I think that he thinks "pushing" involves a slide at the playground and the midwife "catching" the baby is at the bottom of the slide.  I think we'll keep it that way for a while...